Lost Musical Technology Regained in the Duplicating of the Chimes

Text by Liu Yishan Edited by He Sai & Bai Ning

Photos by & Su Zhuolin

All the musical tones of the 65 chimes unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng were identified.Experts Huang Xiangpeng and Li Chunyi from the Chinese Music Research Institute said that this set of chimes could play a lot of melodies.

Remarks from the experts aroused the interest and curiosity of all those present.The ancient chimes,buried underground for more than 2,400 years,could still play music after being unearthed.It would surely shock China and the world and be a great miracle in the music world.Someone suggested that they should find an auditorium and set up the chimes to test them by playing songs and to put on performances.

The First Performance

After many inquiries,they learned that there was an auditorium at the army base stationed outside the city—the same military unit that had provided the archaeological team with cranes and other facilities.Tan Weisi contacted the head of the army and got permission.

In a short time,the chimes and various components,large and small,filled up the auditorium.

The stage in the auditorium was floored with wooden planks,in order to prevent the five-ton chimes from weighing down the stage,and the soldiers reinforced it with steel bars to ensure that everything was foolproof.

A replica of the chime bells of Marquis Yi was used to perform music during the Event of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Presenting Hubei Province in 20182018年外交部湖北全球推介活動(dòng)現(xiàn)場，曾侯乙編鐘復(fù)制品奏響古樂

Experts,scholars,and soldiers now all acted as laborers.With much effort,they finally set up the chimes and restored their original appearance and majesty.

Everything was in place,except that the musicians were still needed.Who would be the performers? At that time,there were no ancient chime bands in China,nor had anyone ever heard of somebody playing ancient chimes.

Tan Weisi said:“It appears that we’ll have to organize our chime band from scratch.We have to do it ourselves,all of us.We have musical experts from Beijing—we are surely able to build up a bell band of our own.It will become the first bell band of New China,and we will also organize the first chime orchestra.” All the experts expressed their agreement with his idea.

The ancient chimes,buried underground for more than 2,400 years,could still play music after being unearthed.It would surely shock China and the world and be a great miracle in the music world.

從曾侯乙墓中出土的65 件編鐘，樂音都測出來了。中國音樂研究所研究員黃翔鵬、李純一等專家說，這套鐘能夠演奏出很多樂曲。

專家們的話提起了在場人的興趣。古老的編鐘，在地下埋藏2400 多年，出土后還能演奏樂曲，那將震驚中外，創(chuàng)造世界樂壇一個(gè)偉大的奇跡。有人建議，找一個(gè)禮堂，將編鐘架起來，既可以試驗(yàn)演奏歌曲，還可以表演！

第一次演奏

經(jīng)多方打聽，得知駐城外部隊(duì)有一個(gè)帶舞臺(tái)的禮堂，這支部隊(duì)給考古隊(duì)提供過吊車等設(shè)備。譚維四與部隊(duì)首長聯(lián)系，對(duì)方十分高興，一口應(yīng)允。

一轉(zhuǎn)眼，編鐘及各種構(gòu)件，大大小小，擺滿了小半個(gè)禮堂。

禮堂里的舞臺(tái)是木板鋪的，為了防止5 噸重的編鐘壓垮舞臺(tái)，戰(zhàn)士們又用鋼筋加固，確保萬無一失。

專家學(xué)者和戰(zhàn)士們都當(dāng)起了苦力，費(fèi)盡九牛二虎之力，才把編鐘架好，恢復(fù)起編鐘的原貌與雄姿。

萬事具備，只欠樂師了。誰來當(dāng)演奏樂師？當(dāng)時(shí)全中國沒有古編鐘樂隊(duì)，也沒聽說有誰演奏過古編鐘。

譚維四說：“我們的編鐘樂隊(duì)從零開始，就我們這些人，自己來做。我們有北京來的音樂專家哩，我們一定能夠把這個(gè)編鐘樂隊(duì)搞起來。我們要成為新中國的第一代編鐘樂師，我們要組建第一個(gè)編鐘樂團(tuán)。”專家們都贊同譚維四的想法。

譚維四打電話，從湖北省博物館調(diào)來兩位女青年講解員，同時(shí)經(jīng)過協(xié)商，從部隊(duì)文藝宣傳隊(duì)選調(diào)來三位文藝戰(zhàn)士，與王湘等音樂專家組成了一個(gè)編鐘演奏樂隊(duì)。黃翔鵬擔(dān)任藝術(shù)指導(dǎo)兼音樂指揮，就這樣，1978年7月下旬，中國當(dāng)代第一支編鐘樂隊(duì)在湖北隨縣組建成立了。

為感謝駐軍部隊(duì)對(duì)考古隊(duì)的支持與援助，譚維四決定在1978年8月1日，舉行首場編鐘音樂會(huì)，慰問駐軍官兵，慶祝中國人民解放軍建軍節(jié)。

黃翔鵬帶領(lǐng)隊(duì)員們?nèi)找古啪?，短短幾天，他們就能演奏一批古今中外的曲子?/p>

8月1日下午，軍民觀眾齊聚一堂，編鐘音樂會(huì)正式開始。

Tan made phone calls to the Hubei Provincial Museum and transferred two young expositors.At the same time,three soldiers were selected from the military art troupe.Together with Wang Xiang and other music specialists,they formed a chime-playing band,with Huang Xiangpeng as the art director and music conductor.In this way,China’s first contemporary chime band was set up in Suixian County,Hubei Province in late July of 1978.

In order to express their appreciation to the local army units for their support and assistance to the archaeological team,Tan decided to hold the first concert on August 1,1978,to pay tribute to the officers and soldiers stationed there and to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

Under the leadership of Huang,the band members started their rehearsals.They practiced days and nights,and within a few days,they were able to play a batch of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign songs.

On the afternoon of August 1,the military and local audiences gathered in the auditorium and the chime concert officially commenced.

The first song was “The East Is Red.” This song was once played by the chime bells unearthed in the ancient Chu tomb in Xinyang City,Henan Province,and carried into space by China’s first man-made satellite.At that time the one-belltwo-tone feature had not yet been discovered,and the Ti sound in the song was replaced by another similar tone.

The band also played the ancient tune “Chu Shang,”which was adapted from “Lord of the East” of Qu Yuan’s “Nine Songs.” The lingering sound of the music lasted for a long time,leaving a pleasant and seemingly endless aftertaste,and giving the audiences a feeling that the majestic music was echoing between heaven and earth.

To exhibit the broad range of the chimes,the band whereafter played “The Internationale,”“Ode to Joy,” “Auld Lang Syne,”the Japanese song “Sakura,” the popular Chinese folk songs “The Rising Sun over the Prairie” and“Liuyang River,” etc.

At the conclusion of the final note,everyone was in awe and their hearts were filled with respect—stormy applause resounded in the auditorium for a long time.

This was the first performance after the original chimes of Marquis Yi of Zeng were unearthed.Appearing on the scene that day were also cinematographers,TV videographers,and recording engineers,who recorded this precious historical moment and unprecedented sound with their lenses and microphones.The Chinese national and local media also transmitted the music and images from Suixian County to the entire country and the outside world.

Duplication Scheme at the Top of the Agenda

As a national-level cultural relic,frequent percussion on the chimes was not permitted.They discussed how to meet the subsequent demand of a large number of exhibitions and performances.The only way out was to make replicas of the exact set of chimes.The plan for chime duplication was then laid on the agenda.

Since the Han Dynasty,due to the collapse of the pre-Qin ritual and music system along with the invention and application of various metals such as iron-ware,bronze-ware witnessed a rapid decline,and the development of bronze bells was thus greatly shackled.Aggravated by the decrease of masters in bell-casting techniques and musicians able to play chimes,the instrument eventually fell into obscurity and the casting techniques were slowly lost.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty,a man called Du Kui,a native of Henan Province,was well versed in the rhythm of the bells and proficient in string and wind music.Cao Cao,who was the prime minister of the Eastern Han Dynasty,admired his talent and made him an official in charge of music performances and ordered him to compose elegant music.

第一支曲子是《東方紅》。這只曲子曾是河南信陽楚墓中出土的編鐘演奏的，并被中國第一顆人造衛(wèi)星帶向太空，因當(dāng)時(shí)未知一鐘雙音，曲中的Si 音是用別的音代替的。

樂隊(duì)還演奏了根據(jù)屈原《九歌·東君》改編的古曲《楚商》，余音繚繞，回味無窮，給人一種“大樂與天地同和”的感受。

為了表現(xiàn)編鐘音域的寬廣，樂隊(duì)又演奏了《國際歌》、《歡樂頌》、美國電影插曲《一路平安》、日本歌曲《櫻花》、膾炙人口的中國民歌《草原上升起不落的太陽》、《瀏陽河》等。

演出結(jié)束時(shí)，所有人肅然起敬，心潮澎湃，如山洪暴發(fā)般的掌聲久久回蕩在禮堂內(nèi)外。

這是曾侯乙編鐘原件出土后的第一次演奏，當(dāng)天現(xiàn)場有電影攝影師、電視錄像師、唱片錄音師，他們用鏡頭和話筒，記錄下這珍貴的歷史時(shí)刻和亙古未有的聲音。中國國家和地方媒體，同時(shí)向中國和全世界傳播了這來自隨縣的音樂和圖像。

復(fù)制計(jì)劃上日程

作為國家級(jí)文物，是不能允許經(jīng)常敲擊演奏的。如何解決以后大量的展演需求，唯一的辦法就是復(fù)制出一模一樣的一套或幾套編鐘來。于是乎，復(fù)制編鐘的方案擺上議事日程。

中國自漢代之后，由于先秦禮樂制度的崩潰，鐵器等各種金屬工具得以發(fā)明與運(yùn)用，青銅文化迅速走向衰落。青銅編鐘的發(fā)展受到了制約，加上掌握編鐘鑄造技術(shù)的工匠和演奏樂師越來越少，編鐘最終退出歷史舞臺(tái)，鑄造工藝也失傳。

Ten-stringed qin in plain lacquer 素漆十弦琴

Having learned that the bells made by craftsman Chai Yu could play music,Du invited Chai to make more of these bells.Not long after,Du dismissed him as he found that the bells made by Chai were useless as the sounds they produced were turbid and inconsistent.

All the subsequent attempts to imitate pre-Qin bells in the following dynasties unexceptionally failed.

It was apparently irrational to regard it as an easy job to copy the process of casting this set of chimes after merely a few glimpses at them.Duplication of the chimes became an important project.

In 1979,with the support of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China,the Hubei Provincial Museum took the lead and established a research group for the reproduction of the chimes of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

The research group started with exploring the casting method of the original bells and found that the casting of the chimes of Marquis Yi of Zeng needed to go through the procedures of designing,modeling,molding,mold-assembling,casting,post-casting processing(gold-inlaying on inscriptions,tone tuning),and other steps.

The casting molds of the whole set of bells were assembled with pottery.The casting mold of niu bells consisted of double-sided ceramic molds and a mud core(i.e.an inner mold),and its sprue was located on the edge of the bell’s mouth.The casting mold of the yong bells was more complex,as each bell was divided into two parts,the yong part (the middle part of the handle-shaped column on top of the bell bodies) and the bell body,and composed of a total of 136 pieces.The 36 pieces of mei(the protruding stakes on the bell bodies) were cast from one mold.

After the prototype was cast,it had to undergo the burnishing and tuning process,and the task of the latter was arduous.The main methods of tuning were grinding and scraping.The file marks occasionally found on the inside walls of the pre-Qin bells were the traces of scraping,and to grind was to smooth and polish.

The proportion of metal contents in the chimes played a major role in their acoustic,mechanical,and casting properties.Though deployment of various modern means such as spectral semi-quantitative,electronic probe scanning,and chemical quantitative analysis,the research group detected the metal components of the bells:copper 77.54%-85.08%; tin 12.79%-14.46%; aluminum generally less than 2%,some as high as 3% in individual cases,and content of other elements were rarely found.They also found that a reasonable ratio of copper,tin,and lead alloys would help reduce casting defects and make the bells more precise and normative,smoother on the surface,richer in color,and more durable.

Another hard nut to crack in the duplication of the chimes was how to keep their one-bell-dual-tone feature.

Exquisite details of the chime-bell set 曾侯乙編鐘細(xì)節(jié)精美

東漢末年有河南人杜夔，通曉鐘律，絲竹八音，無所不能。曹操很欣賞杜夔的才華，封他為軍中樂官，并令其制雅樂。

杜夔得知工匠柴玉所鑄之鐘可奏樂音，就把柴玉請(qǐng)來，讓他鑄鐘。后來，杜夔發(fā)現(xiàn)柴玉鑄的鐘，聲音清濁不均，派不上用場。

以后各個(gè)朝代均試圖仿制先秦編鐘，均未成功。

如今僅看著這套編鐘就想模仿鑄造，談何容易！

復(fù)制編鐘成了一個(gè)重要的課題。

1979年，在中國國家文物局的支持下，由湖北省博物館牽頭，聯(lián)合多家單位，成立了曾侯乙編鐘復(fù)制研究組。

研究組從探求原鐘的鑄造方法入手，找出了曾侯乙編鐘的鑄造，需經(jīng)過設(shè)計(jì)、塑樣、制模、作范、裝配鑄型、澆鑄、鑄后加工（銘文錯(cuò)金、調(diào)音）等工序。

全套鐘的鑄型均用陶范組合而成。鈕鐘的鑄型由雙面陶范和泥芯（即內(nèi)范）構(gòu)成，其澆口設(shè)在鐘的口沿上。甬鐘的鑄型較為復(fù)雜，每件鐘的鑄型分甬部和鐘體兩大部分，共由136 塊范、芯組成。每件鐘的36 副枚（鐘體上的突起）范，均由一個(gè)枚模翻制而成。

冶鑄雛形后，需要對(duì)鑄體進(jìn)行加工打磨和調(diào)音，后者的任務(wù)十分艱巨。調(diào)音的主要辦法是磨和剡。剡就是刮削，先秦鐘內(nèi)壁少數(shù)略見銼痕，是剡的痕跡。磨就是打滑拋光。

After repeated practice and trial-manufacturing for three years,they finally reproduced 2 large bass yong bells,14 mediumsized yong bells,and 12 niu bells,totaling 28 pieces.

On January 7,1983,the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China held an appraisal meeting on the research results of chime duplication in Wuhan.Experts believed that the duplicated chimes were not only similar to the original in shape and decorative designs,but their pitch,audio frequency,and timbre also met the requirements,which laid a solid technical foundation for later reproduction of the entire set.

In August of 1984,after more than a year of hard work,the research group completed the duplication of a full set of the chime-bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng.On September 5 of the same year,the Ministry of Culture of China organized an appraisal committee composed of multidisciplinary experts to appraise and accept the full set of duplicated chimes,and after confirming that the duplication met the requirements of “similar both in appearance and sound,” they issued an acceptance certificate.In the following year,a first prize for achievements in scientific and technological research was awarded for their research results in the duplication of the chime-bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

After the successful reproduction of the first set of chime-bells and with the approval of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage,Hubei Provincial Museum joined a number of units and duplicated another two sets of bells.The three sets of replicas were respectively stored in the Suizhou Municipal Museum,the Chime Performance Hall of Hubei Provincial Museum,and the Taiwan Hongxi Art Museum.The three replication practices formed a complete set of feasible bell-reproduction processes and formulated a set of identification standards in reproductive technology of ancient musical instruments.

The scientific research value of the successful reproduction of the bells and the value of the original chimes were equally regarded as “national treasures.” Wang Zhenduo,a famous archaeologist,commented:“The study of chime reproduction has great scientific value in archaeological research,which has surpassed the ancients,marking an era and a milestone in the study of the reproduction of cultural relics.The outcome of this study is also the result of the collaboration of various departments and disciplines of natural and social sciences.”

Since the 1990s,dozens of chime-bell sets of Marquis Yi of Zeng have been reproduced and displayed in the famous tourist spots of more than a dozen provinces and cities,including Beijing’s Great Bell Temple Museum,Sun Yat-sen Memorial Museum in Taiwan,Hong Kong,the New Yuanming Palace in Zhuhai City,Jingzhou City of Hubei,the Yellow Crane Tower in Hubei,Wuhan East Lake Scenic Area,as well as in the provinces of Hunan,Guangdong,Henan,Hebei,Shaanxi,Anhui,Jiangsu,and Hainan.

More than two thousand years later,the chime-bells began swinging again with another wave of mass fervor in China.

(Translation:Luo Dongyuan)

Exquisite details of the chime-bell set 曾侯乙編鐘細(xì)節(jié)精美

編鐘的含金比例對(duì)其聲學(xué)性能、機(jī)械性能、鑄造性能的變化有著重大作用。研究組利用光譜半定量、電子探針掃描和化學(xué)定量分析等多種現(xiàn)代手段檢測，得知編鐘金屬成分比例是：銅77.54%～85.08%，錫12.79%～14.46%，鋁一般少于2%，個(gè)別高達(dá)3%，其他元素的含量都很少。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，合理的銅、錫、鉛合金比例，還會(huì)減少鑄造缺陷，使編鐘更加精確規(guī)范，表面光潔，紋路清晰，色澤富麗，經(jīng)久耐用。

確?！耙荤婋p音”也是復(fù)制的一大難點(diǎn)。

經(jīng)過三年的反復(fù)實(shí)踐與試制，到1982年年底，他們終于復(fù)制出低音大型甬鐘2 件，中型甬鐘14件，鈕鐘12 件，共28 件。

1983年1月7日，國家文物局在武漢召開了編鐘復(fù)制研究成果鑒定會(huì)，專家們認(rèn)為，復(fù)制的編鐘不僅形態(tài)和紋飾與原體很相似，其音高、音頻、音色也達(dá)到了要求，為復(fù)制全套編鐘打下了堅(jiān)實(shí)的技術(shù)基礎(chǔ)。

1984年8月，研究小組又經(jīng)過一年多的努力和奮斗，完成了全套曾侯乙編鐘的復(fù)制和研究工作。文化部于同年9月5日組織多學(xué)科專家組成的鑒定委員會(huì)，對(duì)復(fù)制的全編鐘進(jìn)行了鑒定驗(yàn)收，認(rèn)為達(dá)到了“形似、聲似”的復(fù)制要求，并頒發(fā)了驗(yàn)收證書，第二年，又對(duì)曾侯乙編鐘復(fù)制研究成果，頒發(fā)科技成果一等獎(jiǎng)。

編鐘復(fù)制第一套獲得成功后，經(jīng)國家文物局批準(zhǔn)，湖北省博物館又先后聯(lián)合多家單位，復(fù)制了兩套編鐘。三套復(fù)制品，分別存放在隨州市博物館、湖北省博物館編鐘演奏館、臺(tái)灣鴻禧美術(shù)館。三次復(fù)制實(shí)踐，形成了一整套完整可行的編鐘復(fù)制技術(shù)和工藝流程，制訂出一套古樂器復(fù)制技術(shù)鑒定標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

復(fù)制編鐘成功的科研價(jià)值同編鐘原件價(jià)值一樣，同樣是“國之瑰寶”。著名考古學(xué)家王振鐸說：“編鐘復(fù)制研究在考古學(xué)研究上有著重大的科學(xué)價(jià)值，這一工作超越了古人，在文物的復(fù)制研究方面劃了一個(gè)時(shí)代，是一個(gè)里程碑。這項(xiàng)成果的取得，又是自然科學(xué)、社會(huì)科學(xué)各部門、各學(xué)科協(xié)作的結(jié)果。”

20 世紀(jì)90年代至今，幾十套曾侯乙編鐘被復(fù)制出來，擺放在北京大鐘寺古鐘博物館、臺(tái)灣孫中山紀(jì)念館、香港、珠海圓明園、湖北荊州、武漢黃鶴樓、武漢東湖風(fēng)景區(qū)等地方，湖南、廣東、河南、河北、陜西、安徽、江蘇、海南等10 余個(gè)省市的著名旅游景點(diǎn)都有陳列。

2000 余年后，中國編鐘熱重新到來。