I. Legend of the origin of stringed instruments
Mercury was the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. It is said that when he was walking along the Nile, his foot touched something and made a wonderful sound. When he picked it up, he found that it was an empty turtle shell with a dry rib on the inside. Mercury was inspired to invent stringed instruments. Although later generations have already had stringed instruments before Mercury, they may have been inspired by it.
Second, the legend of the origin of wind instruments
The ancient history of China records that in the era of the Yellow Emperor five thousand years ago, a musician named Ling Lun entered the Kunhua Mountain in the west to collect bamboo as a flute. At that time, there were just five phoenixes flying in the air, and he was in tune with the law. Although this story cannot be completely believed, it can be regarded as a mysterious legend about the origin of wind instruments.
Third, ancient music in China
The first emperor of China, the Yellow Emperor, was a famous monarch who created calendars and characters five thousand years ago. At that time, in addition to the aforementioned Ling Lun, there was a musician named "Fuxi". It is said that Fuxi is a snake with a human head, and he was pregnant in his mother's womb for twelve years. He played a piano with 5 strings. Because the tone was too sad, the Yellow Emperor cut off half of it and changed it to 25 strings.
In addition, in the legend of the Yellow Emperor, there was a musician named Shennong who taught people farming and discovered medicine, which is said to be the head of a cow. He created the banjo, which is a matter of course if it is assumed that the music at that time used pentatonic scale.
It is said that there are no fewer than 3 books about ancient China music. Confucius was a man about 2,5 years ago. I am a musician, and there are many essays on music. He used to practice the piano formally, stroking it to comfort him when he was sad and happy, and taught it to his disciples. It is said that he has 3, disciples, of whom 72 are proficient in six arts. What Confucius taught can be called "poetry, calligraphy, ceremony and music". "Rite" refers to the order of yin and yang in heaven and earth, and "music" refers to achieving harmony. That is to say, in his philosophy, morality and music are in the same position, trying to improve morality with music. Confucius is very fond of guqin and can compose music by himself. Comments on music can also be found in the Analects of Confucius.
On the other hand, the court music in ancient China was mostly dance music, that is, poetry, dance and music were integrated, which was completely different from today's dance.
iv. Ancient music in Egypt and Arabia
Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. From the sculpture of the stone wall in the pyramid as the imperial tomb, we can see the grand occasion of playing music and the ranks of musicians. There are harp-shaped stringed instruments played with fingers and various flute instruments in the sculpture.
The instrumental music in Arabia and other regions is also quite developed. Since ancient times, a special scale with 17 names divided into one octave has been used.
V. Ancient Greek Music
The origin of Greek music is also shrouded in a veil of myth. Apollo was in charge of Music, and there were nine Muse goddesses under it, who called music or Musik. Among the Greek musical instruments, there were V-shaped double flutes called Aouros, Lyra, and Zittel, a stringed instrument similar to guitar, all of which were imported from Egypt or Arabia.
VI. Generation of Pure Law
In the 6th century BC, Pythagoras, a great philosopher and mathematician in ancient Greece, first explained the theory of pure law with a single stringed instrument called a Monochord. This is the method of taking one to two as the complete octave and two to three as the complete fifth degree according to the length of the string, and calculating all the intervals used at that time.