General Introduction to the Traditional Chinese Pipa Music Culture

Author: Hu Qipin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: The vast and profound musical theory materials of China have undergone a long feudal society. Due to the intricate interweaving of music theory with pitch, teaching, musical theory, calendars, divination, and other diverse matters, it is not surprising that the essence and dross are mixed. The first and foremost important task is to use modern scientific methods and techniques to sort them out, in order to refine the essence and discard the dross, and to distinguish truth from falsehood. In A Comprehensive Introduction to the Traditional Chinese Windpipe Music Culture, the author proposes the following new viewpoints:
1. For the study of windpipe pitch classification, the text advocates a combination of musical archaeology and literature verification, musical history materials and foreign acoustics theories, and acoustic physics techniques. It emphasizes the integration of theoretical argumentation and restoration (pipe making) and verification, and on this basis of "integration" research, it pays attention to the sublation and advancement of traditional economic methodologies.
2. After elaborating on the evolution of the windpipe from a hunting tool and daily household item, through to totem worship and ritual instruments, and finally to a pure windpipe instrument, the author provides a multi-layered and comprehensive examination of the origins of ancient Chinese windpipes, the forms of windpipe music theory, calculations, and developmental history. This strongly refutes the "Western Origin Theory of Chinese Windpipe Music."
3. The application of the "double and half generation" (octave) of string music theory to windpipes of the same diameter results in a pipe length ratio of 9:4. By inversely examining the ancient practice of "matching sounds with the ear" to create music theory, the author pushes this pipe length ratio from the previously proposed Qing Dynasty scholars Xu Shou and the Kangxi Emperor back to the Sui Dynasty's Liu Zhuo, the Jin Dynasty's Xun Xu, and even to the Lüshi Chunqiu compiled in 239 BC. Based on the foundation of pipe making and sound verification, as well as numerical calculations and comparisons, the author ultimately concludes that Xun Xu of the Western Jin Dynasty's Taishi period was the great discoverer of the 9:4 ratio.
4. The author proposes the possibility of the application of ancient Chinese twelve-tone windpipe music theory and seven-tone windpipe music theory in musical practice. Etc.