Literati and scholars regard Qin as an ideal spokesman for self-cultivation, family harmony, governing the country and leveling the world. It is even regarded as one of the symbols of literati. This happened for a reason, and after a long time, it became a pattern and a tradition of literati's attachment to guqin. Therefore, the Book of Rites says that "scholars do not withdraw their harps and instruments for no reason".
Confucius also said: "Being rich in poetry, standing in ceremony and enjoying it." [1] Confucius regards mastering music as the symbol of literati, and guqin is one of the symbols of literati's "playing chess, painting and calligraphy".
Some of the early guqin were 3 feet 6 inches, and it was called 4: 360 a year. The five strings are connected with the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, and it is believed that guqin has these five elements. Coupled with the two strings in the relationship between monarch and minister, Qin bears the ideal of social ethics.
In the pre-Qin era, it was a foregone conclusion that guqin was idealized and personalized, and later generations continued to strengthen and consolidate it. Guqin is a composite carrier of music and literature, morality and cultivation, ethics and nourishing the heart. It is endowed with strong utilitarian and political factors, and the long-term existence of this situation has formed the aesthetic view of China literati and even the whole people.
Guqin has formed the form of seven strings and thirteen emblems at the latest in the Han and Wei Dynasties. Later generations basically continued its shape, string number and emblem position. The exposition of guqin in past dynasties, the creation of guqin music and the display of guqin in different dynasties are of great significance for us to grasp the specific trajectory and aesthetics of guqin.
First, Qin in history.
As far as music archaeology is concerned, guqin has been unearthed from Chu tombs in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and there are many records in ancient books.
According to the records in Shiben and the Book of Rites, people attribute the makers of guqin to sages and monarchs such as Fuxi, Huangdi, Yao and Shun, or brag about the mysterious measures taken by great men to rule the world by playing the piano.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ying Shao's "Custom Pass" said: "Those who have seven strings can also practice seven stars". Cai Yong's "Cao Qin" said: "The big string is the monarch, the small string is the minister, and the king of Wen and the king of Wu add two strings to welcome the grace of the monarch and the minister."
Guqin was originally composed of five strings, and then two strings were added to form seven strings. In addition, the relationship between the monarch and the minister is tied on two strings. It seems that in distant ancient times, "Qin" has already carried social ethics and moral thoughts.
The "Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest" in Wei and Jin Dynasties praised guqin and talked about the prevalence of metaphysics. Guqin not only absorbed the ritual and music style of Taoism, but also had the atmosphere of seclusion, Taoism's "inaction" and Confucianism's "promising", so Guqin began to synthesize the essence of Confucianism and Taoism in the Han Dynasty. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the literati, represented by the "Seven Sages in the Bamboo Forest", indulged in mountains and rivers, stayed away from the world, cultivated their self-cultivation, and did not talk about state affairs, so that the literati had more psychological support for guqin. At this time, there have been many guqin songs, such as Guangling San, Chua's five lanes-spring outing, green water, deep thinking, sitting and worrying, and Ji's four lanes-Changqing, short Qing, long side and short side. Guqin was more prosperous before Sui Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, although there were many poems, scores and music about guqin, due to the spread of western music to the east and the invasion of Lehu to the south, the achievements of guqin were very small compared with the artistic peak of the whole Tang Dynasty. Judging from the poems and other documents in the whole Tang Dynasty, most of them are not praising guqin. For example, "Guqin has no vulgar rhyme, and no one listens" [2], "Who knows that Guqin and Yuzhu in the box are upside down. ], "I don't care about playing for you, but players don't listen" [3] and so on.
Guqin in the Tang Dynasty was unknown in the music of Hu. People like lively and dynamic Hu dance and Hu music, and Guqin's quiet literati character is obviously incompatible with the pulse of the whole Tang Dynasty. Although Le Hu is prosperous, Guqin is still an ideal instrument for literati to cultivate their self-cultivation. In the Tang Dynasty, although guqin was not as prominent as other musical instruments, there were still many musicians devoted to the manufacture of guqin. In the Tang Dynasty, there were 13 people who made guqin, including Lei Xiao, Wei Lei, Lei Yu, Lei Xun, Lei Wen, Lei Sheng, Lei Zong, Schiller, Lei Sheng and Lei Huan. Guo Liang, Zhang Yue, Shen Tie, Zhao Feng, Li Mian and others. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty was still considerable. The famous Qin dynasty in the Tang Dynasty has been handed down to this day: the legacy of the Great Sage, the light thunder, the nine clouds, the dead wood dragon, the flying spring and so on.
In the Song Dynasty, the guqin received official attention, and there was a piano-making bureau in the palace, and there were methods of making the piano handed down from generation to generation, which were recorded in the Complete Works of Taiyin and the Record of Qinyuan. Scholars also chant guqin: "God is idle, he must be. When all is silent, the world is still. Jade refers to the ice string. The intention of the palace merchants has passed, and the wind is sad. Release the eternal meaning of Liao Liao. Go back to sleep. The sound of the night is in my ear. " [4]
In the Song Dynasty, the imperial court attached great importance to Pu Ge, among which Ye Pu and Jiangxi Pu were very famous. Qin Le includes Xiaoxiang and. There was a Zhejiang school in Guomian at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. He once collected a large number of folk piano scores, and later compiled 15 piano operation scores and 4 music scores.
The History of Qin written by Zhu in Song Dynasty is an important monograph on Qin history, which contains a large number of historical materials of Qin people. This is one of the symbols of the Song people's heavy piano.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, he sponsored Mao and Xu to learn from Guo's disciples and ordered the compilation of Xia Zi Dong Pu (13). Mao created the fisherman's song, the woodcutter's song, Liezi, Zhuang Zhou's Dream Butterfly, Yu Hui Tushan and other works.
The official Qin-making Bureau in Song Dynasty includes Zhu, Wei Zhongzheng, Jin Dao, Chen Dao, Ma Xiliang, Ma Xiren, Shi, Gong Lao and Mei.
Qin Song has famous pianos such as Bing Xin, Yu Hu Bing, Hai Yue Qing Hui, Wan He Ge, Ming Feng and Chun Lei.
The Yuan Dynasty was basically the aftermath of the Song Dynasty. Xu and his son Xu Qiushan trained pianists in the Yuan Dynasty. They compiled the musical score of He Xia Wai and sorted out the musical score left by Mao, which created conditions for the emergence of Yushan School.
In the Yuan Dynasty, there were famous pianos, such as Yunxin and Chiang Rai. Few people make pianos, only Yan and others.
Guqin in Ming Dynasty seems to show signs of revival in the whole history of China. In the Ming Dynasty, there were many famous pianos and many people who made them. Including: Hongzhi Imperial, Home Plate, Tao, Frost Bell, Banana Leaf and other famous musicians.
Famous piano players are Zhang, Zhang, Zhang, Zhu Quan, and so on.
In the Ming Dynasty, apart from Zhu Quan, You Zhu and others, there were different piano schools, and their respective piano playing art and manufacturing technology were outstanding in the piano field.
Ming Taizu also met Xu of Zhejiang School, Xu of Song School and others. At that time, it was famous for Xumen in Zhejiang and Liumen in Jiangxi.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was the Yushan School in Changshu, also known as the "cooked school". The founder was Yan Cheng, and the cooked school was clear, subtle, light and far.
Theoretically, in the early Ming Dynasty, Leng Xian's Sixteen Methods of Piano Sound and Xu Shangying's West Mountain Piano Situation elaborated the aesthetic standards of guqin in detail.
The spread of guqin in Qing dynasty changed slightly: the Guangling School was formed in Yangzhou from the aesthetic point of view of Yushan School. Xu often comes into contact with the genealogy of Chengjiantang, which has been handed down to this day. His two sons, known as "Jiangnan Xu Family" (and), processed and sorted out biographies of Shu School, Shu School and Wu Pai before they got the genealogy of Wuzhizhai and Jiaopu. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qin schools competed with each other and showed their magical powers. There was a saying that "Jinling's sudden measures, gradual preparation, Changshu's quietness, three Wu's implication, West Shu's ancient strength, and Eight Fujian's passion" [5].
In the Qing Dynasty, the piano-making industry contracted, and only Yang, Yang, Yang, Yang and others. The famous piano has only been handed down from generation to generation as "Sea Dragon" and "Remnant Thunder".
There are Zhu in Pudong, Zhang Kongshan in Fan Chuan and Yang Zongji in September 1st (Yang Zongji is also the author of the series). Wang Puchang and Wang Yimen of Zhucheng School and jing wong of Lingnan School all had some biographies, which were very popular in the world at that time.
There were also many musicians in the 20th century, such as Shu School and Zhejiang School. After liberation, Guqin also had a place in the Conservatory of Music, and the state also specially collected and sorted out the integration of piano and music, and preserved a large number of ancient music.
Second, the Qin family's view of guqin.
The traditional aesthetic concept of literati was formed very early. Confucius learned the piano and talked too much. Cai Yong, a scholar and pianist in the Han Dynasty, wrote Wu Nong. Ruan Ji, Ji Kang in Wei and Jin Dynasties, and later Tao Yuanming all had an indissoluble bond with Guqin. Tao Yuanming's representative Qin chanting: "But why bother to sing on the string when you are interested in the piano?" The influence of its string piano is far-reaching.
Bai Juyi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote the most pipa poems. He said, "When the birds are out of the moon, you can sit in the open Woods, so that you can play the pipa. Cold is inevitable from wood, and it is suitable for people. " [6] When playing, it is "slow, dozens of sounds in the middle of the night." Qinqin can entertain itself, or it can entertain itself: "If you want to be calm physically and mentally, it is better to listen to people play it yourself." Bai Juyi wrote 10 many poems about Qin, such as Abandoning Qin, Fu Deng Zhang Che Falls, Listening to Qin, Listening to Lan, Playing, Listening to Ancient Green Water, and Playing Farewell to the Crane for Mrs. He, because she understood it, added four sentences according to the rhyme. Recently, I have gradually become so happy that no one listens. The piano case is so free and easy that I show my determination not to bow to the world.
In the aspect of music aesthetics, Qin Lun is the first to promote the situation of Xishan Qin. Through years of artistic practice, Xu Shangying comprehensively summed up the aesthetic principles of guqin and put forward 24 situations, namely: harmony, quietness, purity and distance; Old, light, quiet and relaxed; Elegant, beautiful, bright and colorful; Clean, moist, round and firm; Macro, fine, smooth, healthy, light, heavy, late and fast; Guqin's playing style, fingering skills, music requirements, music processing and other aspects are all involved. It can be said that he combined the basic views of Confucianism and Taoism. Advocate to neutralize this sound, otherwise the ancient road will be difficult to recover, and its true taste will be gone. Over time, skills are lost. The requirement for inner feelings is "calm and carefree, but intoxicated"; In this way, you can "be quiet and far away" and "turn around calmly" and ask the outside world that "the mountains are quiet and autumn, the moon is high and the forest is high, the wind is far from the Buddha, and the stone is cold." The final general requirement of Xishan Qinpu is the word "He Qing".
The Qin family's theories are very rich: there are also the sixteen laws of the Qin dynasty: "light, loose, crisp, slippery, high, clean, clear, empty, secluded, strange, ancient, soft, harmonious, sick and slow"; Su Jing's "Eight Laws of Guqin" has the principles of "getting the feeling, following the festival, adjusting the qi, refining the bones, picking the tone, making clear the spectrum and reasoning, and arguing the school". Jiang Wenxun's Essentials of Qin Xue and Chen Youci's On Qin also have incisive expositions, both of which are opinions of one family.
With the continuous development of history, Qin is no longer an ordinary musical instrument, but carries the ideal personality of Confucianism and the natural spirit of Taoism. The cultural connotation of guqin is many times richer than its music itself. Almost all literary interests have been transplanted to guqin, such as the charm, implication and artistic conception of guqin, which proves that there are more problems in Confucianism and Taoism in guqin.
Third, the embodiment of Confucianism.
Let's first look at the names of various parts of the guqin.
Guqin has a wide head and a narrow tail. There is a forehead on the head, a "Moon Mountain" and a "Lu Cheng" under it, and a "shoulder" and a "waist" under it, which is obviously anthropomorphic. There is a "dragon glue" on the tail. The styles of the whole piano are Shennong wind, Zhongni wind, Julian wind, sunset wind and copulation wind, among which "Zhongni wind" is the most common. From the naming of this part, it is not difficult to know that the whole Qin Dou is soaked with the efforts of literati. The name of Qin and its shape alone have profound meanings.
Secondly, Confucianism's "great joy and easy way" [8] and "the golden mean" are embodied in the performance and appreciation of guqin. Confucius once said about guqin: "Harmony is the festival, so your son is gentle and centered to nourish his vitality, which is also called the wind of public security." Xue (Tang Dynasty) said: "Ordinary people only see that using fingers is light and profitable, and they are rewarded for their warmth, endless rhyme and beautiful sentences. I don't know if people with lofty ideals play it, and the sound and rhyme are all taken. " [9] It is impossible to be thunderous with your fingers light and not crazy.
This shows that the Confucian doctrine of the mean has penetrated into the guqin.
"Music can be kept secret, and the piano is the most suitable. This gentleman has his Xiu De, so he is very close. [10] "Confucianism emphasizes morality and cultivation. As a symbol of ideological personality, scholars must always restrain themselves. Therefore, many scholars and poets practice piano exercises. In the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu composed ten piano pieces with different brave customs: Guiguicao, Yaolancao, Guishancao and Yuetangcao.
If Qin has a strong Confucian personality thought, perhaps no one will object, but only in this respect, it may be one-sided. The bearing capacity of guqin is quite huge, and the Taoist character is also incisively and vividly in it.
Fourth, the pursuit of Taoist spirit.
Guqin is noble, clean, elegant and elegant, which coincides with the will of Taoism. Taoism especially emphasizes the unity of truth, goodness and beauty, and pursues the liberation of human nature, but it also pays attention to nature, peace of mind and spotless.
First of all, it embodies the super-utility of Taoist view of nature. Taoism is not as utilitarian as Confucianism. It labels everything on the piano, without attaching much personality and historical content. Taoism advocates nature, which is reflected in Qin's music from the very beginning. Mountains, flowing water, loose wind, flowing springs in the Three Gorges and wild geese in Pingsha are all full of the charm of Taoist spirit, such as forgetting fish. Appreciating the guqin is also the first to relax and be happy without burden, so that everything can be truly heard and separated from the heart.
Secondly, Taoism pursues "Loudness is good, elephants are invisible." [1 1] It is emphasized that people should return to nature and pursue the joy in nature instead of red tape and respect the voice of nature. Give the piano a little lighter than this. "Why use it to play? Feng Xian talks to himself." For example, "A string without a piano" says, "Three feet is lonely and ancient, among which it is quiet and interesting. Just from the heart, not between the lines, holding hands and crossing your knees, forgetting to nod. Sun Deng still has nothing to say, just a little more. " Only in this way can we "sum" [12].
Therefore, to play the piano, we must first "calm down the basic qi, clarify the heart, slow down and be far away from the spirit" in order to achieve mutual "mind and bones stay in the cold, body and mind desire." For example, "Zhuangzi Ying Di" said that "the mind is bright and bright, and the heart is closed in the desert", which has reached the state of "involving in space, making something out, and entering nothing".
Confucianism values morality, while Taoism values "meaning". This kind of meaning is "artistic conception" and "spiritual thinking", which is beyond words.
Third, Taoism pursues self-cultivation. We should not only play naturally, but also appreciate naturally, and appreciate it with a mentality. The pursuit of man and nature is the unity of subject and object, and "harmony", "quietness" and "indifference" are the great beauty pursued by Taoism.
In a word, Confucianism personified the piano and asked people to get close to it. Taoism needs peace of mind to convince people with the piano. Now, Confucianism and Taoism are integrated into the Guqin. Confucianism and Taoism have parted ways several times, and it is difficult to become * * * knowledge in many things, but Guqin has formed the fulcrum of * * * for this reason, which is quite interesting.