Jill Mattson – The earliest writings describing ancient Chinese music began at @ 645 BC. These documents described musical history as early as 2697 BC – during the reign of the Yellow Emperor. The musical system that originated at this time – essentially did not change for thousands of years. [1]

Today leaders categorize military and economic problems as issues of utmost importance. Confucius believed that the quality of music was greater – as improper music led to problems that required a military force. If music (or subtle vibrations that people were exposed to) was controlled, then there would be no need of military.

Evil is disharmonious and cannot exist in a strong field of harmony. The stronger vibration overcomes the lesser.

Imagine an invisible sound matrix, influencing and entraining the brainwaves and emotions of people. The variables of sound waves that affect brainwaves and emotions were established and preserved with vibratory control. Remember there was no freedom to listen to radio or random music. Even the sounds of the language were devised for their vibratory effect. Nature sounds, spoken words and the harmonic music sponsored by the government were all that anyone ever heard.

During several thousands of years that the Chinese dynasties were in power much remained the same, especially the music and the vibratory patterns that people were exposed to. Many ancient civilizations that preserved their music – did last for thousands of years.

In contrast, we listen to uncontrolled and rapidly changing music. We find a president difficult to keep past four years. Musicologist David Tame reflected on the security of a country listening to stable, sublime music, “A civilization which mirrored the above would never pass away, for every institution and object within it provided a medium for the containments of life-enforcing, invigorating cosmic forces.” [4]

At first glance these ideas can appear farfetched, but reflect on the absence of music. With approaching war, music stops and silence reigns with the feeling of upcoming devastation. Osama Bin Ladin outlawed all music for his devotees. It might be difficult to direct young people to be suicide bombers while listening to the Beach Boys. Can you imagine a polka being played on a war front?

This idea echoes from culture to culture that music created the energetic skeleton that a society’s emphasis was formed around. Tame reflected that the same basic beliefs regarding music are found in advanced civilizations from antiquity from Mesopotamia to India and Greece. [6] It is unclear whether the ideas were passed among cultures or each epoch discovered these concepts anew.

David Tame described ancient China’s system of vibratory control;

“Each year, in the second month, Emperor Shun journeyed to check upon his kingdom and ensure that everything was in order in the vast land. Yet he did not do so by auditing the account books of the different regions. Neither by observing the state of life of the populace or by receiving petitions from them. Nor by interviewing the regional officials in authority. No, by none of these methods.

In ancient China there was considered to be a much more revealing, accurate and scientific method of checking on the state of the nation. According to the Chinese text, Shu King, the emperor Shun went through the different territories and… tested the exact pitches of their notes of music. [7]

“Back in his palace, if the Emperor wished to monitor the efficiency of his central government, what did he do? Get expert advice on police making? Review the economy or state of the public opinion?

The Emperor was not ignorant of any of the above methods and at times may have taken recourse to all of them. But most important of all, he believed he should listen to, and to check, the five notes of the ancient Chinese scale. He had eight kinds of musical instruments brought back to him and played by musicians. Then he listened to the local folk songs and also to the tunes that were sung in the court itself, checking that all music had perfect correspondence with the five notes. [8]

“If Emperor Shun, on his travels about the kingdom had discovered that the instruments of the different territories were all differently tuned from each other, then he would have considered it a foregone conclusion that the territories themselves would begin to (if they did not already) differ with each other.

They might even lose their unity and begin to squabble among themselves unless the tuning was not corrected at once and made uniform from one place to another. And if the music that he heard in the villages had begun to become vulgar and immoral, then the Emperor would have expected immorality itself to sweep the nation unless something was done to correct the music. [9]

“According to the philosophy of the ancient Chinese, music was the basis of everything. Civilizations were shaped and molded according to the kind of music performed within them. Was a civilization’s music wistful or romantic? Then the people themselves would be romantic. Was it strong and military? Then the neighbor’s better beware.

Furthermore a civilization remained stable and unchanged as long as its music remained unchanged. But to change the style of music, which people listened to, would inevitably lead to a change in the very way of life itself.” [10]

References

[1]Nakeseko, Kazu. “Symbolism in Ancient Chinese Music Theory,” Duke University Press: Journal of Music Theory, Vol.1, No. 2, Nov. 1957, Pgs. 147-148.

[2] Elson, Louis. Curiosities of Music; A Collection of Facts Not Generally Known, Regarding Music of Ancient and Savage Nations, O”Ditson Co. 1908 and 2009. Pg. 64.

[3] This emperor was called Kong, but his disciples added the title, Fu-tsce, meaning master. Jesuit missionaries translated his name as Confucius.

[4] Tame, David. The Secret Power of Music: The Transformation of Self and Society Through Musical Energy, Destiny Books: Vermont, 1984, Pg. 56.

[5] Levitin, Daniel. The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature, Penguin Group: N.Y., 2009, Pg. 47.

[6] Tame, David. The Secret Power of Music: The Transformation of Self and Society Through Musical Energy, Destiny Books: Vermont, 1984, Pg. 17.

[7] Tame, David. The Secret Power of Music: The Transformation of Self and Society Through Musical Energy, Destiny Books: Vermont, 1984, Pg. 15.

[8] Tame, David. The Secret Power of Music: The Transformation of Self and Society Through Musical Energy, Destiny Books: Vermont, 1984, Pg. 15.

[9] Tame, David. The Secret Power of Music: The Transformation of Self and Society Through Musical Energy, Destiny Books: Vermont, 1984, Pg. 16.

[10] Tame, David. The Secret Power of Music: The Transformation of Self and Society Through Musical Energy, Destiny Books: Vermont, 1984, Pg. 15.

SF Source Jill’s Wings of Light Apr 2024