Xun is a unique closed-mouth wind instrument in China, one of the oldest wind instruments in China, and occupies an important position in the history of primitive art in the world. The origin of Xun is related to the labor and production activities of the ancestors, and it may have been made by the ancestors to imitate the sounds of birds and beasts to trap prey. Later, with the progress of society, it evolved into a simple musical instrument, and gradually increased the sound holes, and developed into a melodic instrument that could play tunes. The Xun of the primitive society, the shape of the instrument is diverse, such as the Tao Xun excavated at the Hemudu site in Yuyao County, Zhejiang, which is oval, only blows holes, has no sound holes, and is about 7,000 years ago. Shaanxi Xi'an Banpo Village Yangshao cultural site pottery whistle, its shape is slightly like an olive, there is only one blowing hole, with fine clay pinched molding, is one of the original forms of Xun, about 6,000 years ago.

The Xun of the Shang Dynasty had a greater development than the primitive period and the Xia Dynasty, with pottery, stone and bone making, with pottery being the most common, and the shape was mostly flat-bottomed oval. During the Warring States period, Tao Xun was also flat-bottomed oval, but there were also other shapes. After the Qin and Han dynasties, Xun was mainly used for court music in previous dynasties. Archaeological excavations and hand-me-downs also occasionally see some special-shaped pottery or porcelain xun.

The Palace Museum and the Music Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts have a collection of red lacquer Yunlongxun used in the Qing Dynasty court, which is 8.5 points high

Xun

centimeters, abdominal diameter seven centimeters. The Xun body has six sound holes: the first four and the second back, with red lacquer throughout, depicting a golden dragon and a moire. Today's improved development of the nine-hole pottery Xun, based on the ancient six-hole Xun, and then expand its shoulders and inner tubes to increase the volume, the sound hole increased to eight: the first six and the second back, plus the blowing hole, a total of nine holes.

In order to facilitate finger movement and minimize complex fork fingering, the sound holes are arranged in an order similar to that of the flute. Professional players can play twenty-six notes, including all semitones within two octaves and one overtone.

According to legend, Xun originated from a hunting tool called "Stone Meteor". In ancient times, people often tied a stone ball or mud ball with a rope and threw it to hit birds and beasts. Some spheres are empty in the middle, and they can make a sound when they are picked up for a ride. Later, people thought it was fun, so they used it to blow, so this kind of stone meteor slowly evolved into Xun.

Originally, Xun was mostly made of stone and bone, and later developed into pottery, and there are many shapes, such as oblate, oval, spherical, fish-shaped, and pear-shaped, among which the pear shape is the most common.

There is a mouthpiece at the upper end of the xun, the bottom is flat, and there are sound holes on the side wall. The earliest Xun had only one sound hole, and then gradually developed into multiple holes, until the end of the third century BC, the six-tone hole Xun appeared.

Professor Cao Zheng of the China Conservatory of Music has been making antique pottery since the late thirties of the twentieth century. Later, Professor Chen Zhong of Tianjin Conservatory of Music designed a new type of nine-hole pottery on the basis of the ancient pear-shaped six-hole xun, which was made of purple pottery from Yixing City, Jiangsu Province. This kind of nine-hole Xun not only maintains the original shape and timbre of the traditional Xun, but also increases the volume, expands the vocal range, and can blow out the scale and semitone, making it a musical instrument that can be transposed, and the timbre is simple and mellow, low and tragic, and very distinctive. In addition, because the nine-hole Xun has changed the original irregular arrangement of sound holes, according to the performance habits of modern people, it makes it more convenient to play, and can be used solo, ensemble or accompaniment.

The advent of the nine-hole pottery Xun marks the re-emergence of Chinese Guxun. Soon after, another student of Professor Chen Chong, Zhao Liangshan of the Hubei Provincial Song and Dance Troupe, developed the ten-hole xun out of mahogany, which solved the defect that the xun was difficult to play the high notes.

Xun has been used mainly in the court music of successive dynasties in the history of Chinese music. In court music, Xun is divided into two types: Song Xun and Yaxun. The Songxun is smaller, like an egg, with a slightly higher sound, while the Yaxun is larger, with a deep and deep sound, and is often played in conjunction with a wind instrument made of bamboo.

In the earliest collection of poetry in China, the Book of Songs, there is a sentence "Bo's blowing the horn, Zhong's blowing the pipe", which means that the two brothers, one blows the horn and the other blows the pipe, expressing the friendship and friendship of brotherhood.

In 2004, Hou Yimin of Xingtai, Hebei Province, improved the traditional Zhuxun, designed and produced a new type of Zhuxun, and applied for a national patent (200420077527.6), this kind of Zhuxun is a 10-hole bass Xun, this Xun vocal range, the timbre is low and rich, ethereal and soft. This kind of Xun has a sensitive pronunciation, saves gas, and the treble is easy to blow.

There are many molding methods for Tao Xun, and the following is a description of the process. [1]

A blank method - this everyone on TV or in the life of the pottery bar should have seen, is one of the oldest methods of making Xun, made of Xun shape beautiful, and the size and shape of the change is very arbitrary, but there must be a blank machine when making, and can only do a round Xun, the technical content is also extremely high, the author has two such machines, interested friends can come to learn.

Xun

B kneading method - only use your hands to pinch out the dust, you can also use a small wooden board to beat it into shape, but there is a disadvantage, is that the inner cavity is more difficult to control well, I once saw a video, Cao Jianguo used the hand kneading method, in front of the camera to make a quilt. This is the method used in the folk mud whew. This method is certainly the oldest method of making Xun, and any shape can be made. The first few Xun made by my dad were made in this way.

C wire rod method - it is also one of the oldest methods of making Xun. Twist the mud strip in a circle until it is made into a Xun shape, this method can be very simple for anyone to operate, as long as there are few pieces or even no tools, but this method still has technical content, and basically can only do a round Xun. This is also one of the easiest ways for enthusiasts to do Xun. This method is rarely used by the author.

D Molding method - one of the oldest methods of making Xun, with a special mold, generally two halves, there are also special shapes that need to be divided into three pieces or more. Shoot the mud into a sheet, press it into the mold, then close the mold, let the two halves of the mud flakes get wet, and then take the molded Xun out of the mold. This method can ensure that the size of the Xun is consistent, if the maker knows that the shape of the Xun is good to blow, the timbre is good, you can set it down, unlimited copying, and because the size of the Xun cavity can be controlled, so it can ensure that the tune of the Xun is basically not a problem. The biggest advantage of this method is that it can make arbitrary shape xun. Another advantage is that it is very convenient to do double cavities and other devices, especially suitable for improved Xun. Take the double cavity Xun as an example, the mold is divided into four pieces, two pieces of the upper cavity, two pieces of the lower cavity, and the upper and lower cavities are done with mud. If you want to be finer, you should first make the throat piece in the lower cavity, and the upper blank machine will open the hole of the throat device first to ensure that it is in the center of Xun, and use the blank drawing machine to open the blowing hole after doing it to ensure the concentricity of the holes in the upper and lower cavities. The disadvantage is that you must be able to make molds, generally gypsum molds, and there must be internal molds to make molds, it is still very difficult to operate, and most of the author's Xun is made by this method.

E internal mold method - this method I don't know the ancient, but it is very simple and effective, on a shape with the same shape as Xun (even on another Xun), wrap a layer with mud, and then cut the mud with a knife, take out the inner mold, and then glue the formed Xun and open the hole. The process is a bit troublesome, but the operation is simple, and interested friends can try it. This method is rarely used by the author.

F sandbag method - it is similar to the inner mold method, but the inner mold of the bread is a sandbag, the shape is the same as the Xun to be made, the cloth is made, the sand is loaded inside, the opening of the bag is in the place where the blowing hole is opened in the future, after the mud is wrapped, there is no need to scratch it, the blowing hole is opened, the bag is opened, let the sand flow out, and then carefully pull out the bag again, a Xun shell is done, hehe, interesting. The author of this method has only done experiments, grouting method—— Modern pottery process, why put to the end, because it is the most complex operation, requires a very precise gypsum mold, as well as a high temperature environment, as well as a very demanding mud, the process is to beat the mud into a slurry, and then pour into the gypsum mold, the use of gypsum water absorption to make the mud close to the gypsum lose water molding, and so on to a certain thickness, and then pour out the mud in the middle, the mold is a forming Xun, the process of the mold should be placed in a high temperature environment to ensure that the water inside can evaporate as soon as possible, so that the mud inside as soon as possible to lose water and form.

Xun is one of the important musical instruments in ancient China. In the available written records, we can confirm that Xun was widely used in the sacrificial activities of the court at the beginning of the Warring States period. After the Qin and Han dynasties, Xun became an important member of the court Yale musical instrument family. It's just that in the past 100 years, due to various reasons, people hardly know that there is such a musical instrument as Xun, except for occasional or a hearing of Xun music when they enjoy the palace music. In the thirties and forties of the twentieth century, Xun Le was almost unbeatable in public performances.

Since the 80s, with the joint efforts of performers, producers and composers, Xun as a musical instrument has been standardized and standardized, and more and more people love Xun music and learn and play, and the craze of Xi Xun has quietly risen. From Xun, people seem to have found the long-lost ancient style, and Xun is becoming a cultural phenomenon that is being paid attention to by more and more people. The movie "Ju Dou", "The Red Lantern Hangs High", the TV series "Kangxi Dynasty", the large-scale song and dance drama "Terracotta Warriors" and various local operas have appeared a large number of Xun music works, and excellent Xun solo works such as "Wind Bamboo", "Chu Ge" and "Reverie" have emerged.

Xun has also been unearthed in Shanxi, Gansu, Henan, Shandong Province and other places in China. Judging from the unearthed cultural relics, Xun has gone through a long stage, about four or five thousand years ago, Xun developed from one sound hole to two sound holes, and can blow three sounds. After entering the slave society, Xun has been further developed, a few years ago in Gansu Yumen Huojiao unearthed in the late patrilineal society to the early slave society of Xun, there are three sound holes, can blow four sounds. By the late Shang period of more than 1000 BC, Xun had developed to five sound holes and could blow six tones. By the Spring and Autumn Period more than 700 BC, Xun already had six sound holes, which could blow a complete pentatonic scale and a seven-tone scale. Xun has developed from one sound hole to six sound holes, and has gone through a long period of more than 3,000 years.

Vibrato: It is to use the fingers on the sound hole to make the whole hole quickly open and close the action, so that the sound has a fluctuating effect. The most commonly used vibrato is major and minor second, third and fourth vibrato, which can be flexibly used according to the characteristics and styles of different works. Vibrato exercises are the most important component of finger movement techniques, requiring the fingers to be flexible and elastic. Glide: Xun is a common performance technique, mostly used in witty, humorous, low, mournful music, this technique greatly enriches Xun's expressive glissandosto, glide and smooth three kinds.

1. Upward glide: After the original note is played, the fingers slide upwards to the second note (higher than the original note) without traces, and the exhalation strength increases accordingly.

2. Gliding note: After the original note is played, the fingers slide down to the second note (lower than the original note) without traces, and the exhalation force decreases accordingly.

3. Smooth tone: After the first note is played, the fingers slide up or down without traces to the second note and then return to the original position, and the exhalation strength is obtained by pressing the slide and up glissando. The round tone, also known as the compound glissando, is a combination of the upper and lower glides.

Glide requires a mellow and clean tone, accurate rhythm, and the beginning of each portamento is played with a light stroke, and it is advisable to keep the fingers strained and natural. The voice should be soft and smooth, and no traces can be heard. Gifting is generally used at the end of a musical phrase and before the end of the original note to bring out a brief ornamental sound, also known as delivery. The gift sound is a kind of ornamental sound, which almost does not occupy the time value of the original sound, can be heard but is not obvious, and the performance should be short, light and fast, and the ventilation should be timely and accurate.

Overlapping tones are made above the main note in a short repetition of the second, third, and fourth degrees of the original note. When playing the overlapping sound, the fingers should be opened and closed quickly, and all the movements of the passing sound should be made, but not to play the obvious ornamental sound, and the main sound should be the original, only the traces of the passing sound. There are long and short overlapping sounds, which should be flexibly applied according to works of different styles and characteristics.

Playing sound, using your fingers to hit the sound hole or the sound hole below the sound hole, so that the sound hole produces a separate sound is called hitting sound. Playing is also a common playing technique of Xun, and when used properly, it can add color and beauty to the music. When practicing, you should exercise the speed and strength of your fingers, you should not hesitate with your lower fingers, you should hit your fingers with great strength, you should distinguish the same notes, and the musical phrases should be coherent and the notes should be clear. The combination of qi and fingers should be clean and neat.

When the beatings and trills overlap, the beatings come first, and the trills follow, sounding like they were happening at the same time. Remember: be compact and tacit.

The air sound is played with the fingers, so that the resonance sound emitted by the internal cavity of Xun is called the air sound. When playing the air sound, you don't need to blow it, but open the sound hole and play the sound hole with good resonance. The pitch is adjusted by hearing and by using the lips to control the size of the blow hole angle. Punching requires the fingers to be strong and elastic, and to be accurate in articulation, suitable for playing far-reaching and subtle melodies, and for mimicking some of the special acoustics of nature.

Xun blows the treble technique