BCCPAM000M29-5-25000000000000

12 CHINESE MUSIC. When the lus were first invented they were well-selected bamboos, but in subsequent times, principally during t he Chin (~) dynast y, the lus were made of copper, of ma.rble,. and of j adestone. The opinion was that they would thus be less subject to atmospheric changes. In order to illustrate fully the difference between the 1 2 lus and the 12 semitones of our chromatic scale (tempered form), I give here a table showing the names of our notes corresponding to the Chinese lus, the length of each lu in Chinese inches, according to the best and most reliable Chinese critics 1 ; and the same length reduced to 1 20th parts of an inch and compared with the numerical values of om notes. One Chinese foot is equal to 0.255 metres, and our C is supposed to be huang-chung. COMPARATIVE TABLE OF CHINESE A.ND WESTERN NOTES. Length of Li.is Length of Lus Required Length NAMES OF L i.is. Corresponding in reduced to 120th of Tubes to render Western Notes. Chinese Inches. Parts of an Inch. corresponding Western Notes. Huang-chung, upper .. .... .... .. .. .... .. ... .. . C 4.3853 526.237 540 Ying-chung .......... .. ........ ... ...... ... .... . B 4.66 559.2 576 Wu-i ... .... ... .... .... ... ..... .... ...... ...... ... Bb 4.8848 586.176 607-5 ' Nan-lii.. .. .... ... .. ...... ..... ... .. ... .. ....... .. A 5.3 636 645.3 I-tse ... ... ..... ......... ... .. ..... .. .. .... .. ... ... A b 5.55 r 666.12 683. 1 Lin-chung...... .. ... .... ... ... .... ....... ... .... . G 6 720 720 Jwi,-pin .... ... ..... .... ... .. ... ... ... ............ Gb 6. 28 753.6 768.45 Ohwng-lii....... ... ... ........ . ........... ... ... .. F 6.5824 789.888 810 Ku-.hsi................. ...... ... . .. ... ... ... .. .... E 7, I 852 864 Ohia-chwng ········ ·· ··· ···· ·· ·· ······ ·········· Eb 7.4373 892.476 910.7 I T'ai-ts'u ............. ............ ... .. .... .... ... D 8 960 963.99 'l.'a-lu.......... ............. ... ....... .... ....... .. Db 8.376 1005.1 2 1024.578 f{uam,g-chung, base........ ..... ......... ...... C '9 1080 1080 By the above table it is seen that while the base and the fifth perfectly agree, all the other notes of the Chinese scale are too sharp, and consequently could not possibly be rendered on our Western tempered instruments. Besides, the octave is so high as to be very unpleasing to our Western ears. This is the principal reason why Chinese music does not leave a better impression on the minds of foreigners.