Study Of Funerary Ritual Music At Shigu Town In Hunan Province

Shigu, located at the southwest border of Xiangtan county of Hunan province and adjacent to the Hengshan Mountain which is the sacred place of Daoism and Buddhism, belongs to the state of Chu in ancient China. Ever since the Qing dynasty, the Qingshang suona horn has been inherited here from generation to generation and has a close relationship with folk religion and local custom. In consequence, as an important carrier of local custom and folk music, the funeral rite is still in its development today and plays a significant role in studying musical culture.Based on the study of funeral music in Shigu township this paper put its subject under certain cultural background. Through the way of recording every detail of the ritual process it elaborates the relationship between the rite, music and belief in accordance with the newly arisen theory of'ritual music'. Starting form the subject matter of music, the paper records the music instruments and its combinational form, writes down the notes as well as analyses its characteristics according to the principle of miscomorphology. As the performer and carrier of ritual music, folk artists and taoists adhere to ethnic tradition. Based on the research of music ritual band and the artists, the paper explains its interior structure, surviving condition, development and economic operation. The paper in particular adopts a restudy theory of enthnomusicology to compare the similarities and differences between two eras and contexts on the basis of A Survey of Music in Hunan Province'carried out by the Music Research Institute of Chinese National Academy of Arts in 1950s. It reflects the change of the time.