The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-08-08
CHINESE MUSIC.
From Cassell,. History Of Music.

From CasseIs History OF Music.
In turning our attention first OF al
10 the Chinese, we find that the origin
of music with them, as with all other
nations, is in close affinity with that ot
! religion. The Chinese builds his world
upon the harmonious action of the
heavens and earth; regards the anima
tiOn of all nature, the movements o1
the stars and the change of seasons as
| grand world music. in which every
| thing keeps steadfastly in its appoint
I ed course, teaching mankind thereby a
/ wholesome lesson. One of the found.
| ers of their religion, Fo-Hi, is believed
/ to be the inventor of the kin, a
| stringed instrument still in use in
| China. The close relationship that
originally existed between the
constitution of the state and music
is also clearly shown in Chi
nese history. All their music has
from time immemorial been under state
supervision, in order to guard against
the stealthy introduction of any tone
contrary to ordinance. Here we al
ready meet with the pernicious infiu-
| ence of bureaucratic, pedantic state,
as well as that of the prosaic character
of the Chinese, upon their music. Both
features are exemplified in the names of
the notes Of their Oldest musical scale,
which consisted of only five tones, from
Z to d, omitting the b.
We viii now endeavQr to describe
Chinese music by noticing some of its
prominent features. Among the Chi
neSe the art of music has ever remained
an object either of diversion or OF spec
ulation. 1t has never revealed to them
the language of the heart and intellect.
Nevertheless, they draw a distinction
between sound and noise. The period
at which the five-toned scale was en-
larged to seven tones has been described
by Chinese theorists as the commence
ment of the decadence of their
musical system. They ascribe to
their mythical bird, 'Fung-Hoang,'
and his mate, the invention of tones
and half tones; the six whole tones to
female. Such a creed comedies with
their notions of man and woman. The
whole tones represented to them things
perfect and independent-as heaven,
sun and man; the half tones as things
imperfect and dependencies earth,
moon and woman. The enlargement
of the scale to seven tones was owing
to the insertion of the two half tone
Z and B, which were called leaders
to T and C, and they possess also, for
the modern cultivated ear, the quality
of resolving themselves into the half
tone above, acting at the same time as
mediators, and filing up the void be-
tween d and F-A and c.
The Chinese wind instruments are
fewer in number than those of percus-
sion.
The oldest of these, the hiuen, is in
the shape of an egg. 1t is made of
earthenware, open on one side, with
five ventages, which give the five
tones of the oldest Chinese scale
Speaking relatively, the most
elaborate of Chinese wind instruments
is the cheng. 1t is the most pleasing
of their instruments, and serves as a
standard to tune other instruments. 1t
has for its basis a hollowed-out pump
kin, which serves the purpose of wind
receptacle, in which are twelve to
twenty-four bamboo reeds, placed
closely together in the circle. The per-
former blows into the curved cylinder,
opening and closing the ventages with
his fingers. Among their instruments
of the flute type, mention should be
made of the 20, which is played from
the top like the clarionet; and the
tsche, played like the modern flute.
They also possess the pan-pipeS
called siao. Their martial instruments
include various trumpets with fun
mel or knob-shaped bells. Their
orchestra is but sparsely recruited
with stringed instruments of their own
invention, for the mandolins and
guitars which they use are more proba-
bly, of Persian or Hindoo than of Chi |
nese origin. The only Chinese stringed /
instruments are the kin and che. the /
former a very primitive guitar, of a
pear shape. usually strung with four /.
strings, and having inside it some me- 1
tallic bells which make a Changing ac-
to the sound of its |
strings: while the che, literally trans |
lated the wonderful" Is a table 1
psaltery, nine feet in length, contain
ing twenty-five strings. Both are evil
IDENTIFY of great antiquity, and are said
to have been invented by Fo-Hi, but
the che Is tho -lore impor-
tant.