The qin is a musical instrument with a long history. It can be seen from some legends that when ancient people used bows and arrows, they discovered that the bounce of bows and arrows produced a pleasant sound, which inspired people to make stringed instruments such as qin and harp. We mainly learn about it from the qin music played by qin players during this period.
1. Qin Players
In the Zhou Dynasty, in addition to the enjoyment of nobles, the Qin was mainly played in ceremonies. Famous luther players in the Spring and Autumn Period included Zhong Yi, Shi Cao, Shi Kuang and others. The status of luthiers at that time was low, but Shi Kuang dared to express his opinions and attacked the new music as "extreme music". This shows that he was highly regarded because of his outstanding musical ability.
With the rise of the feudal system and the decline of the hard-working system, great changes have also taken place in the field of music. The situation where the princes and adults "listened only to the harp and harp" has changed to "all the people in the country play the harp and harp." In music On the basis of cultural prosperity and development, outstanding folk qin players such as Boya and Yongmenzhou emerged at the historic moment.
The story of Boya playing "High Mountains and Flowing Waters" for Ziqi tells us: the performance of Qin music does not need to rely on language explanations, but creates musical images to express thoughts and feelings. Boya's creation of "Narcissus Exercises" inspires us: in addition to the study of techniques, we must also have an in-depth understanding of spiritual temperament; artistic skills are of course important, but thoughts and feelings must occupy a primary position.
Before Yongmen Zhou played the piano for Mengchangjun, he first described the scene and created the atmosphere to illustrate: Even if you are a music appreciator, if you want to have a deep understanding of music, you must have your own life experience as a basis.
2. Qin Music
In "Historical Records. The Family of Confucius", "Confucius sang all the three hundred and five chapters on the harp". This shows that the more than 300 chapters of the Book of Songs were all sung with the accompaniment of harp and harp at that time.
In the song "Pheasants Flying in the Morning", it is said that Du Muzi of Qi State was still alone when he was over seventy years old. When he saw the pheasants flying away, he lamented that people are inferior to birds. It reveals the unequal reality that the rich have many wives and concubines, while the poor are still alone until they grow old and die.
"Song" is about Baili Xi's wife reminiscing about the time when she bought Baili Xi with five sheepskins, and used a stick (door switch) as firewood to cook hens when they were leaving, and complained about Baili Xi. After becoming rich, Li Xi became ungrateful and abandoned his wife who had been in trouble and trouble in the past. Finally, Bai Li Xi changed his mind.
"Pheasants Flying in the Morning" and "扉扅歌" reflect the fine tradition that guqin music comes from the lives of the people.
"Guanyong" is the first chapter of "The Book of Songs", and its importance and authority are self-evident. Confucius said that "Guanyong" is "overflowing and ear-splitting", joyful but not obscene, sad but not sad." This incisive summary of the scale of emotional expression has become a universally followed aesthetic principle. However, the content and form of the qin music "Guan Ju" are completely different from the original poem, and it is no longer possible to find the "overflowing" effect from it. The only difference between the qin music and the original poem is the title. /p>
The profound and lofty artistic style of "Daya" is known as "no one can win with music like this". "Daya" is a famous poem that reflects the social life of the Zhou Dynasty, which is reflected in its music. In line with people's idealization and admiration for the society of the Zhou Dynasty, as the lofty realm they yearned for, the ancients emphasized that the grandeur, grace and magnanimity of "Daya" and the prosperous sound of Emperor Mu could only come from the Zhou Dynasty. "Daya", you can really feel a solemn atmosphere.
When the singer sings "Yangchun Baixue", there are only a few people who can sing along with it, which means that "Yangchun Baixue" is an elegant song. Symbol. "Yangchun" and "Baixue" cannot be proven to have any relationship in terms of circulation or musical characteristics: "Baixue" often appears in Tang Dynasty documents, but "Yangchun" cannot be found. The poets. "Baixue" is mentioned repeatedly but "Yangchun" is never mentioned. Various facts show that when "Baixue" was popular in the Tang Dynasty, "Yangchun" had not yet been born. In terms of musical characteristics: the composition structure, melody taste and fingering style of the two piano pieces are different. The tones are also different: "Yangchun" is a palace tune, and "Baixue" is a Shang tune and are compiled into different volumes.
"Yangchun" was originally formed and developed on the basis of lyrics. , but also abandoned the lyrics. On the one hand, the high-minded and elegant music played a role, and on the other hand, the music with lyrics infringed on the territory of the scholar-officials, and they were criticized and attacked by the authoritative people in the music world. "Mediocre people" and "vulgar workers", so the lyrics have disappeared since then, and the Yushan School's purity, subtleness, lightness, and loftiness have become popular, and "the piano music has been greatly promoted for a while." Yan Cheng's "I have picked up the tune of "Yangchun" several times, and the moon is full in the west. "Downstairs Zhichi" has become a model for appreciating qin music. In pursuit of the lofty status of high-quality music, "Yangchun" has become increasingly far away from the secular world.
Guqin performance during this period was not only for the enjoyment of the nobles, but also played in various ceremonies. It gradually spread to the people, laying the foundation for the development and evolution of guqin in later generations. It is precisely because of the favor of the ruling class that the guqin has been passed down.
Guqin Kunqu Opera Peony Pavilion