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Zhejiang Folk Instrumental Music
2006-7-4 11:23:40
     Zhejiang folk instrumental music can date back to ancient times. In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods (770-221 B. C.), Guiji (the present Shaoxing) used to be the capital of the Yue State, so places around Zhejiang were of great strategic importance in the war between the Wu State and the Yue State. Judging from the cultural relics unearthed in the past years, the musical culture of the Central Plains (comprising the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River) had begun to spread in Zhejiang at the time. Among the important pieces of the cultural relics are the Yong Bell with cloud-and-thunder decorative patterns of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 B. C.) unearthed at the end of the 1950s around Caolou Village of Changxing, and the bronze cymbal of the Western Zhou Dynasty unearthed in 1986 in Pan'an. The serial bells (a set of 7 pieces) unearthed in 1969 from Jiangshan mountains and the bronze Zheng (bell-shaped gong used in march) unearthed in 1977 in Shaoxing belonged to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B. C.) or the Warring States Period (475-221 B. C.). What's more, primitive porcelain Yong bells (13 items), Gou Diao (12 pieces), and Zhun Yu (2 pieces) were excavated from a Warring States tomb in Mt. Huangjia of Changchuanba, Haiyan, and some primitive pseudo-bronze serial bells were excavated in Chongxian of Yuhang. In March of 1982, a 170*130*115 mm. copper model house was excavated from a Warring States tomb in Mt. Lion of Shaoxing. In the house were 6 musicians, with 4 instrument players and 2 singing girls kneeling on the ground. The vivid and lifelike figures displayed a scene of singing and dancing with a band.
image Bone Whistles
    From the Qin Dynasty (897-221 B. C.) to the Han Dynasty (206 B. C. ¨C A. D. 220), the Central Plains were the political, economic as well as cultural center of China. But in the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty (265-317), a great many northern people moved southward. They not only opened up new eras for Zhejiang economy, but also greatly enhanced Zhejiang culture in that folk instrumental music began to thrive. In recent years, Shaoxing, Yuhang, Wuyi and other places alike unearthed in bulks celadon burial furnishings of the Jin Dynasties (including the Western Jin Dynasty (265-317) and the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420)), on which there were figures of people beating drums, playing instruments, dancing and performing vaudeville. We can infer from the carefully playing musicians that this is a scene of "Bai Xi (variety shows)", which was fully developed in the Han Dynasty and grew richer in content then.
image
Two-holed Bone Whistle
Three-holed Bone Whistle
Two-holed Bone Whistle
   
Single-holed Pottery Xun image
     In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the celebrated calligrapher Wang Xizhi wrote The Preface of Lanting Collection in Shanyin (the present Shaoxing). It could be inferred from it that instrumental music had already been flourishing among common Zhejiang folks by then. According to Deqing County Annals written during Emperor Kang Xi's Reign, there were Qian Xi (Front Stream) Workshop and Hou Xi (Back Stream) Workshop in the south of the county. They were home to many famous performers of the Southern Dynasty(420-589). The number of the workshops reached to several hundreds in the Tang Dynasty(618-907). (note: Qian Xi is called Yuying Stream today and now lies in the south of the town of Wukang). So this area used to be an important training place to foster music talents. Besides, the General Anthology of Yuefu Poems (compiled by Guo Maoqian of the Song Dynasty) listed 7 Qian Xi Songs written by Shen Wan (or Shen Liu) of the Jin Dyansty. They specified the 15 musical instruments as bell, Qing (chime stone), Qin (a seven-stringed plucked instrument), Se (a twenty-five-stringed plucked instrument), Konghou (harp, an ancient plucked stringed instrument), Zhu (an ancient stringed instrument), Zheng (flat stringed instrument with anc. five and later thirteen strings), Ji Qin (a ancient plucked instrument), pi-pa (a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard), Jie Gu (an ancient drum), Sheng (a reed pipe wind instrument), flute, Xiao (a vertical bamboo flute), Chi (an ancient eight-holed pipe instrument), and Xun (an egg-shaped, holed wind instrument). So they amounted to quite a medium sized band for accompaniment.
image Burial furnishing made by Yue's kiln
   
image Primitive porcelain Yong bells
     In 610, the Great Canal was opened for transportation. It contributed to more frequent economic and cultural communications between the north and the south. Zhejiang became more important to the country day by day. Hangzhou, as the terminal of the Great Canal, had become a renowned city in the southeast for the precious, the rare and the rich. Bai Juyi described such pomp in his poem Moon of the Lantern Festival: lamplights light up every fair and every household flows with songs and music; the forgotten moon misses its home back, but still is reluctant to leave the glamorous Hangzhou. At the time, singing with musical accompaniment was quite commonplace.
     Ci (classical poetry conforming to a definite pattern), which shaped in the Tang Dynasty and prevaild in the Song Dynasty, used to be called Qu Zi Ci (tuned Ci) or Za Qu. This type of folk songs was a great appeal to the scholars of the time. They would offer to compose a poem to a ready tune or even write new songs, thus providing rich singing materials for the city and the palace. The popularity of singing also pushed the growth of instrumental music. During the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, many celebrated Ci writers as well as musical talents used to reside and work in Zhejiang, such as Su Dongpo, Zhou Bangyan, Zhang Xian, Liu Yong, Jiang Kui and Zhang Yan. They left behind a substantial number of  Ci poems and Qu (a genre of verse to be sung, originating in the Southern Song and Jin dynasties, and becoming popular in the Yuan Dynasty) verses. Judging from their names, the Qupai tunes (tunes to which a Qu is composed) played now among the folk originated from the Cipai tunes (tunes to which a Ci poem is composed) in the Tang (618-907) and Song dynasties, because many still retain the same name.
image The copper model house made in the Warring States Period
     The Southern Song Dynasty witnessed a further economical development in the capital Lin'an(the present Hangzhou) and the resultant cultural growth. To meet people's increasing needs for culture life, 23 Wa She, assemblies for entertainment, were established in Hangzhou. Besides, there were 13 Gou Lan for folk artists to perform in. The programs included singing-and-dancing, singing-and-talking, local operas, acrobatics, martial arts, so on and so forth. The instruments could either be played for accompaniment or solo performance. The player could conduct the performance in Da Yue (grand music), or Xi Yue (refined music, an instrumental ensemble of Xiao, Sheng, Qin and Fang Xiang), or Qing Yue (clear music, an instrumental ensemble of Sheng, Bi Li - the Tarter pipe, Fang Xiang, Xiao Ti Gu - drum, Pai Gu - drum and Zha Zi), or Xiao Yue Qi (mini band of one or two instruments) or Gu Ban (drum and clappers, with flute playing the tune). (Refer to the issue of "musical department of Qianchun Workshop" in The Past Stories of Wulin.) Artists had the professional organizations called "She Hui (society)". There were dozens of musical or singing-and-dancing societies in Hangzhou, for example, Qingyin and Eyun. (Refer to Chapter One of Meng Liang Lu written by Wu Zimu of Song Dynasty.) Especially on holidays like the Lantern Festival, the performances were in full swing. "Lantern light and music was everywhere", "whoever knew how to play would bring out their instruments and give performances", and "all the public houses for drinks hung out lanterns, played music and beat the drums to the loudest." (Chapter one of Meng Liang Lu).
image Bronze Cymbal (ancient musical instrument used in the army, resembling an inverted tongue-less bell)

    

     The art of ancient Qin (a seven-stringed plucked instrument), which was prevalent already before the Tang Dynasty, reached another peak in the Southern Song Dynasty. The "Zhejiang School" led by the outstanding player Guo Mian (approx 1190 ~1260, alias Chu Wang, local born in Yongjia) was the most influential. His students Liu Zhifang, Mao Minzhong, Xu Yu and Yang Zuan all became excellent players of the generation and contributed to the preservation of traditional music and the creation of new musical works. The magnum opus of Guo Mian included Xiao Xiang Shui Yun (Clouds Over Water In Hunan Province), Fan Cang Lang (On Dark Blue Waves), Qiu Hong (Autumn Swan Goose), etc. In the "Zhejiang School", Xu Yu founded a branch, the four generations of which were all well-known player until the Ming Dynasty. The "Zhejiang School" became the most important one in Qin's circle of the country since the Song Dynasty.

    

The rise of za ju (comical performance in the Song Dynasty, which evolved into a poetic drama in the Yuan Dynasty, consisting of our acts and occasionally a prelude before the first act or an interlude between acts, with each act comprising northern opera melodies of the same tune and rhythm and spoken parts; poetic dramas in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which was not limited to only four acts) in the Song and Yuan (1271-1368) Dynasties served as another stimulus for the development of musical art. Xi Wen (alias Wenzhou Za Ju or Yongjia Za Ju), which originated from among the common folks of Wenzhou, Zhejiang during the Xuanhe Years (1119~1125) of the Northern Song Dynasty, after blending with many elements of northern dramas in the Yuan Dynasty, helped bring about the summit in the opera music history in the Ming and Qing dynasties, along with which was the birth of a great many local operas in Zhejiang. At the same time, singing-and-talking music came to a boom around Zhejiang. The folk instrumental music took in many Qupai tunes from operas and singing-and-talking (including tunes and drumbeats) for independent instrumental performance. What's more, inspired by them, it produced many large-scale instrumental music cycles. Suona horns (a woodwind instrument with seven holes on the obverse and one the reverse of the tube) appeared then and their extensive use played an important part in the development of the "blow-and-beat" music, the main music genre of Zhejiang.

image Pei Er Gou Diao of the Spring and Autumn Period, unearthed in Shaoxing in 1977
     The "blow-and-beat" music, featuring the use of Suona horns, was played extensively on ceremonial occasions or important holidays in Zhejiang since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In his book Memories About the Dreams in Tao Hut, Zhang Dai of late Ming Dynasty mentioned Suona horns in particular for several times when he tried to record customs around Hangzhou and Shaoxing in such articles as Bao Han Suo, Mei Shi Tang Deng (Lanterns in Mei Shi Hall), Shaoxing In A Sea Of Lanterns, Harvest Moon on the West Lake, and Yue Customs - Sweeping The Grave (pay respects to a dead person at his tomb). And during the reign of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the folk painter of Pujiang, Li Weixian (1825~1907) painted a colored drawing of people playing instruments, vividly reproducing the real scene of the folk "blow-and-beat" music.
     Besides, the pi-pa solo which became popular among the folks since the Tang and Song Dynasties, engendered many genres in the Qing Dynasty due to different terrains, teachers, the pedigree of music scores and different performing styles. In Zhejiang, many famous pi-pa players presented themselves. In the 18th century, Chen Mufu of Hangzhou was known as the pi-pa master of the "Zhejiang School". He excelled at playing Da Qu like Zhaojun Yuan (Zhaojun Took The Leave), Bu Bu Gao (Higher Each Step), Ba Wang Qie Jia (The Defeat Of Xiang Yu - the powerful prince in ancient China), Yue Er Gao (Moon Hanging High) and Hai Qing Na He (Hai Qing Catching The Crane). The pi-pa players of Wuxi, Jiangsu, Hua Wenbin (1784~1859) and Hua Wengui compiled The Private Copy of Pi-pa Music Scores of Northern and Southern Schools (abbr. Hua's Music Scores, published in 1818), which was the first pi-pa music score officially published in the nation's history. The music they collected was primarily from Chen Mufu of the "Zhejiang School" and Wang Junxi of the "Zhili (Hebei) School. Li Fangyuan (or Zufen, approx. 1850 ~1901) of Pinghu was the most celebrated pi-pa master of his time. He compiled Thirteen Cycles of New Da Qu Pi-pa Music Scores of Northern and Southern Schools (abbr. Li's Music Scores, published in 1985), and included some music that were not found in Hua's Music Scores. Li was particularly careful in marking the fingerings, which was good for the spreading of pi-pa playing skills. From his great-great-grandfather to him, all the five generations played pi-pa. They were called the "Pinghu School", a very influential school around Zhejiang.
image Drum Boat
    When it comes to the ancient Zheng (a Chinese zither with 25 strings), Wang Yuncheng and his son enjoyed great reputation in Zhejiang, according to another player Wang Xun. Around 1900, their students like Jiang Yinchun rose to fame and were especially good at playing Da Qu. In 1920, Jiang taught Wang Xun several pieces of Da Qu music such as Hai Qing Na He (Hai Qing Catching The Crane), Jiang Jun Ling (General in Command ) and Yue Er Gao (Moon Hanging High).
     After the liberation in 1949, the music staff of Zhejiang compiled and published A Selection of Zhejiang Folk Instrumental Music, A Selection of Zhejiang New Instrumental Music in Thirty Years and The Collection of Chinese Folk Instrumental Music-Zhejiang Volume one after another. These large amounts of artistic inheritance laid a solid foundation for the production of new works. The flute solo Morning , composed by Zhao Songting in 1955, combined features of both the tender River South and the bold North. Zhao was invited to play the solo at the 6th World Youth Festival. The dance music of Picking Tea Leaves, composed by Zhou Dafeng in 1958, was received very warmly for its beautiful flowing melody and its distinct flavor of the region. The Paean Of Fishing Boats adapted from the instrumental music Zhoushan Gons and Drums had become the repertoire of many Zhejiang art troupes on their trips abroad. It was awarded the gold medal in the folk music contest during the 7th World Youth Festival. Since 1985, Zhejiang has produced many excellent programs through every music and dance festival. For instance, Primitive Hunting Scenes composed by Qian Zhaoxi used a bone whistle copy of the one unearthed from Hemudu of Yuyao as the leading instrument and won the first Zhejiang "Excellent Product Award of Lunxun Literature and Arts".
image Drum Set
    Zhejiang folk instrumental music not only has a long history, but also has a great variety. It falls into the following categories: Si Zhu featuring the combination of stringed instruments and pipe instruments, Chui Da (blow-and-beat music) known as the "Gongs and Drums of Eastern Zhejiang", Cu Chui Luo Gu (roughly blowing with gongs and drums) featuring Suona horns, Xi Chui Luo Gu (delicately blowing with gongs and drums) featuring flutes and Luo Gu (gongs and drums) featuring solely gongs and drums.
     According to ways of performing, Zhejiang folk instrumental music can be classified into solos and ensembles. Solos can be further divided into those for pipe wind instruments, for stringed instruments and those for plucked instruments while ensembles can be further divided into Si Zhu (featuring the combination of stringed instruments and pipe instruments), Chui Da (blow-and-beat music) and Luo Gu (gongs and drums).
     Solo: In Zhejiang history, both talented players and excellent pieces of music came forth in great numbers. Judging from the collected material, Xiao (a vertical bamboo flute) is the most important instrument for the pipe wind kind, Er-Hu (urheen) for the stringed instruments, pi-pa (a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard) and San-Xian (Chinese trichord) for the plucked instruments, each having established their master players and magnum opus. The following were a few examples of them: Song Jinglian and his wind instrument solo Partridges, Sun Wenming and his Er-Hu solo Flowing Waves, Li Fangyuan of the "Pinghu School" and his Thirteen Sets of New Da Qu Pi-pa Music Scores of Northern and Southern Schools, Zhu Guangrong and his San-Xian solo The Wave Road.
image Gong Set
    Ensembles include Si Zhu (featuring the combination of stringed instruments and pipe instruments), Chui Da (blow-and-beat music) and Luo Gu (gongs and drums).
     Si Zhu: is the music that combines the use of stringed instruments and pipe instruments like flute, Sheng (a reed pipe wind instrument) and Guan (a wind instrument). Ban-Gu (a small drum), Mu-Yu (wooden fish ¨D a percussion instrument) and Peng-Ling (clinking bell) are often used to beat the thythem. Occasionally, gongs and drums are used to make several sounds for certain artistic conception. Si Zhu is an important breed of Zhejiang folk instrumental music, with different subgroups for different areas. Single music is most common is its structure and variation is often added in its repetition part. There are also many music cycles in "South Yangzi String and Pipe Ensemble", constructed together by interlinks of several singles or derivational ones from one single.
     Performance and development of Zhejiang Si Zhu centered mainly round the northern Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou plain. History of Jin Dynasty¡ªMusic Annal pointed out that Zhejiang was within the coverage of Wu songs. Most of the 15 instruments used by Qing Shang Yue (a music genre) were bamboo pipe instruments and stringed ones. Xi Yue (delicate music) of Hangzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty featured solely string and pipe ensembles. So Si Zhu, especially South Yangtze String and Pipe Ensemble, was the most popular kind of music in the area.
image Ancient Pavilion
     The "South Yangtze String and Pipe Ensemble" began to prevail in south Jiangsu, north Zhejiang and Shanghai in the last years of the Qing Dynasty. Little by little, it had its own music and distinguished itself from others as being rich, delicate, relaxing, small-scale and flexible. It extended its influence from the self-entertaining play in the cities to the vast rural areas and was heard on ceremonial occasions and holidays. It was mainly composed of folk music. There are "Eight Chef-d'oeuvre" frequently played in northern Zhejiang, namely, Lao San Liu, Man San Liu, Zhong Hua Liu, Man Liu Ban, Huan Le Ge (happy song), Yun Qing (celebration of clouds), Xing Jie (parade) and Si He Ru Yi (good luck). The number of the players in the band varies from 2 (with only one string and one pipe) to 10. The city music differs itself from the rural one. In the city, the scholarly or the well-trained players emphasized dazzling fingerings and wanted their music to be as graceful, splendid and delicate as possible, whereas in the rural areas, the countrymen liked to use gongs and drums to make their music simpler, wilder, and more straightforward.
image Drum Pavilion of Sheng County
    Chui Da: is a main music genre popular among Zhejiang folks. It is also called "Gu Chui (drum and blow)" in the area. It got the title "Gongs and Drums of Eastern Zhejiang" as the music there was most varied and with most distinctive local features. It is a combination of pipe wind instruments and percussion instruments such as gongs and drums. Stringed instruments are often added into the music. Music featuring Suona horns is called Cu Chui Luo Gu (roughly blowing with gongs and drums); music featuring flutes is known as Xi Chui Luo Gu (delicately blowing with gongs and drums). If necessary, Xian-Feng (trombone) and Hao-Tong (copper clarion) can also be worked into the band. Chui Da is so closely related to life that people cannot do without it on ceremonial occasions and holidays. In the old times, a Chui Da band was always an indispensable component in the rituals when people prayed to god, worshiped ancestors and conducted office duties.
     According to recordation in Meng Liang Lu of the Southern Song Dynasty and Memories About the Dreams in Tao Hut of the last years of the Ming Dynasty, Chui Da was extensively applied in Zhejiang. Some musical compositions had a long history. Legends had it that Zuo Tong Luo of Huangyan was handed down from the Song Dynasty while Hua Luo Gu of Dongyang dated back to the Ming Dynasty. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the thriving of operas and folk arts had great impact on the development of Chui Da music. So far, it is very common for Chui Da music and operas to have homonymous music pieces or share the same piece with a different name.
     In addition, most tunes of Zhejiang Chui Da originated from the popular opera music of the area (for example, Kun Qu, Wu Opera, Shao Opera, Ou Opera, Diao Qiang and Beijing Opera) and some folk songs.
image A Set of Ten Gongs
    Luo Gu is the music of the sole use of percussion instruments as gongs, drums and cymbals. It is popular around Zhejiang and is used extensively. As another performing form of "Gongs and Drums of Eastern Zhejiang", Qing Luo Gu (clean gongs and drums) used a greater variety of instruments, amounting up to more than 30 kinds. Through different sound levels and pitches produced by different instruments, the players added rich rhythms and variation of forces to the music, thus creating the wanted atmosphere to express their feelings.
    The combination of instruments differs from area to area and from tune to tune. The most common is the quadriad of a drum, a small gong, a big gong and a cymbal. And other instruments popular in the area might be added to the music. For example, as a frequent case in Ningbo, one more player is needed for a set of four drums, and another is needed for a set of ten gongs. In Jinhua, Su Luo (gongs of Su) and Da Bo (big cymbals) are customary, while the number of the instruments can be adjusted to the situation.
     The music piece for Luo Gu is usually quite long, composed of many different Luo Gu tunes. It is performed according to the characteristics of each tune, the overall arrangement and the directions of the conductor. In the old times, it was often played on ceremonial occasions, in the grand parade of Lantern Festival, and in or before the performance of some local operas.
image The artist playing the Four Big Gongs