This set of sixteen gold chimes has a graceful and luxurious shape, showing the extraordinary style of a palace musical instrument and ritual vessel.
It can be cast with gold and can produce different tones. Therefore, this set of gold chimes has become an exquisite musical instrument, which is rare in the world.
Their craftsmanship and cultural relic value far exceed the weight of gold itself.
For example, the music "The East Is Red" played by my country's first artificial satellite was played by the golden chimes.
The sixteen chimes in the capital are now placed in two large glass cabinets and are on display in the Treasure Hall of the Palace Museum.
Thousands of Chinese and foreign people come to watch it every day.
Chime bells are arranged and assembled bells, with different shapes and sizes in each era. The Chime Bell of Marquis Yi of Zeng during the Warring States Period unearthed in Suizhou, Beihu, attracted worldwide attention.
There must be only one set of such a national treasure, and Chen Wenzhe will definitely not be able to get it.
He really didn't expect that he would get a set of Qing Palace gold chimes today.
And it is a complete set. A total of 16 pieces, large and small, were cast according to different rhythms.
Now if we look at the craftsmanship, there is no problem at all. Then we have to look at the connotation, that is, the rhythm and syllables.
In ancient chimes, chimes were distinguished by their size;
The golden chimes have a uniform shape and use different thicknesses to distinguish musical scales, which is particularly rare.
With experience in the casting of Jingyun Bells, Chen Wenzhe also knows something about ancient music.
Of course, the music of the Qing Dynasty is already very close to modern music.
As for bells and syllables above chimes, Chen Wenzhe is even more proficient.
Chime bells are large-scale percussion instruments in ancient my country, mostly used in major royal ceremonies.
This set of sixteen gold chimes has two dragon-shaped buttons on the top.
The middle part is engraved with cloud and dragon patterns, and the lower part has 6 raised round lips. When the round lips are struck, a sound can be made.
The intervals of different chimes are realized by adjusting the thickness of the bell body.
The thinner the bell body, the lower the pronunciation.
It should be noted that each bell has its own rhythm name engraved on the side.
This corresponds to the quadruple temperament, that is, the bass, and the positive twelve temperaments in Qing Dynasty music temperament.
These melodies are: Bei Yi Ze, Bei Nan Lu, Bei Wu She, Bei Ying Zhong, Huang Zhong, Da Lu, Tai Cu, Jia Zhong, Gu Xi, Zhong Lu, Ruibin, Lin Zhong, Yi Ze, Nan Lu
, no shots, answer the bell.
Among them, the Twelve Rhythms of the Qing Dynasty originated from the Twelve Rhymes of Lu Shi Chun Qiu.
The determination of the latter's musical name and its generation method contain very rich ancient scientific connotations.
In the field of acoustics, the relationship between pitch and frequency is: the greater the frequency, the higher the pitch; the smaller the frequency, the lower the pitch.
In physics, frequency is closely related to the length of the vibrating body.
Taking the flute as an example, the sound emitted by the flute is determined by its natural frequency.
The frequency is inversely proportional to the wavelength of the sound wave, and the wavelength of the sound wave is directly proportional to the length of the rhythm tube.
Therefore, the frequency of the tube is inversely proportional to the length of the tube.
When the diameter of the rhythm tube remains unchanged, the shorter the rhythm tube, the higher its frequency and the higher the pitch it emits.
Correspondingly, when the length of the temperament is reduced by half, its pitch increases by one octave.
The so-called "octave" refers to the interval between two notes of the same roll call.
For example, 1 (alto), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1 (treble) is an octave.
….
Zhou Gongdan wrote "Zhou Li", in which "Chun Guan Zongbo No. 3 Dian Tong" states that "any musical instrument is divided into ten and two rhythms."
That is, the sound produced by the musical instrument is determined by the twelve laws.
The "Twelve Rhythms" are the rules of musical rhythm set by the ancients.
That is, using the Huang Zhong temperament as the standard tone, one octave is divided into twelve semitones that are not exactly the same.
Lu Buwei and others wrote "Lu Shi Chun Qiu", in which the "Fifth Midsummer Ancient Music" records the origin of the twelve rhythms.
The Yellow Emperor ordered the music officer Ling Lun to compose the music. Ling Lun took bamboo from the valley, cut out a section three inches and nine minutes and played it.
He defined the sound it produced as the palace sound of Huang Zhonglu, and based on this, he made twelve bamboo tubes and adjusted the pronunciation of each tube to varying degrees.
As the benchmark of the Twelve Laws, Huang Zhong is closely related to the ancients' understanding of weights and measures.
According to Volume 21 (Part 1) of "Hanshu": the "degree" to measure length originated from the length of Huang Zhonglu tube, the "quantity" to measure volume originated from the capacity of Huang Zhonglu tube, and the "quan" to measure weight originated from Huang Zhonglu tube
of weight.
Once the rhythm of Huang Zhong is determined, it will not change with others.
Correspondingly, Huang Zhong temperament is the starting temperament, and other temperaments are generated based on Huang Zhong temperament.
Some modern scholars believe that using the yellow bell-tempered tube as the benchmark for weights and measures is equivalent to defining the benchmark length by the wavelength of sound waves.
Another pre-Qin ancient book "Guanzi" "Diyuan No. 58" records that "the first master was one and three, and the four were opened to combine nine and nine, so the head of Huang Zhong Xiaosu was born."
According to the description of this passage, the temperament value of Huang Zhong's temperament is: 1x34=81.
"Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" "Ji Xia Ji Sixth Music" contains: "Huang Zhong begot Lin Zhong, Lin Zhong begat Tai Ku, Tai Ku was begotten Nan Lu, Nan Lu begat Gu Xi, Gu Xi begat Ying Zhong, Ying Zhong begat Ruibin, Ruibin begat Da
Lu, when Da Lu is born, Yi is born, when Yi is born, Jia Zhong is born, and when Jia Zhong is born, Wu She is born, and when Wu She is born, Zhong Lu. If it is born with three points, it will benefit more than one point. If it is born with three points, it will be born with less than one point."
This passage illustrates the method of generating twelve temperaments: Divide the base temperament into three equal parts, and then add one of the equal parts to create a new temperament upwards;
If one part of it is reduced, a new law can be created downward;
Here, "upper birth" means the length of the vibrating body increases by 1/3, and "lower birth" means the length of the vibrating body decreases by 1/3.
According to the records in the book, the melodies of Huang Zhong, Tai Ku, Gu Xi, Ruibin, Da Lu, Jia Zhong, Zhong Lu, etc. belong to "Shang Sheng".
Rhymes such as Lin Zhong, Nan Lu, Ying Zhong, Yi Ze, and Wu She belong to "Xia Sheng".
The rhythms of "Shangsheng" and "Xiasheng" are collectively called the "Twelve Rhythms".
Because this method determines the pitch by increasing or decreasing the length of the vibrating body by 1/3, it is called the "three-point gain and loss method."
Of course, many people are not musicians and do not study music, so they don’t need to know much.
Now we only need to know that here, "Qing Huang Zhong" is the higher octave of Huang Zhong.
The order of the melodies from low to high is: Huang Zhong, Da Lu, Tai Cu, Jia Zhong, Gu Xi, Zhong Lu, Ruibin, Lin Zhong, Yize, Nan Lu, Wu She, Ying Zhong, Qing Huang Zhong
.
Among them, six odd-numbered tones, including Huangzhong, Taicu, Guxi, Ruibin, Yize, and Wushe, are Yang temperament, also known as "Six Rhythms";
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The six even-numbered tones, including Da Lu, Jia Zhong, Zhong Lu, Lin Zhong, Nan Lu, and Ying Zhong, are the Yin rhythm, also known as "Liu Lu".
The twelve rhythms generated based on the profit and loss method of three points are easy to express the beauty of the melody.
The three-point profit and loss method can be said to be the earliest method in my country that uses mathematical knowledge to find musical rhythm.
The determination of the twelve temperaments is the comprehensive application of ancient Chinese mathematics, physics, optics, surveying and other knowledge in the field of temperament.
The golden chime bells of the Qing Dynasty adopted the modified "positive twelve laws".
But the basis for its modification is the "Twelve Laws".
Therefore, it can reflect the rich science of ancient music and reflect the wisdom of the ancient working people.