Research On The Funeral Music Of Songmutang

This subject studies the funeral music in Sonmutang town,Taojiang county in Hunan Province, Starting with the processof the folks funeral, this article emphasizes on the funeralmusic and describes the related theories through microcosmicfield-study.It analyses the geographical and cultural background of thehistory of funeral music there and the operation of the music,and the noumenon and tries to discover the cultural meaningsimplied in it.The paper is composed of three parts: the document of thefuneral, the analysis of the noumenon and the thought of themusicology and sociology theory.The religious rites in Songmutang originate fromtheBuddhism Yoga Fire Food. The used music is aria andinstrumental music. Aria is made up of praise,Buddhist hymn,Bai,Zhenyan, and Buddhism codes; instrumental music includes《Qixingnao》,《Yuzhanyan》,《Huaqiannao》,《Qichaonao》《Yingjingnao》,《Shangtianti》,《Xiatianti》, and so on.The funeral music there is made up of the Buddhism musicand the folk music and the western music. All these areperformed at one place at one time, around the dead. Through the descriptions of the funeral activity and the current state,this paper analyses the social function and the musicologicaland sociological significance of the funeral music there.