This form of notation however, did not originate from China.
Most folk music in China had never been notated down before the twentieth century.
Only music played by scholars and some court music are notated down.
Folk songs, folk melodies are mainly orally transmitted.
Some melodies may be written down, but these were only the skeletal notes and the method of notation varied widely too.
Operatic music may only be known by their name or the qupai (曲牌) which are titles written for each section to let the musicians know what tunes to play.
Below are a few non-exhaustive examples of the cipher notation.
The zi pu (字譜) for the guqin
Score written in the gongche pu (工尺譜).
Other forms of cipher notation, the er si pu (二四譜).
Dun Huang Pipa Score
Since the turn of the century, more and more Chinese gain increasing exposure to the outside world. The musicians among them also learnt and brought with them, modern methods for notating music.
The numerical notation could perhaps be traced back to the Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau who later moved to France. In 1742, he presented to the Académie des Sciences a new system of using numbers to represent intervals between notes. This system never caught on in Europe, but found its way to Japan, and even later, via Chinese students in Japan, made its way into China.
Unlike Western Art-music in which vertical harmonies are an integral part of
the musical structure, the horizontal or linear aspect of the melody
is of paramount importance in the structure of Chinese music. Because
numerical notation shows the intervals between notes very clearly,
sight-reading any melody becomes very accessible. This is perhaps the
reason why numerical notation serves Chinese music very nicely while
it never gained a foothold in Western classical music - it was easier
to "feel" the chords with staff notation than with numbers.
From the beginning of the twentieth century, more and more tunes started
to be written down. Folk songs were transcribed. Scores written in
various cipher notation were also re-written with numerical notation.
As a result, a lot of music became accessible to the layperson. New
music that were composed were also notated with the numerical
notation.
By the end of the twentieth century however, staff notation started to
gain more popularity in Chinese music. Tonality in new Chinese music
started to blur, frequent key changes, chromaticism and atonality
became prevalent and numerical notation no longer provided ease in
reading a score.
Like any other aspects of music, musical notation evolves together with
the times, the society and the people as well.
In an era where only the scholars and the royalty were literate, music
was not usually written down.
As literacy increased, people sort ways to write down music to aid
memory. The numerical notation, being most suited for the linear
nature of Chinese music thus gained popularity.
As music changed and numerical notation became inadequate for the new
music, staff notation started to gain a foothold too.
There is no single best way to notate music. Whether it's numerical or
cipher or staff notation, the type of music dictates which form of
notation is most suitable. And just like all other aspects of music,
it is influenced by the society, the people who make the music.
Reading the Numerical Notation:
The numerical notation is actually largely parallel to the modern staff
notation, the main type of notation in Western Art-music.
The
notes are represented by the numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 which correspond
to the degrees of the diatonic scale. Sharps and flats are written
accordingly, next to the note, for example qf,
wdand
so on.
Fig.1
a=
G 中速
#!
bdtunb]sxca xstcyLx ubd ' xgcbhtubnra xhcxg ' xgxcs bdtynbgybndubns '
batunbs zh xa ' xstyLcx ubd batynbsynbaubmnh ' batunmh zgL ,
bdtunbsnbdtunbg bhtunbgnbratunbh ' bgtunbd g xxh ' xracbrstunbrd
brstunbranbhntubra ' g ; ' 'bgnbtud g xh ' xracbrstunbrd bratunbhcxg ' xgcxs bdtynbgynbdubns ' batunmh aL '
bdnbtusxca xstcyLx ubd ' 'xgcbhtubnra xhcxg ' xgxcs bdtynbgybndubns ' banbtus zh xa ' xstyLcx ubd batynbsynbaubmnh ' batunmh zgL '
bdtunbsxca xstycLx ubd ' xgcbhtubnra xhcxg ' xgxcs bdtynbgbyndbuns ' batunbs zh xa '`13 x1sty1L1cx ub1d1 b1aty1nbsy1nbau1bmnh1 1'1
'b1atu1nmh1 z1g2L .`41 xr1styL1cx ub1brd1 br1aut1nbrs1nbratu1bnh1 1'1 b1gtuL1bn 1nbbh1nrbatu1bnrd1 br1stu1nbra1nbhn1bra1 1'1 1g1;2 ?
bdtunbsxca xstycLx ubd ' xgcbhtubnra xhcxg ' xgxcs bdtynbgbyndbuns ' batunbs zh xa '`13 x1sty1L1cx ub1d1 b1aty1nbsy1nbau1bmnh1 1'1
'b1atu1nmh1 z1g2L .`41 xr1styL1cx ub1brd1 br1aut1nbrs1nbratu1bnh1 1'1 b1gtuL1bn 1nbbh1nrbatu1bnrd1 br1stu1nbra1nbhn1bra1 1'1 1g1;2 ?
Fig.
1 shows an example of the common things one finds in a score of
numerical notation.
At
the very top of the score, the 1 = G refers to the pitch relation of
the music. 1 = G means that the note 1 is G, 1 = D means 1 is the
note D and so on. Take note that this only refers to the note 1 being
the note G or D and so on, but does not automatically imply that the
pitch centre of the music or that the most important note, or the
tonic is G or D or whatever other note that is written there.
Hence
a piece of music with 1 = G will mean that the notes are
correspondingly,
a
s d f g h j
G A B C D E F#
and
one with 1 = C will have
a
s d f g h j
C D E F G A B
and
so on.
At
the beginning of the piece of music or a section, there may also be
instructions written to let the performer have an idea of the tempo
of the music, or the mood a particular section intends to depict. In
this example, the tempo marking 中速
thus
instructs the performer to play at a medium speed that is not too
fast or too slow. With influence from Western Art-music, these
performance instructions are often given in italian terms that is
conventionally found in the modern staff notation as well.
Before
the start of the music, there is also the time signature, similar to
that found in modern staff notation. In Fig.1, the time signature of
this piece of music is in #!,
denoting 2 crotchets to each bar.
The
rhythmic notation can also be easily extrapolated from the modern
staff notation.
A
refers to a crotchet or a quarter note.
xA
a line below the note makes it a quaver or an eighth note.
bA
two
lines below the note denotes a semiquaver or a sixteenth note, and so
on.
A;
with a dash after the note, it means a the length of a crotchet plus
another crotchet, hence a minim.
A;;
two dashes makes up a crotchet plus crotchet plus crotchet, the
length of a dotted minim, and so on.
Al
xAccxl bAbnl dots
after the notes similarly means a dotted note, here we have a dotted
crotchet, a dotted quaver and a dotted semiquaver respectively.
Finally,
the repeat signs (,.),
the barlines ('?)
and other signs are similar to those found in the modern staff
notation as well.
References:
Wikipedia. "Jean-Jacques Rousseau". 24 April 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau
Baidu. "工尺譜 － 什麼意思 － 金山詞霸漢語". 25 December 2010. http://hanyu.iciba.com/wiki/73746.shtml
Ying You Qin. Zhong Wai Yue Qi Wen Hua Da Guan. "中外樂器文化大觀". Shanghai: Shanghai Educational Publishing House, 2008.
