Because in Ming and Qing Dynasties, capitalist economic factors had sprouted, the citizen class was growing day by day, and the development of music culture was more secular. The folk ditty in Ming Dynasty is rich in content, although it is mixed with good and bad, but its influence has reached the level of "don't ask men and women" and "everyone is Xi".
As a result, folk editing, publishing and engraving of ditties have become a common practice. From folk ditties to songbooks, operas and piano music, folk publications have come out one after another. Such as "Folk Songs" edited by Feng Menglong and the earliest piano music "Magic Secret Music" edited by Zhu Quan.
The most prominent musical features in the Ming and Qing Dynasties can be described as colorful. Among them, tanci in the south, drum ci in the north, brand music, piano books and Taoist rap songs are more important. Suzhou Tanci has the greatest influence on the beautiful Tanci in the south.
In Suzhou in the Qing Dynasty, there appeared a desolate and vigorous old tune represented by Chen Yugan. Rough and hearty horse tune represented by Ma Rufei; Yu Xiushan is the representative of beautiful and gentle residual tone. Later, many new schools were born. Shandong drum, wooden drum, Xihe drum and Jingyun drum in central Hebei are more important drum characters in the north.
Paizile's rap includes playing strings and Henan Daqu. Qin Shu rap includes Qin Shu in Shandong and dulcimer in Sichuan. Daoqing rap includes Zhejiang Daoqing, Shaanxi Daoqing and Hubei Yugu. There are also some rap songs of ethnic minorities, such as Mongolian storytelling and Bai's Big Ben.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the song and dance music of people of all ethnic groups developed greatly, such as Yangko of Han nationality, Muqam of Uygur nationality, Nangma of Tibetan nationality, bronze drum dance of Zhuang nationality, peacock dance of Dai nationality, Yuetiao of Yi nationality, Lusheng dance of Miao nationality and so on. The opera music of Ming and Qing dynasties characterized by the spread of vocal cavity reached a new development peak. In the early Ming Dynasty, the four major vocal cavities were Haiyan, Yuyao, Yiyang and Kunshan.
Among them, Kunshan dialect has been perfected and developed by Su Zhihao, and its melody is exquisite and smooth, and its pronunciation pays attention to prefix, abdominal sound and suffix, which has won people's love. After the confluence of northern and southern songs, Kunqu Opera was formed in Kunshan cavity, which was once a top drama. The earliest Kunqu opera repertoire is the Huansha Ji by Liang Chenyu in Ming Dynasty, and other important repertoires are the Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu in Ming Dynasty and the Fairy Palace by Hong Sheng in Qing Dynasty.
Yiyang Opera, with its flexible characteristics, has had an important influence on local dialect operas, making the number of local operas increase day by day, such as various high-pitched operas. At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, the northern Bangzi, represented by Shaanxi Qin Opera, developed rapidly, which influenced Shaanxi Zhou Pu Bangzi, Shaanxi Tongzhou Bangzi, Hebei Bangzi and Henan Bangzi. This sonorous and generous bangzi tune is enduring in northern provinces. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, a Pi Huangqiang composed of two basic vocal cavities, Xipi and Huanger, was initially formed in Beijing, which produced Peking Opera that influenced the whole country.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the development of instrumental music was manifested in various forms of instrumental ensemble among the people. For example, Beijing Zhihua Temple wind music, Hebei Blowing Song, Jiangnan Sizhu, Fan Shi gongs and drums and so on. Qin Ge, such as Pingsha geese in Ming Dynasty and flowing water in Qing Dynasty, and a number of rich Qin songs, such as Three Layers of Yangguan and Eighteen Beats of Tiger Leaping, were widely circulated.
Since the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, famous songs such as The Swan in Christina and House of Flying Daggers have appeared, and the earliest Pipa written by China appeared in the Qing Dynasty. Zhu Zaiyu, a famous musician in the late Ming Dynasty, calculated the ratio of the lengths of two adjacent laws (semitones) of the twelve-average law to 25 digits, which was the first academic achievement in the world.