the origin of music in human society can be traced back to the very ancient era of the wild. Before human beings produced language, they already knew how to express their meaning and feelings by using the level and strength of sound. With the development of human labor, the chant of unifying labor rhythm and the cry of transmitting information to each other have gradually emerged, which is the most primitive musical prototype; When people celebrate the harvest and share the fruits of labor, they often beat stone tools and wooden utensils to express their joy and joy, which is the embryonic form of the original musical instrument.
a, the legend of the origin of stringed instruments
Mercury is the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. One day he was walking along the Nile and accidentally stepped on something, which made a wonderful sound. He picked it up and saw that it was an empty turtle shell with a dry tendon on the inside. So Mercury got inspiration from it and invented stringed instruments. Later generations verified that stringed instruments appeared before Mercury, but the invention of stringed instruments may have been inspired from this.
B. Legend of the origin of wind instruments
In ancient China, there was a musician named Ling Lun during the Yellow Emperor's period 5, years ago. According to legend, he once entered the Kunlun Mountains in the west to collect bamboo as a flute. At that time, there were just five phoenixes flying in the air, and he followed the rhythm. Although this legend is not completely credible, it is not unreasonable to regard it as the origin of wind instruments. People in primitive times, their working life, can be said to be accompanied by music and development, the two are closely linked. In this sense, music is directly produced from human labor life.
Chapter II Music of Primitive People
The two ancient river basins (Tigris River and Euphrates River) are one of the important birthplaces of human culture. At that time, the rich Mesopotamia region (now Iran and Iraq) had developed music in 4 BC. Sumerians who lived in this area at that time already had harp-like musical instruments and several orchestral instruments. At that time, professional singers and larger bands had been produced in the court. Later, these advanced music cultures gradually spread to ancient countries such as Egypt, Greece, India and China, and further developed in different forms and with national characteristics in these areas. Although the development of music in different nationalities and regions is different, its basic development direction is from secular music to religious music.
Chapter III Music in the Middle Ages
I. Ancient Music in China
The Yellow Emperor was the earliest king in the history of China. He 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. The piano he played originally had fifty strings, but because the tone was too sad, the Yellow Emperor cut off half of his piano and changed it to twenty-five strings.
In the legend of the Yellow Emperor, there is also a musician named Shennong, who is said to be a snake with a bull's head. Shennong once taught people to cultivate grains, once tasted herbs and discovered medicine, and once created banjo. Therefore, it can be assumed that the music at that time used pentatonic scale.
In ancient China, there were more than 3 books about music. Confucius was a famous educator and musician in the Spring and Autumn Period. He wrote many essays on music, and we can see some of his comments on music in the Analects of Confucius. Confucius had great attainments in guqin. He could compose his own music and put sadness and joy into the rhyme. Confucius personally taught the piano skills to his disciples, and among his 3, disciples, 72 were proficient in six skills. His teaching content can be called "Poetry, Books, Rites and Music". "Rite" means to manage the order of Yin and Yang in heaven and earth, and "Music" means to achieve harmony. In Confucius' philosophy, morality and music occupy the same position, and he advocates music to improve moral character. On the other hand, the court music in ancient China was mostly dance music, which was a combination of poetry, dance and music, which was completely different from today's dance.
Second, ancient music in Egypt and Arabia
Ancient Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. On the carving of the stone wall in the pyramid, we can see the ranks of musicians, thus imagining the grand occasion of playing music at that time. There are harp-shaped stringed instruments played with fingers in the sculpture, as well as various flute instruments. Instrumental music in Arabia and other regions is also quite developed. Long ago, they began to use a special scale divided into 17 sounds between an octave.
Third, ancient Greek and Roman music
The origin of Greek music is also shrouded in a mysterious color. Legend has it that Apollo is in charge of Music and has nine Muse goddesses, so music is also called music or Musik. Among the Greek musical instruments, there is a V-shaped double-barreled flute called Aouros, a Lyra, and Zittel, a stringed instrument similar to the guitar, all of which were imported from Egypt or Arabia. In the life of ancient Greeks, the position of music was very significant. On the basis of oriental music spread from Egypt and Arabia, they gradually developed and changed and formed their own music. Music in ancient Greece is closely related to poetry and drama. In their two charming homeric epics and many famous plays, the significance of music is reflected. At that time, the songs performed by some famous folk singers in society were also of great significance to the formation and development of ancient Greek music.
ancient Greek music has made great achievements in many aspects. In the 6th century BC, Pythagoras, a great philosopher and mathematician in ancient Greece, first explained the pure law theory with a single stringed instrument called Monochord, and calculated all the intervals used at that time according to the length of the strings. The invention and application of Pythagoras temperament is a major breakthrough in music theory. Secondly, the ancient Greeks also invented alphabet notation. There are also many bold innovations and creations in the production of musical instruments, and a number of musical instruments have been invented that have never been seen before. Ancient Greek music includes not only solo lyric music accompanied by instrumental music, but also drama music and dance music. Generally, these kinds of music are mainly monophonic music, and most of them are religious subjects in content.
The music of ancient Rome mainly followed the great achievements of ancient Greek music. At that time, the music was mainly played in worship, wedding banquets and the triumph of the army. Since the third century AD, ancient Rome has been expanding its power to the outside world and brutally invading and plundering neighboring city-states. Many excellent musicians and singers in ancient Greece have become slaves of ancient Roman emperors, nobles and slave owners, so music has become a special entertainment tool for the ruling class. However, the music culture of ancient Rome did not stagnate following the ancient Greece, and some folk songs, wedding songs, soldiers' songs and music and dance developed to some extent. In the process of continuous development, ancient dramas sung in Latin appeared. In addition, the appearance of brass instruments in the army is also one of the main characteristics of ancient Roman music.