Taoist music (Guangzong Taiping Taoist Music)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Taoist music (Guangzong Taiping Taoist Music)

Applicant: Guangzong County, Hebei Province

Item No.: 638

Project No.: Ⅱ - 139

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Music

Region: Hebei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Guangzong County, Hebei Province

Protection unit: Guangzong Cultural Center

Introduction to Taoist music (Guangzong Taiping Taoist Music)

Applicant: Guangzong County, Hebei Province

Taoist music, also known as "Daochang music", is the music used in Taoist religious activities. Like Taoism, it originated from the sacrificial songs and dances of ancient witches. Taoist music consists of two parts: instrumental music and vocal music. Instrumental music is mainly composed of bell, chime, drum, wooden fish, cloud Gong and other instruments, with wind, plucking, string pulling and other instruments. Vocal music is mainly composed of chanting, which is composed of Gaogong master's recitation of vows, praise of God, chanting of the table, the confession of all preachers and the chorus of all Taoists.

Guangzong County, located in the south of Hebei Province, is the birthplace of Taiping Daole. Taipingdao music originated from taipingdao uprising in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and has been inherited in Guangzong County for more than 1800 years. In the long-term development process, it has continuously absorbed the elements of Buddhist music and court music, and at the same time, it has absorbed a lot of opera and folk music in Guangzong area, finally forming a complete set of taipingdao music composed of classical music and instrumental music.

The main musical instruments of Guangzong Taiping daoyue are Guan, Sheng, flute and Xiao, supplemented by Tan Gu, Yun Gong, dangzi, Nao and cymbal. There are two forms of performance: one is static music, which is played by sitting or standing; the other is dynamic music, which is also called "dance music" or "Tao Dance", which is played while moving. The musical instruments used by Guangzong Taiping Taoist music are different from those used by other Taoist temples in China. The music, music score and rhyme are quite different from those of Quanzhen and Zhengyi schools. Some tunes are bright, high pitched, ups and downs, which have both the meaning of Taoist music's elegance and vulgarity, and the characteristics of ruggedness and boldness. The style is very unique.

Guangzong Taiping daoyue has 181 kinds of Qupai, including 48 kinds of Banxian Qupai, 41 kinds of instrumental Qupai, 45 kinds of percussion Qupai, 47 kinds of lost Qupai, and a hand copied Taiping daoyue gongchi score. The existing music scores mainly include "Taiping Shibafan" and "three immortals" such as "chaotianzi", "Jingtang music" and "yufurong". In addition, the large-scale folk dance "lifting the yellow bar" is accompanied by Guangzong Taoist music, which is also an important part of it.

Guangzong Taiping Taoist music has well preserved the original style of Taoist music. Its repertoire, music score, performance etiquette, inheritance methods, musical instruments and related production techniques are important references for the study of ancient Taoist music and its relationship with folk music and customs. At present, due to the change of social environment and people's concept, the living space of Taiping Daole is getting smaller and smaller, and many successors have died one after another, which leads to the gradual loss of Qupai, so it is urgent to strengthen the protection measures.