Origin Of Chinese Music

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Recommended: chinese music and western music

Chi Shing Yeung
Prof. Keitel
Music 121
April 5, 2014
Chinese Music
The origin of Chinese music can be track back to 7,000 to 8,000 years ago due to the discover of remains of instrument .In Xia Dynasty, in 2,000 B.C. , Chinese music began to be visible in recorded history. Back then, only the royal families and dignitary officials enjoyed music and the music was used for performing rituals since Chinese music was part of the Confucian tradition. In Confucianism, music is one of the six art(六藝), which includes calligraphy, etiquette , riding , archery, mathematics and music. During the Tang Dynasty(618-907), dancing and singing became the mainstream, which made music not a privilege to rich people anymore, it spread from the royal court to the common people. Also, with the influence from foreign religions such as Buddhism and Islam, their music were also absorbed into Chinese music. In Song Dynasty(960-1279), the original opera such as Zaju and Nanxi was formed and performed in tearooms, theaters, and showplaces. Chinese opera had been developed rapidly and diversely during Ming (1368-1644 ) and Qing Dynasties ( 1644-1911). The Chinese opera became very wide spread, different regions have developed their own opera style.
Unlike western music which focus on beats, rhyme and melody, Chinese music ,as part of six art of Confucianism, pursues balances, the beauty of nature and become the part of nature. Chinese music is based on the ancient Chinese pentatonic, five-tone musical system which are classified as Keng, Shang, Chueh, Chih, and Yue. According to the Chinese musical theory, the five-tone musical system are connected to five elements that construct the world and inner working of man, which are metal, wood, water, fire and...

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...te. In old times, most flutes were made of bamboo, which allowed even common people to play it. By covering the holes and blowing through the side hole while moving the fingers flexibly between the six holes, a sound will be produced that is leisurely and mellifluous like sound from far away. This always reminds people of a pastoral picture of a farmer riding on a bull while playing a flute
Traditional Chinese music is based on five tone scale, uses musical instrument to produce unique sounds that affect the variation in tone quality, beat rhythm and embellishments that are very different from western music. Modern Chinese music more frequently employs music lyric to evoke feelings. Like Modern Western music that can be classified according to genre, namely, classical music, country music, pop music, modern Chinese music follows this classification

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