Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1248 Postscript : The piano still needs approval from the court?
Taking a ten-day break, Xie Yan visited Yang Linzhi again.

When he explained his purpose, Yang Linzhi was not delighted, but asked solemnly: "Use the twelve-tone equal temperament to make the instrument?"

"Yes." Xie Yan nodded.

Yang Linzhi was silent for a while: "This matter must be reported to the court, discussed by the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites, and finally submitted to His Majesty for approval."

"It's just a musical instrument, why does it need the court's approval?" Xie Yan was very surprised.

Although the princess knew about the twelve-tone equal temperament, she only knew that it existed and did not study its subtle differences in depth.

Yang Linzhi said: "Lülü is also a kind of measurement. At the beginning of each dynasty, the measurement must be re-determined. I calculated the twelve equal temperaments as a pure musical theory, which can naturally be discussed and studied. But if it is made into a musical instrument and used for public performances, it must be reported to the court."

"What will happen if we don't report it to the court?" Xie Yan asked.

Yang Linzhi said: "The court usually does not ask, especially when the impact is not big. But if the impact is huge among the people, our crime is to destroy the measurement. It can be understood as making a fake scale that is short of weight and letting tens of thousands of merchants use it."

"Compared with the traditional twelve-tone musical instrument and the twelve-tone equal-tempered musical instrument, which one produces better performance?" Xie Yan asked curiously.

The difference is so subtle that most people can't hear it at all, but if it is performed as a complete piece, it will feel different.

"Hard to say."

Yang Linzhi simply explained: "The notes that are close to the gong sound are more natural and harmonious when played according to the traditional lü and lv than the twelve-tone equal temperament. The notes that are far from the gong sound may be more harmonious with the traditional lü and lv, but it is also possible that the twelve-tone equal temperament will be more harmonious."

The traditional lü is derived from a natural tone (gong).

The closer it is to the gong sound, the closer it is to the natural frequency, so it sounds very harmonious.

The twelve-tone equal temperament is artificially divided and is the result of a mathematical calculation.

Every note is misplaced, and every note is actually inaccurate.

In the ears of the top musicians in ancient times, every note of the twelve equal temperaments was unnatural!

Xie Yan said, "How about this? We build the piano first, but don't perform it in public directly. Instead, we invite the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, the Cabinet, and the Ministry of Rites to listen to it. After they listen, they will decide whether to allow it."

"Okay." Yang Linzhi nodded.

Yang Linzhi did not choose the type of steel wire first, nor did he carefully arrange the strings, because in his opinion, these were all easy to do.

Yang Linzhi took Xie Yan to the southeast city area to select wood.

Located right next to the largest book market in Luoyang, it sells a variety of musical instruments and materials, as well as antiques, folding fans, inkstones, seals and other items.

"Mr. Yang, please come in!"

Yang Linzhi was an old customer on this street. As soon as he arrived at the door of a store, the shopkeeper came to greet him personally with his staff.

Yang Linzhi introduced him, "This is Prince Consort Xie."

"Excuse me, excuse me!"

The shopkeeper and the clerk hurried forward to greet him.

Xie Yan followed Yang Linzhi straight to the backyard of the shop, where many materials for making musical instruments were piled up.

Yang Linzhi knocked on a piece of wood with his hands and said to Xie Yan: "Different musical instruments require different woods. The best woods for pipa are sandalwood, nanmu, and walnut, and the best woods for guqin are pine, paulownia, and zelkova."

Among the guqins and guzhengs produced by modern industry, the most common wood on the market is paulownia.

But if you want to make a good guitar, paulownia wood is not suitable.

You must use the paulownia tree, also known as the sycamore tree.

It is best to use zelkova wood for the base.

However, since the Tang Dynasty, the most popular piano wood is white pine, also known as spruce - which is also the best material for making piano soundboards.

The Chunleiqin that Mr. Xie gave to his grandson and granddaughter-in-law was made of spruce.

Moreover, it was the appearance of the "Spring Thunder" batch of famous Western Shu guqin that led to spruce becoming the preferred material for making guqin.

Yang Linzhi knocked on more than ten pieces of wood in succession: "The strings of your piano are all tight steel wires. Therefore, the wood used for the bridge must be hard and not easy to deform. Catalpa wood is definitely not suitable, but rosewood should be enough."

Yang Linzhi turned around again: "As for the soundboard, white pine (spruce) is best."

Xie Yan knew nothing about this and could only listen obediently.

Yang Linzhi squatted in front of a spruce board and said, "Your piano is too big, and the soundboard will be easily deformed over time. But if the soundboard is too thick, the sound will not vibrate. Hmm...you can add a few ribs to the soundboard."

This person is indeed a professional, as he imagined the ribs of the piano soundboard out of thin air.

The two men squatted there and called a carpenter.

They ordered the specially treated expensive wood to be cut and assembled together. For the time being, only a few steel wires were hung on the piano bridge, which was also fixed casually with iron nails.

It took two or three hours to make a simple piano with only a few keys and could not be tuned.

"Dong dong dong dong!"

Yang Linzhi pressed the keys repeatedly and listened carefully for a while: "The soundboard is too thin, it's very harsh."

So the carpenter started planing the spruce board again.

The shopkeeper would run to the backyard from time to time to observe what they were doing.

The shopkeeper felt heartbroken when he saw the scrapped wood.

They are all top-quality white pine!
As for the rosewood, it was directly nailed with nails and hung with steel wire. The shopkeeper's heart was bleeding.

It has nothing to do with money. Yang Linzhi and Xie Laoliu will definitely pay for it anyway.

He was simply a manager of a musical instrument store who couldn't bear to see top-quality musical instrument materials being wasted.

Another half an hour passed, and Yang Linzhi listened to the newly installed soundboard: "It's too thick and very muffled." This time there was no need to waste wood, he could just use a planer to remove a layer.

They were busy until the evening when Xie Yan went home to rest, but Yang Linzhi stayed here.

What happened next really had nothing to do with Xie Yan.

Yang Linzhi lived directly in the backyard of the musical instrument store, and he kept experimenting with adjusting the structure of the wood used in the piano. Then he tested adding strings and keys, arranged them according to the twelve-tone equal temperament, and finally carried out formal tuning.

Half a month later, Xie Yan and the princess were invited over.

An upright piano that had not yet been painted appeared in front of them.

Yang Linzhi said: "Previous music cannot highlight the characteristics of the piano. It would be best to compose a new piece to perform."

Xie Yan immediately hummed: "Thump thump thump thump thump...thump thump thump...thump thump thump..."

Before traveling through time, although Xie Yan did not understand music, he was still familiar with some fragments of the music.

For example, the weather forecast background music "Fisherman's Song at Dusk" that I sang to my grandfather.

For example, the song "Für Elise" that I am humming right now was played repeatedly on the radio during the flag-raising ceremony or before the break in high school. I hear it every day, and my ears are almost callused from it.

Yang Lin was stunned, then took out a pen and paper and said, "Please wait a moment, Prince Consort!"

He used gongche notation to record.

For the higher octave of the same syllable, the last stroke of the syllable is raised. For the lower octave of the same syllable, the last stroke of the syllable is lowered. If you are familiar with it, it is actually the same as using the simplified notation.

Of course, the specific situation is more complicated, and there are various rhythm symbols.

As Xie Yan hummed, he forgot what he was humming and could only hum randomly subconsciously. After humming for a while, he would recall it again.

When Yang Linzhi sat in front of the piano to play, all kinds of problems occurred.

One who is not very skilled in piano playing will make mistakes from time to time or handle things incorrectly.

It is very difficult to remember the details of a piece of music. I hum it differently the first and second times, and the intervals are also a mess.

"No, no."

"What's wrong?"

"I can't tell you."

"Um……"

Xie Yan and Yang Linzhi stared at each other.

Yang Linzhi recalled the scene carefully and played another section: "Is that so?"

Xie Yan recalled the music before the break in high school: "It has that flavor, but it's still a little wrong."

Yang Linzhi sighed secretly and continued to make fine adjustments.

From morning till evening, they worked on it repeatedly, and even had lunch in between, and Xie Yan helped the princess walk around for a few laps.

Finally, a seemingly plausible "To Alice" was created.

Yang Linzhi took a deep breath and asked, "What's the name of this song, Prince Consort?"

Xie Yan thought for a moment and said, "To Tangxi."

Zhu Tangxi smiled and swung her pink fist, hitting Xie Yan's shoulder sweetly.

There are several versions of the creation background of "Für Alice". To be honest, the rumor about the blind old man is a bit far-fetched.

Many people prefer to believe that the original name of this piece of music was "To Theresa" and that it was composed by Beethoven for the girl Theresa he loved.

Xie Yan's musical skills were very poor, so he had to find an excuse for himself. So he said, "I recalled my first encounter with the princess. It seemed that I saw her lively and lovely appearance after her dignity, and her smile under the early summer sun. The melody of the music suddenly lingered in my mind..."

"Stop talking!" Zhu Tangxi stopped him quickly.

Why say these things in front of outsiders?
The princess was both shy and happy, and her smile grew wider and wider, like a blooming peony.

Yang Linzhi pretended not to know about this kind of dog-food display and silently played the song again.

Zhu Tangxi leaned against her lover, closed her eyes and listened to the music. She was intoxicated, because this was a piece of music that her lover had composed specifically for her, and she could even hum it directly out of her feelings.

It turns out that Liu Lang loves me so much!

Just then, the shopkeeper came in with a middle-aged man.

The owner of the music store came.

This fellow had been listening outside for a while, and the more he listened, the more he felt that there was a market for piano. He came in, bowed and greeted the emperor, flattering him crazily, praising the talent of the princess' husband, expressing his feelings about the love between the princess and the princess' husband, and praising Yang Linzhi's profound musical attainments.

After talking for a long time, he finally got to the point: "I wonder if our shop can make this piano?"

Yang Linzhi didn't respond.

Xie Yan said: "It must be reported to the court. This is made using the twelve-tone equal temperament."

The owner of the music store suddenly realized and said no more.

Zhu Tangxi had an idea and said, "Paint the piano and decorate it with gold, silver and gemstones. Make it as gorgeous as possible. Present it to the Queen Mother someday!"

Yang Linzhi said, "I still need to practice hard. I can't play well now. When I'm better, I will play for the Queen Mother."

Since this is a matter of weights and measures, the Queen Mother must be pleased, otherwise the piano cannot be promoted.

(End of this chapter)