Upload
1000su
View
215
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/17/2019 Untitled Extract Pages - Copy (5)
1/1
»
CHINESE MUSIC.
sound
rendered
was
the
perfect
fifth,
whicli
in
our
Western
music is
also
expressed
by tin
ratio
of
3
to
2.
The
second bamboo
being
treated
on the same
principle,
produced
a
third
tube
measurhi
exactly
two-thirds of
the length,
and
giving
a note
a
perfect
fifth
higher
than that
of
the
second
tube.
This
new sound seeming too
far distant
from
the
first or
fundamental
note,
the
length
of
the producing tube
was doubled
(that is,
four-thirds
of the second
tube s wliole
length
was
taken
instead
of
two-thirds),
and the
note
became
an octave
lower.
All
the
tubes were
cut on the
same
principle,
the
relation
of
3
to
2 representing
the
liarmony
existing between
heaven
and
earth.
They
engendered
one
another
and
always
measured
two-thirds or four-thirds
of the
whole
length of
their
generator.
The
Ms
were
therefore divided
into
two classes,
the
[^ ^
(yang
liis) and
the
[^
g
(yin
lus), or
males
and
females,
positives
and negatives,
perfect
and
imperfect.
According to
the
^ H
(I King),
chaos
was
divided into
two
parts,
yang answering
to
male
energy, and
yin
corresponding
to the female
principle.
All that is
strong
and
superior
is
ycmg
;
yin indicates
dependence,
inferiority.
Everything in
Nature
belongs to
one
of
these
two grand
categories,
from
whose
combinations
and reciprocal
action
results
all
that
exists
or
rakes
place
in
the universe.
The
lils i,
3, 5,
7,
9,
and
11 were
considered
as
yang; the
even
numbers were
classed
as
yin;
but
it is
well
to
remark
that
these
distinctions
did
not at
all affect the
tones,
and were made
simply
to
please
the
Chinese ideas of
the
time.
Other
comparisons
were
dra\A n
between tlie 1
2
/
m.s,
the
1 2 moons,
the
1
2
Chinese
hours,
etc. ^
The
first
tube, which was
considered
as
the
basis,
the generator
of
all
the
others,
received
the
name
^ ^
(huayig-chung).
The
sound
produced
by
it
was named
^
(kv/ng),
and
became
the tonic
or
key-note
of
a
kind
of
semi-diatonic
scale of
12
degrees,
nearly
identical with
our
chromatic
gamut, the
only
difference
being that
our scale
is
tempered,
while
that
of
the
Chinese
is
left untouched.
Temperament
denotes
a
small,
and
to
the ear
almost
imperceptible,
deviation
from
the
absolute
purity
of
intervals
which compose our
scale.
It
is well
known
that 12
perfect
fifths
employed
within the space
of
an
octave (like
the
12
Chinese
sounds)
exceed
the
ratio
of
the octave,
or
that of
2
to
i,
by
the
ditonic
comma,
a
small interval
expressed
by
the
ratio
of
531,441
to
524,288.
Our ear is so
constructed
that it
cannot
endure
the excess
or
deficiency
of
a
whole
comma
in any
interval
without
being offended,
and therefore
it has
been
found
expedient
to
diminish
each
fifth by
one-twelfth
of the
ditonic comma, instead
of diminishmg
only
one
fifth
by
the
entire
comma.
That
is what we call
temperament in
Western
music, and
it is
the absence of
it that
causes
some
of the Chinese
intervals to
appear
to
us either too
high
or
too flat. We
will prove
mathematically
the
difference
when
speaking
of
the
diatonic
scale.
The
following
diagram
will illustrate the
lils,
giving their
names,
the moons,
hours,
etc.,
to
which they coiTCspond,
the
musical sounds
they emit (supposmg
huang-chung
to
give
our C), their
corresponding
notes
in our
music,
etc.
The
liis
follow
each
other
at
the interval of half
a tone.
H
^
fl
S
±
T
te ^