only needs to read the works of Confucius (among many others) to see that the "seven principles" have been recognized in China from the remotest times: it is only the half learned, he says, who deny this. (Amiot, p. 161.) All seven are certainly fully recognized in our songs, in only two of which a pure five-step order is employed. It is true in all of them the two pien are used much less often than the others, yet to omit them would in all cases materially alter the character of the music. In this point our songs contradict Van Aalst's statement (p. 16) that the Chinese of the present, while theoretically admitting seven sounds, practically never use but five to the octave.[1]
In determining the scales actually embodied in the songs of the present collection, the successive pitches of which each melody consisted were determined as closely as possible by a method to be detailed in the appendix. They proved in all of the songs excepting the horn melody Long-how-sa to gather themselves into groups generally covering a compass of not over an eighth of a tone. The centre of gravity of each group was taken for the indicated note, and the order of intervals separating the indicated notes became the scale of the song. The table on the following page presents the result of this calculation in cents for all of the Samien songs. The scale of the horn melodies will be given later.
In each of these songs notes approximating in pitch to d’, e’, g’, a’, and b’, were the most frequent of all. In eleven out of the thirteen, occasional use was made of a note between e’ and g’, and of another between b’ and d’’. The other notes were all repetitions of these seven in the lower or the higher octave.
- ↑ A hint as to the possible source of this discrepancy is given by S. Wells Williams, The Middle Kingdom 2 ed., 1883, ii, p. 95. "There are two kinds of music, known as the Southern and the Northern, which differ in their character and are readily recognized by the people. The octave in the former seems to have had only six notes, and the songs of the Miaotz and rural people in that portion of China, are referable to such a [five-step] gamut, while the eight-tone scale [seven-step] generally prevails in all theatres and more cultivated circles. Further examination by competent observers who can jot down on such a gamut the airs they hear in various regions of China is necessary to ascertain these interesting points. . . ." One of the pieces given by Van Aalst in musical notation uses one of the pien; of Barrow's eleven songs only two neglect the pien entirely.
