Silk-Bamboo’ (Sizhu) Ensembles, with Particular Focus on Ensemble Types, Musical Instrument Symbology and Instrumental Genres

Home , Paixiao, Se (instrument), Xiao (flute), Zhu (string instrument)

CHAPTER THREE

QINGSHANG MUSIC AND THE HISTORIC LEGACY

Xianghe were old songs from the Han dynasty. Silk and bamboo [instruments] were blended harmoniously (Songshu, c500 AD)

Qingshang music . . . was introduced from the Central Plain into the Minnan region during the early Tang dynasty (Lü Chui-kuan 1982: 10)

In this chapter I briefl y sketch the historic development of Chinese ‘silk-bamboo’ (sizhu) ensembles, with particular focus on ensemble types, musical instrument symbology and instrumental genres. Such an outline of the general trends in Chinese music history will provide a context for understanding the infl uential Confucian ideology, and a framework against which local perceptions of ancient survivals can be evaluated. It is diffi cult to periodize the emergence of sizhu music. Unlike the time-honored traditions of court ritual music and qin zither repertoire, both of which were carefully documented in written sources through the ages, the instrumental entertainment genres have been generally neglected by imperial scholars. When cited in the literature, earlier historic names—such as qingshang—were employed. These traditions have also undergone changes over the years as new instruments and melodic ideas were introduced. Fortunately, a great deal of evidence has been found in the form of paintings, reliefs and instruments preserved in museum collections, thus making it possible to piece together very broad lines of development. I will start with an overview of the earliest common-practice musical instruments, with some emphasis upon their rich symbolic legacies.1

1 Musical instruments will not be examined in depth here. Common-practice instruments are well documented in Chinese-language sources, most accessibly in the encyclopedic publications by Liu Dongsheng (1987, 1992), Yang Yinliu’s monumental two-volume history of Chinese music (1981), and the numerous articles in the journal Yueqi (“Musical instruments”). English-language surveys can be found in Moule’s classic study of 1908 and Thrasher’s monograph, Chinese Musical Instruments (2000). For more detailed descriptions of the most common instrument types, the best sources are The 54 chapter three

The Ancient Heritage

Zhou Symbology In the Zhouli text (c3rd century b.c.), ‘silk’ (si ) and ‘bamboo’ (zhu) are two of the eight categories of musical instruments cited in the bayin (‘eight tone’) system of instrument classifi cation.2 During the Zhou period, ‘silk’ instruments included only those zithers with strings of silk, notably the qin, se and zheng. Of these three, the zheng alone would be accepted into common-practice music making. Lutes and fi ddles were not mentioned. ‘Bamboo’ instruments were exclusively fl ute types, notably the paixiao (panpipe), xiao (vertical fl ute) and chi (transverse fl ute). The xiao would ultimately be accepted into sizhu ensembles, the other fl ute-types retaining closer associations with ritual music of the court. One other important ancient instrument listed within the bayin system (under the ‘gourd’ category) is the sheng mouth- organ, an instrument still employed in the common-practice traditions of northern and eastern China. Instruments listed in the remaining fi ve categories were used primarily in imperial rituals. While little is known about the actual music performed within either context, it is clear that Zhou ensembles were composed of mixed winds, strings and percussion—certainly one of the earliest combinations of such instrument types worldwide.3 The instruments xiao, zheng and sheng have remained in continuous usage since the mid-Zhou period. As seen below, all three refl ect elements of Confucian ideology.

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. (2001) and The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, vol. 7 (2002). Information on the instrument variants used in the regional sizhu traditions is more diffi cult to fi nd, but Dujunco’s dissertation on Chaozhou music (1994) contains a good chapter on local instruments, as does Witzleben’s book on Jiangnan sizhu (1995). 2 The bayin, as identifi ed in the Zhouli (wg: Chou Li, “Rituals of Zhou”, c3rd century b.c.) and other texts, is a classifi cation system which separates the instruments of the period into eight divisions based upon resonating media or materials used in construction—metal, stone, clay, skin, silk, wood, gourd and bamboo. In so classifying these ritual instruments, one of the primary motivations of scholars was to establish a system of cosmological correspondence with the eight trigrams (geomantic system of solid and broken lines), eight compass points, and other meaningful eight-part systems. For a useful Chinese-language summary of the bayin, see Cheung 1974: 31ff.; for brief English-language accounts, see Liang 1985: 68ff. and Thrasher 2000: 10–22. 3 This observation has been made by various Chinese musicologists, such as Gao Houyong (1981: 6), based upon statements in the classic texts and upon visual evidence as well, such as stone rubbings and unearthed ensembles of instruments such as those found in the 5th-century b.c. tomb site of Zeng Houyi (q.v. Zhongguo 1996: 187ff., and the English-language articles in So 2000).