Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 1248 Postscript 104·Piano still needs approval from the court?

Xie Yan found a ten-day holiday and visited Yang Linzhi again.

When he explained his purpose, Yang Linzhi was not happy, but asked solemnly: "Use the twelve-tone equal temperament to make a musical instrument?"

"Yes." Xie Yan nodded.

Yang Linzhi was silent for a while: "This matter must be reported to the court, discussed by the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites, and finally asked for approval by His Majesty."

"It's just a musical instrument, why does it need approval from the court?" Xie Yan was very surprised.

Although the princess knew about the twelve-tone equal temperament, she only knew that there was such a thing. The subtle differences were not studied in depth.

Yang Linzhi said: "Lülü is also a kind of weights and measures. At the beginning of each dynasty, the weights and measures must be re-determined. I calculated the twelve-tone equal temperament as a pure music theory, which can naturally be discussed and studied. But if it is made into a musical instrument and performed openly, it must be reported to the court."

"What will happen if it is not reported to the court?" Xie Yan asked.

Yang Linzhi said: "The court generally does not ask, especially when the impact is not big. But if the impact is huge among the people, our crime is to destroy the measurement. It can be understood as making a fake scale that is short of weight and letting tens of thousands of merchants use it."

"Which one is better, the traditional twelve-tone musical instrument or the twelve-tone equal temperament musical instrument?" Xie Yan asked curiously.

The difference is very subtle, and ordinary people can't hear it at all, but if it is played as a piece, it will feel different.

"It's hard to say."

Yang Linzhi simply explained: "The sound that is close to the palace sound is more natural and harmonious when played according to the traditional lü than the twelve-tone equal temperament. The sound that is far from the palace sound may be more harmonious with the traditional lü, but it may also be more harmonious with the twelve-tone equal temperament."

The traditional lü is derived from a natural sound (palace).

The closer the relationship with the palace sound, the closer it is to the natural frequency, so it sounds very harmonious.

The twelve-tone equal temperament is artificially cut and divided, which is a mathematical calculation result.

Every sound of it is misplaced, and every sound is actually inaccurate.

In the ears of the top musicians in ancient times, every note of the twelve equal temperaments was unnatural!

Xie Yan said: "How about this. We build the piano first, but don't play it publicly directly. Instead, we invite the Queen Mother, the government, the cabinet, and the Ministry of Rites to listen. After listening, they will decide whether to allow it."

"Okay." Yang Linzhi nodded.

Yang Linzhi did not choose the type of steel wire first, nor did he carefully arrange the strings. Because in his opinion, these can be done easily.

Yang Linzhi took Xie Yan to the southeast city to select wood.

Just next to the street of Luoyang's largest book market, all kinds of musical instruments and materials are sold, as well as antiques, folding fans, inkstones, seals and other items.

"Mr. Yang, please come in!"

Yang Linzhi is an old customer on this street. As soon as he walked to the door of a store, the shopkeeper personally came up with the clerk to greet him.

Yang Linzhi introduced: "This is Prince Consort Xie."

"Excuse me, excuse me!"

The shopkeeper and the clerk hurried forward to greet him.

Xie Yan followed Yang Linzhi to the backyard of the shop, where many materials for making musical instruments were piled up.

Yang Linzhi knocked on a wooden board with his hand and said to Xie Yan: "Different musical instruments require different woods. The best woods for pipa are sandalwood, nanmu, and walnut, and the best woods for guqin are pine, paulownia, and zelkova."

The most common products of guqin and guzheng made by modern industry on the market are paulownia wood.

But if you want to make a good guqin, paulownia wood is not enough.

You must use paulownia, which is also the sycamore.

The best wood for the bottom plate is zelkova.

However, since the Tang Dynasty, the most popular wood for guqin is white pine, which is spruce - and it is also the best material for making piano soundboards.

The Chunlei guqin that Grandpa Xie gave to his grandson and granddaughter-in-law was made of spruce.

Moreover, it was the appearance of the "Chunlei" batch of famous guqins in Western Shu that made spruce the preferred material for making guqin.

Yang Linzhi knocked on more than ten pieces of wood in succession: "The strings of your piano are all tight steel wires. Therefore, the wood used for the bridge must be hard and not easy to deform. Catalpa wood and other woods are definitely not suitable, but rosewood should be enough."

Yang Linzhi turned around again: "As for the soundboard, white pine (spruce) is the best."

Xie Yan knew nothing about this and could only listen obediently.

Yang Linzhi squatted in front of a spruce board: "Your piano is very large, and the soundboard is easy to deform over time. But the soundboard is not good if it is made too thick, and the sound cannot vibrate. Well... you can add a few ribs to the soundboard."

This man is worthy of being a professional. He imagined the ribs of the piano soundboard out of thin air.

The two squatted there and called a carpenter.

The expensive wood that had been specially treated was ordered to be cut and assembled together. For the time being, only a few steel wires were hung on the bridge (piano bridge), and they were also fixed casually with iron nails.

It took two or three hours to make a simple piano with only a few keys and could not be tuned.

"Dong, dong, dong!"

Yang Linzhi repeatedly pressed the keys and listened carefully for a while: "The soundboard is too thin, it's very harsh."

So the carpenter pushed and planed the spruce board again.

The shopkeeper ran to the backyard from time to time to observe what they were doing.

The shopkeeper felt distressed when he saw the scrapped wood.

They were all top-quality white pine!

And the red sandalwood was nailed directly with nails and hung with steel wire. The shopkeeper's heart was bleeding.

It had nothing to do with money. Anyway, Yang Linzhi and Xie Laoliu would definitely pay for it.

He was just a manager of a musical instrument store, and he couldn't stand the waste of top-grade musical instrument materials.

Another half an hour passed, and Yang Linzhi listened to the newly installed soundboard: "It's too thick, and it's very stuffy."

This time, there is no need to waste wood, just use a plane to remove a layer.

He worked until the evening when Xie Yan went home to rest, but Yang Linzhi stayed here.

What happened next really had nothing to do with Xie Yan.

Yang Linzhi lived directly in the backyard of the musical instrument store, and he kept experimenting and adjusting the structure of the wood used for the piano. Then he tested and installed strings and keys, arranged them according to the twelve equal temperament, and finally carried out formal tuning.

After half a month, Xie Yan and the princess were invited over.

An upright piano that had not yet been painted appeared in front of them.

Yang Linzhi said: "Previous music cannot highlight the characteristics of the piano. It is best to compose a new piece to play."

Xie Yan immediately hummed: "Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump... thump, thump, thump... thump, thump, thump..."

Before crossing, although Xie Yan did not understand music, he was still familiar with some pieces of music.

For example, the weather forecast background music "Fisherman's Song at Dusk" hummed for his grandfather.

No mistakes in one song, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar!

For example, the "To Alice" hummed at this moment, I don't know who played it repeatedly on the radio before the flag-raising ceremony or the break exercise in high school. I can hear it every day, and my ears are almost calloused.

Yang Linzhi was stunned, and then took out a pen and paper: "Please wait, Prince Consort!"

He used the gongche notation to record.

For the high octave of the same sound name, the last stroke of the word is raised. The lower octave of the same sound name is written with a stroke at the end of the score. If you are familiar with it, it is actually similar to using the simplified score.

Of course, the specific situation is more complicated, and there are various rhythm symbols.

Xie Yan forgot while humming and could only hum subconsciously, and then remembered it again after humming a paragraph.

When Yang Linzhi sat in front of the piano to play, it was a mess.

One was not proficient in piano playing, and would play it wrong from time to time, or handle it incorrectly.

The other had a hard time remembering the details of the music, and he hummed it differently the first and second times, and the intervals were also a mess.

"No, no."

"What's wrong?"

"I can't tell."

"Hmm..."

Xie Yan and Yang Linzhi stared at each other.

Yang Linzhi savored it carefully and played another section: "Is it like this?"

Xie Yan recalled the music before the high school break: "It has that flavor, but it's still a little wrong."

Yang Linzhi sighed secretly and continued to make fine adjustments.

From morning to evening, he kept adjusting and modifying. They had lunch in the middle, and Xie Yan helped the princess walk a few laps.

Finally, a seemingly "To Alice" was created.

Yang Linzhi took a deep breath: "What is the name of this song, Prince Consort?"

Xie Yan thought for a while: "To Tangxi."

Zhu Tangxi smiled and waved her pink fist, hitting Xie Yan's shoulder sweetly.

There are several versions of the creation background of "To Alice". To be honest, the rumor about the blind old man is a bit far-fetched.

Many people prefer to believe that the original name of this song is "To Theresa", which was composed by Beethoven for the girl Theresa he loved.

Xie Yan's musical skills are very poor, and he has to find a reason for himself. So he said: "I recalled the first meeting with the princess. It seems that I saw her lively and lovely after being dignified, and her smile under the early summer sun. The melody of the music suddenly lingered in my heart..."

"Don't say it!" Zhu Tangxi hurriedly stopped him.

Why say these things in front of outsiders?

The princess was both shy and happy, her smile grew brighter and brighter, like a blooming peony.

Yang Linzhi pretended not to know about this kind of love-showing behavior, and silently played the song again.

Zhu Tangxi leaned against her lover, closed her eyes and listened to the song. She was intoxicated, this was specially composed by her lover for her, and she could hum it directly out of her feelings.

It turns out that Liu Lang loves me so much!

At this moment, the shopkeeper led a middle-aged man in.

The owner of the musical instrument store came.

This guy had been listening outside for a while, and the more he listened, the more he felt that there was a market for piano. He came in and bowed to see him, flattering him crazily, praising the talent of the prince consort for a while, sighing about the love between the princess and the prince consort, and saying that Yang Linzhi had profound musical attainments.

After talking for a long time, he finally got to the point: "I wonder if our store can make this piano?"

Yang Linzhi did not respond.

Xie Yan said: "It must be reported to the court. This is made with twelve equal temperaments."

The owner of the musical instrument store suddenly realized and said no more.

Zhu Tangxi had an idea and said, "Paint the piano, decorate it with gold, silver and gemstones, and make it as gorgeous as possible. Present it to the Queen Mother someday!"

Yang Linzhi said, "I still need to practice hard. I can't play well now. I will play it for the Queen Mother after I practice well."

This is about weights and measures, so the Queen Mother must be pleased, otherwise the piano cannot be promoted.