Sounding stone on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
A sounding stone or ''qing'' (磬) (rarely 鸣石 or 响石) is an ancient Chinese musical instrument, usually L-shaped. The set of ''qing'' is called bianqing. The shape of such stones was often quoted as description for the reverent ritual pose.The Development of the Concept of Music in China's Early History F.A Kuttner - Asian Music, 1969 " With regard to the sounding stone, the above remark emphasizes the clear, pure tone of lithophones made of limestone, jade, or nephrite, as opposed to other melody instruments (especially bells) with their vague, unclear, or unreliable pitches. .."
Important information on ''qing'' nomenclature is contained in the
A sounding stone or ''qing'' (磬) (rarely 鸣石 or 响石) is an ancient Chinese musical instrument, usually L-shaped. The set of ''qing'' is called bianqing. The shape of such stones was often quoted as description for the reverent ritual pose.The Development of the Concept of Music in China's Early History F.A Kuttner - Asian Music, 1969 " With regard to the sounding stone, the above remark emphasizes the clear, pure tone of lithophones made of limestone, jade, or nephrite, as opposed to other melody instruments (especially bells) with their vague, unclear, or unreliable pitches. .."
Important information on ''qing'' nomenclature is contained in the Erya
The ''Erya'' or ''Erh-ya'' is the first surviving Chinese dictionary. Bernhard Karlgren ( 1931:49) concluded that "the major part of its glosses must reasonably date from the 3rd century BC."
Title
Chinese scholars interpret the first title cha ...
dictionary: the large sounding stone was called ''xiāo'' 毊, and a solo performance on ''qing'', jiǎn 寋. However, the mentioned names do not have much currency in the classical literature.
''Qing'' is mentioned in the Analects
The ''Analects'' (; ; Old Chinese: '' ŋ(r)aʔ''; meaning "Selected Sayings"), also known as the ''Analects of Confucius'', the ''Sayings of Confucius'', or the ''Lun Yu'', is an ancient Chinese book composed of a large collection of sayings a ...
as one of the instruments played by Confucius.
In the Han dynasty treatises on music, its sound is referred to as "reminding the monarch about his officers who died while protecting the borders".
See also
*List of Chinese musical instruments
Chinese musical instruments are traditionally grouped into eight categories known as (). The eight categories are silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and skin; other instruments considered traditional exist that may not fit these group ...
References
{{Traditional Chinese musical instruments Chinese musical instruments Lithophones