民間器樂文化的歷史，在我國古代的典籍中也有一些零零星星的記述，像「女媧氏作笙簧」、「巫咸作鼓」。《呂氏春秋》中有「黃帝令伶倫作為律」，桓譚在《琴道篇》中有「昔夏之時，洪水懷山襄陵，禹乃援琴作操，其聲清以益，潺潺湲湲，志在深河。」等記載，但這僅是一些傳說，不盡可靠。
但在古籍中較早出現的鐘、鼓、磬、竽、笙、琴、瑟等樂器與師曠、師襄等樂師的記載，則是可靠的，是有所據的。一九八六至一九八七年在河南省舞陽縣賈湖新石器時代遺址發掘出十六支猛禽腿骨製作精細的多孔、並能吹奏出六、七聲音階的骨笛，據碳十四初步測定，距今約七至八千年。從出土文物與歷史文獻記載來看，我國各民族的器樂文化作為我國總體文化的一個組成部分，其傳統是源遠流長的。
從整個音樂文化發展來看，最初，大致是歌、樂、舞三者結合，器樂主要是作為伴歌、伴舞形式出現。隨著舞的相對獨立，加上為舞伴奏的樂曲所具有的自己的結構體制，春秋戰國期間其器樂的發展也逐漸相對獨立起來。例如「笙間奏」就是樂舞中漸漸分化出來的器樂部分。
一九七八年湖北隨州市郊發掘的戰國早期（西元前四三三年）下葬的一個諸侯國曾國國君名「乙」的墓，墓中陪葬有二十一位女性及一套六十四個雙鼓音鐘組成的編鐘，三十二件石磬組成的編磬，以及鼓（建鼓、懸鼓、有柄鼓）、十弦琴、五弦琴、瑟、排簫、笙、篪等精緻樂器共一百二十四件，反映了當時宮廷已經具有的樂隊規模。從其製作的精美、音域的寬廣、音律的準確及銘文中反映出的音樂思維等方面看，也說明了在我國兩千四百多年前器樂文化已具有相當高的文明程度。
李斯是戰國時秦相，他在《諫逐客書》中寫到「夫擊甕叩缶，彈箏搏髀，而歌呼嗚嗚，快耳目者，真秦之聲也。」（見《史記‧李斯列傳》）後面還提到「鄭衛桑間，《韶》、《虞》、《武》、《象》者，異國之樂也。今棄擊甕而就鄭衛，退彈箏而取韶虞，若是者何也？快意當前，適觀而已矣」。這說明秦國主不僅可以欣賞秦音，中原和西域的音樂也在這裏流行。
從伯牙、成連等琴師的故事看來，他們都是春秋時代士階層的人，那時就有《高山》、《流水》等琴曲。《列子‧湯問》中記載：『伯牙善鼓琴，鍾子期善昕。伯牙鼓琴，志在登高山，鍾子期曰：「善哉，巍巍兮若泰山！」志在流水，鍾子期曰：「善哉！洋洋兮若江河。」伯牙所念，鍾子期必得之。伯牙遊於泰山之陰，卒逢暴雨，止於岩下。心悲，乃援琴而鼓之，初為霖雨之操，更造崩山之音。曲每奏，鍾子期輒窮其趣。伯牙乃捨琴而歎曰：「善哉，善哉，子之聽夫志！想像猶吾心也。吾於何逃聲哉？」』
從這段著名而生動的記述考察，早在先秦時期，音樂演奏者不僅在樂曲意志、情操、心緒的表現上已經有很高的造詣，而欣賞者也能從音樂演奏中領會其形象意趣。從三國魏時人嵇康對《廣陵散》的生動彈奏，也說明了我國器樂的演奏和對器樂藝術的認識、理解等方面，都已達到了比較高的水平。以後，又經隋、唐時期與外域的文化交流，特別是盛唐時之樂舞、大曲在很大程度上對外域音樂文化的廣泛吸收，給予我國民族民間器樂藝術的發展增添了新的血液，並取得了巨大進步。
在十一世紀以前，我國的音樂文化，包括器樂，是相當發達的。直到十五世紀，相當於明代中期，我國民族民間器樂藝術，在各民族人民的生活中一直保持旺盛的生命力。
我國民族民間器樂文化在各個時期的情況，有其不同的發展特點。
（一）
先秦時期，較早見於文化資料的是《尚書‧舜典》中的有關古代歌舞的記載。「……夔曰：於予擊石拊石，百獸率舞」。根據出土文物和歷史文獻的記載，先秦時期出現的樂器已有三十多種。那時人們便根據樂器製作的材料，將眾多的樂器歸納為八類，稱為「八音」，即金、石、絲、竹、匏、土、革、木。
一、金屬樂器有：鐘、編鐘、鏞、鉦、鐸等；
二、石屬樂器有：磬、編磬等；
三、絲屬樂器有：琴、瑟、箏、筑等；
四、竹屬樂器有：籥、簫、篪、篴、管（雙管）等；
五、匏屬樂器有：笙（大笙謂「巢」，小笙謂「和」）、竽等；
六、土屬樂器有：塤、哨、缶等；
七、革屬樂器有：鼓、建鼓、鼗、鼛、賁鼓、應、田、縣鼓、搏拊等。
八、木屬樂器有：柷、敔等。
周代宮廷中的樂師，如師襄、師曠、師涓，都善彈琴。到秦代，琴更為士人專愛。《論語》中有「點！爾何如！鼓瑟希。」可見當時瑟也在士中流行。宮廷中竽的地位也很重要。除《韓非子‧內儲說》所言「齊宣王使人吹竽必三百人」外，亦載：「和，竽也者，五聲之長者也。故竽先則鐘瑟皆隨；竽唱，則諸樂皆和。」竽在樂隊中處於領奏的地位。
秦統一中國，有幾件事辦得很出色。如「書同文，車同軌」等。從一九七七年陝西秦始皇陵園出土的鐫有秦篆「樂府」字樣的樂府鐘可知，秦代已設立了樂府機構。
（二）
漢朝的經濟生活有了變化，整個文化又有新的發展。這時期的通西域不僅向西亞送去了鐘、磬、琴、笙等樂器和樂工以及音樂理論，而且也從西亞、中亞接受了羌笛、笳、角、豎箜篌、篳篥、曲項琵琶等樂器及器樂藝術。
漢高祖喜歡音樂，會擊筑，他寫的《大風歌》：「大風起兮雲飛揚，威加海內兮歸故鄉。安得猛士兮守四方。」據說他在家鄉沛縣組織了一百二十個少年兒童來唱這首歌曲，他自己擊筑並帶頭歌舞。
據《樂府詩集》卷一六引劉瓛定軍禮云：「鼓吹未知其始也，漢班壹雄朔野而有之矣。」據說，漢軍採用鼓吹樂「以壯聲威」，後來在宮廷以及民間，鼓吹樂得到了很大發展，而且在少數民族中間傳播開來。據文獻記載，當時用於宮廷中的鼓吹樂大致有四種演奏形式：
鼓吹樂盛行的同時，在宮廷及士大夫、市民中，琴、瑟、簫樂等也很盛行。漢魏時期的文獻就已有關於獨立器樂演奏形式的記載，稱為「但曲」，曲目有《廣陵散》、《黃老彈飛引》、《流楚》等，為琴、箏、笙、筑演奏的樂曲。古琴獨奏藝術已獲得高度發展，蔡邕、蔡琰、嵇康等都是當時著名的琴家。這一時期，比較重要的民間聲樂為《相和歌》，據《晉書‧樂志》載：「相和，舊漢歌也，絲竹更相和，執節者歌。」說明相和歌是常以絲竹伴奏的。在相和歌演唱前，往往也演奏獨立的器樂作品。漢武帝的樂府，採集燕、趙、楚、齊、秦、魯的民間音樂，加以整理推廣，並任命李延年為協律都尉，整理樂律。《漢書‧禮樂志》中有「作十九章之歌」的記載，同時比較寬的吸收鄭衛之聲，使之「內有掖庭材人，外有上林樂府，皆以鄭聲施於朝廷。」可見當時是比較寬廣的融匯各地音樂，以創新聲。
（三）
隋唐時期，由於經濟的發展和宮廷的提倡，使宮廷俗樂得以興盛。從而大大促進了器樂文化的發展而進入了一個新的歷史時期。
隋唐俗樂在中國音樂史上具有深遠的影響。它是集各民族樂舞之大成、為帝王服務的宮廷樂舞。《隋書‧音樂志》載：「始，開皇初定令，置七部樂：一曰國伎，二曰清商伎，三曰高麗伎，四曰天竺伎，五曰安國伎，六曰龜茲伎，七曰文康伎。」到隋煬帝時，又增加了「康國」、「疏勒」兩部樂舞，並改「國伎」為「西涼」，改「文康伎」為「禮畢」，成為九部樂。
「七部樂」和「九部樂」都包括著許多獨立的純器樂章段。由於西域音樂文化的影響，宮廷的樂隊組合形式也發生了很大的變化，大量的外來樂器被宮廷音樂所應用和吸收，如鳳首箜篌、豎箜篌、琵琶、五弦、篳篥、銅鈸、毛員鼓、都縣鼓、羯鼓、答臘鼓、腰鼓、雞婁鼓等。
唐代的坐部伎和立部伎是隋代俗樂的繼承和發展。這兩部伎共有十四曲。立部伎八曲：《安樂》、《太平樂》、《破陣樂》、《慶善樂》、《大定樂》、《上元樂》、《聖壽樂》、《光聖樂》；坐部伎有六曲：《燕樂》、《長壽樂》、《天授樂》、《鳥歌萬歲樂》、《龍沙樂》、《小破陣樂》。這十四曲中，《安樂》為北周武帝時創作，《太平樂》是「十部樂」的「龜茲樂」中增加的部分。其餘均為唐代創作的樂舞，主要是盛唐時的產物。這兩部伎的演出，以立部伎的演出規模更為盛大，少則六十多人，多則達一百八十人之眾，伴以擂鼓，氣勢磅礴，場面宏偉。坐部伎規模較小，少則三人，多時十二人，音樂比較幽雅抒情，表現細膩，注重個人技巧。
《大曲》是多段音樂結構的大型歌舞曲。大曲中風格雅淡而富有宮廷清商樂特點的，史稱《法曲》。唐代有名的《霓裳羽衣曲》就是《大曲》中的《法曲》。
唐俗樂中也有包括用於宴饗的鼓吹樂，它們對後來的民間器樂的發展具有深遠的影響。據唐·段安節《樂府雜錄》的記載，僅樂器就有三百種。在記譜方面，出現了比文字譜更為簡便的「減字譜」及早期的工尺譜。
由於唐代器樂藝術的發展，出現了很多著名的器樂演奏家，如琵琶名手曹妙達、賀懷智、雷海青、段善本、康昆侖等。篳篥演奏家如關璀、李袞、李龜年等。其他如李憑（箜篌）、李謨（笛子）、李周（箏）、薛陽陶（笳）等等。
（四）
宋代，從吸取民間優秀文化營養而形成的宋雜劇逐漸走向繁榮，其中一些優美的曲牌、過場曲反過來又逐漸被後世的民族器樂曲吸收。古琴藝術在宋代已得到了顯著的發展。宋太宗趙匡義就親自製大、小曲以及「因舊曲而創新聲者，總三百九十」（見吉聯抗輯譯《宋明音樂史料》第241頁）。太宗身邊還有一位被稱為「鼓琴為天下第一」的演奏家朱文濟。宋徽宗趙佶也嗜琴如命，曾專門設立「萬琴堂」，搜集南北古琴絕品。郭沔所作《瀟湘水雲》便是這一時期的傑作。在吹奏樂器方面也有發展。樂工單仲辛在原來巢笙、和笙的基礎上，將其形制規範固定，從而出現了十九簧笙。四川地區還出現了一種三十六簧的「鳳笙」。
宋代出現的樂器有：
吹樂器：叉手笛、官笛、羌笛、夏笛、小弧笛、鷓鴣、扈聖、七星、橫簫、簫管、豎簫、倍四、銀字中管和中管倍五。
弦樂器：鍬琴、奚琴、馬尾胡琴、葫蘆琴、渤海琴、雙韻、蓁、三弦等。
擊樂器：雲璈、簡子、漁鼓、銃鼓、水盞等。
元代出現的樂器，如火不思、七十二弦琵琶、一弦琴、興隆笙等。雲南納西族民間歌舞《白沙細樂》中，應用的樂器有豎笛、橫笛、蘆管、蘇古篤、二簧（兩條弦的拉弦樂器）、胡琴等。當時流行於北方的一些元曲也傳入雲南。據雲南《麗江縣志》載：「其調有［南北曲］、［叨叨令］、［一封書］、［寄生草］等。」
兩宋時期還出現了一批具有較高價值的音樂理論著述。
陳暘《樂書》有一百零五卷，論述了律呂、歷代樂舞、樂器、雜樂、百戲、典禮等。朱長文的《琴史》彙集了從先秦到宋初一百五十六人有關琴的記載，是我國最早的一部琴史專著，為琴學發展作出了貢獻。沈括的《夢溪筆談》被人們稱為劃時代的著作。這是一部有關自然科學和人文科學綜合著作。其中音樂部分，對古代樂律、音樂評論、器樂演奏、唐宋燕樂、樂器製作、聲樂共振現象等方面，均有較為深入的研究和頗為精深的見解。
（五）
明清兩代，民間器樂藝術隨著戲曲藝術的進一步提高和推廣，在更加廣闊的領域普及、流傳，出現不少新樂種，如西安鼓樂、福建南音、北京寺院音樂、山西八大套、冀中管樂、江蘇十番鼓、十番鑼鼓、浙江的吹打樂，以及山東、遼寧、吉林的鼓吹樂等合奏形式。清嘉慶甲戌年（一八一四年）蒙古族文人明誼（榮齋）將當時流傳於宮廷和民間的古曲彙編成集，名《弦索備考》。載有《十六板》、《琴音板》、《清音串》、《平韻串》、《月兒高》、《琴音月兒高》、《普庵咒》、《海青》、《陽關三疊》、《松青夜遊》、《舞名馬》、《合歡令》、《將軍令》十三首套曲，亦名《弦索十三套》，反映了當時北方弦索樂的古老傳統與發展。與此同時，由於戲曲藝術的迅速發展，形成多種聲腔，促進了伴奏藝術趨向獨奏且漸成熟。古琴藝術已形成眾多流派，最著名的琴派有廣陵派（揚州）、諸城派（山東）、虞山派（常熟）、浙派（浙江）、嶺南派（廣東）、金陵派（南京）、蜀派（四川）等。這時期的代表琴曲有《平沙落雁》、《秋鴻》、《漁樵問答》、《伯牙吊子期》、《龍翔操》、《醉漁唱晚》、《長門怨》等。據王猷定在《四照堂集》的《湯琵琶傳》一文中所載，著名琵琶演奏家湯應曾曾演奏過：《楚漢》、《胡笳十八拍》、《塞上》、《洞庭秋思》等古曲百餘首。其中《楚漢》一曲曾名噪一時。
明代正德、嘉靖年間，河南琵琶高手張雄以善彈《海青拿天鵝》而聞名遠近，安徽壽縣正陽關人鍾秀之也善彈琵琶、三弦面享譽四方；北京的盲人琵琶演奏家李近樓，更是被人們稱之為「都城八絕」之一。明、清時期，見於記載的著名琵琶演奏家還有李東垣、江對峰、蔣山人、楊廷果、王君錫、陳牧夫、華文彬（即華秋蘋）、李祖棻、陳子敬、沈浩初、李廷森、李芳園、沈肇洲、王惠生、殷紀平等人。
值得注意的是，這一時期胡琴類拉弦樂器和嗩呐類蘆簧樂器在民間非常盛行，除原有二弦胡琴之外，又產生了四胡、京胡、板胡、椰胡、大筒、二弦等拉弦樂器；以及蒙古族的馬頭琴，維吾爾族的艾捷克，藏族的必旺、鐵琴，彝族阿細人、撒尼人的三弦胡琴，壯族馬骨胡等。
至於民間器樂曲，經宋詞、元曲、明清戲曲的許多詞牌、曲牌（包括戲曲中的牌子曲），甚至戲曲、曲藝的某些曲腔，都大膽地吸收過來，並使其發展為都市、鄉間流行的常用民間器樂曲。
清代在承襲明代宮廷音樂舊制的基礎上並有所發展。規模宏大、形式多樣，是我國歷史上最為重視宮廷音樂的朝代之一。如祭祀用的《中和韶樂》用樂工二百零四人；皇帝祭祀、朝會宴饗出入時用的儀仗樂《鹵薄大樂》用樂工一百一十六人。除用《中和韶樂》和《鹵薄大樂》外，還要叫一個由二十四人組成的樂隊，用大鼓、方響、雲鑼和管等四種樂器立著演奏，稱為《丹陛大樂》。在朝會內容牽涉到出兵凱旋之類節目時，還要加用《鐃歌樂》。宴饗在元旦、「萬壽」和冬至所謂「三大節」時舉行，除用以上音樂外，又有《清樂》、《慶隆舞》、《笳吹》、《番部合奏》、《高麗國俳》、《瓦爾喀部樂舞》和《回部樂伎》等曲目。何時演奏哪一種音樂，隨著儀節的進行而有嚴格的規定。其中部分曲目都是本國少數民族和外國的曲目，如《笳吹》、《番部合奏》、《高麗國俳》、《瓦爾喀部樂舞》等。
明清時期宗教音樂的總趨勢是由盛到衰。
佛教音樂中的器樂曲與傳統音樂有密切聯繫。各地寺院的法器形制基本相同，但有南北之派別。江南各地寺院多同於諸佛教經史所謂的「管弦」之說，而北方則大同於《禪門日誦》中的「吹打」之說。山西五台山是佛教的四大名山之一，也是我國北方佛教音樂的代表和集中地。而五台山青廟音樂與晉西北一帶的民間器樂曲「八大套」又有密切聯繫。開封大相國寺、北京智化寺等佛教音樂，以及流傳在藏族、蒙古族的藏傳佛教音樂，裕固族、傣族、納西族等少數民族地區的佛教寺廟音樂，對研究中國的佛教音樂和傳統音樂，都有極為重要的意義。
道教音樂源遠流長，分佈廣泛，全國著名道教聖地有「十方叢林」之稱。早在東漢時期，道教的《太平經》便已記載有音樂理論，認為音樂可以感天地、通神靈、安萬民。北魏道士寇謙之改直誦為樂誦，他把念誦經文與音樂結合起來。到了唐代，道教音樂發展到較高的水平，被譽為「妙協均天，克諧仙唱」（見《冊府元龜》卷五十四）並表明了道教音樂在我國宗教音樂中有獨特風格，如「仙歌凝韻九天風」（唐‧李翔「涉道詩」）的高雅神韻。《中國民族民間器樂曲集成‧湖北卷》所收集的武當山道教音樂呈現出的豐富內涵，充分表明了它在我國傳統音樂文化中的重要地位。武當山的道教音樂到了明代還曾出現過鼎盛局面，設置了專事樂舞的宮觀——「神樂觀」，並有由朝廷供養的樂舞生四百多人，對主管專門事務的職官，明皇帝還親自拜官授職，朝廷還經常欽降樂器給武當山宮觀。
中國自古有「禮樂之邦」的美譽。「禮樂正而天下平」的思想深受世人尊崇。孔子去世後，人們便把孔子的家鄉山東曲阜作為倡導禮樂的神聖之地。曲阜孔廟雅樂，成為海內外各地祭孔音樂的總源。這種集歌、樂、舞三位一體的表演形式，各朝各代對其樂隊編制均有嚴格的規定，金、石、絲、竹、革、木、匏、土「八音」俱全，陣容龐大。明代至本世紀初，祭孔音樂的成數相對的穩定於「六章六奏」。祭孔樂隊編制一般上百人或百餘人，場面宏大、氣氛肅穆。
明清時期的少數民族樂舞有較大發展。如新疆維吾爾族的《木卡姆》，藏族的《囊瑪》，苗族、彝族的《跳月》等，其中器樂部分佔有相當的比重，且具有較高藝術水平。
在音樂理論方面，值得一提的是明代著名律學家朱載堉的《律學新說》，在世界音樂文化史上第一個確立了十二平均律的理論和精確計算，他以「新法密率」的計算原理，極其精確地解決了中外律學家們為之長期探索而未能解決的重大問題，在世界樂律史上佔居領先地位，對近現代器樂文化乃至樂器製作，都產生了深遠的影響。
（六）
清末至民國初期，小提琴、鋼琴、風琴音樂在我國的一些地方開始流行，有些學者還作有歌曲。但大量引進並迸發出新的創作，還是「五‧四」以後。
「五‧四」運動最初口號是民主、科學，反對舊文化，改用白話文，打倒孔家店，反對舊禮教……，對我國古典音樂，開始也多在被打倒之列，因為孔子是雅樂派的祖師。
二十世紀二十年代後期，出了悉心振興民族器樂的劉天華，他不僅深諳古樂，擅長二胡、琵琶，同時也學過西洋管樂與鋼琴、小提琴。他受了「五‧四」民主進步思想的影響，開始從事發展我國民族器樂，特別是二胡、琵琶的改革和樂曲創作，他寫了《病中吟》、《月夜》、《苦悶之謳》（又名《苦中樂》）、《悲歌》、《良宵》、《閒居吟》、《空山鳥語》、《光明行》、《獨弦操》、《燭影搖紅》十大名曲。經過劉天華的革新，二胡的音域被擴充到三個八度、五個把位，對滑音、泛音、頓音、連音、裝飾音等一系列演奏技巧開始規範化，同時，對調式、樂曲結構、章回段落也頗講究。他對音樂的描寫心思意境以及繪形繪神，對各種樂曲的表現情思也有進一步的探索。
相當於這時期，由於都市文藝生活的復興，江南絲竹也逐漸興旺，開始成為一個擁有各種流派及眾多演奏家、曲目的樂種。華彥鈞（又名阿炳）是民間盲藝人，同時也創作了《二泉映月》、《聽松》、《大浪淘沙》等優秀新作。
二十世紀初，廣東戲曲發生「粵曲革命」，「廣東音樂」也從戲曲音樂中逐漸獨立出來，成為一個很有活力的新樂種。呂文成、嚴老烈、何柳堂等樂人開始從改編古曲，到創作帶有南國特色的廣東小曲，前後二十多年，一共新作有二、三百首。由於有唱片及電影的傳播，一時成為全國很有影響的新型樂種。其代表作品有：《旱天雷》、《餓馬搖玲》、《平湖秋月》、《娛樂昇平》、《小桃紅》、《雨打芭蕉》、《連環扣》、《雙聲恨》、《賽龍奪錦》、《步步高》、《走馬》、《鳥投林》、《岐山鳳》、《風雲會》等。
關於民族民間器樂曲的挖掘整理工作，劉天華在二十世紀二十年代搜集記錄了定縣吵子會曲譜，這是近現代我國音樂工作者採錄民間器樂曲的創舉。一九二○年，鄭覲文先生在上海組織了一個大同樂會，在傳授各種民族樂器演奏技藝和整理、改編傳統樂曲方面做了不少工作，培養了一批演奏者，他們整理改編的一些樂曲得到長久流傳，如《夕陽簫鼓》等。甘濤先生在二十年代後期，對廣東音樂做過較細緻的收集和訂正。
一九四三年的重慶，是抗日戰爭時期中華民國的陪都，中央電台設有民族樂團，這個樂團由陳濟略先生負責，只有十多個成員，甘濤、黃錦培等人任演奏員，張定和整理樂曲，所用樂器有南胡、琵琶、揚琴、簫、笛、鑼、鼓。
中華人民共和國建國前的民族民間器樂曲，雖有江南絲竹、廣東音樂的興起，民間如西安鼓樂、潮州音樂、十番鼓、十番鑼鼓等古老樂種依然在民間流傳，民族音樂由於劉天華的提倡，也有些起色，但從整個情況來看，古典音樂是漸趨衰落的。
但另一方面，當時在以延安為中心的解放區內，在以毛澤東主席為領袖的黨中央的直接領導下，尤其是在毛澤東《在延安文藝座談會上的講話》的指引下，一大批進步的文藝工作者紛紛從「小魯藝」走進「大魯藝」，在組織動員人民群眾積極投身抗戰的社會實踐的同時，對陝甘寧邊區、晉冀魯豫等解放區民間音樂進行了廣泛深入的學習與研究，並於一九三九年三月在延安魯迅藝術文學院（簡稱「魯藝」）正式成立了「中國民間音樂研究會」，不久，在其他抗日民主根據地也相繼建立了「民間音樂研究會」分會，有計劃、有組織地對民間音樂進行採集、介紹和研究工作，搜集整理加工了不少優秀民間音樂，這些活動為全國解放後對民間音樂的繼續發掘整理、製定方針政策提供了不少啟示和經驗。
（七）
中華人民共和國成立後，新中國在各個方面出現了嶄新的氣象，在政治、經濟、文化藝術等方面發生了全面的歷史性的變化。國家給了整個民族音樂的振興和發展以極大的重視，在黨和政府有關部門的倡導下，民族民間器樂在普及與提高兩個方面都取得了很好的效果。一方面，通過調查採訪和全國民族民間音樂調演，使許多古老的地方樂種得以保存和繼承，如西安鼓樂、山西八大套、冀中吹歌、十番鑼鼓、十番鼓、潮州音樂、福建南音、廣東音樂、江南絲竹等。這些樂種為豐富人民的音樂生活發揮了很大作用。另一方面，從中央到地方成立了相應的研究機構，有組織地開展了對民族民間音樂的收集整理工作，如當時附設在中央音樂學院的中國民族音樂研究所。在呂驥的大力倡導下，楊蔭瀏、曹安和先生等做了大量的收集整理工作，如整理出江南的《十番鑼鼓》、河北的《安縣子位村管樂曲集》以及對簡譜、三弦譜所作的訂正，並編印出《雅音第一集》、《雅音第二集》、《文板十二曲》、《蘇南吹打曲》，還有曹安和、簡其華、文彥譯譜，楊蔭瀏校訂的《弦索十三套》等。此外，各地對很多戲曲形式中曲牌的收集和保存，也很有意義。對廣東音樂、潮州音樂、福建南音、新疆十二木卡姆等等，也做了初步的收集整理工作。同時，通過歷次全國會演和調演活動，又進一步地發掘和發現了一批批優秀曲目和優秀人才，而且民族民間器樂作為一個專業進入了高等學府，全國所有高等音樂院校均先後設立了民樂系，並普遍開設了史、論、欣賞課。一些有造詣的民間藝人被聘請到音樂學院執教，從民間藝人成為教授。許多優秀的傳統曲目被納入大學教材。一代又一代的民族民間器樂藝術演奏人才走向社會，在全國各地普遍地建立起來的大型表演團體中，一般都有民族樂隊編制或完整的民族樂團。這些演奏團體演出內容豐富，活動也十分廣泛，成為活躍人民文化生活及國際文化交流的一個重要方面。
隨著民族民間器樂藝術在教育和表演團體建設方面的發展，民族民間器樂理論研究也得到長足進步，從中央到地方普遍建立了藝術研究所，而且在音樂研究方面多以研究傳統音樂（包括少數民族音樂）為主，還能經常召開有關的國際、國內學術交流會，並取得了相當豐碩的成果。
在這一時期，民間流佈十分廣泛的鼓吹樂、鑼鼓樂、絲竹樂等類屬的原有樂種，同樣得到了藝術上的提高，在各民族、各地區廣大人民自娛的民俗活動中仍保持著強大的生命力，其品種之多、形式之豐富，難以數計，成為民間文化生活的重要方面。
特別通過這次有計劃地對民族器樂文化進行的廣泛深入的編輯出版，應該說是一次高瞻遠矚的措施。可以預料，隨著歷史的推移，這份民族民間器樂文化遺產，將越來越顯示出她的燦爛光彩和深遠意義。
作者單位：
中國音樂理論家
前中央音樂學院副教務主任
前中國音樂學院院長
前中央歌舞團團長
前中央樂團團長
前中國音協副主席
A General Description of Chinese Traditional Instrumental Music
Li Ling
In the history of China, there has been some collection of Chinese folk music, such as “Guo Feng” (a collection of folk lyrics and music) in the Summer and Autumn Period (770BC-476BC) and the Warring States Period (475BC—221BC). Compilers of verses written for music in the two Han Dynasties (West Han Dynasty, 206BC—25AD, and East Han Dynasty, 25AD—220AD), Sui Dynasty (581 AD—618AD) and Tang Dynasty (618AD—907AD) have also had some researches on the Chinese folk music. However, if Chinese folk musical instruments are discussed, I should say we haven’t had any systematic and wide-ranged researches on the music played with instruments which were widely popular among our people, except for some on the episodes played usually with gugin (a kind of seven-stringed zither and China’s oldest stringed instrument.) It is, therefore, an unprecedented effort for the State Central Government to organize talents from various scholarly fields all over the country to deeply and widely research on folk musical instruments and cultures, and plan compiling ten collections for publication.
Descriptions about Chinese folk music and instrument actually scattered in dribs and drabs in our old scriptures, such as “NuWa Plays Sheng (a kind of mouth organ made of bamboo or metal) and Beating Reed (also a kind of instrument played with mouth)” and “WuXian Plays Drums”. “Lu’ s Commentary on Spring and Autumn Period” (work by Lu Buwei finished around 239BC) once said, “Emperor Huang Di (named as Zhuan Xu, and one of the earliest emperors in Chinese history) ordered the entertainer to play some tunes.” Heng Tan described Emperor Yu like this in his “On Qin Principles”, “In the old times of Xia (2070BC—1600BC), the flood covered the land and mountains. Emperor Yu (one of the earliest emperors in Chinese history) played gin and sang songs with clear voices. The music and songs flowed slowly and beautifully in the air, and told us Emperor Yu’ s high ambition in controlling the flood.” However, tales are tales and we can’t fully believe them according to the scripts.
Nevertheless, some descriptions in those old scriptures are quite reliable and traceable about such musical instruments as bell, drum, ging (a king of sounding stones), yu (a kind of pipe instrument and smaller type of sheng), sheng, gin (same as gugin) and seh, and about some musical players and masters. Between 1986 and 1987, archeologists unearthed 16 pieces multiple-holed bone flutes exquisitely made of MENGLI foot bones, which can produce tunes of six to seven musical scales, at the Wuyang Jiahu New Stone Age Relics of Henan Province. According to the primary carbon-14 dating evaluation, those flutes can be dated back to seven to eight thousand years ago. Many unearthed antiques and historical scripts tell us a long-reaching tradition of Chinese folk music and instrument as one essential part of Chinese culture.
The development of Chinese music culture originated from the combination of singing, music and dancing, and the musical instruments appeared first to the accompaniment of singing and dancing. Later, the dancing part became more and more independent, and the music to the accompaniment of the dances obtained more and more unique structures, then music itself played by various instruments developed as well during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. For example, “Sheng Jian Zou” (sheng solo in between) was a pure musical part separated gradually from the dances accompanied by music.
In 1978, archeologists unearthed the tomb of a King of Zeng State, named “Yi” and buried at the early Warring States Period (around 433BC), at the suburb of Suizhou in Hubei Province. They found remains of 21 ladies buried together with the king as well as 124 exquisite musical instruments, including a set of chimes consisting of 64-piece bells of double-tymapanitic notes, a qing set consisting of 32-piece stone gings, and many drums (handy drums, hanging drums and drums with sticks), ten-stringed qins, five-stringed qins, seh, pan-flute, sheng and chi (bamboo flute with 8 holes). This showed us at what a large scale and high level the musical band in the court at that time had already been. The exquisiteness of the craftsmanship, the width of the musical scales, the preciseness of the tones, and the musical philosophy of the tomb epigraph all reflected a considerably high level of civilization the Chinese musical culture had developed two thousand and four hundred years before.
Li Si was the premier of Qing State (306BC—221BC) in the Warring States Period. He once wrote in “Opinion about Expelling Non-Qing Residents” like this, “People in Qing used to pat on their buttocks and sing songs happily, blowing the urns, knocking on the potteries and playing zhengs (a kind of string instrument usually made of wood). All the music is authentic music of Qing!” (see “A Collection of History—Story of Li Si” ). The story later also said Li Si continued his opinion as following, “All such music types played in Zheng State and Wei State as “Shao”, “Yu”, “Wu” and “Xiang” are not local. Now, we abandon Urns and Potteries, and play music “Shao” and “Yu” from Zheng State and Wei State with zhengs. Why 1s it like this? Because they are for the same purpose—to make people happy.” This paragraph proves that kings of Qing State, at that time, not only enjoyed music from local Qing regions, but also that from central and western part of Chinese regions.
Stories about gin masters Boya and Cheng Lian, etc., tell us something about the origins of musical pieces such as “Gao Shan (High Mountains)” and “Liu Shui (flowing waters)”. Those qin masters belong to the hierarchy of scholars in the Spring and Autumn Period. “Lie Zi—About Tang Wei” tells us the following story about Boya and Zhong Ziqi. “Boya excels in playing gin, and Zhong Ziqi is good at understanding his music. When Boya plays some pieces displaying his ambitions as high as mountains or as torrential as flowing waters, Zhong Ziqi can fully understand and appreciates Boya’s devotion and ambitions. Once Boya visited the south of Tai Mountain and was stopped by a sudden rainstorm below a rock, when he fell into a mood of sadness. He then took the gin over and began playing an episode called “Lin Yu” (linyu rain).” Later, he was more and more absorbed in playing and began an episode called “Shan Beng (the mountain collapses).” Whenever the new episode started, Zhong Ziqi could tell out Boya’s mind right away. Boya thus abandoned his qin and said, ‘You are really excellent. You can tell whatever my mind wants to say. How can I be hidden away from you?’
From above-mentioned vivid stories, we can profoundly feel that in ancient Qing period, not only the music players achieved very high performance levels in combining their wills, principles and mood into music, but also the listeners had thorough understanding of those sentiments displayed in the music. The music repertoire “Guang Ling San” played by Ji Kang in Wei State of Three States Period (220AD To 280AD) is the proof of a high level of performance on the side of players as well as of understanding and acknowledgement of the philosophy in the music on the side of listeners in the development of Chinese folk music. Later, the cultural exchange with foreign regions in Sui and Tang dynasties, especially the wide absorptions of foreign music and culture into the dancing music and court music in the most prosperous Tang period, gave fresh injections to Chinese folk music and instruments for fast and great development.
After the 11″ century, the musical cultures of China, including instrumental music, prospered greatly. Chinese folk cultures of instrumental music kept exuberant vitality among people of various ethnic groups until the 15th century, when China was in the middle of Ming Dynasty (1368—1644). Such cultures had different development features at different period of time.
[I] In ancient Qing Dynasty (221 BC—206BC), some early scriptures about dances and music could be found in “Shangshu—Story about Shun” (“Shangshu” is a collection of stories happening from old period of Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun (both emperors were among the earliest emperors in ancient China) to Mid Spring and Autumn Period or records of kings’ words of those times. It is one of the most ancient collections of historical stories in China.) It says, Lessee Kui (the official responsible for music in the reign of Emperor Shun) said, “When the stone ging 1s tapped, the music is so attractive that even beasts and animals begin dancing. “ According to the unearthed relics and historical scripts, there were already over 30 types of instruments in ancient Qing Dynasty. People classified such instruments according to materials they were made of into 8 categories, so-called “Ba Yin” (8-tuned musical instruments or 8 kinds of sounds produced by such instruments’ —instruments made of metals, stones, strings, bamboo, calabashes (lagenaria vulgaris), clay, animal skins and wood.
Music players in the court of Zhou Dynasty (1046BC to 256BC), such as Shi Guo, Shi Kuang and Shi Hua, were all good at playing gugin. Gugin became the favorite of scholars in Qing Dynasty (221BC—206BC). There was description in “The Analects of Confucius” about the seh like this, “Kongzi (Confucius) asked his students about their ambitions. Zeng Dian (one student of Confucius) was playing seh when Confucius asked, ‘Dian, what do you want to do?’ Then, Dian gradually slowed down his music and answered his teacher.” It shows how popular seh was among scholars at that time. Yi was also very important at that time in the court. Descriptions about music playing can be found in “Hanfei Zi—Neichu Theories” (Hanfei 71 was the famous philosopher and essayist in the Warring States Period (275BC to 221BC) and the founder of Legalism in China. The collection of his theories is “Hanfei Zi” and “Neichu Theories” is part of the collection focusing on seven methodologies of controlling the courtiers.), such as “King Xuan of Qi State usually asked three hundred people to play yu at the same time,” and “Yu (reed yu) is the most important one among all the music instruments. Once yu is blown, chimes and seh will follow yu, and so will other instruments.” It is obvious that yz was the leading instrument in the band at that time.
China was unified in Qing Dynasty. Its emperor did several good things in the history, such as “unifying the characters and standardizing the wheels of vehicles”. Among the engraved scriptures unearthed from tombs of Qing’s first emperor Ying Cheng, we found some chimes with Qing’ s sealed character (a style of Chinese calligraphy, often used on seals) “Music Bureau” , which showed that there was already special government department responsible for music development in Qing Dynasty.
[II] Economies in Han Dynasty (West Han Dynasty, 206BC—25AD, and East Han Dynasty, 25AD—220AD) changed a lot, generating some new development for the culture of the country. At this period of time, China then had more exchanges with the Turkestan regions (currently close to Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region), and export them such instruments as bells, chimes, gugins and shengs as well as many music players and musical theories. In return, China then imported such instruments as giang flute (flute of Qiang ethnic group), hujia (hujia reed pipe), vertical k ung-hou (a kind of vertical ancient musical instrument with 23strings), bili (a kind of ancient wind instrument made of bamboo, and its reed made of bulrush), guxiang pipa (pipa 1s a kind of Chinese lute), as well as some musical theories. Liu Bang, the first emperor of Han Dynasty, liked music and he could play zhu (a kind of five string lute). He wrote in “The Ode of Wind”, “Heavy wind starts and blows the cloud to move so fast! I have won some victories and now come back to my hometown with honor. However, can I always have loyal supporters to help me keep my emperor stable and prosperous?” It is said that he organized 120 children to sing this song at his hometown Pei County and he played zhu and led the dancing himself.
It is said that armies of Han Empire used music played with drums and mouth organs to “strengthen their power and prestige.” Later, such music developed greatly in the court and Chinese folk people, and spread among minority people as well. According to old scripts, there were four types of performances in the court with music played with drums and mouth organs.
When music played by drums and mouth organs got popular, guqins, sehs and xiaos were also welcome by the courtiers, scholars and folk people. In old scripts of Han Dynasty and Wei Dynasty, there were already descriptions about solo instrumental performances, the music of which was called “danqu.” Some of the repertoires played with gugins, zhengs, shengs and zhus include “Guangling San”, “Huanglaotan Feiyin”, “Liu Chu”, etc. Then, the solo guqin performance was in its peak season, and Cai Yong (???), Cai Yan (???) and Ji Kang (???) were among the most famous players at that time. The important folk music collection then was “Xiang He Ge (Xianghe Song Collection)”. The “Jinshu—Yue Zhi” (Story Collection of Jin Dynasties—About Music) (one of the 24 most famous collection of historical stories compiled by Fang Xuanling, etc., in Tang Dynasty) says, “Xianghe, a kind of ceremonious solo singing type in old Han Dynasty; later, 1t developed to be songs accompanied by music played with stringed and bamboo instrument.” It showed that Xianghe songs were usually accompanied by stringed and bamboo instruments, and before the songs, there were usually solo instrument performance. In the reign of Emperor Liu Che (157BC—87BC), folk music from States of Yan, Zhao, Chu, Qi, Qing and Lu was collected and popularized, and he even appointed Li Yannian to be the coordinator in charge of music development and collection of music tunes. In “Hanshu—Li Yuee Zhi (Story Collection of Han Dynasties—On Ceremonious Music)”, (“Hanshu” was written by Ban Biao and his son Ban Gu in Han Dynasty and 1s one of the most important historical collections), there were words as “writing verses of 19 chapters”. It also described Han Dynasty absorbed many music types from Zheng Sate and Wei State, therefore “from the court to the music bureau, Zheng’s tunes resounded all over.” It is obvious that people widely absorbed music types of many regions so as to create new ones at that time.
[III] Due to the economic development and promotion of the court in Sui and Tang dynasties (Sui Dynasty (581AD—618AD) and Tang Dynasty (618AD—907AD)), popular court music won great prosperity, and largely activated the instrumental music culture to enter a new historical era. Popular court music in Sui and Tang dynasties had its far-reaching effect on Chinese music history. It was the music to the accompaniment of court dances for the enjoyment of kings (emperors) aggregating the achievements of different nations. “Sui Shu—Yin Yue Zhi (Sui Shu—On Music” (“Sui Shu” is a collection of historical stories of Sui Dynasty compiled by Wei Zheng, the premier of Tang Dynasty in reign of Emperor Li Shimin, the second emperor of Tang Dynasty) says, “At the beginning of its (Sui’s) establishment, the government set up seven schools of music: Guoji School, Qingshang School, Ancient Korean School, Ancient Indian School, Anguo School, Ancient Kutsi School (kutsi is now in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region) and Wenkang School.” Emperor Yang Guang (the second and last emperor of Sui Dynasty) added two schools-“Kangguo School” and “Shule School” (Shule is now in Xinjiang Uighur Automonous Region), and changed “Guoji School” to “Xiliang School” (Xiliang is now in Gansu Province) and “Wenkang School” to “Libi School.’’(Libi means the ceremonious rites end.) Then finally, we had nine-school music.
“Seven-school music” and “nine-school music” included many solo instrumental musical pieces. Due to the influence of musical cultures from the old Turkestan regions, the composition of court bands also greatly changed. They began using larger amount of exotic instruments, such as phoenix-headed k’ung-hou, vertical k’ung-hou, pipa (Chinese lute), five-strings, bili,cymbal, maoyuan drum (a kind of kutsi drum which can be tapped on both sides), duxian drum (smaller type of maoyuan drum), jie drum ( a kind of drum with both sides covered by skins and the belly part thinner, and originated from Jie ethnic group in turkestan regions), dala drum (similar to jie drum and usually played by people in kutsi and shule regions), yaogu drum (drum played when hung on waists and originated from regions close to current north Sha’an x1 Province) and jilou drum.
“Zuobu Ji” (music types played when sitting) and “Libu Ji’ (music types played when standing) in Tang Dynasty were inherited and developed from the popular court music of Sui Dynasty, and usually consisted of 14 repertoire. Among them, “Libu Ji” included 8 repertoire, “An Yue” (music of tranquility), “Taiping Yue”(music of peace and security), “Pozhen Yue”(music when breaking the disposition of enemies’ troupes), “Qingshan Yue” (music to eulogize the good), “Dading Yue” (music to show off the great stability”, “Shangyuan Yue’(music to celebrate Chinese Spring Festival”, “Shengshou Yue”(music played for celebration of kings’ birthday), and “Guangsheng Yue” (music in honor of the holy). “Zuobu Ji” included 6 repertoire, “Yan Yue’’(court banquet music), “Changshou Yue’(music for long life span), “Tianshou Yue” (music to show emperors were appointed by the holy), “Niaoge Wansui Yue”(music about all birds singing long live to emperors), “Longsha Yue” and “Xiao Pozhen Yue” (shorter Pozhen Yue). Among the 14 repertoire, “An Yue” was created by Emperor Yuwen Yong in North Zhou Dynasty (543A D—578AD); “Taiping Yue” was the additional part for “kutsi music” in the “ten-school music”. All the rest were dancing music created in Tang Dynasty and the products of the prosperity of that period. Performances of “Libu Ji” were especially spectacular among all, and were usually played by 60 people at the least and 180 people at the most. The spectacle was really full of power and grandeur accompanied with heavy drums. The scale of “Zuobu Ji” performances was smaller. Usually 3 to 12 people played the music, which was ethereal, expressive and emotional. Playing of such music emphasized personal skills very much.
“Da Qu” is large-scaled dancing music repertoire consisted of multiple chapters. Some repertoire of “Da Qu” with elegant styles and features of Qingshang School in the court are also called “Fa Qu’. The famous repertoire “Nishang Yuyi” (rainbow-colored and feathered costumes) in Tang Dynasty is one “Fa Qu” in the bigger category of “Da Qu.”
The “Gucui Yue” (music played with drums and mouth organs) played during banquets was also important Tang popular music, and greatly influenced future folk instrumental music. According to “Yuefu Za Lu (Story Medley of the Music Bureau)” compiled by Duan Anjie in Tang Dynasty, there were over 300 types of music instruments at that time. There were not only musical notations in Chinese characters, but also “notations by simplified characters” and earlier “gongchi notation (notation in several pre-regulated signs).”
Thanks to the instrumental music development in Tang Dynasty, a lot of famous instrument players and musicians appeared, such as pipa master Cao Miaoda, He Huaizhi, Lei Haiqing, Duan Shanben and Kang Kunlun; bi/i players Guan Cui, Li Gun and Li Guinian; and other players like Li Ping (k ung-hou), Li Mo (flute), Li Zhou (zheng) and Xue Yangtao (ia), etc.
[IV] In Song Dynasty (960—1279), “Za Ju” (a kind of Chinese dramatic theatre, combining many theatrical types), which absorbed many excellent folk cultural features, prospered. Some of the beautiful gupai (ancient people wrote titles of music on announcement boards and thus gupai, meaning title boards, emerged), and interval music in return were absorbed by future folk instrumental pieces. Gugin also won great development in Song Dynasty. Emperor Zhao Kuangyi (939–997) himself composed “Da Qu” and “Xiao Qu’, and revised old music pieces as described in “Song Ming Yinyue Shiliao (Music History of Song and Ming Dynasties)” compiled by Ji Liankang (page 241), “ A total of 390 new music pieces were revised out of the old ones.” Serving the Emperor there was a musician called Zhu Wenji, who was named as “Number One Master of Gugin.” Emperor Zhao Ji (Huizong of Song) was also addicted to gugin, and once established “Wan Qin Tang” (hall of thousands of guqins), used for holding thousands of valuable guqins he collected from all over the country. “Xiangxiang Shuiyun” (mist and clouds over Xiao and Xiang rivers) composed by Guo Mian (around 1190—1260) was one of the masterpieces at that time. Music by mouth organs had considerable development as well in Song Dynasty. One court music player Chan Zhongxin, based on earlier chao sheng (19-piped mouth organ) and he sheng (13-piped mouth organ), standardized shengs’ shapes and norms, and therefore the 19-reed shengs emerged. In Sichuan area, a kind of 36-reed “phoenix shengs” also appeared.
Instruments emerging in Song Dynasty included the following.
Mouth organs: chashou flute, guan flute, giang flute, xia flute, xiaohu flute, zhegu, hushing, gixing, xiaoguan (a kind of pan-flute), vertical pan-flute, peisi, yinzi zhongguan and zhongguan beiwu, etc.
String instruments: giao gin, xi qin, horsetail urheen, calabash qin, bohai qin,shuang yun and san xian (three strings qin), etc.
Percussion instruments: yun’ao (an instrument consisted of 13 gongs made of copper), tongzi, yugu (a kind of instrument made of bamboo), tonggu (very big drum played when hung at the waist) and shuizhan (a kind of instrument made of copper and tapped by iron stuff), etc.
Instruments emerging in Yuan Dynasty (1206-1370) included gobuz (a kind of Mongolian instrument in similar shape to pipa), 72-stringed pipa, I-stringed qin and xinglong sheng. In the dancing music “Baisha Xiyue” (“white sand and beautiful music”) of Naxi ethnic group in Yunnan regions then, such instruments were also used as vertical flute, horizontal flute, luguan, sugudu (a gobuz-like instrument played in Naxi area),erhuang (two-reed qin) and urheen. Many Yuan pieces popular in northern part of China at that time also spread to Yunnan regions. “County Annals of Lijiang” in Yunnan says, “(Those pieces) include “Nanbei Qu” (south-north tunes), “Daodao Ling”, “Yiteng Shu” (one letter) and “Jisheng Cao” (mistletoe), etc.”
There emerged in two Song dynasties (North Song and South Song) an amount of papers on musical theories and commentaries with considerable historical and cultural values.
“Yue Shu” (Book on Music) compiled by Chen Yang (1064—1128) included altogether105 volumes, commenting on laws of music, dancing music in past dynasties, instruments, miscellaneous music, theatres, ceremonies and proprieties. “Qin Shi (History of Qiny)” compiled by Zhu Changwen (1041—1100) collected descriptions about gins made by 156 persons from old Qing State to the early Song Dynasty, and was the earliest book especially on gins in Chinese history. The book greatly contributed to the development of studies on gins. “Mengxi Bitan” (article collection of Mengxi, a style name of Shen Kuo) written by Shen Kuo (1033-1097) was one epoch-making literary work comprehensively on many subjects of natural and human sciences. In the music part of this work, Shen Kuo made in-depth researches and penetrating comments on ancient musical norms, musical critics, instrumental performances, banquet music of Tang and Song dynasties, instrument production, and the resonance phenomena of vocal and music.
[V] In Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1636—1911, including the period when Qing was still based in north-east), the folk instrumental cultures continued its improvement and popularization with the development of theatrical cultures, and many new types of music emerged and got popularized in wider areas. Those new music types included Xia’an Drum Music, Fujian South Music, Beijing Temple Music, Shanxi Badatao (eight grand series of musical pieces), Mid-Ji Woodwind Music (Ji is currently Hebei Province), Jiangsu Shifangu (multi-repetitious wind and percussion ensemble of currently Jiangsu Province), Shifan Luogu (multi-repetitious gong and percussion ensemble), Ensemble of Mouth Organs and Percussions of Zhejiang Province, and Ensemble of Mouth Organs and Percussions of Shandong, Liaoning and Jilin provinces. In Year 1814 during the reign of Emperor Aixinjueluo Yongyan (1760-1820), the Mongolian scholar Mingyi (style name Rongzhai) compiled the ancient pieces popular among the court and folk people at that time into the book “Xiansuo Beikao (Reference for Stringed Music)”, which collected 13 masterpieces like “Shiliu Ban” , “Qin Yin Ban” , “Oin Yin Chuan”, “Ping Yun Chuan”, “Yue’er Gao” (moon is high in the sky), “Qin Yin Yue’er Gao” (moon is high in the sky played with qins), “Pu’an Zhou” (curse of Pu’an Temple), “Hai Qing’, “Yangguan Sandie” (three refrains of the Yang Pass theme) of melodies about Yangguan boarder), “Songqing Yeyou” (riding at night), “Wu Ming Ma” (dancing horses), “He Huan Ling” (happy reunion), and “Jiangjyun Ling” (orders from the general). Due to that, this book was also named as “Xiansuo Shisan Tao” (13 masterpieces about Chinese traditional string music), displaying the old tradition and development of Chinese string music in north part. In the meantime, because of the rapid development of theatres, there emerged a lot of vocal cavities, which pushed the culture of accompaniment to go solo and gradually mature. Several schools came into beings in the development of gugin culture, and the most important ones were Guangling School (based in Yangzhou), Zhucheng School (based in Shandong Province), Yushan School (based in Changshu), Zhe School (based in Zhejiang Province), Lingnan School (based in Guangdong Province), Jinling School (based in Nanjing), and Shu School (based in Sichuan Province). The representative gin pieces at this period of time included “Pingsha Luoyan” (wild geese descending on the sandy beach), “Qiu Ming” (birds’ crying in autumn), “YuJiao Wenda” (questions and answers between the fisherman and woodman), “Boya Diao Ziqi” (Boya memorizes Ziqi), “Longxiang Cao” (souring dragons—about Zhaojun theme), “Zuryu Cangwan” (evening song of the drunken fisherman), “Changmen Yuan” (lament at Changmen Palace), etc. According to the record in “Tang Pipa Zhuan (Biography on Pipa Player Tang)” in the “Sizhao Tang Ji (Collection of Sizhaotang Hall)” compiled by Wang Youding (1598—1662), famous pipa (Chinese lute) player Tang played around 100 masterpieces such as “Chu Han” (about contention between Chu leader Xiang Yu and Han leader Liu Bang”, “Huyia Shiba Pai” (eighteen passages of huja music’), “Sai Shang” (at a border fortress) and “Dongting Qiusi” (autumn thoughts of Dongting Lake), and among those pieces, his playing of “Chu Han” especially overwhelmed people and thus he enjoyed quite a fame for a long time.
During the reign of Emperor Zhu Houzhao (1506–1521) and Emperor Zhu Houcong (1522– 1566), Zhang Xiong, one pipa master in current Henan Province, was most well-known for playing “Haiging Na Tian’e” (haiqing seizing swan); Zhong Xiuzhi from Zhengyangguan of Shou County of current Anhui Province was also good at playing pipas and three-stringed gins; Li Jinlou, a blind pipa master in Beijing, was honored by people as one of the “Eight Great Achievements of the Capital”. Other pipa players recorded in scripts of Ming and Qing dynasties also included Li Dongyuan, Jiang Duifeng, Jiang Shanren, Yang Yanguo, Wang Junxi, Chen Mutu, Hua Wenshan (also named Hua Quuping), Li Zu, Chen Zijing, Shen Haochu, Li Tingsen, Li Fangyuan, Shen Zhaozhou, Wang Huisheng and Yin Jiping, etc.
It requires attention that many stringed instruments, like urheen, and reed instruments, like so-na (trumpet) were very popular among the folk people. Besides the o/d two-stringed urheens, there were also four-stringed urheen, jing urheen (usually found in Beijing opera), ban urheen (flat urheen), ye urheen (simular to flat urheen), datong, new two-stringed urheens, as well as Mongolian matougin (Morinhuur, horse-head scrolled two-string fiddle), aijieke of Uighur ethnic group, biwang and iron gins of Tibetan people and three-stringed urheen of Axi people and Sani people of Yi ethnic group as well as maguhu (urheen made of horse bones) of Zhuang ethnic group.
As for the solo folk instrumental music, it courageously absorbed many theatrical tunes and melodies from many titled musical pieces (cipai and gupai) sung to lyrics of Song Dynasty, dramas of Yuan Dynasty and operas in Ming and Qing dynasties, and became very popular in cities and countryside of China.
Qing Dynasty inherited the set-up of the court musical band of Ming Dynasty and developed in its scale and variations. Qing became one of the Chinese dynasties when court music was most treasured. For example, there were 204 players in the band for “Zhonghe Shaoyue” (a ritual music piece which derived from the Shao music associated with the legendary emperor Shun (2258-2211BC) mentioned by both Confucius and Mencius in their writings) played in ritual fetes, and 116 musicians in the ritual band of “Lubu Dayue” played when emperors paid tributes to their ancestors or in court banquets. Besides these two pieces, emperors of Qing Dynasty also organized a band of 24 players and played, standing, with big drums, fangxiang, yunluo and woodwind instruments, the piece called “Danbi Dayue”. When the discussion subjects in the court meetings involved sending troops for battles or winning victories, the band would add “Naoge Yue” (music played with naos to the accompaniment of dances). In banquets held on the three festivals—the first day of the year, emperors’ birthdays and the starting of winter, not only the above-mentioned pieces would be played, but also such pieces as “Qing Yue” (pure music), “Qinglong Dance” (dance to celebrate prosperity), “Jia Cui” (music played with hujia), “Fanbu Hezou” (ensemble of western musical pieces), “Gaoliguo Pai” (ensemble of Korean musical pieces), “Wa’erkabu Yuewu” (music and dances from Wa’erka tribes) and “Huibu Yueji” (ensemble of musical pieces of hui ethnic group). There were strict regulations about when to play which kind of music in the rituals. Some of those pieces were from minority ethnic groups and foreign countries, such as “Jia Cur’, “Fanbu Hezou’, “Gaoliguo Pai” and “Wa’erkabu Yuewu”.
The religious music, however, waned gradually after certain time of prosperity in Ming and Qing dynasties.
The instrumental music in Buddhism had strong connection with traditional music. The setup of instruments among various temples was almost similar, however, enjoyed difference from South to North. Temples to the south of Yangtze River usually followed the principle of “woodwind and string” in various works of Buddhism; while northern temples usually followed the principle of “mouth organs and percussions” mentioned in “Chanmen Risong” (a book compiled in 19th century for a collection of rituals, philosophies, etc. in Buddhism). Mountain Wutai in Shanxi Province is one of the four mountains most famous for Buddhism in China, and also the central point for Buddhism music in China’s north part. The music in Qingmiao Temple of Mountain Wutai had close relationship with the folk Shanxi music “badatao”. Researches on the Buddhism music of Daxiangguo Temple of Kaifeng and Zhihua Temple of Beijing, and the music of Buddhism of Tibetan School popular among Tibetan and Mongolian people, as well as other temple music among Yugu, Dai and Naxi ethnic groups are therefore very meaningful for understanding Chinese Buddhism and traditional music.
Music in Taoism also had its long origins and was wide-spreading in China. The sacred places of Taoism in China were so many that people described them as “forests all over the country.” Early in East Han Dynasty (25—220), “Taiping Jing”(scriptures of peace and security) already described the musical theories and believed the music could move the heaven and the earth, could help people reach the holy and make the country secure and peaceful. Taoist Kou Qianzhi in North Wei Dynasty (1386—534 _jchanged the literal reading of scriptures in Taoism into singing with music. Music of Taoism developed to a high level in Tang Dynasty, and sounded so harmonious and beautiful that it was praised as “music from the heaven and sung by fairies” (refer to Volume 54 of “Cefu Zhi Gur’— a book compiled in North Song Dynasty and mainly about stories and histories happening in Tang Dynasty). This showed the unique feature of Taoism music in Chinese religious music, such as the elegance and dainty like from “the heaven and fairy”. The rich connotations implied by the Taoism Music of Wudang Mountain (one Taoism mountain in Hubei Province) collected in Volume of Hubei Province fully displayed its important status in Chinese traditional music culture. The Taoism music of Wudang Mountain developed to its peak of power and splendor in Ming Dynasty, when the Taoist followers established “Sheng Le Guan” (literally meaning a Taoism temple where the saints are happy as well) —a palace especially for dances and music. The court supported over 400 dancers and music players, and often bestowed many instruments on the palace in Wudang Mountain. The Ming emperors even gave titles to the official responsible for management of the palace.
China enjoyed the fame of being a nation of “propriety and music,” and the people over the nation respected the philosophy that “proper propriety and music bring a peaceful and secure nation.” After Confucius died, Chinese people honored his hometown Qufu of Shandong Province as the sacred birth place of “propriety and music.” Yayue (elegant music) of Confucius Temple of Qufu became the source of music that Chinese people all over the world use to pay their tribute to Confucius. For such kind of trinity performance which combined dance, music and songs, courts of different dynasties and emperors all had very strict rules about the composition of the bands, usually consisting all of the “Ba Yin (eight sounds)” as jin (metal), shi (stone), string (silk), zhu (bamboo), ge (skins), mu (wood), pao (Lagenaria vulgaris), and being in large scale. From Ming Dynasty to the beginning of 20″ century, the music piece used in ceremonies for memorizing Confucius was gradually stabilized to “six chapters,” and the band was normally around 100 people or above. The ceremonies were grand and the atmosphere was serious and solemn.
Dancing music of the ethnic minority people in Ming and Qing dynasties developed very much as well. Famous ones were “Mu Ka Mu” of Uighur in Xinjiang region (a combination of music from many old Turkestan regions—current Xinjiang regions—from 14″ to 16″ century), “Lang Ma” of Tibetans (a kind of Tibetan dancing music originated from folk people, but later mainly played in the interior halls of Potala Palace. Lang Ma actually means “interior halls” of the Potala Palace.) , Tiao Yue” (dancing at the moonlit night) of Miao and Yi people, and many of them were pure instrumental performances and possessed considerable cultural level.
In the field of musical rules and theories, it is worth mentioning of the “New Musical Theory” written by Zhuzaiyu (1536——1614), the famous musicologist, who first established the theory about the Twelve-Tone Equal Temperament in the world and made careful calculation on the problems of temperament with the Jar-metric principle. His calculation helped answer questions that many musicologists in China and overseas had been trying to answer but never answered before him, and therefore obtained very important status in world’s history of musical temperament. His theories exerted far-reaching effect on the instrumental music of modern times as well as the production of instruments.
[VI] At the end of Qing Dynasty and beginning of Republic of China (1912—1949), music by violin, piano and fenggin (western organ) became popular in some Chinese regions. Some scholars even composed songs and music for the playing of such instruments. However, it was not until after “May 4″” Movement” that such music was in explosively fast development.
The earliest slogan of the “May 4″ Movement” was for “democracy and science” and was against “old (out-of-date) cultures”. The movement promoted writings in the vernacular, and opposed Confucius and old etiquettes….Much of Chinese classic music was also in the list of opposition, because Confucius was the founder of Yayu (elegant ancient music) Sect.
In later period of 1920s’, there appeared Liu Tianhua (1895—1932), a musician who was devoted to the advancement of traditional instrumental music. Liu was not only good at ancient music and playing erhu (a kind of two stringed fiddle) and pipa, but also learned western brass music and playing piano and violin. Affected by the democratic thoughts of “May 4″ Movement”, he began promoting Chinese traditional instrumental music, especially in reforming erhus and pipas, and composing new melody pieces. He composed ten masterpieces such as “Bing Zhong Yin” (the sound of agony in sickness), “Yue Ye” (moonlit night), “Kumen Zhi (another name is “Ku Zhong Le” and means the happiness in wave of depression”), “Bei Ge” (elegy), “Liang Xiang” (nocturnal peace), “Xian Ju Yin” (mediation in retirement), “Kongshan Niaoyu” (song of birds in a desolate mountain), “Guang Ming Xing” (towards a bright future), “Du Xian Cao” (melody on a single string) and “Zhuying Yaohong” (dancing by candlelight).
After the revolutions of Liu Tianhua, the music range of erhus was enlarged to be 3 octaves and five???24, iL, and standardized such playing skills as “hua yin” (sliding sound), “fan yin” (scattered or floating sound), “dun yin” (paused sound), “lian yin” (unstopped sound) and “zhuangshi yin” (sound for decoration). At the same time, he set up many rules on music mode, structures and transitional paragraphs, and made aggressive explorations on describing people’s minds and thinking vividly through various kinds of music.
At the same period of time, due to the recovery of the cultural life in urban cities, string and bamboo music also prospered in south of Yangtze River, and many music types emerged with different schools, musicians and repertoire. Hua Yanjyun (1893-1950) (also named as A Bin) was a blind music player and he composed large amount of excellent pieces including “Erquan Yingyue” (the moon reflected on the two springs), “Ting Song” (listen to the sound of pine trees), and “Dalang Taosha” (big waves wash the sand).
At the beginning of 20″ century, there was a “Cantonese Opera Revolution” happening in the theatrical field of Guangzhou Province, and “Cantonese Music” also gradually separated from opera music and became a lively new music type. Musicians like Lu Wencheng, Yan Laolie and He Liutang, etc., began revising ancient pieces and composing short Cantonese pieces with special features of Southern China. In around 20 years, they composed around 100 to 200 pieces, which formed very important music type thanks to the promotion of recorders and cinema. The masterpieces included “Han Tian Lei” (thunderstorms in dry season), “Ema Yaoling” (bells from hungry horses), “Pinghu Qiuyue”(autumn moonlight in peaceful West Lake), “Yule Shengping” (peace, happiness and security), “Xiao Taohong” (little Taohong), “Yuda Bajiao” (rains beating plantain), “Lianhuan Kou” (interlink chains), “Shuangsheng Hen”(deep hatred), “Sailong Duojin” (winning in dragon-playing tournament), “Bu Bu Gao’(stepping high), “Zou Ma” (riding horses???), “Niao Tou Lin” (birds going back to the forest), “Qishan Feng’(phoenix in Qishan Mountain???), and “Fengyun Hui”(???).
About the recording and compilation of folk instrumental music pieces, LiuTianhua had one of the most important and creative contribution in the 20s of 20th century, when he collected and recorded the tablature of chaozihui (a kind of mouth organ music) of Ding County of Hebei Province. In 1920, Mr. Zheng Jinwen (1872—1935) initiated an association in Shanghai, actively involved in spreading the folk instruments’ playing skills, and in compiling and revising traditional pieces. A group of players and musicians were trained there, and many pieces, such as “Xiyang Xiaogu” (xiaos and drums played in twilight), became popular for generations after their revisions. Mr. Gan Tao (1912—1995) also did careful collection and proof-reading of Cantonese music after the 20s.
Chongqing was the alternate capital of Republic of China in 1943 during the war against Japanese invasion. In the central radio station at that time, there was a traditional music orchestra established, and Mr. Chen Jilue (1905—1990) was the responsible person. Then, there were only over 10 members, including Gan Tao and Huang Jinpei (1919–) as the players, and Zhang Dinghe (1916–) as the responsible person for compilation of music pieces. The instruments included nanhu (erhu popular in South), pipa (Chinese lute), yang gin(dulcimer), pan-flute, flute, gong, and drum.
Before the foundation of People’s Republic of China, the music played with string and bamboo instruments in south of Yangtze River and Cantonese music got prosperous, other ancient music types such as drum music of Xi’an, Chaozhou music, shifan’gu (multi-repetitious drum ensemble) and shifan luogu (multi-repetitious gong and drum ensemble) were still popular among folk people, and traditional music started improving in general thanks to the promotion of Liu Tianhua. However, despite of all of those, the classic folk music was in its waning period in general.
On the other hand, in the regions controlled by communist armies of China with Yan’an as the centre, under the direct leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong and especially with the guidance of Mao Zedong’s “Speech in Yan’an Cultural Meeting”, a large group of revolutionary cultural followers enlarged their areas for activities. On one hand, they actively encouraged more people to join in the wars against Japanese invasions; on the other hand, they began in-depth learning of and researches on the folk music in the boarder regions of Sha’anxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces as well as Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Henan regions where communist armies were in major control. In March of 1939, they established “China Folk Music Society” (simplified hereafter as “the Society) in Yan’an Luxun Academy of Cultures and Arts (simplified as “Luxun Academy”). Later, they established offices of the Society in more regions where communist armies gradually controlled, and began to collect, introduce and research on the folk music with more order and organization. Such activities left future work with more experiences and inspirations after the national liberation on the continuing development of folk music and establishment of policies.
[VII] The whole China took on a new outlook after the founding of People’s Republic of China, and historical and comprehensive changes happened in various fields of politics, economies and cultures. The State government paid high attention for the recovery and development of our national folk music. With the promotion of Chinese communist party and the national government, we made good accomplishment in popularizing and improving national folk music. On one hand, the country sent many musicians to travel around, visiting folk music players, collecting traditional pieces and playing with local ethnic players, so as to keep and inherit many old music types of different places. For example, Xi’an drum music, Shanxi badatao (eight grand series of musical pieces), Jizhong cuige (music played with mouth organs in middle part of Hebei Province), shifan luogu, shifan gu, Chaozhou music, Fujian music, Cantonese music and music played with string and bamboo instrument in south of Yangtze River. All those music types greatly enriched our people’s life. On the other hand, many research institutes were set up by the central to local governments and they began the work to collect and compile folk music. One of them was China Folk Music Research Institute attached to China Central Music Conservatory. At that time, promoted by Mr. Lu Ji (1909–), Mr. Yang Yinliu (1899—1984) and Cao Anhe (1905–) made many collections and recordings, including “Shifan Luogu” in south of Yangtze River regions, and “Woodwind Music Collection of Ziwei Village of An County” in Hebei Province. They also compiled and proof-read the simplified music scores and three-string tablatures, and published ‘Volume I and Volume II of Yayin (elegant ancient music)’, “Twelve Pieces of Wenban(x 4%.???)” and “Mouth Organ and Percussion Music of South Jiangsu Province.” There was also the “Xiansuo Shisan Tao” (13 masterpieces about Chinese traditional string music) , for which Cao Anhe, Jian Qihua (???) and Wen Yan (????) recorded the music score, and Yang Yinliu made the final proofreading. In the meantime, many local institutions did very worthwhile collection and reservation work on the gupai derived from opera and theatre and on the pieces from Cantonese music, Chaozhou music, Fujian music and shi’er kamu music from Xinjiang regions. Through various performances in national and exchange meetings, more and more excellent pieces and talented musicians were discovered. Many folk music instruments also entered the higher education since all Chinese music conservatories set up departments of folk music and offered courses on music history, theories and commentaries. Some master players from the folk groups were invited to teach in those music conservatories and became “professors”, and many traditional music pieces were compiled into school books. Generation after generation of folk music players graduated and began their music career in large cultural orchestras all over the country, which normally had quite complete setup of traditional music bands or orchestras. Such bands or orchestras had rich performance programs and activities, and became one important contribution part to the power for enriching people’s life and promoting international cultural exchange.
Together with the development of the folk instrumental culture in the fields of education and establishment of performance bands, our researches on folk music and instrumental theories proceeded with success. Most central and local governments established their cultural research institutes mainly on traditional music (including minority ethnic people’s music), and they often held international and domestic seminars to exchange the research results.
At this period of time, old music types played with mouth organs and percussion instruments, by gongs and drums, and by string and bamboo instruments also improved a lot, and maintained lively development in wide areas among local people, who enjoyed themselves in playing such music. There were so many types and derivations of such music that they became very important cultural life all over China.
Therefore, we are now especially organizing programs to conduct in-depth surveys, researches and collections of the folk instrumental music and cultures in the whole country, and, based on current administration mapping (on provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities), compiled and published 31 volumes of “China National Folk Music Encyclopedia.” The encyclopedia will conserve in good order various music types, religious music and court music, and should generate strategic effects on the development of our music cultures. It 1s expected that such a collection of rich heritage of folk instrumental music will display its brilliant splendor and far-reaching historic significance with the passage of time.
