1. The most popular music during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was the music of bells and drums.
Because this kind of chime has beautiful sound and harmonious sound!
2. Interpretation:
Bells and drums have been around in our country for a long time, such as " In the Book of Songs Guan Sui, there is a poem about playing the ancient musical instruments of bells and drums: "My fair lady, the music of bells and drums. In ancient times, it refers to the music or music and dance of the palace or temple.
Warring States (475 BC - 221), the various vassal states had been in dispute for hundreds of years. The Zhou royal family declined and perished, and the small vassal states were also annexed by several big powers. The most eye-catching "Xinle" in this period was the State of Zhao, but in fact more It should be noted that it was the State of Chu. However, because the first people to write about this period of history were the Han Dynasty, and "new music" was recorded in history as "bad music" that was opposed to "ancient music", Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, Love the sound of Chu, so historians dare not include the sudden rise of Chu sound into the category of "new music". Chu is located in the south, and it has accepted Zhou culture, but it is less ideologically bound by ritual music than other countries in the Central Plains. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu's Actors play local music. The style of Chu music is also very different from that of other countries in the Central Plains. This is not difficult to see from the differences between "The Songs of Chu" and "The Book of Songs". Chu is also a place where music from the north and south meet. Zheng, Wu, Cai Songs and dances of Yue and Yue all appeared in the Chu State.
But generally speaking, the Warring States Period valued knowledge and talents in war and state governance, and due to successive years of war, the cruelty of war far outweighed it. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the result was often mass killings and looting, which caused serious damage to the economy and culture. Therefore, although Yale has basically disappeared, the development of "Xinle" has also been hindered.
Chime bells in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period are mostly composed of nine pieces. On the basis of the Western Zhou bells, the low-pitched Zhengyin and Shangyin are added. When these two tones are the main drum tones, the side drum tones are changed into the major third degree of Bian Gong and Bian Gong. Thus, the main drum sound of the entire set of chime bells forms a complete pentatonic scale, and the entire tone sequence can form a six-tone or seven-tone scale. For example, a set of button bells unearthed from Tomb No. 1 of Xiasi Temple in Xichuan, Henan (Chun Tomb in the Spring and Autumn Period). During this period, each chime sounded two tones, and generally no longer had bird patterns on the side drums.
In the Warring States period, in addition to the chime bells that still had nine pieces in a group, there were also thirteen or fourteen pieces. Combination.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, bands with chime bells and drums as their main instruments were popular, and were known as the "music of bells and drums" in history. Instrumental performances in which sheng, se, and other silk and bamboo instruments were also popular. Various musical instruments used by these two types of bands were unearthed from the tomb of Hou Yi. This batch of musical instruments has many varieties, is exquisitely made, and is well preserved, which is really rare. Many of them are discovered for the first time and are important materials for studying the development of music in the early Warring States Period. .
The chimes, chimes and other musical instruments unearthed from the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi in the early Warring States Period were unearthed in Suixian County, Hubei Province (now Suizhou City) in 1978. It is the largest orchestra arrangement of bells and drums ever seen. The owner of the tomb is a monarch of the Zeng State, named Yi; Marquis is the title. The coffin is in the east chamber, and there are eight female teenagers buried in the room. The musical instruments in this room include ten-stringed qin, five-stringed qin, harp, sheng, snare drum, etc. A small silk and bamboo band can be formed. The victims may be female musicians who play these instruments or perform singing and dancing. In the middle room, there is the band used by the tomb owner to hold grand banquets, that is, the musical instruments of the "bell and drum" band. Such as chimes, chimes, There are drums, panpipes, flutes, flutes, shengs, drums, zithers, etc. Thirteen female teenagers were buried in the west room.
This set of chimes is the most eye-catching. It consists of sixty-four bells, hung on a rectangular bell frame in three layers. There are three groups of button bells on the upper layer, totaling nineteen pieces; the middle and lower layers each have There are three groups of Yong bells, totaling forty-five pieces. The sound range of the chimes spans five groups, and about three groups in the middle have complete twelve tones. All the musical instruments unearthed from the tomb of Zeng Houyi are exquisitely made and have good performance, reaching an astonishing level. Some of the heights are even beyond the reach of today's people.
From the Warring States Period to the Western Han Dynasty, various double-angled button-shaped bells and barrel-shaped bells with unique local characteristics were found in ruins in southwest my country, such as Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan and other places. They are Musical instruments used by ethnic minorities in southwest China.
To date, the number of pre-Qin bells discovered has been considerable. According to incomplete statistics in 1988, there were 116 batches and 174 groups. , 903 pieces (those with unknown types, components, and parts are not included). About 400 of them have inscriptions.