The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-01-28
A Strange Music.

One evening the family gathered to
hear the family talk about the strange
music of China. Mother brought in her
sewing, and improved her mind and the
chi'drens' stockings at the same time.
But Maud and Arthur sat on the lounge,
one on each side of Uncle Herbert. devot-
ing their attention to him.
Il suppose we ought to begin at the
beginning" said he, "slnce Chinese mu.
SIC is said to have been invented by per
son wHom you have often read about He
was Emperor of China about 1850 B. G.,
or nearly 5000 years ago. The Chinese
called him 70 HI, but some of our own
people suppose that he really was Noah.
who lived about that time. The Chinese
also hold that much of their music was
brought to them from Heaven by a bird
which they named the 'Foang Hoang.'
This was supposed to be a very fortunate
Mrd, which never appeared anywhere
else but in China, and, whenever it came,
1t brought good luck with it. 1t appeared
whenever a good emperor was born, and
its nest was wrapped in mystery, for no
one knew where it dwelt.'
"Why, that's something like the Phe-
nix, that the Greeks used to believe in. {"
! said Maud. . -.... ~.
eyes, there is resemblance; perhaps
the Greeks borrowed their bird from the
Chinese one. This bird appeared with
It's mate, when Ling Lun, by the order Ct
the Emperor Hoang Ii, was making bis
first Inventions in mussc. It sang to him
In SIX tones, while It's mate also used six
different tones, making a scale contain
ing twelve notes, Just like our chromatic
scale. But the Chinese only use five of
these, and call the others female tones.
In China everything female is thought to
be useless" ~.
"Havent they got topsey-turvey ideas!'
said Maud. -
"Well, in this case they are open to
that suspicion. The singing of the
'Foang- Hoang' was such beautiful music
that it caused absolute goodness in every
one who heard il, and its songs had the
beautiful name of 'Tsie-ven.' Temperance
and Mercy He had large drums beat
at various hours OF the night to tell what
O'Clock it was; he composed, also, many
songs. The earliest EN- perors all studied
music, but it was with view OF teaching
their subjects good manners and morals.
The songs were sometimes only direc-
tions when to plant seeds, how to catch
hsh, how to behave in company, and so
on. Sometimes, the words are to keen
the emperor's own duty in mind. Thus.
ono begins: The breeze of mid day
brings warmth and dlspels sorrow. NAV
it be the same with Chun, NAV he be the
joy and consolation of his people,
Another emperor-Yu, the great,
used musical instruments for a very good
purpose. He placed before his palace a
large and small bell, drum, gong,
and tambourlne, and any person hav.
ing business with him, would be admit
ted on striking one Of these. By various
sounds: he could tell before seeing him,
the nature of his visitors business. The
large bell meant that the person was
coming to complain of an injustice: the
small one was for private visitors; the
drum told that the business was about
the manners or customs Of the empire
the gong, public misfortune; the tam
BOURNE asked for the emperor's judg-
ment in regard to some crime. China
possessed some very patriotic songs at
this ancient date. and when, at later
period GAS B. O. an usurper won the
throne, he was more afraid of the music
than of anything else. He thought that,
by reminding the people of their good
emperors, they would be encouraged to
resist him. So he had the ancient books
burned, and tried to destroy the works Of
the great philosopher, Confucius. All the
instruments of music were broken up and
new ones made, and IN every way he
tried to root out the old'songs and tunes.
Those who tried to conceal anything