Work

The early development of music. Analysis of the Jiahu bone flutes

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: The authors present the musical properties of well-preserved bone flutes recently recovered from Jiahu, an early Neolithic site in central China with a sequence beginning in the seventh millennium BC (Antiquity 77: 31–44). Tonal analyses of five of the flutes indicate a gradual development from four-tone to seven-tone scale. By adding more holes to the pipe, structuring the pitch intervals closer to each other, and by alternating the keynote, the prehistoric musicians could play increasingly expressive and varied music. In addition, the flutes became progressively standardised in pitch, presumably so they could play in harmony. The study shows that the Jiahu flute makers and their musicians became progressively familiar with acoustics and developed a cognitive scheme of music comparable to that of modern times.

Source: Antiquity

DOI: 10.1017/s0003598x00113432

Authors: Juzhong Zhang, Xinghua Xiao, Yun Kuen Lee

Institutions: University of Science and Technology of China, China Academy of Art, Harvard University

Language: English

Topic: Musicology and Musical Analysis

Subfield: Music

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China

Award: 河南贾湖稻作遗存在中国稻作起源研究中的地位