According to unearthed cultural relics and documents, the musical instruments in the pre-Qin period were drums, drums, drums, bells, cymbals, cymbals, cymbals, cymbals, cymbals, cymbals, cymbals, cymbals, cymbals, cymbals and cymbals. In primitive society, the appearance of musical instruments is closely related to myths and legends, praying for gods and offering sacrifices, folk dances and working life. After entering the class society, musical instruments are mainly used for the entertainment of rulers in addition to religious and ceremonial occasions. In the production of musical instruments, it is exquisite and luxurious, and the scale is getting bigger and bigger, such as Lu Chunqiu? In extravagant happiness:? Xia Jie and Silver Boat are extravagant music, the sound of drums, bells, chimes, pipes and flutes, the beauty of grandeur and the view of the public; It's strange and spectacular, which can't be heard by the ears and seen by the eyes, so you should pass it without considering the measurement. ?

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the rapid changes in social relations, folk instrumental music activities have developed significantly. As contained in the Warring States Policy? Linzi is very rich and practical. All people can play flute, drum, harp, percussion and piano. ? It can be seen that folk music activities were quite common at that time. It is worth noting that Qin had become an important solo instrument at that time. Boya guqin meets a bosom friend? The story was passed down as a beautiful talk, reflecting the high expressive force of Guqin at that time. From a set of chimes unearthed in Sui County, Hubei Province in 1978, it can be found that the ability of melody calculation and the ability of rotating palace tune at that time have reached a considerable height.

Qin and Han Dynasties to Wei and Jin Dynasties

At that time, the main musical instruments were Zheng, Pipa (with Qin and Ruan Xian), flute, square ring and graceful instrument (that is, lying graceful and restrained). Zheng, pipa and flute are all accompaniment instruments of "Song of Harmony". During this historical period, a large number of foreign musical instruments were absorbed. For example, with the introduction of drum music, wind instruments such as trumpet, horn, alto, long tone and Qiangdi were also used. Due to the communication with western culture, the imported musical instruments mainly include vertical pipa, Persian pipa (Quxiang Pipa) and hairpin. Harp is also a Persian musical instrument, which was introduced to China in Wei and Jin Dynasties. According to Liang Shu's records, Quxiang Pipa was introduced to Gansu through India and Xinjiang around 350 AD? Jian Wendi's biography was introduced to the south at least in 55 1 year (Southern and Northern Dynasties).

Sui and Tang Dynasties

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, due to the further exchange of western cultures, the number of musical instruments increased dramatically. Especially drum instruments, this may be due to the development of song and dance music. There are more than 30 kinds of percussion instruments, such as brass cymbals, bangzi, festival drums, staff drums, waist drums, feather drums, fork drums, qi drums, shoulder drums, Jie drums, single altar drums, Maoyuan drums, Ala drums and Jilou drums. There are more than 20 kinds of stringed instruments, such as solo, three-stringed instrument, musical instrument, rolling Zheng, bagpipes, five-stringed pipa and Xiqin. There are more than 20 kinds of wind instruments, such as flute, upright flute, fork flute, Taiping pipe and Taopi hairpin. The important changes of musical instruments in this period were the appearance of stringed instruments, Zheng and Xiqin, which opened up a new field of musical instrument performance.

Song Yuan Ming Qing Dynasty

During this period, stringed instruments have changed and developed significantly. After the Western Qin Dynasty, the ponytail huqin appeared in the Song Dynasty. There are more than 50 kinds of stringed instruments, such as Hu Qin, Da Ruan, Banjo, Yueqin, Hulu Qin, Bohai Qin, Hobbes, Er Xian, Dambra, Quitard, Labarbe, Violin, Kazak and dulcimer (in fact, there are more than these kinds of stringed instruments among the people). During the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, wind instruments were introduced into the suona (also known as Jinkou, Surnai and Gena) from the north, which once again changed greatly according to the combination form of drum music, further enriching the performance of drum music from timbre, volume and style. Suona was originally used in military music. For example, Wang Pan wrote the Sanqu "Chao Di" in Mr. Wang Xilou's Yuefu in Ming Dynasty? Song:? Trumpet, hey, turn it down and make it loud. The official ship is in a mess. The price increase is up to you. The army listens to the army, and the people listen to the people's fear. What are you going to do there? Look at some people's stones, so that some people's vitality will be blown away, and the family will be ruined! ? According to Wang Xie's "Three Stories", suona was applied to the people in the Ming Dynasty.

Since the Song Dynasty, with the maturity of song and dance music, the rise of rap music and the formation of opera art, national instrumental music has further developed, while the growing prosperity of folk instrumental music and the shrinking of court instrumental music are a prominent phenomenon in the development of national instrumental music after the Song Dynasty. In the entertainment places of the Song Dynasty, there were many kinds of pure instrumental performances besides accompaniment, such as? Joy? 、? Le Qing? This ensemble is called. Small musical instrument? A solo or ensemble of one or two musical instruments, consisting of flute, drum and board? Drum plate? Various forms of instrumental music. Later, in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, national instrumental music was enriched.

Folk instrumental ensemble in Jiangnan area? Ten gongs and drums? , not only formed in the Ming and Qing dynasties, but also has a wide influence. Northern folk ensemble music? Chord? This is a string orchestra composed of pipa, sanxian, zheng and zither. It is speculated that this form and instrument may have been popular among the people before the end of the Ming Dynasty. Although the folk instrumental music has a rich and diverse development after the Song Dynasty, the court instrumental music is just the opposite. In the Song Dynasty? Jiao Fang Da Le? For example, the organization of the band is huge, and many excellent musicians are concentrated. However, due to the rule of retro thinking, national instrumental music has not really developed. This is especially true in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.