In a Miao stockade, there was a strong young man named Zhu Lang. He weaves bamboo baskets for a living. Because he deals with bamboo every day, he feels that bamboo is spiritual.
Bamboo waves can pick up a bamboo leaf and blow out sweet and pleasant sounds. Over time, the music of Zhulang touched a beautiful girl named Dimei. Whenever bamboo waves blow up bamboo leaves, Di Mei will sing along.
One day, the naughty flute sister was holding a piece of bamboo in her hand. She asked the young man, "Can you blow this pipe?"
Smart bamboo lang thought for a moment. He cut off a piece of bamboo, drilled a hole in the middle and dug several small holes in it. In this way, the sound of bamboo lang is better than that of bamboo leaves, and it can also blow out different tones.
Wonderful music blew into Dimei's heart, and Zhu Lang gave it to the girl as a symbol of love. Because the young man's name is Zhulang, Teacher Di called this promising thing "Bamboo flute".
Flute is a wind instrument in China. Later, bone flutes were found in Neolithic cultural relics unearthed in Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, with a history of more than 7,000 years. In addition, a bronze flute that was blown horizontally in the primitive period was unearthed, which can confirm that the flute was produced in ancient China.
Later, 16 vertical bone flute was excavated in the early Neolithic site in Wuyang, Henan Province. These bone flutes are made from the bones of birds' limbs and have a history of more than 7000 years.
These bone flutes are played vertically, with sound holes ranging from five holes to eight holes. Most of them are seven-tone flutes, which are the same as the flute scales that people are familiar with later.
It is worth noting that these bone flutes are engraved with equal division symbols next to the sound holes, and some sound holes are also punched with small holes, which are completely consistent with the later flute sounds.
During the period of the Yellow Emperor, a large number of bamboos grew in the vast area of the Yellow River valley in China, which was the most primitive material for making flutes.
During this period, bamboo is a great progress in the history of China flute instruments, because bamboo has better vibration and crisp pronunciation than bones. Moreover, bamboo is easy to process. At that time, there were already seven-hole bamboo flutes and two kinds of flutes were invented, which shows that China bamboo flutes have a very long history.
The flute was called "Zi" by people in ancient times. Later, Xu Shen, a scholar in the Han Dynasty, recorded in his Shuo Wen Jie Zi:
Flute, seven holes and bamboo flute.
Later, two bamboo flutes were unearthed from the tomb of Zeng Houyi in Sui County, Hubei Province, and two bamboo flutes were unearthed from the No.3 Han Tomb in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province. The unearthed gnats and the Chinese gnats recorded in ancient books are identical in shape except for a slight difference in length.
The unearthed flute is the same as the record, and the word "pool" is written on the bamboo tube in the tomb. It's an ancient bamboo flute. Qi in ancient times was very similar to a flute. People have always regarded qi and flute as the same musical instrument, but there are differences in reality.
From the unearthed clams and flutes, it can be seen that clams, with 6 holes and closed mouth, can play five tones plus one tone sandhi and paint all over the body; Flute, 7 holes, opening, can play seven notes plus two variations, without drawing.
During the Warring States period, gnats were one of the main musical instruments for sacrificial ceremonies or banquets, and flutes were also very popular. Before Han Dynasty, flute usually refers to clarinet. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the flute has become a general term for clarinet and flute, and it has lasted for a long time. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian introduced the flute, also known as "transverse blowing". It plays a very important role in drum music in Han Dynasty. During the Han and Jin Dynasties, people made flutes with different lengths according to the melody. In the Jin Dynasty, there was a clarinet, and a piece of wood was added to the blowing head to make the gas pass through the gap and shoot at the boundary tombs of the two whistle holes for pronunciation. During the Northern Dynasties, the flute was not only very popular, but also developed, and its shape, length and thickness changed greatly. In the Northern Zhou Dynasty and Sui Dynasty, it began to have the name of "Hengdi". At the end of Sui Dynasty, there appeared a ten-hole flute that could play chromatic scales. Since the Tang dynasty, flutes have been divided into large and small blows. At the same time, the vertical blowing of the pool is called Xiao, and the horizontal blowing is called flute.
In the Tang Dynasty, Lv Cai made the "shakuhachi" and blew it vertically, which was introduced to Japan. In the Zhengcang Courtyard of Nara, the ancient capital, there are always four flutes made in China during the prosperous Tang Dynasty, one of which has teeth, one has stone carvings and two have bamboo. They vary in length, but they all have seven oval sound holes. Liu of the Tang Dynasty made a seven-star flute, which was covered with a film to assist in sound production. He was the first person to shoot the flute. Le Shu (Volume 148) was recorded by Chen Wei:
Seven stars in the Tang Dynasty played the ancient flute, which was as long as a pool. Its number is full of guiding seven orifices and blowing horizontally. There is a hole next to it that is glued with bamboo pieces, which resonates and helps to make sounds. So did what Liu did.
That is to say, at least from the Tang Dynasty, flutes with the timbre characteristics of China diaphragm flutes appeared. The flute membrane is one of the most unique symbols of China flute. However, there is no literature to verify whether the flute before the Tang Dynasty was covered with plastic film.
As the most prosperous dynasty in China feudal society, the Tang Dynasty witnessed the prosperity of poetry and the full development of bamboo flute art.
"Geisha in Ribu, drums and flutes are very loud." This is the first sentence of Bai Juyi, an ancient poem of Tang Dynasty.
In the court of the Tang Dynasty, musicians were divided into two categories according to their playing methods and skills: one was a "walking geisha", named after musicians playing in class; The other is "Libu Geisha", named after musicians standing under the hall to play. Tang Xuanzong liked the flute very much, and he played it himself. Because the flute played an important role in the court of the Tang Dynasty, it also created a group of excellent musicians. Li Mo is one of them.
Li Mo was the chief piper in the Kaiyuan period of Tang Dynasty. It is said that Li Mo once played the flute in Guazhou. At that time, there were many ships on the river and people were noisy. When Li Mo blew the first flute, the noise stopped at once. After playing for a few days, there seems to be a breeze on the quiet river. In a short time, the boat people and Jia Ke in the whole river sent out sad voices, and the feelings of sadness, sigh, sadness and resentment were beyond words. At that time, people said that Li Mo played the flute, which was the best in the world.