Based on the language used, Tujia folk songs can be divided into Chinese songs and Tujia songs.

There are a large number of Chinese folk songs, including minor tunes, folk songs, chants, lamp tunes, grass-cut gong and drum songs, wedding songs, funeral drum dances and other categories. This type of folk songs are relatively close to local Han folk songs in terms of musical form and style.

The number of Tujia folk songs is relatively small, and they are mainly spread in the four counties of Longshan, Baojing, Yongshun and Laifeng at the junction of western Hunan and Hubei. They include folk songs, love songs, children's songs, dong dong quin songs, ti Ma Shenge and other categories. Tujia folk songs are quite different from local Han folk songs, showing the inherent characteristics of Tujia traditional music. Due to the small number of Tujia folk songs remaining, and the fact that the Tujia music culture has been diluted in the long-term and close exchanges with the Han people, this part of the folk songs shows high academic value.

The structure of Tujia folk songs is relatively regular. The melody adopts the pentatonic feather scale, with alternating rhythms. Long tones are used at the end of sentences. Most of them are composed of four phrases to form a single section. The style of the music is pure and simple. .

Tima Divine Song

The structure of Tujia love songs is relatively regular, using [LaSiReMiSol] a unique pentatonic feather scale with two minor thirds. Due to the frequent use of large jump intervals, the music style is high-pitched and enthusiastic.

"Blowing Konoha Song" is also a kind of folk song, and its content is mostly love songs. When Tujia young men and women are dating, they can pick a leaf and play a beautiful melody. Putting down the leaves and singing them out, this specific folk song is the "Konoha Blowing Song". "Song of Blowing Wood Leaves" is mainly spread in the Tujia inhabited area of ??Laifeng County in southwestern Hubei. The melody uses [LaDoRe] three-tone tone, the core sound is LaDo two-note, and the decorative slide extends to Mi. The style of the music is very simple and rustic. This may be a relic of an ancient Tujia music form.

There is also a song called "Blowing Wooden Leaves Song" with a very strange tune, which may have the shadow of an older Tujia native folk song.

The Weeping Wedding Song is a custom song of the Tujia people, and can also be considered a special love song. This kind of song is sung by Tujia girls on the eve of their wedding when they invite their female relatives and friends to sit around and narrate the joys and sorrows of the past, and look forward to the beauty and worries of the future. The melody is gentle and poignant, the rhythm is slow and has inner tension. It is very touching!

The rhythm of Tujia rocking children's songs is slow, the melody rises and falls smoothly, and the style of music is relatively close to the folk songs of the Yi ethnic groups.

Dongdongquin tune was originally the tune of "Dongdongquin", a bamboo wind instrument of the Tujia people. These tunes can be played on dongdongquin, which the Tujia people call Qupai, or they can be sung directly and become "dongdongquin songs". This type of song consists of only three or four notes, with a simple melody and neat rhythm.

The Tima Divine Song is a type of dance song sung by the Tujia wizard Tima when presiding over sacrificial activities. The tune is simple, with a single phrase structure and improvisational lyrics. While singing, one hand shakes a brass bell and the other hand dances a sword, which is full of mysterious atmosphere.

Dancing the mourning drum is a very distinctive funeral song and dance of the Tujia people. The Tujia people call it "Dancing Sayouerhaowa". Its meaning is unknown, and it may be a relic of the ancient Tujia vocabulary. This kind of funeral song is very high-pitched and exciting, and the dance style is fierce and rough. There are many dance vocabulary that imitate the movements of tigers. It is believed to be the ancient legacy of Tujia people's white tiger worship. Mourning drum dancing mainly flourishes in Changyang, Wufeng, Badong and other counties in Hubei Province. It is a representative type of traditional song and dance of the Tujia people in the Qingjiang River Basin. A funeral drum song "Invite a Pair of Singers" from Changyang uses [LaDoRe] three-tone tune as the backbone sound, and adopts the technique of free rotation of the palace. The melody is transferred from the G palace through the B palace and A palace to the C palace. The twelve rhythms throughout the traditional palace tune system illustrate the highly developed Tujia traditional music culture.