River of Music: A Visual History of Music in the World

Author: Li Mei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: History is not just a pile of time, events, or so-called facts, but a record of the course of human life. As an art form, music of any era reflects the inevitability of the time it emerged from and embodies the character traits of its creators. Studying the history of music focuses on deciphering the thoughts and emotions that drive changes in musical forms, with historical facts serving only as a basis. The intrinsic motivation behind the evolution of musical forms is the passion of human nature.
Excerpt: Physical associations related to the origin and development of music Although the history of singing is far older than that of instrumental music, the significant role played by instrumental music in the evolution of musical forms and singing skills is undeniable. As mentioned earlier, the story of "Ge Tian's music" provides us with more than just insights into how ancient humans viewed and used music—it also reveals some information about the origins of music. The phrase "dance while singing" indicates that this musical dance was performed with the accompaniment of one's own body. In Figure 2, people are dancing on a painted pottery basin from the Neolithic era, their movements uniform, suggesting a unified musical rhythm. People could stomp their feet, clap their hands, or pat their buttocks. Before humans truly invented musical instruments, these actions became the oldest "instruments." Such movements, born from unconscious actions, continued to exist in national cultures after gaining symbolic meaning. It is said that the ancient Egyptian word for "singing" had the basic meaning of "performing with hands." From some ancient Egyptian paintings, we can see singers accompanied their singing with hand gestures. These gestures either guided the music or supplemented its content, but in either case, they must have been in harmony with the music's tempo, lightness, and weight. This at least demonstrates how ancient the formation of one of the essential elements of music—rhythm—must be! Today, we cannot know exactly how music originated, or rather, we do not know how or when singing began. In its earliest form, the melody was certainly not as complex as it is today. This can be imagined from some lyrics recorded in ancient texts. In the "Yu Shi Chun·Yin Chu Chapter" of the Lü Shi Chun, there is a love song by a devoted woman, which is perhaps the first love song we know today: "Yu walked the path, met the daughter of Tu Shan. Before meeting Yu, he toured the southern lands. The daughter of Tu Shan ordered her maid to wait for Yu by the northern bank of Tu Shan. The woman sang a song, saying, 'Waiting for the person, oh!' Truly, she began the southern music." The longing in the song of the Tu Shan woman is now beyond our reach. These ancient texts are also the imagination of the ancients about the activities of even older people. They passed down many oral traditions to us through writing. While primitive humans expressed their emotions through singing, their voices dissipated into the air and remain untraceable to this day, but instrumental music has left us many traces.