Music Communication In Wei, Jin And The Northern And Southern Dynasties

This paper investigates the music communication in Wei, Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties from several perspectives.Chapter One presents the historical backgrounds of music communication in Wei, Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties from two aspects: the situation of music communication before this period and the social and historical backgrounds in this period. It can be inferred, according to historical records and legends, that music communication can be dated back to Shang Dynasty and West Chou Dynasty. Later, the communication with definite historical records can date from Qin and Han Dynasties. The opening of the Silk Road in West Han Dynasty promoted the introduction of music in West Areas to Central Plain Area. At that time, the Central Plain Area had little music communication with eastern and southern neighboring countries.Chapter Two states the situation of music communication in Wei, Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In that period, social turbulence and political changes within the state frequently happened, as a result, people from minority areas moved to the Central Plain Area. With the movement of minorities in the northwest areas, some folk music popular in the minorities, such as Xian Bei, Qiu Ci, Shu Le, Xi Liang, and Gao Chang music etc., and foreign music, such as Old India, An Guo, Kang Guo, Old Korea and Yue Ban music etc. were introduced to Central Plain Area continually and have been popular for a long time. Among all kinds of the music, Qiu Ci music was the most representative one, which influenced Chinese music in the central plains a lot. With the introduction of foreign music, many foreign music compositions and musical instruments were also introduced. Although western music had been introduced gradually to the East in Han and Jin Dynasties, yet it was historically recorded that it actually happened after Wei and Jin Dynasties. In addition to Pipa and Shu Konghou introduced to Central Plain Area in Han Dynasty, many other new musical instruments in West Areas, such as Pipa with five strings, Feng Shou Kong Hou, Bi Li, Xiao, Jie Drug, Da La Drug, Ji Lou Drug, Dou Tan Drug, Mao Yuan Drug, Tong Ba, Bei, etc., were introduced to the same area,. Almost all the musical instruments played in the Northern and Southern Dynasties were mostly from West Areas. The introduction of music from the West Areas to the east has enriched the music in Central Plain Area. More importantly, Su Dipo, a musician of Qiu Ci music in North Chou Dynasty, introduced "Pipa Qi Diao" theory to Central Plain Area, which influenced the music in this area a lot. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, not only were lots of music and dances in West Areas introduced to Central Plain Area, but also many musicians in West Areas came to Central Plain Area where they took up the western music and dance for a long time and contributed a lot to the introduction of wonderful music and dances in West Areas.Chapter Three analyses the influence and significance of music communication in Wei, Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. During Sui and Tang Dynasties, Yan Yue music was unprecedentedly prosperous. The system of Qi Bu Yue and Jiu Bu Yue was established in Sui Dynasty. Yan Yue music in Tang Dynasty totally inherited Jiu Bu Yue of Sui Dynasty in the very beginning, and then it developed into Shi Bu Yue. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong in Tang Dynasty, the music was divided into Zuo Bu Ji Liu Bu and Li Bu Ji Ba Bu according to the performance. Meanwhile, there were such important performance patterns as Da Qu, Fa Qu, San Qu and Gu Chui Yue and so on. Compared with the prosperity of Yan Yue music, Ya Yue was abandoned gradually by the ruling classes who paid much more attention to luxury in music and fell into decay step by step. The prosperity of Yan Yue in Tang Dynasty can't be separated from the effect of the introduction of music from the West Areas to the East in Wei, Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Yan Yue music in Sui and Tang Dynasties was comprehensive and full of varieties, among which the music of minorities (including those from foreign countries) took a large amount. Among the lists in Qi Bu Yue and Jiu Bu Yue music in Sui Dynasty, all were the music of foreign nations or countries except Qing Shang and Li Bi music which had already been introduced in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The music of Zuo and Li Bu Ji were based on Qiu Ci music, but lots of music and dance were developed into a new type of music with the combination of the western music and central plain music. The tune of Zuo and Li Bu Ji music commonly adopted Qiuci and Xiliang music, which showed how deeply the music of minorities affected the culture of music in Tang Dynasty. What's more, Yan Yue Da Qu incorporates things of diverse nature, that is, it absorbed a large number of folk tunes as well as good aspects of Daqu, which made it develop with the characteristic of "Za Yong Hu Yi Li Xiang Zhi Qu". The dancing part in Daqu performance mixed with many characteristics of Qiuci music. For the orchestra, Yanyue music in Sui and Tang Dynasties absorbed the accompanied music and pattern of Qiuci music. Among the orchestras of Qingyue, Pipa and Konghou were the two main musical instruments. Sometimes the main Qiuci instruments such as Pipa, Pipa with five strings, Big and Small Bi Li, Yao Gu, Tong Ba even were played at the same time, accompanied by other musical instruments, which formed an almost complete bound of Qiuci music. The establishment of Yan Yue system was great influenced by music in West Areas, and Wu Dan Qi Diao was the theoretical basis of 28-Tune System. The of 28-Tune theory meets the need of the communication between Chinese traditional music and the foreign music in West Areas, and it is a milestone in history during the development of ancient musical tones and scale modes in China.