The connotation and changes of the concept of harmony in Pre-Qin music
The concept of harmony in Pre-Qin music is a comprehensive concept that includes music, aesthetics and social ethics. "Harmony" originally referred to the harmony of sounds. With the development of society, the connotation of "harmony" has also changed. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, it began to evolve from harmony of sounds to harmony of politics. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the concept of "harmony" began to be universalized and ethical. .
Keywords: Pre-Qin music; harmony; connotation; change
The concept of harmony is a concept that our nation gradually formed in the pre-Qin period, including music, aesthetics and social ethics. A comprehensive concept, it has rich ideological connotation and embodies the most basic humanistic spirit of the Chinese nation. Its meaning involves three basic dimensions: harmony of sound combinations, harmony between man and the universe, and harmony between man and society. Moreover, these meanings change with the development of society. Clarifying the connotation of "harmony" and the history of its changes will be of great benefit to our correct understanding of the concept of "harmony" in pre-Qin music.
1. The original connotation of the concept of "harmony"
The concept of "harmony" appeared very early in our country, and its original meaning mainly refers to the sound Coordination and cooperation, and the communication of the harmony of God and man through the harmony of sounds. We can gain understanding from the semantics, musicogenesis and teleology of ? and ?.
1. The semantic connotation of "harmony"
The earliest document in which "harmony" appears is "Shangshu". "Shun Dian" records: The emperor said: Kui! He ordered his daughter to play music and teach his son. Straight but warm, broad but firm, strong but not cruel, simple but not arrogant. Poetry expresses aspirations, songs speak for eternity, sounds last forever, rhythms are harmonious, eight tones overcome harmony, there is no phase to compete with others, gods and humans harmonize. [1] Although "harmony" and "harmony" here do not directly form a word, the connotations of the word "harmony" are the same: "harmony" is "harmony", and "harmony" is "harmony". From the poems, songs, sounds and rhythms in the text to the playing of eight musical instruments, they are all coordinated and orderly to communicate between humans and gods and achieve the purpose of harmonizing humans and gods.
Many scholars have made useful explorations into the etymology and semantics of ? and ?.
Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jie Zi? Moubu" says: "咊, corresponding." From the mouth, the sound of crops. ?Also "Shuowen 龠BU" says: ?harmony, tune, from 龠, the sound of hexagram, is pronounced the same as he. ?The paragraph note says: ?The Yanbu says: Tune, harmonize. This is synonymous with oral harmony. It is said in the scriptures that there are many fake harmony. ?"Shuowen 龠BU" says: ?龠 is a bamboo tube for music, with three holes to harmonize the voices. From Pin Lun. ? [2]
Guo Moruo explained the word "和" and said: According to the ancient bronze inscriptions, the word "頠" resembles the shape of a braided pipe. ?From this, he said: ?If you know the harmony, you will know that the original meaning of harmony must be a musical instrument. The meaning of tuning can only be derived from the harmony of music sounds. The corresponding meaning can only be derived from the sound of music, just as the origin of the word "乐" is "qin", which is extended to the joy of music and the joy of harmony. The extended meaning is abandoned, and the original meaning is abandoned. Later generations only know that there is music, The joy of harmony is not known to have the image of strings, and we only know that there is harmony and harmony, but we do not know what "harmony" is. Ranhegu is also the name of the musical instrument. "Erya": The big Sheng is called the nest, and the small one is called the harmony. This is the original meaning of harmony. When taking He as the correct character, He is the character starting from the end, and the character Cong 頠 just means that Cong is Sheng, so it can also be a mutual proof. ?［3］
It can be seen that he comes from 龠, and is the orthographic character of ?和?. ?和? is a later character, originally referring to musical instruments such as sheng or panpipe. Because playing various musical instruments requires harmony, the so-called "eight notes overcome harmony", so "harmony" originally has the meaning of coordination, harmony and harmony. This is also the underlying reason why when discussing the issue of "harmony" in the pre-Qin period, we always started with music, or used music as an analogy.
2. Musicogenetic interpretation of ? and ?
From the perspective of sound production principles, the material basis of music is the vibration of various sounds. These sound-producing materials include not only human organs, but also natural objects and instruments created by humans. Those pure and harmonious sounds make people feel pleasant to the ear, while those disharmonious noises make people feel harsh and unpleasant. Whether a sound is pleasant to listen to depends on one hand whether the pitches, intervals and rhythms of these sounds are coordinated with each other, and on the other hand it depends on whether the pitches, intervals and rhythms of these sounds are coordinated with human physiological and psychological structures. Music is always perceived through the human auditory organs and causes emotional responses and emotional experiences. Therefore, in the pre-Qin period, sound, music, and music were separated. Sound generally refers to all sounds, which in ancient times were called sounds of nature, sounds of earth, and sounds of man, including various noises; sound specifically refers to order, order, and sound. An organized musical sound combination; music refers to a complex of poetry, music, and dance. "Le Ji" says: "It moves when it is felt by things, so it takes shape from sound." The sounds correspond to each other, so they change and become square, which is called sound. Compare the music and enjoy it, and Qian Qi Yuya, it is called joy. ?It can be seen that sound refers to the harmonious combination of various sounds, and music refers to the harmonious combination of poetry, music and dance. Harmony is the key to distinguishing music from noise. On the other hand, harmony was originally a concept formed by people's understanding and perception of various sounds in nature, and it is the most basic aesthetic perception of music.
From the perspective of the occurrence and formation of music, early humans’ understanding and understanding of sound were accompanied by human social practice activities.
In the long-term process of labor and practice, humans are often inspired by the sounds of hunting tools such as hunting whistles, hunting horns, bowstrings, the sounds of birds singing, streams, the atmosphere and other natural sounds, and have invented music. This early human cultural style. "Lu Shi Chun Qiu" has a lot of discussion on the origin and formation of many ancient music. For example, if Ling Lun is the rhythm, listen to the Fenghuang's call to distinguish the twelve rhythms. Emperor Zhuanxu was so good at the sound that he ordered the flying dragon to imitate the sound of the eight winds, and ordered it to be called Chengyun. The quality imitated the mountain forest stream. The sound of the valley is a song? [4] In fact, "Lu Shi Chun Qiu" analyzes the general laws of music formation and the basis for the music of the past kings from the perspective of material acoustics. It has the characteristics of simple materialism and is basically consistent with the historical facts of music generation. Ling Lun's examples of compositions such as Lv, Feilong and Zhi vividly demonstrate the understanding and imitation of the natural sound of Taiyi in the formation process of early music in my country. Although there are several different opinions about the formation of early ancient music, especially the formation of musical rhythms, they all came from understanding and imitating natural sounds, which is consistent with the history of music development. It can be seen that the understanding and imitation of harmonious natural sounds is the first step in the production of early ancient music.
What I want to emphasize here is that harmonious natural sounds are the appearance of harmonious coexistence of various factors in nature. In other words, what is reflected behind the harmonious sounds is the harmony of various things in nature. get along. It is from this understanding that the connotations of the harmony between natural elements and the harmony between man and nature in the concept of ancient music "harmony" come into being.
What is the motivation for music and its social function? This is the social and cultural basis for the popularity of music in early society, and is also a key factor in the evolution of the concept of "harmony". There are many theories about the origin of early music and dance, among which the six most influential views are mainly the imitation theory, the game theory, the witchcraft theory, the emotional expression theory, the *** theory, and the labor theory. In fact, there is no contradiction in saying that art originated from labor and that it originated from witchcraft, sacrifice and other rituals. In primitive society, the main social activities of early humans were production and life practices, and the various ritual activities derived from them were the main forms of spiritual activities. Primitive art was produced along with various ritual activities and was itself a part of the ritual activities. The most typical example is the record of Ge Tian's music in "Lu's Spring and Autumn Period? Ancient Music Chapter". This is actually a record of a sacrificial activity with a strong witchcraft color. It expresses reverence for the ancestors and divine objects through music and dance rituals, reproduces the working life of the ancestors and prays for good weather and good harvests. There are eight items in the program requirements of this sacrificial ceremony, so there are eight songs, dances and music. In this process, ritual provides an intermediary for the transformation of human production practice into art. The records quoted from "Shang Shu Shun Dian" above can illustrate the problem even more. The ultimate goal of Emperor Shun's command of Kui classical music is to achieve "harmony between gods and humans" through the performance of harmonious music with "eight notes subduing harmony and non-phased harmony". According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Period? Ancient Music Chapter", we can see the production of music and dance in ancient times from Zhuanxu to Shangtang. It can be seen that the main social function of music and dance is to worship gods: Zhuanxu ordered Feilong to imitate the sound of the eight winds to compose "Chengyun" The music of "Dazhang" is made of Yao's life. The music of "Dazhang" is made of Yao's life. "Nine Moves" was written to show the emperor's virtues; Yu wrote "Jiucheng" to show his merits; Tang wrote "Da Yi" to show his goodness, and so on. ［5］
2. From musical harmony to political harmony: the penetration of cultural concepts of ritual and music in the Western Zhou Dynasty
Music and ritual were used together in primitive customs and sacrificial activities. It is because of their own behavior that the Yin people strengthened the utilitarian nature of harmony between gods and humans. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Cheng wrote "Officials of Zhou", which promoted the upright rituals and music, and changed the system. The people were harmonious and the praises flourished. ?[6] This kind of "ritual and music" system artificially combines ritual and music, and they are used in conjunction with each other. The so-called "music comes from the middle, and rituals come from the outside", so that the rituals that are the basis of the patriarchal system provide people with a sense of purpose from the outside. This is a mandatory social norm, while Le creates a self-disciplined cultural norm for people from within, thereby achieving the effect of "regulating the people". Later, "Book of Rites and Music" expounded the essence of the integration of ritual and music in the Zhou Dynasty, which can be called a classic: "Ritual, music, punishment, and politics are all one and the same, so we can govern with the people's hearts in mind." ?Plan the people's hearts and minds, enjoy and harmonize the people's voices, implement the government to implement it, and punish it to prevent it. If rites, music, punishment, and government are extended to all directions without conflict, then the royal way is ready. ?This is the purpose of making rituals and music in the Zhou Dynasty.
In the social and cultural background of the Western Zhou Dynasty's ritual and music making, they gave new meaning to the connotation of "和", among which the discussions by Shi Bo, Yan Zi, Shan Mugong and Lingzhou Jiu are the most typical.
Shi Bo used the reproduction of living creatures in nature, the coordination of yin and yang and the five elements of the world, the harmony of the five flavors, the laws of harmony of the six laws, and the examples of the previous kings to explain the difference between "harmony" and "sameness". He hoped that King Zhou You could realize it. The principle of differentiation and non-sustainability is the same as that of biological systems. [7] At this time, "harmony" is no longer just the harmony of sounds, but its meaning has been far expanded: it includes the sum of sounds, the sum of yin and yang, the sum of all things in nature, and the sum of kings and ministers.
In the 23rd year of King Jing of Zhou Dynasty, King Jing wanted to cast a big bell without shooting and asked for the opinions of his ministers. To dissuade the people from the way of government. Shan Mugong's logical thinking is: the bell sounds like the ear, and what is beyond the reach of the ear is not the sound of the bell, because listening to harmony means being wise, and being wise means listening to words, and by speaking virtue to the people, *** can return to the king's heart. The bells made by your Majesty today are incomprehensible to listen to and cannot be compared to. Therefore, the sound of the bells cannot be understood and harmonized.
Obviously, the main basis for judging whether the bells are harmonious here is whether the politics are harmonious. Lingzhoujiu first put forward the view that "government is like music, music should be based on harmony, and peace should be based on peace". He linked government affairs with making music and discussed it, which reflected Lingzhoujiu's understanding of the social function of music to respect heaven and protect the people. In the twenty-fourth year, the big bell was cast. When King Jing said to Lingzhou Jiu, "The bell is in harmony," Lingzhou Jiu's answer was more profound: If the bell is made with a bell and the people are happy with it, then there will be harmony. Now that the wealth has been lost, the people are all resentful, and I don't know how to reconcile them. Here, the criterion for judging peace is simply the happiness of the people. It can be seen that one of the important criteria for Shan Mugong and Lingzhoujiu to judge the "harmony" of music is the "harmony" of politics, and they have strong people-oriented ideas.
It is in this sense that the "Book of Rites and Music" gives a reasonable explanation of the political function of music: "Music is the one that generates people's hearts, and emotions are moved in it, so it takes shape." Sound, the sound is called the sound in writing, so the sound of governing the world is peaceful and joyful, and its government is harmonious; the sound of troubled times is resentful and angry, and its government is good; the sound of the ruined country is mourning, and its people are poor. Does the way of sound relate to politics? Therefore, the way of sound is to know the sound, the sound is to know the music, the music is to know the politics, and the way of governance is ready. ?
3. The collapse of rituals and the collapse of music and the reconstruction of social ethics: the generalization and ethicalization of the concept of harmony
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the collapse of rituals and the collapse of music and elegance Music tended to decline, and new voices gradually emerged, gaining widespread recognition from the rulers. The new voices represented by Zheng Sheng are contrary to the traditional concept of the ancient kings' rites and music to teach the people their likes and dislikes, but against the righteousness of humanity ("Book of Rites and Music"). As a result, the views of restoring elegant music, strengthening etiquette, and emphasizing the educational role of music in order to establish the political and social structure of monarch and minister, father and son, big and small, and superiority and inferiority came into being.
Confucianism, represented by Confucius, combines beauty with goodness, and puts forward the idea of ??"neutral harmony" as the core: "Happiness but not obscenity, sadness but not sadness" ("The Analects of Confucius"), emphasizing Music should conform to the requirements of etiquette, and the emotions of music must be restricted by the norms of morality and etiquette. Xunzi attaches great importance to the social function of music and believes that the music of elegance and praise, like etiquette and justice, has the function of preventing society from chaos and bringing it into order. He put forward the conclusion that music can be judged to determine harmony, and based on the judgment that harmony can be achieved, he believed that music can not only make monarchs and ministers harmonious and respectful, father and son harmonious, elders and young be harmonious, people's hearts be united, and the world can be harmonious, but also can make the world harmonious. It is the function of a person's temperament to be peaceful, his mind to be good, social relations to be harmonious, and to be united in one heart and one mind. Therefore, we can draw the conclusion that "those who are happy in the world will be harmonious and harmonious". It can be seen from the above that the Confucian harmonious music thought is concentrated on etiquette-based, coordination of etiquette and music, and governing the country and people. In terms of axiology, it emphasizes the social function and ethical enlightenment of music, thereby elevating it to a methodology for understanding all things. "Book of Rites: The Doctrine of the Mean" says: "Happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy are not expressed in the middle, but when they are expressed, they are all in the middle. It is called harmony. The middle is the foundation of the world. The harmony is the way of the world. It leads to the middle. Harmony, where is the status of heaven, and where is the development of all things. ?Requires that in handling all things, we must be impartial, do no wrong, take into account both the top and bottom, and choose the mean. This is a summary and improvement of Confucius's thought of "neutralization" in music, which is the so-called "golden mean".
Lao Tzu put forward the idea of ??"harmony between sounds", believing that discordant sounds and harmonious sounds are both opposed to each other and harmonious with each other. Therefore, the treatment of sound issues should also be treated in the same way as the presence, difficulty, and ease of sound. Long and short, high and low are the same? Doing things without doing anything, teaching without words? [8] The core of Zhuangzi's musical thoughts is to advocate the appropriateness of music. He should neither be greedy for the joy of sound nor worry about not being able to enjoy the joy of sound. He puts forward the proposition that "there is no happiness in the highest degree" and emphasizes doing what is appropriate. It can be seen that Lao and Zhuang's "harmony" concept emphasizes the harmony between man and nature, and the harmony between heaven, earth and the universe.
The Confucian general interpretation of the concept of "harmony" during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was constructed in order to rebuild the social ethical order through the advocacy and promotion of the ancient music of the ancient kings and the disparagement of new voices. . In reality, ancient music has never been reborn due to the active advocacy and reconstruction of Confucianism represented by Confucius. New sounds have become increasingly prosperous with their strong emotional rendering capabilities. However, the tradition and essence of Western Zhou rites and music were improved through the summary and propaganda of Confucius and others, making it develop towards philosophical consciousness such as social ethics, methodology and cosmology. "Spring and Autumn Fanlu" by Dong Zhongshu of the Han Dynasty integrated the ideas of yin and yang and the five elements to give a new interpretation of "Zhonghe": "Zhong" is the end and beginning of the world; and "harmony" is the creation of heaven and earth. A man's morality is greater than harmony, and his Tao is never in the middle. ?Therefore, those who can manage the world with neutrality will have great virtue; those who can nourish their bodies with neutrality will have a long life. ?At this time, "Zhonghe" is no longer just a musical concept and aesthetic standard, but an ethical standard and philosophical thought for governing the country, becoming the core content of the humanistic spirit of the Chinese nation.
In summary, the development of the connotation of "和" in the Pre-Qin Dynasty has roughly gone through three stages: First, in the prehistoric period of Xia, Shang and before, the initial meaning of "和" mainly refers to the sound of "?" Harmony? And the harmony between gods and humans caused by music. Second, from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, the consciousness of "harmony" penetrated into the social and political levels, making the concept of "harmony" in music mainly reflected in "harmony at the same time", "harmony in the middle", giving "harmony" multiple connotations of nature, society and life. . Third, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, based on the reconstruction of social and ethical values ??after the collapse of rituals and music, scholars began to explore and improve the connotation of "harmony". Confucius's sum of rituals and music and the sum of human relations endowed "harmony" ?The connotation of ethics and human nature; the harmony of heaven and earth and the harmony of yin and yang of Lao and Zhuang, focusing on the combination with the way of heaven and nature.
With the in-depth elucidation of various scholars, "Zhonghe" became the mainstream of social thought. Dong Zhongshu in the Han Dynasty combined Zhonghe with heaven, earth, man, yin and yang, five elements, ethics and morals, and constructed a complete cosmological system and methodological principles, making "Zhonghe" the mainstream of social thought. The idea of ??"harmony" as its core connotation has evolved from a musical aesthetic concept into the Chinese nation's dominant political and ethical principles and cultural aesthetic standards, thus becoming the core of the Chinese nation's humanistic spirit.
References:
[1] Ruan Yuan’s proofreading: "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics? Shangshu Zhengyi", Zhonghua Book Company, 1980 edition, page 131.
[2] Written by Xu Shen, annotated by Duan Yucai: "Shuowen Jiezi Annotation", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1981 edition, pages 57 and 85.
[3] "The Complete Works of Guo Moruo? Archeology, Research on Oracle Bone Inscriptions", Science Press, 2002 edition, pp. 93-106.
［4］［5］ Lu Buwei: "Lu Shi Chun Qiu", (Collection of Various Scholars), Shanghai Bookstore, 1986 edition, pp. 51-52, 51-53.
[6] Sima Qian's "Historical Records", Zhonghua Book Company 1982 edition, page 135.
[7] "Guoyu? Zhengyu", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1998 edition, pp. 515-516.
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[8] Cai Zhongde: "History of Chinese Music Aesthetics", People's Music Publishing House, 2003 edition, page 141.