In the past thousands of years, Chinese has formed its special Chinese music style. The following is a brief introduction to Chinese music history, Chinese musical instrument, ethnic music in China, and the modern Chinese music situation.
History of Chinese Music
Chinese music has a long history, which can be traced back to 8000 BC. Then, during the long river of history, Chinese music starting forming their own unique style, and constantly add new elements.
Before the Qin Dynasty (221 BC):
In 221 BC, under the influence of Qin Shi Huang (who is the founder of the Qin dynasty and is the first emperor of a unified China ), Chinese music is related to the story of conquering nature. In the Zhou Dynasty, drums and chimes were used in music performance. People also made a complete music rule which covers the music content, performance manner, musician’s clothes, posture, and standing position.
Music in the Tang Dynasty(618 AC):
Tang dynasty is featured by its peaceful diplomatic policies. With a peaceful and stable environment, the ruler committed to the opening up policy. Various foreign foods, clothing and other culture including music, spread to China. Chinese music is added fresh exoticism with lots of foreign elements. Besides, a lot of music institutions aimed at teaching musicians began to sprout.
Music in the Song Dynasty(960 AC):
The bar appears at the Song Dynasty, which provides a special theater for music performance. At the same time, with the emphasis on cultural development, the Chinese opera began to enter the stage of history. Chinese opera, later developed into the Chinese quintessence, adding another touch of color to Chinese music.
Music in the Yuan Dynasty(1271 AC):
In the Yuan dynasty, Yuan Zaju, a form of Chinese opera, reached the peak. It is a style of opera art formed by the combination of rap, music, dance and other arts. As the leader of the Yuan Dynasty’s art culture, Yuan Zaju is also a wonderful work of Chinese classical opera art.
In the Ming and Qing Dynasty(1368 AC):
In the Ming and Qing dynasty, music had been deeply rooted in people’s life. Many people learned music and started to collect all types of scores and lyrics. Besides, the minority’s music culture has also been greatly improved and valued in the long-term development of Han music. This has made China’s music culture flourishing.
Chinese Musical Instruments
Chinese Musical Instruments have a long history, a wide variety of varieties and distinct national characteristics. They are the crystallization of the creativity and wisdom of generations of working people.
Generally speaking, ancient Chinese musical instruments can be divided into eight groups, silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd, and skin. The commonly used instruments were Qin, Erhu, Dizi, Bangzi, Bianzhong, Luo Dagu, Pipa, and Horse-head fiddle. Qin is the Chinese historical zither and Erhu is a two-stringed fiddle. While Dizi is a transverse bamboo flute with buzzing the membrane. Bangzi is a small, high-pitched woodblock. Bianzhong consists of a set of bronze bells, played melodically. Luo is the traditional Chinese gong, and Dagu is the large drum played with 2 sticks. Pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument and was widely used in ancient China. What’s more, many musical instruments in east Asia are created on the basis of Pipa. The horse-head fiddle is a Mongolian music instrument, which is also the symbol of this nation.
Chinese Ethnic Music
China is a big Country brought together by many ethnic groups. 56 ethnic groups have also developed their own national characteristics, focusing on the cultural aspects of catering, clothing, music and so on. These smart minority people have created all types of music in different ethnic styles.
Tibetan music
Tibetan music can be generally divided into two kinds of music: “Buddhist music”, and “Folk music”. The main feature of Tibetan folk songs is loud and clear. It sounds like you are on a plateau, looking up at the blue sky. It covers all human religions, joys, and sorrows, labor and love themes. Meanwhile, Tibetan people are born to dance and sing, and their music is beautiful in melody and lyrics.
Mongolian music
Mongolian folk songs are divided into “folk long song” and “folk short songs.” It is mainly associated with folk songs and rap songs related to nomadic life. Mongolian music melody stretches, ups and downs, giving people a sense of the vastness of the grassland. The most distinctive instrument of Mongolian music is the horse-head fiddle or morin khuur. The instrument has two strings.
Uyghur music
Uyghur music has strong Arabic music styles and always is accompanied with a hand drum. One can show different rhythms with a simple hand drum.
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