The sound is long and lingering, mellow like strong wine, and it exclusively occupies the soil in the ancient musical instrument "eight-tone". It is a traditional Chinese musical instrument with a history of 7,000 years - xun. In our Ningjin County, Dezhou City, there is a xun maker, Pu Shutang, who is the representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of the Tanghu xun production process. Today we came to Pu Shutang's studio to experience the unique charm of Xun, an "earth" musical instrument.

Wu Xunyuan, courtesy name Lufan and name Tanghu, was a native of Wangzhuang, Jincheng Street, Ningjin County. In his "Tanghu Xun Pu", there are Xun diagrams, the fingerings are marked, the playing methods are explained, and the music such as "North Parasitic Grass" and "Xinliangzhou Preface" are recorded. Relying on the records in the book and his own exploration, Pu Shutang gradually mastered the production method of xun. The process is roughly divided into three processes: billet making, firing and tuning. Among them, the first step of billet making is related to the shape and tone of the entire Xun body, which is particularly important.

Xun needs to be tuned many times during the production process, which is also the most labor-intensive stage in the Xun-making process. Therefore, Xun-makers must not only know pottery, but also be proficient in music theory. After the xun blank is finished, it will enter the stage of punching and initial tuning. I saw Pu Shutang took out the tool and began to punch holes in the xun blank according to the shape of the hand.

The earth fire is born, and the sounds of nature are leisurely. There is also great uncertainty in the stages of entering the kiln and firing the well-tuned dry billet. In this process, it is necessary to grasp the fire and temperature, firing for about 10 hours, and the temperature should be controlled between 975 and 1050 degrees Celsius.

After coming out of the kiln, Tao Xun needs to fine-tune the pitch and sound quality again to make each pitch sound more intense. Finally, after polishing and beautifying, a beautiful musical instrument is completed.

It is precisely because of their love for Xun that Pu Shutang and his wife Lang Aikun decided to dedicate more than 100 days of public welfare teaching every year. Pu Shutang also helped the students form an ancient pottery band. At the end of last year, Tanghu Primary School received an invitation from CCTV's "Chinese Rites and Music" Spring Festival Gala program group to show their performance of "Su Wu Shepherd" to the national audience.