志异 Draft by Drama box December 2014 (english) | Page 31

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The First Musical Model of Harmony

Jonathan Sim

In this model of harmony, discord is the result of different
standards (e.g. standards of what is right and what is wrong)
coming into conflict with one another. In a diverse society, where
people subscribe to different systems of beliefs and values, it is
inevitable that there will be clashes in certain areas. Who is to
say that their standard should be the universal standard? To do
so would be to privilege one group’s system of belief and values
over other groups. This would lead to more unhappiness and
conflict.

Early Chinese Conceptions of Harmony

As for harmony in the context of music, there are two different
models that we can study. The first model of musical harmony
involves a harmony between the various instruments in a band or
an orchestra. This is done by ensuring that musical instruments
are correctly tuned to a particular melodic scale, to a particular
musical standard. This may seem like a small matter in today’s
context, but in the ancient Chinese context, this was a big issue
because the bronze bells had a limited tonal range as compared
to string and wind instruments. Moreover, instruments made
from different states were tuned differently. If one were to bring
together these instruments in an orchestra, one would only hear
dissonant sounds as each instrument would perform based on its
own standard, on its own melodic scale. It was thus necessary to
adjust the instruments, and tune them accordingly so that they
fit the same scale, the same melodic standard.

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