Music of China

Chinese music history can be traced back 8,000 years ago.
Archaeological evidence indicates that

music culture developed in China from a very early period. Excavations in Jiahu Village in Wuyang
County, Henan found bone flutes dated to 9,000 years ago, and clay music instruments called Xun
thought to be 7,000 years old have been found in the Hemudu sites in Zhejiang and Banpo in Xi'an.
The long history of music in China has developed over the centuries in which a number of musical
styles have been invented that are propagated through a lot of musical instruments. The world owes
a lot to China for developing its music that has now reached all corners of the globe.
For Chinese people, music is considered to have a highly calming effect. The teachings of the social
philosopher Confucius greatly modified Chinese music in ancient China. While a musical performance
is going on, you may come across moments of silence that are supposed to facilitate engagement
between the players and the audience.
The Classic of Poetry, also Shijing or Shih-ching, translated variously as the Book of Songs, Book of
Odes, or simply known as the Odes or Poetry (詩; Shī), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese
poetry, comprising 305 works dating from the 11th to 7th centuries BCE. It is one of the "Five Classics"
traditionally said to have been compiled by Confucius, and has been studied and memorized by
scholars in China and neighboring countries over two millennia. It is also a rich source of chengyu
(four-character classical idioms) that are still a part of learned discourse and even everyday language
in modern Chinese. Since the Qing dynasty, its rhyme patterns have also been analysed in the study of
Old Chinese phonology.
Jieshi Diao Youlan- The earliest existing musical notation from the Tang Dynasty and is believed
written by Confucius
The music in China has a pentatonic tone which means that a scale of five notes is used for the
creation of melodious sounds. A few times, you may even find the music to be heptatonic or a scale of
seven notes. If we talk about the texture of the music, it is mostly monophonic in which only one
musical instrument is played. It may be a heterophonic texture in which one core melody is played
along with ornamental variations of the same melody. Chinese music considers timbre to be very
important.
Chinese vocal music has traditionally been sung in a thin, non-resonant voice or in falsetto and is
usually solo rather than choral. All traditional Chinese music is melodic rather than harmonic.
Chinese music has had a long history. It can be divided on the basis of chronology into four periods.
The first period is the formative period (3000 BC to fourth century AD), the second is the international
period ( fourth century-ninth century AD), the third period is the national period (9th-19th century
AD) and the last period is music influenced by other genres of music around the world in 20th and
21st centuries.
In Tang Dynasty, many music education institutions were established officially and grand
songs and dances came to its prosperous day. And Pipa is the most important
instruments at that time. It is also the same period that music is not just enjoyed in
palaces by nobles, and civilian music enjoyment emerged in temple fairs and restaurants.
One of the most illustrious emperors of the Tang dynasty was the emperor Ming Huang
(who was called Xuanzong (Hsüan-tsang) when he came to power, 712–756). He was an
active patron of the arts. At his court he had several orchestras, dancers and actors
including Central Asian artists.
Ming Huang founded first “theatre school” in the history of China which trained musicians,
dancers and actor. According to tradition emperor conceived this idea from a dream he
had had in which he visited the moon, where he saw performances of heavenly
musicians and dancers.
During the Tang Dynasty, dancing and singing entered the mainstream, spreading from the royal court
to the common people. With the introduction of foreign religions such as Buddhism and Islam, exotic
and religious melodies were absorbed into Chinese music and were enjoyed by the Chinese people at
fairs organized by religious temples
SONG DYNASTY
The period was politically unstable. However, many kinds of art, such as ceramics, painting,
calligraphy and poetry, attained their classical forms.
https://disco.teak.fi/asia/the-yuan-dynasty-1279-1369/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yuan-dynasty
https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese-music/Song-and-Yuan-dynasties-10th-14th-century

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Chinese music history can be traced back 8,000 years ago.

Archaeological evidence indicates that

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