BCCPAM000M29-5-25000000000000

CHINESE MUSIC. 7 the K'uenlun Mountains (the Olympus of China and the supposed source of the f eng-shui), to procure bamboo tubes to make the lus. It appears that there is a valley there called Chiehku, where bamboos of regular thickness grow. LING LuN cut the piece of bamboo which is · between two knots, and the sotmd emitted by this tube he considered as the base, the pitch-key, the tonic. 1 He arranged a series of 12 tubes, according to the ideas of his master, and they received the name~ g (lus)-that is, laws, principles, pitch-pipes. Now, what led the inventor to the division of the octave into twelve semitones, each represented by one lu ? Several versions are given :- 10. Some say that he arrived at it by listening to the singing of the Pe~gs or Fengs (a powerful tribe living south of the Yangtze-kiang), the voices of the men giving hJ.ID six demitones and those of the women the remaining six. 2 2 °. Others give the same theory with this particular change, that the Fengs were not human beings, but birds ; the male being called J.l (Jeng), and the female it (huang). 3 Unfortunately for this th eory, a third account assures us that these birds were simply imaginary. 4 3°. Another writer attributes to the rolling waves of the Yellow River the idea of the first sound. The bamboos growing on its borders were used to render it. 5 4°. Another writer, less poetical but not less positive, is convinced that LING LUN cu t his bamboos according to the terms of a triple progi·ession of I 2 numbers, as r, 3, 9, 27, 8 I , etc., which indeed exhibit the numerical values of a series of , ' perfect fifths. 6 But without questioning to what extent these theories may be acceptable, it is more reasonable to believe that the discovery of the 12 divisions of the octave was due to simple and natural causes. That the ancient Chinese should notice the difference of pitch between the sounds emitted by tubes of different length is quite natural; that they contrived to find a tube the sound of which corresponded exactly to the fundamentnl note of the then existing music is not _astonishing; that they then been.me anxious to have tubes corresponding to the other sounds of their scale is quite. comprehensible; and that when compa.ring, blowing, or cutting they discovered the way to the division of the octave into 12 semitones is not at all impossible. The Chinese have a.lways been fond of seeking the similitude or contrasts existing between everything in crea.tion. Between heaven and earth, they say, there is perfect harmony. Now, 3 is the emblem of heaven, 2 is the symbol of earth .7 If t wo sounds are in the proportion of 3 to 2, they will ha.rmonise as perfectly as heaven n,nd earth. On this principle a second tube was cut measuring exactly two-thirds of the length of the first tube, and the ·•••~~ a*•~••• ~••tt~~~~a••••ffiffi~~~ ~~~ --~~ -- , • DouGLAS' "China," p. 162. 3 "Jomnal of the North-China Bmnch of the Royal Asiatic Society," N o. VIII, 1874, p. 96. 4 MoRRISON's Dictionary : cbn.rocter ~- 5 AMmT, "Memories sur les Ch.inois." 6 P AUL P ERNY's Dictionary, Parl II. ' The fi m.; s.<tys: ~ ~ PB !lf!.