A Study of Musical Instrument Pictographs on Zuojiang Huashan Rock Arts

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Huang Yu [黄羽]

The Huashan Rock Arts represent the rock pictographs in the Zuojiang River Basin. They record the unique sacrificial scenes by Luoyue people from the 5th century BC to the 2nd century AD. Historical materials, unearthed cultural relics and existing folk customs all prove that the distinguishable musical instrument pictographs on the rock arts include bronze drums, sheep-horn knob bells, ling (small bells with a clapper), etc. All of these also explains why these musical instruments appear on those pictographs, further emphasizing the importance attributed to them on dividing the history of the rock arts into certain periods. This study has found out that after the Western Han Dynasty, the sheep-horn knob bells gradually lost the function of ceremonial and musical instruments due to the destruction of the rite system, thus withdrawing from the historical arena. On the other hand, the artisanship of bronze drums has become more and more exquisite, highlighting its three-fold use for rites, rituals and musical instruments. The drums also continue to occupy a significant part of the music history of the Luoyue ethnic group. Through an in-depth study of the musical instrument pictographs, the music history of the Luoyue is further, clarified and understood.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Zhuo Lu

The history of Huaxia (Chinese: , a historical concept representing the Chinese nation and civi-lization) is full of wars. Various weapons were developed that are suitable for ground combat with horse-drawn vehicles. The weapon Ge (Chinese: ) was already used before 221 BC (before the Qin Dynasty, ca. 221–206 BC), and disappeared in around 25 AD (at the end of Western Han Dynasty). In most other regions in the world, this type of weapon has hardly been used. The weapon axe was used in the ancient wars (in the same period) outside Ancient China (also called the Middle King-dom), such as in Mesopotamia (the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system). However, the weapon axe is different from Ge, although there seem some similarities. This article provides an in-depth study and analysis of the reasons for the historic use of this unique weapon Ge, of its development in Ancient China, and of its influence on (military and civil) culture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 1511-1523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antreas Kantaros ◽  
Olaf Diegel

Purpose This paper aims to discuss additive manufacturing (AM) in the context of applications for musical instruments. It examines the main AM technologies used in musical instruments, goes through a history of musical applications of AM and raises the questions about the application of AM to create completely new wind instruments that would be impossible to produce with conventional manufacturing. Design/methodology/approach A literature research is presented which covers a historical application of AM to musical instruments and hypothesizes on some potential new applications. Findings AM has found extensive application to create conventional musical instruments with unique aesthetics designs. It’s true potential to create entirely new sounds, however, remains largely untapped. Research limitations/implications More research is needed to truly assess the potential of additive manufacturing to create entirely new sounds for musical instrument. Practical implications The application of AM in music could herald an entirely new class of musical instruments with unique sounds. Originality/value This study highlights musical instruments as an unusual application of AM. It highlights the potential of AM to create entirely new sounds, which could create a whole new class of musical instruments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-11
Author(s):  
Rully Aprilia Zandra ◽  
Rustopo Rustopo

Keroncong merupakan musik, instrumen musik, dan genre yang diklaim sebagai warisan budaya indonesia. Keroncong sebagai warisan budaya tentunya memiliki sejarah yang panjang.sejarah yang panjang juga tidak akan luput dari pasang surut dan perkembangan. Pasang surut dan perkembangan umumnya dipengaruhi politik dan situasi sosial. Untuk memetakan sejarah keroncong di Indonesia yang diwarnai politik dan situasi sosial, data dikumpulkan melalui dokumentasi, telaah pustaka, dan wawancara. Data valid dikonfirmasi dan dipaparkan secara kronologis berdasar periodesasinya. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa keroncong bermula dari diseminasi instrumen musik bangsa Portugis yang menjalin hubungan dengan Majapahit. Diseminasi instrumen fado di nusantara mengalami perubahan morfologi dan teknik perlakuan alatnya. Perubahan morfologi dan perlakuan alat ini melahirkan instrumen keroncong atau cukulele. Gaya lirik dibangun oleh kearifan lokal nusantara sesuai demografi dan situasi sosial di masing-masing lokasi penciptaannya. Gaya lirik dan pasang surut popularitas keroncong sebagai kelompok musik didorong dan dihentikan oleh naik turunnya kekuatan politik Portugis, Majapahit, Belanda, Jepang, dan Orde Lama dan Orde Baru. Political and Social Situations in the History of Keroncong in IndonesiaAbstract:Keroncong is music, musical instrument, and the genre that is claimed to be Indonesia's cultural heritage. Keroncong, as a cultural heritage, certainly has a long history. A long history will not escape its ups and downs and developments. Political and social situations generally influence the ups and downs and developments. In order to map the history of keroncong in Indonesia, which is colored by politics and social situations, data is collected through documentation, literature review, and interviews. Valid data are confirmed and presented chronologically based on the periodization. The results of this study indicate that keroncong originated from the dissemination of Portuguese musical instruments, which had a relationship with Majapahit. The dissemination of fado instruments in the archipelago has changed the morphology and treatment techniques of the tools. Changes in the morphology and treatment of this tool gave birth to the keroncong or Cukulele instrument. The local wisdom of the archipelago builds the lyric style according to the demographics and social situations in each location of its creation. The lyric style and the ebb and flow of keroncong's popularity as a musical group was driven and stopped by the ups and downs of the political power of the Portuguese, Majapahit, Dutch, Japanese, and the Old and New Order.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-180
Author(s):  
Rebecca Cypess ◽  
Steven Kemper

Since the late twentieth century, the development of cybernetics, physical computing and robotics has led artists and researchers to create musical systems that explore the relationship between human bodies and mechanical systems. Anthropomorphic musical robots and bodily integrated ‘cyborg’ sensor interfaces explore complementary manifestations of what we call the ‘anthropomorphic analogy’, which probes the boundary between human artificer and artificial machine, encouraging listeners and viewers to humanise non-musical machines and understand the human body itself as a mechanical instrument.These new approaches to the anthropomorphic analogy benefit from historical contextualisation. At numerous points in the history of Western art music, philosophers, critics, composers, performers and instrument designers have considered the relationship between human musician and musical instrument, often blurring the line between the two. Consideration of historical examples enriches understandings of anthropomorphism in contemporary music technology.This article juxtaposes the anthropomorphic analogy in contemporary musical culture with manifestations of anthropomorphism in early seventeenth-century Europe. The first half of the seventeenth century witnessed a flourishing of instrumentality of all sorts. Musical instruments were linked with the telescope, the clock, the barometer, the paintbrush, and many other instruments and machines, and these came to be understood as vehicles for the creation of knowledge. This flourishing of instrumental culture created new opportunities for contemplation and aesthetic wonder, as theorists considered the line between human being and machine – between nature and artifice. Manifestations of the anthropomorphic analogy in seventeenth-century conceptions of musical instruments help to contextualise and explain similar articulations of the anthropomorphic analogy in the present day.


1994 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 308-328
Author(s):  
Magdel le Roux

AbstractPresent discussions about the history of Israel pay a great deal of attention to the question of Israel as an ethnic group with a prominent, distinguishable and unique identity. By means of empirical facts, this article aims to show that the Israelite tribes were subjected to many different and divergent influences during the settlement period which contributed towards their identity. Because of limited space this article will concentrate only on the political identity but it does not deny the other important historical dimensions pertaining to the discussion. The political situation is therefore an instrument to illustrate that ethnical identity is not shaped in a vacuum, but is dependent upon events taking place in their vicinity. They form part of an allencompassing process. The conclusion drawn from this discussion is that Israel should not be understood as an identifiable entity, because history does not allow existing identities to stagnate, but strives to affirm and to renew.


2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEITH CHAPIN

ABSTRACTIt is as a classicist that Johann Adolph Scheibe has entered the annals of music history, either as a propagator of the principles of French literary classicism, or as a champion of a ‘galant’ style that later critics would view as a foundation for a German musical classicism. But if Scheibe insisted on a quality of striking simplicity, using words clearly indebted to those of Nicolas Boileau, the doyen of seventeenth-century French critics, he was no classicist according to the French model. While all classicists depend to a certain degree on the regulation of their material – for such regulation aids them in their quest for the perfect fit between parts and whole – they will differ in how they choose to balance the codification of technique and the regulation of style, on the one hand, with the evocation of emphatic or ‘sublime’ experiences, on the other. If Boileau sought the ‘marvellous’ quality that strikes like lightening, Scheibe wished for clarity. Drawing on scholarship in the history of literature, this article first examines the origins and point of French classicist literary aesthetics, then traces the fate of these aesthetics as they were transferred from France to Germany and from literature to music.


Author(s):  
Dietmar Schenk

AbstractHistorical archives are institutions holding historical sources, in particular deeds and files, that is to say records created in the past for administrative and legal purposes. Today, historical archives are responsible for preserving administrative documents that will become sources of history in the future. This paper reviews the connection – and disconnection – between archives of this type and musicology. In the field of music-historical research, it is most common to use music libraries and other special music collections, particularly to examine original manuscripts of musical compositions. Music historians have focused less on archival sources, though these are increasingly valued thanks to the influence of cultural history. On the other hand, historians dealing with general history have been little interested in the history of the arts and, particularly, in music history, instead focusing mainly on political, social and economic issues. Archivists have shared these preferences. By contrast, this article presents examples of the potential of archival sources for music-historical research, and shows that Archival Science contributes to the management of written cultural heritage in the field of music as well.


Manuskripta ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Ilham Nurwansah

Abstract: Until the early 20th century, the Sundanese region was considered to have no musical history, even though such information contained, among others, the Old Sundanese script. Not many researches on the history of Sundanese music have used Old Sundanese textual sources. This paper discusses aspects of instrumental music found in Old Sundanese texts including terms used to refer to music and the types of musical instruments used. The sources used are Old Sundanese texts from the pre-Islamic period between the 15th and 17th centuries AD. Several Old Sundanese musical instruments are still known and used today with or without changes. Others are no longer known. Old Sundanese musical instruments are played alone or in groups, either on a stage or a parade. Its function is to accompany entertainment and also to accompany the ritual process. The basic material for the body of the musical instrument used is generally bronze metal and wood, including bamboo. --- Abstrak: Hingga awal abad ke-20 wilayah Sunda dianggap tidak memiliki sejarah musik, padahal informasi demikian antara lain terdapat dalam naskah Sunda Kuna. Penelitian sejarah musik Sunda pun tampaknya belum banyak yang menggunakan sumber tekstual Sunda Kuna. Tulisan ini membahas aspek-aspek musik instrumental yang terdapat pada teks-teks Sunda Kuna mencakup istilah yang digunakan untuk menyebut musik dan jenis-jenis alat musik yang digunakan. Sumber-sumber yang digunakan yaitu teks Sunda Kuna dari masa pra-Islam antara abad ke-15 sampai abad ke-17 M. Beberapa instrumen musik Sunda Kuna masih dikenal dan digunakan hingga sekarang dengan atau tanpa perubahan. Sebagian lainnya sudah tidak dikenal. Instrumen musik Sunda kuna ada yang dimainkan sendiri maupun berkelompok, baik pada sebuah panggung maupun parade. Fungsinya untuk mengiringi hiburan dan juga mengiringi proses ritual. Bahan dasar badan alat musik yang digunakan umumnya berupa logam perunggu dan kayu-kayuan, termasuk bambu. Keywords: Old Sundanese, music, instrumental. Kata Kunci: Sunda Kuna, musik, instrumental.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Estévez Cimadevila ◽  
Isaac López César

<p><em>The Galerie des Machines of 1889 is present in most books on the history of architecture. There are, however, certain aspects of this building that merit a more in-depth study. Other elements have been incorrectly described in current and contemporary publications about the building. The aim of this article is to examine the place this building occupies in the historical development of metal arch structures, its precedents and the influence it has exerted on later buildings of a similar structure. On the other hand, there have also been contradictions concerning the materials used in the erection of the structure and the reasons behind using them, as well as the exact span achieved. This article will unequivocally resolve these issues.</em></p>


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