Wuyang Bone Flute of Prehistoric Bone Flute Culture

255 views · Organized by 氯化钠 on 2022-03-01

Bone flute is a kind of flute and the earliest musical instrument. Also known as eagle flute or eagle bone flute, Tibetan, Tajik, Kirgiz edge air-sounding musical instruments, called Dangja in Tibetan. Made of eagle wing bones, it is popular in Tibetan pastoral areas such as Tibet, Qinghai, Yunnan, Sichuan and Gansu. Often used for solo. It is a self-entertainment wind instrument favored by Tibetan youths. It is mostly played for self-entertainment during grazing or field work in summer.

Wuyang Bone Flute of Prehistoric Bone Flute Culture

Among the 349 tombs excavated at the Jiahu site, Tomb 282 is the largest, with as many as 60 grave goods, and the identity of the tomb owner during his lifetime is extraordinary. The two bone flutes in the tomb, one is on the outside of the tomb owner's left femur, and the other is on the inside of the tomb owner's left femur. One of the bone flutes was broken into three pieces when it was unearthed. According to expert analysis, the bone flute was not broken when it was buried, but was damaged before the tomb owner died. What is intriguing is that the owner did not abandon it, but carefully drilled 4 small holes at the broken place and connected them with thin lines, which shows that the owner of the tomb cherishes it.

Wuyang bone flutes are generally more than 20 centimeters long and about 1.1 centimeters in diameter. The circular holes are all distributed on the same side, generally 7 holes, and the production is standardized. Some bone flutes are marked with equal division marks, indicating that they have been measured and calculated before they are made, and then they are marked and then drilled. There are also small holes drilled next to the main sound hole of some flutes, which experts think are tuning holes.

Among the five bone flutes in the early, middle and late stages, there are three bone flutes, such as the No. 1 flute of the early tomb 341, the No. 20 flute of the middle tomb 282, and the No. 4 flute of the late tomb 253. There are calculation scales left to determine the hole spacing.

Among them, the No. 20 flute of Tomb No. 282 is the trace left after being tapped with a drill bit. When the actual drilling is performed, it is corrected. When the seventh hole is drilled, a small hole is opened first. After listening to the human ear, it is found that this The hole was slightly higher than the actual required pitch, so a formal sound hole was opened 0.44 cm below it. After the sound measurement, the pitch of the sixth to seventh holes is 178 cents, which is only 4 cents away from the 182 cents of the diatonic tone, which is difficult for ordinary human ears to distinguish. The pitch from the seven holes to the barrel tone is 250 cents, which is only 25 cents away from the 275 cents of the pure temperament. Due to the correction of the position of the seventh hole, the pitch of the sixth to seventh holes is close to the standard standard of a small whole tone, and the distance between the seventh hole and the barrel tone is reduced to a cent value close to the second degree of pure temperament (also It can be regarded as a minor third with a slightly smaller pitch).

When the No. 20 bone flute was opening the hole, the pre-calculated opening point was also adjusted, that is, the position of the second hole calculated originally was moved down by 0.1 cm.

The pitch distance between the first hole and the second hole is 300 cents; the position of the original third hole is also moved down by 0.1 cm, so that the cent value of the second hole and the third hole is adjusted to 200 cents, and the third hole The pitch between the third hole and the fourth hole has also become 200 cents. By adjusting the positions of the two sound holes, the pitch and pitch score of each other are exactly the same as the pitch and pitch score of today's twelve well-tempered, and a 1235 four-voice combination based on the twelve-well-tempered relationship is formed. , is simply unbelievable. The Jia Lakes seem to have an understanding and acceptable range of certain factors of the Law of Twelve Averages.

In the bone flute No. 20 of Tomb No. 282, the calculation traces left before the opening can be clearly seen on the body of the flute. According to the analysis of experts, the drill bit is used to touch the bone canal lightly before opening, so as to leave a drill point and not drill through the canal wall. When opening the hole formally, make appropriate adjustments based on the existing drilling point.

The small seven holes on the tube body are left when calculating the hole position. It is estimated that the sound is slightly higher after the test, so another formal hole is opened below this hole. Most of the bone flutes unearthed from the tombs of Jiahu in the middle and later stages can be seen with the scales used to calculate the position of the openings, which shows that the ancestors of Jiahu used a method of combining experience and calculation to make bone flutes.

Bone flute No. 1 of Tomb 341 has a total length of 20.9 cm. The bone joints at both ends have been sawed off, but there are still nicks on the cross-section, which should be the marks drawn before sawing. The bone flute is brown throughout and has a smooth grip, apparently long-term use. After sound measurement, if the No. 1 bone is dominated by #D6 15, the natural sequence of the flute is 356136, and it is 13561 according to the scale, which is actually a four-tone scale. It has the essential difference and the time difference from the M341:2 bone flute. If the tetraphonic scale is the highest expression of the level of Paleolithic music, the appearance of the pentatonic scale is a leap in the Neolithic period.

Through the comparison of the natural sequence of the two bone flutes, it can be seen that the distance between the two adjacent tones of the No. 1 bone is relatively far. There is only one major second interval in the natural sequence, while in the natural sequence of the No. 2 bone flute, there are three Major second interval. This important development can be seen from the pursuit of people at that time from the open and rough to the dense and subtle expression, which is a major development in the way of musical thinking. During the 1,200-year history of the Jiahu culture, bone flutes capable of playing four-tone and pentatonic scales, six-tone and incomplete seven-tone scales, seven-tone and bone flutes with changing tones were produced. flute, this process reflects the gradual development of Chinese folk music. Mr. Xiao Xinghua said: "It is getting closer and closer to unveiling the 10,000-year-old Chinese music culture and civilization."

Reference materials and contributors
骨笛-百度百科

Involving musical instruments

Bone flute (pinyin: gǔ dí), is a kind of flute, also known as eagle flute, eagle bone flute, jay, first discovered 8,000 years ago, Tibetan, Tajik, Kirgiz edge-edge air-sounding musical instruments, often used for solo.

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