Chinese Theories of Music

CHAPTER 9

CHINESE THEORIES OF MUSIC

Traditionally Traditionally,, most Chinese theoretical writing on music was embedded in larger treatises that dealt with history, history, philosophy or the rituals of the Confucian state. Since their authors were scholars, scholars, not “professional” musicians, musicians, and since the purpose of the treatises was philosophical not practical, it is not surprising to find that most traditional Chinese music theory is very far removed from the practical concerns of the working musician. Though concepts such as pitch, scale and mode are discussed, it is their cosmological significance significance that is usually the focus, not their practical manipulation in actual pieces of music. Thus prior prior to the 2th century we know comparatively little about how a working musician thought about the music he or she performed, or the process by which it was created. This situation parallels that of !edieval "urope, where authors also did not waste much time or precious parchment writing about what was considered to be mere technical craft.

#ut whereas in "urope the composition process gradually emerged as a separate craft apart from  performance, thus re$uiring “how%to” “how%to” manuals to train composers, composers, in China this this division of labor never occurred. Composition never became became as divorced from performance as in the &est, &est, and the composition  process appears to have have been much more more of an intuitive intuitive one whereby whereby performers derived derived new material material from old through performance. performance. The “theory” needed to compose compose in this manner is not a separate separate body of technical rules, but rather the holistic mastery of one's instrument, performance tradition, and cultural sense of aesthetics.

The Qin Pu or Pu or “(in !anuals” which were published by Qin teachers Qin teachers from the !ing )ynasty onwards *see chapter +, provided the literati with a kind of theory designed to reinforce a player's understanding understanding of this sacred instrument. -fter etensive etensive chapters in which the philosophical theories were epounded, epounded, they would then be applied, first in lessons on re%tuning the strings to play in different different scales or modes, and then in annotations to the actual actual pieces of music. #ut even in the numerous Qin Pu published Pu published over the centuries, the connection between theory and actual music%making was never specifically detailed, the authors  perhaps assuming in in true Daoist  true Daoist  fashion,  fashion, that “the theory which can be written down is not the true theory.” theory.”

Thus it is not until very recently, recently, when Chinese musicians began eperimenting with &estern &estern concepts of harmony, harmony, form and orchestration that we find in%depth treatises treatises on practical theory. theory. /n the 2 th century, as China opened western style “conservatories” “conservatories” of music, practical theory became a respectable academic sub0ect. &e &estern stern harmony and form were adopted enthusiastically enthusiastically by arrangers who added chordal harmony and bass lines to traditional pieces in the hopes of making them more “modern.” &e &estern stern orchestrational ideas contributed to the development of the modern traditional Chinese orchestra in that instruments were developed into “families” to more closely imitate the western orchestra.

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#ut music theorists also re%inspected the traditional Chinese repertoire with new attention to details of melodic construction, form and timbre and developed new ways of understanding the “intuitive” theory of the traditional performer3composer. They also re%visited the philosophical theories of ancient treatises and reinterpreted cosmic concepts such as the “five tones” and the “eight sounds” in modern terms useful to the working composer. /n this chapter, we will take a brief look at the diverse and still emerging field of Chinese music theory. Then, in the following chapter, we will apply some of these concepts to actual  pieces from the traditional repertoire.

Philosophical Roots The earliest writings to contain references to music% the Yi Jing  “Classic of Changes”, the Shu Jing   “Classic of 4istory”, the Chun Chiu “Spring and -utumn -nnals” and the Tso Zhuan “Tso Commentary,” date from the early 5hou )ynasty. The Yi Jing  presents a cosmology and a basis for decision%making based upon the concepts of 6ature, Dao and the principles of Yin and Yang. The other three present a kind of anecdotal history of events and ritual practices of ages past. /n these early sources musical terms derive from numerology, cosmology and nature.

 Ba Yin “The Eight Sounds

7rom the Ba Gua “"ight Trigrams” of the Yi Jing  were derived the Ba Yin “"ight Sounds”% the eight categories of natural materials out of which musical instruments were constructed. /t was believed all categories had to be represented in a ritual music ensemble in order to produce music in harmonious accord with 6ature. This Ba Yin system remained the basis for categori8ing instruments in China until the 2 th century. *See Chapter 9 on musical instruments

Through the Ba Gua, the Ba Yin were also associated with other aspects of cosmology, as shown below:

Trigram

Name

Attribute

mage

!ami"# $ember

Aspect

Season

Direction

Ba Yin

;ang Creative

Strength

4eaven

7ather

;ang

ressed #ell

In% 6amed

!iddle >ipe

7orest #ell

%in pitches

%ang pitches

The thirteenth generation comes very close to closing the circle with a pitch 0ust slightly higher than an octave above the original pitch )uang*hong . The fact that the circle does not perfectly close has been an endless source of irritation for numerologists in China and around the world, and a source of fascination for  their mathematical counterparts. The latter have investigated whether or not the circle would close to a  perfect octave after numerous further cycles of generation. -las it does notE #ut the fact that the system came close to closing after the twelfth pitch was enough for the Chinese to assume a correlation with the natural cycle of the twelve moons *months of the year and the double%twelve hours of the day.

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Charts like the following were common in musical treatises into the 2 th century:

2+

-scertaining the “correct” )uang*hong  pitch was obviously of critical importance in a musical culture which assumed that the universe resonated to a particular fre$uency, and it often took on political significance as well. /n their campaigns to discredit their predecessors and prove their own virtues, founders of dynasties usually commissioned research which determined that the old ruler had had the wrong pitch, thus leading his State to confusion and chaos. Surveys by modern scholars suggest that a new  )uang*hong  was determined at least F+ times between about 1 #C and DA -), with the pitch varying  between cD and aD.

Scales and Modes Scales

The five note scale *%u Sheng  consists of the first five notes generated by the system above and is the scale first mentioned in early sources. itches and Common /ntervals

 Zhi3 Shang3 Yu3  Jue3 Gong3

5hi%?ong%Shang'(hi fourth Shang'(hi%Yu(Shang fourth Yu(Shang %)ue'%u third f ourth )ue'%u%Gong(Jue Gong(Jue%5hi%?ong *leads back to beginning

 

7ourth

- piece of music does not always end on its “final” or “tonic” scale degree. Chinese theory refers to cadences on the final as Zheng Sha “complete stop,” in contrast to cadences on other scale degrees of the mode which are called Ce Sha “side stop.” Thus, 0ust as in &estern modal music, the last note of a piece does not automatically reveal its mode. Hther factors must be inspected such as the emphasi8ed pitches and the general $ualities of the melody.

To see how these concepts are applied in a piece of music, here is a famous piece which has been used as the basic structure underlying many pieces of traditional music.  &ao &iuban “Hld Si #eat” originally had si “measures”, hence the name si%beat. 4ere it is in its original form. *Though usually  played in the -iao “key” of ), it is presented here in C to match the mode charts above.

*-ssume ?ong J C

The piece uses the scale of Gong  *“)o” or C but the piece seems to revolve around the pitches Zhi  *“Sol” or ?, Gong  *“)o” or C, and Shang  *“=e” or ). 7urthermore it cadences on Zhi *? with an intervening “half%cadence” on Shang  *) and thus shows itself to be in the Zhi mode.

2+F