The

Jiahu Jiahu () was the site of a Neolithic settlement based in the central plain of ancient China, near the Yellow River. It is located between the floodplains of the Ni River to the north, and the Sha River to the south, north of modern Wuyang in ...

gǔdí () are the oldest known musical instruments from China, dating back to around 6000 BCE. ''Gudi'' means "bone

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

" in Chinese.

History

Since 1984, six complete bone flutes, as well as the fragments of at least thirty more, have been excavated from several early

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

Jiahu culture tombs in Jiahu, Wuyan County,

Henan Province Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Luo ...

, in Central China. They have been dated to 6000 BCE.

Description

The bone flutes have average dimensions of approximately , and are made from the legs of the

red-crowned crane The red-crowned crane (''Grus japonensis''), also called the Manchurian crane (; the Chinese character '丹' means 'red', '頂/顶' means 'crown (anatomy), crown' and '鶴/鹤' means 'crane'), is a large East Asian Crane (bird), crane among the ...

. They are open-ended and vary in the number of their finger holes, from one to eight; the 4 holed version has 3 holes in front and one thumb hole in back. The Jiahu bone whistles are much shorter than the flutes, with lengths of , and generally having a smaller amount of holes. The number of holes and the spacing between the holes determined the musical

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

and scale or mode in which the flute was intended to function. Lee and Shen believed that the Jiahu culture understood the "resonance of an air column" (see open tube and

closed tube Closed may refer to: Mathematics * Closure (mathematics), a set, along with operations, for which applying those operations on members always results in a member of the set * Closed set, a set which contains all its limit points * Closed interva ...

) and were able to create an instrument that contained their "complete interval preference of Chinese music". Blowing across the open end of an end-blown bone flute to produce a musical sound, is accomplished in the same way, and produces a similar effect, as blowing across the open top of a bottle. The eight-holed flute can play "all harmonic intervals and two

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), ...

s." These harmonic intervals are said to be a "function of culture" and were of a larger set compared to that now familiar in the West. Bone flutes were apparently also played as part of sacrificial rites, and employed in bird hunting. Gudi are not very common now, but there are some musicians today who play them. Musician Tang Junqiao organized a team in 2016 to replicate the bone flute, and played music composed for the instrument at the Shanghai International Spring Music Festival.

Gallery

贾湖骨笛竖.jpg Neolithic bone flute.jpg Neolithic bone flute, Peiligang Culture, Wuyang, Henan, 1987, earliest known musical instrument.jpg

References

Sources

# Chang, Lulu Huang. From Confucius to Kublai Khan. Canada: The Institute of Mediaeval Music, 1993. (2-7) # Lee, Yuan-Yuan and Sin-Yan Shen. Chinese Musical Instruments. Chicago: Chinese Music Society of North America, 1999. (63-66) # Shen, Sin-Yan. China: A Journey into Its Musical Art. Chicago: Chinese Music Society of North America, 2000. (107-108) # So, Jenny F. ed. Music in the Age of Confucius. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M Sackler Gallery, 2000. (88-90) # Wu, Ben. "Archaeology and History of Musical Instruments in China". The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music East Asia: China, Japan, and Korea. Vol. 7. Ed Robert C. Provine, Yosihiko Tokumaru, and J Laurence Witzleban. New York: Routledge, 2002. (105-6) #

External links

Flutes under Wind Section
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Sample music

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{{Prehistoric technology End-blown flutes 6th-millennium BC works