Sheng wind music

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Sheng Guan Yue

Applicant: Xinmi City, Henan Province

Project No.: 620

Project No.: Ⅱ - 121

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Henan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Xinmi City, Henan Province

Protection unit: Xinmi Cultural Center (Xinmi Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center)

Introduction to Sheng guanyue (Chaohua blowing song)

Applicant: Xinmi City, Henan Province

Sheng pipe music is generally composed of Guan Zi, Sheng, dizi, Yunluo and other musical instruments, with drum, Nao, Gong and other percussion instruments. Guanzi, the main musical instrument, is a double reed wind instrument in ancient times. It is mostly made of wood with eight sound holes. The first seven are made of hard reed, and the second one is made of reed. The pitch is often adjusted by changing the size of the whistle. According to the length of the tube, it can be divided into three types: big, medium and small. The small tube has sharp and high pitched timbre, including a series of playing skills, such as beating, trilling, Shuan, hualingual, gliding and overtone. In the palace music and temple music of the past dynasties, Guanzi was the main musical instrument, which was called "touguan". Sheng pipe music is the most solemn and elegant music art in folk drumbeating music. It is different from the percussion music which mainly plays suona. The special charm brought by the arrangement of musical instruments makes it possible to create a quiet and quiet atmosphere for religious occasions. Therefore, it is widely used by temples and Taoist temples all over China and has become a common form of instrumental music in various primitive religious rituals.

Wind song is a very old form of wind music. It rose in the Han Dynasty. It was first used in the court, then inherited by the temples, and flowed into the folk in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Chaohua blowing songs are preserved in Chaohua Town, Xinmi City, Henan Province, where there is a large-scale Chaohua temple. It is said that during the reign of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty, a returning Hanlin helped the monks in the temple inherit the song Blowing skills and spread them among the local people.

Chaohua wind song is mainly played by Guanzi, supplemented by Sheng, Guanzi and Xiao, as well as Yungu and Danao. The pipe is made of green and brass, and the whistle is made of selected reed. It has eight holes, the first seven and the last one. It is in the shape of inverted horn with thick top and thin bottom. The music is divided into five parts: ancient music, folk songs, temple sacrificial music, mode music and Zhanzi. Among them, the ancient music is palace music, about 12; folk songs are local folk minor, about 15; Temple sacrificial music is solemn music, a total of 10; mode music is etude, Zhanzi is short piece music. When playing, the performers are dressed in robes and Taoist costumes, which are divided into two rows, the front row is playing music, and the back row is percussion music. The performance style is simple, bright and elegant.

As a folk performance style that inherits the ancient drumbeat music, Chaohua drumbeat has the function of living fossil of music. With its unique copper pipes and reed whistles, ancient notation and playing methods, and rare Qupai, it shows people the special features of ancient music and becomes a rare first-hand material in the study of ancient Chinese music history. At present, several leaders of Chaohua song Blowing team have died one after another. In the song Blowing team, several major percussion musicians are over 75 years old and can only play more than ten tunes. In this situation, the survival and development of Chaohua blowing song is very difficult and worrying. It is of great significance to strengthen the protection measures and excavate and rescue this precious national music heritage.