The Zither Scores And Its Concord Series Research

Compiled by Zhou Xianzu,a man who lived in Bai Village,Jinxi County,Jiangxi Province during the Jiaqing period of the Qing dynasty,The Zither Scores and its Concord is by far the earliest document that records “the composition of both zither and flute” and the theory of “Kangxi’s Fourteen Tonalities”.By expounding the theory described in the theoretical part about zither and analyzing it from the perspective of the theory of music temperament,the author aims at examining how the “Kangxi’s Fourteen Tonalities” are practiced in ancient music scores.The thesis is mainly divided into four chapters.And the first chapter mainly consists of two parts that the first part of it explains the theory recorded in the theoretical part about zither and examines the origin of it,and the second part of it traces the history of the music scores written in The Zither Scores and its Concord.The second chapter analyzes the musicology theory contained in the theoretical part about zither,which can be divided into three categories,namely,the theory of twenty-eight tunes of Yan Music,the transition and modulation,and the theory of starting and finishing music.Zhou’s exposition about these three types of musicology theory in the theoretical part about zither constituted The Zither Scores and its Concord is not a copy of the theoretical system summarized by the predecessors but a modified version of the musicology theory concluded by them and a combination of“Kangxi’s Fourteen Tonalities” so that apply it into the process of compiling music scores.Through the conversion of the sound scores of the string on the zither,the emblem on the zither and the spectral emblem recorded in the theoretical part about zither,there are conclusions reached in the third chapter that the rhythm system used in The Zither Scores and its Concord is not purely the fifth degree tonality or pure tonality but a mixture of various tonality systems which includes the emblem of fifth degree tonality and the pure tonality as well as emblems that is neither a fifth degree tonality nor the “free tone” tendency of the pure tonality.The fourth chapter mainly discusses the logical law of musicology theory between the opening holes of “Guxian Flute” and “Zhonglv Flute” recorded in The Zither Scores and its Concord and the mathematical calculation of the distance of holes of flutes.Judging from the tones of the holes on the flutes,it is consistent with “Kangxi’s Fourteen Tonalities” that is five sounds and two changes are full sounds,which means that the Huangzhong is consistent with the theoretical framework which conforms to semi-Taicu.Secondly,the proportional relation of the length between the two holes in the octave relationship between “Guxian Flute” and “Zhonglv Flute” is also in accordance with the proportional relationship that is 9: 4 between the octave on the “Kangxi’s Fourteen Tonalities”.In terms of the practice of the Flute,“the score of Flute and Guqin” included in The Zither Scores was scored to discuss the problem of the integration of Flute and Guqin.