Why complain about the willow and the melodious rhyme of the Qiang flute
"Why should the Qiang flute complain about the willows, the spring breeze does not pass the Yumen Pass", "The Chinese army returns with wine, Huqin, pipa and Qiang flute", "The athletes of the Eastern Expedition are exhausted, and the Qiang flute is mourning at dusk"......
As an ancient traditional Chinese musical instrument, the Qiang flute has been used by countless poets as an image of mourning, and the earliest written record can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, with a history of more than 2,000 years.
The Qiang flute is an important part of the Qiang culture, condensing the thoughts and aesthetics of the Qiang people.
In 2006, the "Qiang flute performance and production skills" was declared by Mao County and included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage traditional music list.
Today, the Qiang flute is still spread in Wenchuan, Lixian, Maoxian, and Songpan Qiang inhabited areas in Aba Prefecture.
There are two widely circulated theories about the origin of the Qiang flute.
One is the legend of the Qiang people themselves. A long time ago, in frequent wars with foreign peoples, the Qiang people used manpower to give early warning, but the effect was not good. One day, the gods sent an envoy to help, and the messenger sounded the flute to warn the people in the village of the enemy, and then gave the double-pipe flute to the leader of the Qiang tribe.
Since then, the Qiang flute has been used as a combat alarm, and then slowly became a musical instrument, so the Qiang flute is also a "musical instrument of the faun".
Qiang flute
Another legend comes from the Han cultural circle. According to legend, when the Qiang people cut down bamboo in the mountains, a dragon suddenly appeared in the water, making a beautiful sound, and the wise Qiang people immediately cut down the bamboo to make a flute, imitating the sound of the dragon, this flute is the Qiang flute.
Ma Rong of the Eastern Han Dynasty wrote in "Flute Fu", "In modern times, the double flute started from Qiang, and the Qiang people did not cut down bamboo. The dragon roars and does not see itself in the water, and the sound of cutting the bamboo is similar. The hole on it is through the hole, and it is easy to hold when it is cut. ”
The shape of the Qiang flute has evolved over time. According to the historical records, there are four holes on the Qiang flute surface before the Western Han Dynasty, in the 1st century AD by the Jingfang plus a Shangyin according to the hole to become five holes, the development to modern times has become six holes, the material of the flute body is also changed from the original bird and beast bones to bamboo.
The length of the Qiang flute pipe is 13~19 cm, the diameter of the nozzle is about 2 cm, and it is connected by two bamboo pipes with the same size of the cylinder hole side by side with silk thread, and the upper end of the flute pipe is equipped with a 4 cm long bamboo mouthpiece. The front of the mouthpiece is flattened with a knife, and about 3 cm above the upper end, a thin leaf is cut with a knife to serve as a reed.
The production technique of the Qiang flute is meticulous and cumbersome, and it must go through many processes such as material selection, line drawing, carving, polishing, punching, reed, and timbre trial.
Qiang flute
The first is the selection of materials, generally choose straight rods, round cylinders, long joints, and the thickness of the head and tail is relatively uniform, the thickness of the bamboo flesh is consistent, the texture is tough, and the fiber is fine; The freshly cut bamboo needs to be slowly baked on the fire pit, and after it is full of flexibility, the bamboo is cut into two flute pipes of the same length, which are peeled and thinned to make a square flute pipe; Then the two pipe bodies are tied tightly with silk thread or twine in parallel, and the prototype of the Qiang flute has been formed.
The most delicate process is the drilling of sound holes, which is quite a test of the experience and understanding of the producer, and the sound holes drilled must be able to play seven monotones with accurate timbre; In addition, the Qiang flute is a double-pipe juxtaposition, and the sound holes of the two rows must be symmetrical, otherwise it will not be able to blow a melodious and graceful and desolate taste.
After the pipe body is made, the Qiang flute cannot play sound, and a pair of sounders - mouthpieces are needed. The mouthpiece plays the role of setting the tone and transmitting the sound in the Qiang flute.
The mouthpiece must be made of bamboo with less water content from September to October, and the size is just enough to be inserted into the front end of the pipe body, and it should be placed in the kang tank for about a year after picking.
When making, first cut out a thin sheet of the small bamboo pipe with a blade, and the thin sheet should be separated from the small bamboo pipe without breaking, and then audition and proofreading, which is considered to be completed. The production process of the Qiang flute is all by hand, and now there are very few people who make this instrument.
To use the delicate Qiang flute to blow melodious music, it is necessary to use a unique blowing technique - "drum cheek ventilation method", that is, when the drum cheeks are ventilated, air is inhaled into both sides of the caliber and mouth, and the air can be circulated after preparation; When ventilating, the breath should be deep enough, and after the qi is poured enough, the qi in the nostrils is inhaled and circulated while the qi in the mouth is pushed forward, and then the excess qi is discharged from both sides of the lips.
When playing, you should be angry and dantian, with double reeds in your mouth, the fingers of both hands are naturally straightened, and you can play for a few minutes in one breath according to the full six pairs of sound holes. Through the timbre of the Qiang flute instrument itself and the interpretation of the player, it can present gentle, crisp and melodious characteristics.
Qiang flute and mouth strings
At the same time, it can also use portamento techniques to express the illusory sound effect of the Qiang flute. The special performance form of the Qiang flute makes it circulate more than 10 kinds of small tunes, except for some tunes that express longing and desolate feelings, most of them have a cheerful rhythm, showing the optimism of the Qiang people and their yearning for a better life.
The Qiang flute is one of the important channels for communicating and inheriting the history and culture of the Qiang people, carrying the common memory of the Qiang people.
Source: Zhizhong Aba
Contributed by: Wenchuan County Party History Research and Local Chronicles Compilation Center