When China Called: Chinese Traditional Music
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Cultural Chinese figures symbolizing compassion, Guanyin, to the right, followed by longevity, Shou. Fortune, Fu, and prosperity, Lu, follow, but are not clear in the picture. Photo Credit: Mohamed Hakim |
Chinese music, and a lot of neighboring countries' in general, do not adhere to the musical scales of modern music. While western musical scale is made up of 7 notes, Chinese music's, traditionally, is made up of 5. Less notes, means bigger shifts in tonality and impact.
The frequency of the sounds tends to be higher too. Leaving brass instruments aside, chances are if you think Far Eastern music, you hear either flute or zither. This is likely because often these instruments are played solo. Let alone that guzhengs don't usually appear in orchestras.
The complementary instruments at the low end in practice, as you may have guessed, happens to be drums. This combination was described to me by one of my guides, and a good friend, as rain and thunder or rain and stone. The intertwinement of these two holds true to this day with Chinese interest in music like Sun Quan the Emperor.
To be continued...
You can find the previous post in the series at: When China Called: Xi'an Day Yi Part 7
