For example, pottery xun is an important ancient musical instrument.
The Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties all had this kind of ancient musical instrument - pottery xun.
More than 20 round fish-shaped colorful pottery xuns with three sound holes have been unearthed from the Huoshaogou site in Yumen City, Gansu Province, my country;
Two five-note hole pottery xuns were unearthed from the Yinxu tomb in Liulice, Nenhehui County;
Some five-tone hole pottery xuns were unearthed from the Houjiazhuang ancient tomb in Anyang, Nanhe.
The discoveries of these pottery xuns all represent ancient musical instruments from the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, and have been further developed.
As ancient as Tao Xun, there are also stone chimes.
The earliest stone chimes discovered in my country are from the late Longshan Culture sites in Yu County, Nanhe, and the Erlitou Culture sites in Yanshi, Henan.
Xia Dynasty stone chimes unearthed from the Xishan Xiangfen Taosi Tomb and the Dongxiafeng Site in Xia County.
Although the surface treatment is not ideal, after testing, it was found that the pitch is almost perfect.
The most representative stone chimes of the Shang Dynasty are the dragon-patterned stone chimes and the tiger-patterned stone chimes unearthed in Anyang, Nanhe River.
The stone chimes at this time were very beautifully made and quite impressive.
The most important thing is that after testing, its sound is very rich and gives people a pleasant and beautiful feeling.
In addition, chime making was also very popular in the Shang Dynasty.
The music development of Xia, Shang and Wednesday dynasties was very prosperous, and among the ancient musical instruments, drums were naturally inseparable.
Drums can be divided into drums and bronze drums.
The drum generally refers to a drum made of crocodile skin. It is a very ancient musical instrument in my country.
A drum was unearthed from the ancient tomb of Xiangfen Taosi Temple in Xishan.
Its shape is very unique, and there are exquisite patterns painted in four colors around the drum body.
According to archaeological experts' speculation, the drum was an important ritual instrument used by the tomb owner during his lifetime.
The bronze drum is a very important percussion instrument and ritual instrument in ancient my country. It is generally used in banquets, music, dances and wars.
The earliest bronze drum in my country was unearthed in the Shang Dynasty. The drum surface has a pattern similar to that of crocodile skin, and the body of the drum is engraved with exquisite double birds.
Bells and drums are not divided into different families. If there are drums, there will naturally be bells.
According to ancient documents, the earliest clock in my country came from the Xia Dynasty, but unfortunately, no real object has been found in archaeological excavations so far.
Among the bell-type musical instruments, there are also cymbals and braided cymbals. According to archaeological excavation records, we know that large cymbals and braided cymbals already appeared in the Shang Dynasty.
Some cymbals are single pieces, and some are made into sets of three or five pieces. The large number of cymbals unearthed is amazing.
Finally, there is the copper bell, which is a very ancient type of musical instrument in my country.
Its shape is very similar to that of a bell, but it is much smaller.
The earliest copper bells in my country first appeared in the Shang Dynasty. They were mainly used as musical instruments. Sometimes they were also used on cars and horses.
The specifications of copper bells vary. The upper part of the bell generally has ring-shaped ears, which can be hung with a rope. There are two iron balls inside the bell.
Whenever it is played, the iron beads inside the bell hit the wall of the bell, and the sound is crisp and sweet, very pleasant to the ear.
After excavating so many ancient tombs, we found a lot of copper bells. Bronze bells are really normal.
The most famous percussion instrument among them is definitely not the above, but the chime.
Chime bells are large-scale percussion instruments in ancient times. They emerged in the Zhou Dynasty and flourished in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period until the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Our country is the earliest country to manufacture and use musical clocks.
It is made of bronze and consists of oblate bells of different sizes arranged in order of pitch and suspended on a huge bell frame.
Using a T-shaped wooden hammer and a long stick to strike the bell separately can produce different musical tones.
Because each bell has a different tone, if you strike it according to the music score, you can play beautiful music.
A set of copper bells with different pitches are hung on a wooden frame, and the maids beat them with small mallets to play music.
According to documentary records and unearthed cultural relics, it was found that my country had chimes in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
The chimes at that time were usually composed of three large and small pieces.
From the late Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, the number of bells gradually increased, including groups of 9 bells, groups of 13 bells, etc.
Chime bells consist of several bells of different sizes, hung on a wooden frame in order, organized into one or several groups.
The pitch of each bell is different.
Due to different eras, the shapes of the bells are also different, but the bell bodies are all painted with exquisite patterns.
The sounding principle of chimes is generally that if the chime body is small, the pitch will be high and the volume will be small;
The bigger the bell, the lower the pitch and the louder the volume.
Therefore, the size and shape during casting have an important impact on the chime.
The variations in the photos that Chen Wenzhe saw were very eye-catching.
This set of chimes is large enough to occupy the entire stage of a modern concert hall.
Looking carefully at one of the photos, this chime bell is composed of 19 button bells, 45 Yong bells, and a large chime, a total of 65 pieces.
These clocks are divided into 8 groups on 3 layers and hung on the bell stand.
The three groups hanging directly on the upper level are called button bells, and the five groups hanging diagonally on the middle and lower levels are called Yong bells.
The smallest one is 20.4 centimeters tall and has a mass of 2.4 kilograms.
The reason I know this is because it is marked on the photo.
Chen Wenzhe had made copper bells before, also thought about making chimes, and even studied them seriously.
Therefore, he knew that these chimes should be genuine.
Because it's not genuine, it's usually not done so professionally.
As soon as Chen Wenzhe saw the shape of these chimes, he knew the role these chimes could play in performance.
For example, a button clock can play a role in setting the tone.
This cannot be concealed, because some clocks are very large, so he can see many details very clearly through photos.
For example, the largest bass bell is 153.4 centimeters tall and has a mass of 203.6 kilograms.
This puts the total mass of this complete set of chimes at more than 2,500 kilograms.
Unfortunately, the bell frame has almost rotted away.
However, judging from the photos of the excavation site at that time, the bell frame is made of copper and wood.
Its appearance is in the shape of a right-angled ruler (such as ┏), with a total length of more than 10 meters, three floors up and down, and a height of 273 centimeters. It is supported by 6 bronze warriors with swords and several columns.
The whole set of chimes and beams is magnificent and spectacular.
During the performance, the band consists of several people, using 6 T-shaped wooden hammers to hit the high and middle notes, and two long sticks to hit the bass.
Based on other archaeological discoveries, Chen Wenzhe knew that each bell in this kind of chime could produce two different tones.
As long as you hit the marked position on the clock accurately, it will emit a sound that conforms to a certain frequency.
The entire set of chimes can play the sounds of all the black and white keys on a modern piano.
Such a set of chimes is well preserved.
It can be said that the whole set of chimes is decorated with human, animal, dragon and other patterns, and the casting is very exquisite.
It has detailed and clear patterns and is engraved with gold inscriptions to indicate the tones of each bell.
It can be seen that as far back as more than 2,000 years ago, my country's music culture and casting technology had developed to a very high level.
It is nearly 2,000 years earlier than the European twelve-well-tempered keyboard instrument.