diskusbooks Chapter 1311 A Flash of Inspiration
Chapter 1311 A Flash of Inspiration
Su Xing suddenly stopped being in a hurry to finish her work.
She selected some common traditional musical instruments that have been passed down from ancient times and began to draw them.
She painted each musical instrument from which period it appeared, what it originally looked like, how it changed in each period, what scenarios it was used in, and what it looks like now.
For example, the pottery flute, a closed-mouth wind instrument, has existed since the Neolithic period. It is mostly oval-shaped and is commonly found in ancient tombs. Its tone is simple, mellow, and ancient.
Modern ocarinas have undergone standardized improvements based on tradition, resulting in diverse shapes and upgraded craftsmanship. The mainstream style is the ten-hole pear-shaped ocarinas, while various creative designs are also available, such as the pear-shaped ten-hole ocarinas with a pointed top and flat bottom, resembling a plump pear. This design offers a wider range of tones and can play modern modes.
There's also the gourd-shaped xun, with its double cavities and throat, making its high notes even more stable.
Besides these two styles, there are also pen holder ocarinas, teardrop ocarinas, large fish ocarinas, human face ocarinas, animal-shaped ocarinas, etc., with eight holes and nine holes.
For example, pottery drums, from ancient times to the Han Dynasty, were played with skin coverings, such as the red pottery drums from the Jiahu site.
Modern ceramic drums, on the other hand, are shaped like gourds with a slender waist. They feature double-sided skins and a flexible rope assembly for precise tuning. The drums are long and slender, with carvings and paintings, making them more beautiful and portable.
In ancient times, pottery drums were ritual and sacred objects used for sacrifices, witchcraft, hunting, and as signals for war. They were reserved for the use of nobles and leaders and were symbols of power.
In modern times, it is a folk musical instrument and performance prop, used in festivals, lion dances, shaman plays, and folk music ensembles. Some people also collect it as a cultural and creative product, making it more accessible to the general public.
Then there's the guqin, such as the Jiuxiao Huanpei Qin, a famous guqin from the Tang Dynasty. It has seven strings and is a scholar's instrument with a wide range.
The modern guqin and the ancient guqin are almost identical in appearance.
After it was standardized during the Han and Wei dynasties, its appearance was basically fixed. It has seven strings, thirteen frets, and is about three feet six and a half inches long. The front panel is curved and the bottom panel is flat, symbolizing the roundness of heaven and the squareness of earth.
However, there are significant differences between ancient and modern strings.
In the past, the strings of the guqin were mostly made of silkworm silk, producing a sound that was soft, mellow, muffled, quiet, and ancient, with a short sustain. The strings were also soft to the touch, and the tone was like the voice of an old person—gentle and profound.
The vast majority of modern guqin use steel strings, which are steel wire cores with nylon windings. The sound is bright, clear, loud, with long sustain and large volume, making it suitable for performances and recordings. The timbre is also like that of a young person, clean and powerful.
The lacquering techniques also differ.
In ancient times, a mixture of lacquer and deer antler powder was used, applied layer by layer. It would slowly dry and stabilize over decades or even centuries, leaving cracks on the surface, such as plum blossom cracks, cow hair cracks, and ice cracks, which are traces of time.
Modern guqin making also uses lacquer, but the process is faster and more standardized, and artificial crack patterns can be created, but it is different from naturally aged guqin.
In ancient times, the guqin was a tool for scholars to cultivate themselves, entertain themselves, and attain enlightenment; it was played for their own enjoyment.
In modern times, people who learn the guqin will perform on stage, take exams, teach, play in ensembles, record, and give public performances.
Su Xing also painted ancient flutes, such as the Jiahu bone flute, which is an early type of flute dating back about 8000 years. It has been unearthed in Wuyang, Henan Province, and is one of the earliest playable musical instruments in the world.
However, the bamboo flutes of today are not directly derived from the Jiahu bone flutes; they are of the same origin but different branches.
Although the Jiahu bone flute is the earliest ancestor of wind instruments in China, its tradition was later lost and discontinued.
The true ancestral lineage of the bamboo flute is as follows:
From the Western Zhou to the Eastern Zhou, the mainstream instruments were the yu and chi, which were played vertically, not horizontally. These were the ancestors of bamboo wind instruments, but they were not yet the transverse flute.
The Han Dynasty marked a crucial turning point, with the introduction of the transverse Qiang flute from the Qiang people in the northwest and the Western Regions. By the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, the transverse flute had become widespread, and its shape was similar to that of the modern bamboo flute. It also came to be known by names such as long flute and transverse flute.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the transverse flute became the mainstream musical instrument in the imperial court. Its basic form remained stable, consisting of bamboo, played horizontally, and with a blowhole.
From the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, it was standardized as a bamboo flute and widely used in folk customs and operas.
After finishing his painting of the evolution of the bamboo flute, Su Xing began to paint the pipa.
For example, the curved-neck pipa, which was introduced from the Western Regions to the Tang Dynasty and became popular, is often seen in Dunhuang murals and Tang Dynasty tomb musical figurines...
Although Su Xing's drawings are simple line drawings, he does not skimp on the details. They are all drawn very precisely, allowing people to clearly see the changes and development of these ethnic musical instruments.
It also included some textual explanations.
After finishing the drawing, she looked at it and suddenly felt that posting it directly on Weibo seemed a bit dull and uninteresting.
Those interested in traditional musical instruments might take a look.
But for people who are not interested in or know nothing about traditional musical instruments, this set of comics doesn't seem to be enough to keep them interested in watching. They'll probably just scroll past it quickly after reading it.
After thinking for a while, Su Xing turned this set of popular science paintings about ethnic musical instruments into a popular science video animation, and changed the text descriptions into audio descriptions.
She also found some open-source materials online and added sounds from various musical instruments.
Su Xing clicked on the video and watched it again. This time, it seemed to have some merit.
However, she felt that these science videos were not entertaining enough.
If it could be made into a comic or a comic series, with a more exciting plot, and interspersed with popular science about ethnic musical instruments in a thrilling fantasy story, turning various instruments into weapons, and using the timbre and melody as attack moves in the fight, it would seem to be more interesting!
Thinking this, Su Xing felt a little excited!
However, the studio is now preparing a new comic about tea.
She just had a sudden flash of inspiration for this kind of comic featuring traditional musical instruments; it was just an idea she had just come up with.
It's still a bit difficult to run two comics simultaneously at the moment.
We need to wait until the idea is fully formed and we have enough time before making a decision.
Moreover, it seems that the studio is not enough staff, and Zhang Xueyan needs to recruit more people.
But if we continue to hire, the office space will become a bit tight.
When they first rented the office, she, Zhang Xueyan, and Huang Wenwen complained that it was too big. Who would have thought that she would now find it cramped?
It seems I'll have to ask the office building management if they can rent out the offices on this floor next door.
It seems like not long ago, one of the companies next door moved away?
While Su Xing was pondering this, her hands didn't stop. She first uploaded the popular science video about ethnic musical instruments that she had just finished to Weibo.
She had just uploaded the video when her phone beeped; a WeChat message had come in.
She picked up her phone, opened WeChat, and saw a message from Shen Bai.
Mr. Shen, an antique dealer, asked, "What are you busy with?"