Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-03-20
TIE MUSIC OF CHINA.
THE SONGS AND SONGSTERS OF
THE FlOWERY KINGDOM.

THE SONGS AND SoNesTERs OF
THE FLoWERY KINGDOM.
eiples-The Higher the Notes the Worse
the Inf.iesion-Poruiar SonSs-A List of
Nerve-RAsping Instruments
In the golden DAYS Of China the musical art
and lis professors held high distinction, hut
now 70 be q musician. the author tells US is
the lowest calling man can profess. There
IS still. however. AZ Pekin, board OF music
connected with the board Of rites, but the
officers seem little anxious 10 distinguish
themselves Once serious music was s,udied
with the classics. but Is now totally
abandoned The common people, however,
deligh, in music, and love song-beatings and
clarioaet shriekings, but they do not play
themselves The professional musician Is
blind man
Mr. Macfarren tells Us that instruments Of
percussion were first invented, then those
giving sounds by wind, and lastly by the
vibrations Of strings. The lus. a seTies Of
bamboo tubes. the Chinese declare 10 b the
first instrument We have drawing az the
twelve tubes making the lus, and every ether
tube is shorter, short tube being piso-i be
tween two longer ones. OF coursc hloNin-,
them in Succession makes a fearful sainat. AZ
least TO our ears Ii Is al ASCENDING sale
but with many unfortunate intervals We
have seen nCs quoted by Mr.. Van AssSi, tins
exact measurements of the f-e;s on Chiii-3>,
guitar. They are arbitrary in their slSt.1ags.
II Is well known that the higher the note ac
ceptable to the European chat Is. Ia slit our
ears the smaller is the spacing.
The great Chinese master who lRhi down
the law for this spacing, 50 We Rad, foGid
the seeds OF d peculiar kind Of melol lie
laid down one ssed on the iinserscard, ami
said that space Is one note. Iaeii n moved
the s.sed its length on the fiaserbcart. I1ialie
fret there, and declared that that must l. t.'e
next note So this me,hodical musical sage
shortened strings. and 50 n ganut was gwen
TO China, foundcsi not on nlssoiic Vibrations,
but on linear prineIpleS
THE HIGHER Yoy GO THE WORSE II Is
When you try scale the inst thr,c o. IoGi
notes do YOU but very slight aural injury hti'
the higher you go up the worse Is the min
ton The notation is not readily l;t isrS;o -
the author stating that tine Chimes ;.seoFe.i'-
ally admit seven sounds IN the sale, ;''i
practically only use five As In the Naiur a.
the notes. the Chinese have nothing i;iiiica,i'e
Of this The best Chimes muSi-i1n c''ai;
only con lecture the general form Of q written
piece shown him for the iirSt tins. To te
able 10 decipher il he must first hoaF u
PLAYED We can understand from this Lo"
blind musician fills all the necessary Chimes
requirements.
To play as YOU please Is 90 keep Ca'nfes
time. for the tunes, mosiiiisd b. ia.,S.dn %
taste Of the performer, may after a lap
time become quite different from what u
were originally Satisfied with n Ieriia'o'si
scale, with no fiat nor sharp. in th,- G.
Chinese find all the variations which soi-,
their musical tastes. Whether they hsy
major or a minor scale has been dasPai i. d
Mr.. Van Aalst say they mix both g.
As TO the refinenents of cresce,.d0'. dcT.7 '-I-
dos legatos. that Is all Italian 10 the Ch,..'-.
To sing in China is to Use the nos. loi 'i'
teeth and lips pronounce the syliab!,vs, La' i'
nothing else. With voix de tete the v3lt-
squeak. and very disagreeablc thing It
hear them.
/ In the book may IL found several exam 'ie'
/ of Chinese popular songs, but We CO..
whether any American publisher 81 'i
will ever pirate then. oar
il entitled Wang Tali.das. O..
Madame Wang PLAYED on tine ;4a-o g..
ung monotony is its salient tTais-t.l i.s,
otony of musical stupidity Mr. S;cai,
| u,o,., NJ, Interesting article enti.l.i ~C'a.4.
vric.s y has reprei,c,sl tn. not..s of tait e..
tic,,lar song and he writes: ~Howrvrr ..-
pie or absurd any song ! intruiGco NAV
,.,ar clair, tina, IL pos.s.sss equal, if not
.,r;or advsn,as-,.s To our own popular s.,.i.,
We coz, M. ,e-r,.. with Mr. Stcnt-that l.
,.,,r.r,s the s,.,,.,rneus az Chimes. spna,, h.-
tofore pr.s,.ntei sCap,lin JInks of tF
! Horse N,rines- is as the "Moonligh. Soma.
10 aNadame Wang What We do tuiik
ho,xa,a, Il .ba, The words Of This snp, ar. G..
a uucb higher ue.ti,,aI character tina -
o,r own In one song entitled, Mama b. b
mineral 20 mamma. YOU un.isrz:....i
we'll :, there Is some very very fl..nt aJ,p-p. o.
IN ,,nefplness-but only feebl., suggssti,,n.
Chimes, must be fond of thesc soars. n ",
are told that some Of them have I,-ty-..- 20
verss. In a funeral or n wedding match -
nres sions Of grief or Joy are utterly M
tinpuishaile
cISpprps. rRrAxsIrs. GovDs A-p LHf
AZ 10 the instrument. there .-r z-'s
Guitars n partisnlarly absurd tr.sst-i
v;olip aut.s' a teieseopir kind OF ,r,-.i ..
long trumu.t cytnl,als. clapfsrs. a. .l...
with congs and drums in endiss5 tsEiet
Elegant Chinese Of a former jcrioI u-s.
play ON the china long kind o: ziher g.
has seven strings. Once there were Ell
with fifty strings bat a very s-,asii..c en-
peror-Huang Ti-hayins beard a Ms $
uerform ON il, was impressed ~ ,iuepl, g..
became SO sorrowfui hy IL means thai
made up his mind that hc couli Only stau..
one-half Of his emotion and live. ha hal s'
imrsria, order issued, whereby this iTsi
nent was deprived @. twenty five ~ b.
strings The erh-hsicn. or tcf,-string~i we
lin l. me, with all over China The ns--k = D.
I r.. -, ..,-,,,.,- m. .,,na.l in af,hs 4 ~
Ingenious and drea,fflliy coinpliraf,.' -ril 81
a,gara,u,s mus. be the yaag-,h'iu, .-
barus,chord. IL is zither-iike tn -.