Acoustic Testing and Serendipitous Discoveries

湖北隨縣出土了一套大型編鐘的消息像一聲春雷，炸響了中國音樂界。

國家文物局局長王冶秋，親自邀請文化部文藝研究院音樂研究所音樂史學家黃翔鵬、李純一、王湘、吳釗等6 人，先后于1978年6月下旬從北京到達了隨縣，對出土的音樂文物進行考察并測音。考古隊長譚維四派畢業(yè)于湖北藝術(shù)學院音樂系的考古隊員馮光生，給北京來的專家們當助手。

曾侯乙墓出土的音樂文物之豐富，令專家們欣喜若狂。

夜半測音

當時，曾侯乙墓的田野發(fā)掘工作已基本結(jié)束，曾侯乙墓出土的主要文物已運到了隨縣文化館的展覽大廳里?？脊抨爩⒃钜夷沟某鐾廖奈?，作了一些整理，舉辦了一個展覽。1978年7月1日開始，每天來參觀的群眾絡繹不絕，從早到晚喧囂不斷，這樣的環(huán)境不利于專家給編鐘測音，加上隨縣7月氣溫烈似火爐，北京來的專家熱得受不了。當時條件艱苦，沒空調(diào)，連電風扇都很少。

黃翔鵬、李純一、王湘都是奔六的人，但為了音樂事業(yè)，熱也顧不得了。

他們當時住在隨縣革命委員會招待所，一臺電風扇在天花板上“吱呀”轉(zhuǎn)著。王湘胖一些，他怕熱，就想了個辦法：在浴缸里裝滿涼水，人坐在浴缸里研究有關(guān)材料。時間泡久了，身體就泡得發(fā)白發(fā)胖，還渾身酸疼。

專家們干脆白天睡覺，到了后半夜，天涼快了，展覽館里也安靜下來，萬籟俱寂，這是他們測音的好時候。

一鐘雙音

文化館展覽室里，小編鐘擱在櫥架上，大編鐘依墻靠著。測音時，臨時搭一個架子，把鐘懸掛在10 厘米粗的鋼管架上。小鐘一次掛二至三件，大鐘只能一次掛一件。

The news that a large set of chime-bells had been unearthed in Suixian County,was met with resounding cheers like a thunderous drumline throughout Hubei Province,and was even music to the ears of the Chinese music community at large.

Wang Yeqiu,director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration,extended a personal invitation to six music history specialists from the Research Institute of Music of the Academy of Literature and Art under the Ministry of Culture,the distinguished Mr.Huang Xiangpeng,along with Li Chunyi,Wang Xiang,Wu Zhao,and company,all of whom eventually made the trek from Beijing to Suixian County in late June 1978,to carry out acoustic testing of the unearthed musical artifacts.Tan Weisi,leader of the archaeological team,arranged Feng Guangsheng,a graduate from the Department of Music,Hubei Institute of Arts,to assist the experts from Beijing.Strains of joy rang out at the very sight of such a treasure trove of musical artifacts unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

At that time,the field excavation of the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng had basically been wound up,and all the major historical relics from the tomb had been transferred to the exhibition hall of Suixian County Cultural Center.The archaeological team quickly prepared the unearthed relics for show and held an exhibition.From the first day of the exhibit on July 1,1978,endless streams of people came to visit every day,which continued from morning till night.Such an environment was definitely not conducive to the experts in their testing the sound of the bells.The weather in Suixian County in July made it feel like living in a blast furnace,and the experts from Beijing simply couldn’t stand the heat.To make matters worse,there was no air conditioning except for a paltry number of electric fans due to the poor living conditions at the time.

Huang Xiangpeng,Li Chunyi,and Wang Xiang were all approaching their sixties,and were it not for their passion for music,they would rather not bear the sultry conditions.

They were staying in the hostel of the Suixian Revolutionary Committee,which had only one squeaky electric fan hanging from the ceiling of each room.With his heavy build,Wang Xiang had no choice but to be resourceful in his quest to beat the heat; he ended up filling the bathtub with cold water and soaking in it while performing his research.But spending such a long time immersed in water on a daily basis turned him pallid and his body became swollen and sore all over.He was essentially waterlogged.

To meet all these challenges,the experts decided to sleep during the daytime until after midnight when it became cooler and the exhibition hall was quiet.It was the ideal time for their sound testing.

Back at the exhibition hall,the smaller bells were placed on the cabinets while the big ones stood leaning against the walls.During the acoustic testing,an ad hoc shelf was erected where the bells could be suspended on a 10-centimeterthick steel-pipe rack.The small bells could be hung up two or three at once,but the larger could only be hung one at a time.

With a rubber mallet in hand,the experts gingerly struck the bell,which let out a sonorous ring that fluttered out into the night air like petals carried by a warm breeze,fading gradually away into the stillness of the dark.Armed with a pair of professional ears tuned with almost perfect pitch and assisted by the pitch meter,the experts could distinguish,record,and calculate the data derived.With each ping of the rubber mallet,the pitch meter flashed on and off like a strobe light.No one spoke,and their breathing was shallow and measured.

As the exhibition hall was not sound-proofed,any extraneous noise would interfere with the test results,and they would have no choice but to repeat the test as many times as necessary until there was finally one with no interference.Science,after all,allows for nothing but a zero margin of error.

專家們小心翼翼，拿著橡皮槌，輕輕地敲擊著編鐘。敲一下，讓編鐘發(fā)出聲來，在深夜的寂靜里，那聲音飄灑出來，流動開來，再用一雙專業(yè)的耳朵去傾聽，輔助著音準儀，去分辨，去記錄，去測算數(shù)據(jù)。橡皮槌敲著，閃光的音準儀一閃一閃地亮著，沒有人說話，連呼吸都是輕輕的。

展覽室不隔音，任何外來的的結(jié)果，如今是踏破鐵鞋無覓處，得來全不費功夫。

大鐘大棒

按照曾侯乙編鐘三層懸掛的順序，上層的小編鐘一件件測完了音。

再檢測中層稍大的編鐘和下層的大編鐘時，橡皮槌敲上去，發(fā)出的聲音與上層小編鐘發(fā)出來的聲音差不多，測音儀上顯示出來的數(shù)據(jù)沒什么區(qū)別。

這不對勁，絕對不是這么回事，大編鐘的聲音應該更低沉更洪亮。專家們想，這里面一定有

當時郭德維與其他考古隊員正要拆卸編鐘，一個年輕隊員手拿木棒正準備向外傳遞，腳下一滑動，年輕隊員一個踉蹌差點摔倒，手中的木棒朝前一沖，撞響了底層的一件大編鐘。

只聽“咚”一聲，洪亮的響聲，把整個墓坑四室里的清理隊員都嚇了一跳。

郭德維把這段經(jīng)歷講給了測音的專家們聽，認為那兩根木棍很可能是撞擊下層大編鐘的大槌子，或者叫撞鐘棒。

說到這里，郭德維很快到文化館的院子里找了根粗木棒，把聲音都會干擾測音效果，他們又得重來一次?？茖W來不得半點馬虎。

在深夜的寂靜里，那聲音飄灑出來，流動開來，再用一雙專業(yè)的耳朵去傾聽，輔助著音準儀，去分辨，去記錄，去測算數(shù)據(jù)。橡皮槌敲著，閃光的音準儀一閃一閃地亮著，沒有人說話，連呼吸都是輕輕的。

專家們就這么一件一件地檢測編鐘的聲音。

測音時，專家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，橡皮槌敲擊小編鐘時，編鐘的正鼓、側(cè)鼓部位都有不同的標音銘文，敲擊這兩個部位，發(fā)出來的樂音也不相同，而且同一件鐘兩個不同部位的樂音，基本上都相差三度左右。

這是一鐘雙音，這是音樂界的一個重大事件，這是一個鐵的證據(jù)，這是中國的編鐘對世界音樂的一個重大貢獻。黃翔鵬正在研究這一課題，是他在苦苦尋找什么竅門！

換一個槌子敲敲看？隨縣找不出更大的橡皮槌，找一根木棒敲敲看？

當時誰也不敢試，這是國寶級文物，要是敲壞了怎么辦？

提到木棒，一下子提醒了站在一邊跟著專家們著急的考古隊員郭德維。

郭德維記得在曾侯乙墓中室墓坑清理時，依靠在編鐘架上的兩根兩米多長的木棒，當時大家以為這兩根木棒是為了固定編鐘，防止倒塌的兩根支撐柱，其作用像頂門棍一樣，只是后來因水的流動而挪了位置，看不出支撐的原狀了。上面的塵土抹干凈，輕輕地朝著大鐘的口緣叩了一下，一聲渾厚的音響傳遞開來。在眾人的鼓動下，郭德維雙手持棒，大著膽子用力地向大鐘的鼓部撞去，“轟”的一聲，洪亮渾厚的聲音頓時響徹了展覽大廳，向夜空里飛去。

這時，測音儀上立即顯示出高出此前近一倍的數(shù)據(jù)。

漆盒揭秘

“出來了，出來了，這回聲音出來了。”專家們喊著。

“大鐘還得用大棒。”有人這樣總結(jié)說。

“這事還要慎重，我們要找出依據(jù)來，如果這樣猜測著用大棒撞擊，萬一把鐘撞碎了，事情就麻煩了！”有人擔心地提醒著。

One by one,the experts tested the sound of each bell.

During acoustic testing,the experts discovered various inscriptions marking their pitches on the musical scale on the central bottom of the bells and both sides.avail.Yet here it was right in front of him and it had fallen into his lap!

The top row of small bellswas tested on after the other in sequence.During testing of the larger bells on the middle row and the big ones on the lower row,the tones sounded strikingly similar to those of the small bells on the top row when struck lightly.In addition,the readings on the pitch meter failed to register much difference.

“This is not right.This can’t be real.The big bells should sound that,when clearing the middle chamber of the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng,there were two wooden poles leaning against the frame that hoisted the bells,both measuring over two meters long.Everybody thought that they were used to stabilize the bell frame,functioning like gate-locking posts,and prevent the frame from collapsing,and that they were out of position only because water flow had moved them.

Guo Dewei and the other team members were about to disassemble the chime bells when Striking these two parts of the same bell separately gave off different pitches,approximately separated by third intervals.

This was very possibly the first two-tone bell in world history! Marking a momentous event for the music world,as if each dual tone of the bell were ringing out the testimony of its own significant contribution to world music history.

This was very possibly the first two-tone bell in world history!Marking a momentous event for the music world,as if each dual tone of the bell were ringing out the testimony of its own significant contribution to world music history.This just so happened to be the field which Professor Huang Xiangpeng had been doing his researching for practically his entire professional life,and what he had long been laboring after to no lower and more resonant,” the experts thought,“there must be some trick to this!”

Should they try again with another mallet? The problem was that no bigger mallet could be found in Suixian County.Then why not try a wooden rod?

But no one dared to try,as they were national,cultural relics.What if they were to damage them by accident?

The wooden rod served as a mnemonic device for anxious Guo Dewei,the archaeological team member who was accompanying the experts,causing him to recall a young team member who was trying to pass a wooden pole out of the pit staggered and almost fell,and the wooden pole in his hand lunged forward and banged one of the big bells on the bottom row.

The reverberant gong scaring the team members clearing the four chambers of the pit half out of their wits.Guo Dewei recounted his experience to the experts who were there doing sound testing,conjecturing that the two wooden poles were likely large mallets for ringing the big bells on the lowest row,or the bell strikers.

No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than Guo Dewei rushed into the courtyard of the Cultural Center and found a thick wooden pole,wiped off the dust on it,and gently knocked on the edge of the opening of the largest bell,which gave a deep and sonorous sound that lingered long and thick in the air.With the encouragement of the people around,Guo Dewei,pole in both hands,braced himself up and forcefully dashed the pole to the central bottom of the bell.“Boom,” a wave of sound reverberated through the exhibition hall and oscillated into the atmosphere.

涉及文物安全問題，誰也不敢貿(mào)然做結(jié)論。

第二天，譚維四又主持召開了一個諸葛亮會，北京來的測音專家和考古隊員合在一起，大家出出點子來解決這個下層編鐘敲響問題。大家議論紛紛，出了好多主意，仍然莫衷一是。郭德維和一個年輕隊員，跑去把那兩根出土的木棒扛到會場。他指著木棒說：“我認為這兩根木棒肯定是撞鐘用的，它依靠在編鐘架上，不可能是用來當編鐘架的支撐柱的。用它來撞鐘，才說得過去。”

眾人再細看那兩根茶碗粗的木棒，只見兩根木棒黑漆為底，并繪有三角雷紋，兩端經(jīng)制作，近多棱狀體，中部36 厘米長的部位略微凹陷，像是專為人手把持刻意挖凹的，棒身下端底面有撞擊留下的痕跡。

郭德維堅持說是編鐘撞擊棒，譚維四也有同感。但感覺是感覺，有根據(jù)才是最重要的。

譚維四腦子里似乎想到了什么東西。他有些激動地喊一個年輕考古隊員的名字，說：“你去駐地倉庫把那個鴛鴦漆盒拿來，要快點。”

半個小時之后，年輕的考古隊員將鴛鴦漆盒送到會場。

譚維四接過漆盒，看了看上面的彩繪，對大家說：“郭德維說的是對的，依據(jù)在這里。”說完，譚維四把手中的鴛鴦漆盒舉起來給大家看。

在鴛鴦漆盒腹部左側(cè)和右側(cè)的方寸之地，分別繪有兩幅朱漆圖。左側(cè)繪的是兩只編鐘懸掛在一對獸形柱的架子上，旁邊一個鳥形人在持棒撞鐘。右側(cè)一鳥形人擊鼓，一鳥形人舞蹈。畫中鳥形人撞鐘的棒子，就是編鐘架前的那兩根茶碗口般粗細的木棒。

音域齊全

下層大鐘的撞擊工具有根據(jù)了，專家們的測音工作圓滿完成。65 件鐘的音全部測出了結(jié)果，其中的楚王镈鐘的音色音質(zhì)經(jīng)測定，不屬于這套編鐘系列。

Lacquered mandarin-duck-shaped case 鴛鴦漆盒

The gauges on the pitch meter rocked back and forth,coming to rest on a number that was nearly twice that of the pitch recorded previously.

“This is it!This is it! We got it this time!” exclaimed the experts.

“Big poles for big bells,” someone concluded.

“We have to be more cautious about it,and we need absolute proof.If we base how we strike the bells solely on guesswork,and damage them,then we’re all in trouble,” someone warned anxiously.

Nobody dared to be the first to give the final word when it came to the preservation of cultural relics.

The next day,Tan Weisi presided over a meeting to pick the brains of the experts from Beijing and his own team members,asking that all in attendance offer up their ideas on what to do about the bells on the lower row.After a heated debate and presentation of opinions,no unanimous agreement was reached.Guo Dewei and a team member ran out and carried the two unearthed wooden poles into the meeting room.Pointing to the poles,he said,“I think these two wooden poles must have been used to strike the bell.They were sitting on the bell frame,but couldn’t possibly have been used as the support columns of the frame.We may reasonably conclude that they were used to ring the bell.”

All the participants made a careful examination of the two wooden poles as thick as about the diameter of the mouth of a teacup.The two wooden poles were painted with black lacquer as the base,and triangular thunder patterns on top.The two ends were a near polygonal shape.The 36-centimeter-long part in the middle was slightly recessed,as if it was deliberately carved for human hands to hold it.In addition,there were traces of impact on the bottom of the lower end of the poles.

Guo Dewei insisted that they were the bell strikers,and Tan Weisi felt the same.But it was just a feeling.More importantly,intuition is hardly irrefutable evidence.

Tan Weisi seemed to have suddenly recalled something.Somewhat excitedly,he called one of the team members by name and said,“You go and fetch the lacquered mandarin-duckshaped case in the warehouse of the barracks.Hurry up!”

Half an hour later,the young returned drenched in sweat and out of breath,the mandarin-duckshaped case in hand.

Upon careful scrutiny of the case and the painting,Tan Weisi exclaimed,“What Guo Dewei said is right.Here is the evidence.”

Two red-lacquered pictures were painted within the very limited rectangles on the left and right side of the box.On the left were two chime-bells suspended on a frame supported by a pair of animalshaped columns and next to them was a bird-shaped man hitting a bell with a cudgel.On the right side was a bird-shaped man drumming and another bird-shaped man dancing.The pole in the picture with which the bird-shaped man used to strike the bell looked exactly like one of the two poles placed before the frame.

With the striking toolfor ringing the big bells on the lower row identified,the experts’acoustic testing was successfully completed,and the sound effects of all the 65 bells were recorded.It was determined that only the bo bell presented by the king of Chu,after testing of its timbre and tonal quality,did not fit into this set of chimes.

The 64-bell set had its own tonic and a complete pitch range,all of which were beautiful in timbre,pure in quality,broad in range,and complete in scale.

The niu bells on the upper layer had a pure ring to them,with a lower volume,a higher pitch,and a slight linger,while the smaller yong bells on the middle row sounded close to that of the niu bells,but louder and clearer and also high in pitch,with shorter vibrations.The bigger yong bells on the middle layer produced a mellower,rounder sound of higher volume and lower pitch and a slightly longer ring.The yong bells on the lower row yielded a low and booming sound,high in volume,low in pitch with a long-lasting ping.The three groups of yong bells on the middle row and the big yong bells on the lower row were mainly used for actual performance.The niu bells on the upper row might have been used to set the tune or harmonize the beat.

The bells on the lower row sounded deep and resonant,effectively creating a certain atmosphere.

As a whole set of 64 chimes,the lowest tone is C2 and the highest is D7,allowing transposition of keys.The key of the chime bells is equivalent to C major,which is universally used in contemporary music.Its total range spans five and a half octaves,with each register equal to that of a chromatic scale containing twelve semitones.This is only one octave less than the entire range of the modern piano.When compared to the modern 88-key piano,with 7 white keys and 5 black keys removed on the left and right side,the remaining 64 black and white keys in the middle are equivalent to the range of the Marquis Yi chime-bells.

This instrument is capable of playing a wide variety of musical compositions and showcasing the unparalleled skill of the musician at the center of its dramatically-crafted frame.

According to expert appraisal,the Marquis Yi chime bells are beautifully expressive and able to be played right away without any additional tuning.

This is indeed an amazing piece of news.What’s more,this singular instrument unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng has gone on to become world-famous,and a calling card prescient Chinese musical ingenuity.

64 件編鐘有自己的基調(diào)和完整的音列，全都音色優(yōu)美，音質(zhì)純正，音域?qū)拸V，音列充實。

上層鈕鐘聲音清脆純凈，音量較小，頻率較高，稍有余音。中層較小的甬鐘，聲音接近鈕鐘而更嘹亮，頻率亦較高，音量亦不大，余音較短。中層較大的甬鐘，聲音圓潤洪亮，音量較大，頻率較低，余音略長。下層的大甬鐘聲音低沉渾厚，音量大，頻率低，余音長。真正用于實際演奏的主要是中層的三組甬鐘和下層的大甬鐘。上層鈕鐘可能是用來定調(diào)或合節(jié)拍的。

下層鐘聲深沉、洪亮，有烘托營造氣氛的作用。

64 件編鐘作為一個成套的整體，最低音是C2 ，最高音是D7，可以旋宮轉(zhuǎn)調(diào)。編鐘的音階相當于現(xiàn)代國際上通用的C 大調(diào)，音域跨越五個半八度，只比現(xiàn)代鋼琴的高低音部少一個八度，中心音域十二個半音齊全（現(xiàn)代使用的88 鍵鋼琴，左右各去掉7個白鍵、5 個黑鍵，中間64 個黑白鍵就是曾侯乙編鐘的音域?qū)挾龋?/p>

這是一套可以奏出各種樂曲的樂器，能夠表現(xiàn)很多復雜的音樂技巧。

專家鑒定，曾侯乙編鐘的演奏能力強，完全能立時演奏，不用做任何調(diào)整。

這是一個特大的喜訊，這是曾侯乙墓發(fā)掘出來的一件舉世聞名、聲震寰宇的樂器。