National musical instrument making skills (eldest son Xiangtong musical instrument making skills)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: national musical instrument making skills (eldest son Xiangtong musical instrument making skills)

Applicant: Zhangzi County, Shanxi Province

Project No.: 907

Project No.: VIII - 124

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Shanxi Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Zhangzi County, Shanxi Province

Protection unit: chengjiuxing Luxiang copper musical instrument factory, southwest of Changzi County

A brief introduction to the techniques of making national musical instruments

Applicant: Zhangzi County, Shanxi Province

Chinese national musical instruments have a long history and are closely related to the cultural life of people of all ethnic groups. They are an important part of Chinese traditional culture. These musical instruments are simple and beautiful in shape, reasonable in structure, exquisite in workmanship and pure in timbre, which are loved by music lovers of all ages. From ancient times to the present, all folk festivals, weddings and funerals, God greeting contests, or important political, military and religious activities held by the court or the government have played national musical instruments. The production technology of national musical instruments has become an important traditional handicraft in China, which has been handed down till now and has far-reaching influence.

There are many kinds of Chinese national musical instruments, which are well-known at home and abroad. Among them, the eldest son's Xiangtong musical instrument, Korean national musical instrument, Suzhou National musical instrument, Caifu American drum and Uygur national musical instrument have their own characteristics.

The eldest son County of Shanxi Province began to manufacture musical instruments around Zhenguan period of Tang Dynasty. It is one of the earliest producing areas of Xiangtong musical instruments in China and enjoys the reputation of "hometown of copper musical instruments". The forging technique of Xiangtong musical instruments here is a typical traditional manual technique, including ripening forging, quenching, cold forging, secondary tuning, polishing and so on. Nearly 30 kinds of musical instruments such as pingdiao gongs, puju gongs and Kaidao gongs are produced in this way. The eldest son's making technique of Xiangtong musical instruments is mainly passed on between the family and the apprentices through oral and psychological teaching, and the inheritors need long-term practice to really master this technique. There are many processes in the production process of the whole set of brass musical instruments (for example, the tuning technology of "beating gongs with a thousand hammers, tuning with one hammer" etc.) are completely completed by hand, which is difficult to replace by modern technology.