Shi-fan Music: Names, Evolution, and Clarification of Concepts

Abstract

戲曲小說中常出現「十番」眾樂匯奏的場景，然而明清對於「十番鼓」及「十番鑼鼓」的定義有限，或只作「粗十番」、「細十番」或「粗細十番」，難以判斷確指為何。本文先梳理十番樂的「名實」概念與歷時「流變」，再辨析「十番樂」和「十番鑼鼓」的差異在於樂器編制和套曲結構，並說明十番樂的的管弦樂器、打擊樂器皆有「粗╱細」之分，江南十番鑼鼓在「形成」階段，因應打擊樂器的擴編和絲竹樂器的加入，改良出所有樂器共用的「細鑼鼓樂譜」；當十番樂流播至天津，「細十番」的「細」強調只使用彈撥類弦樂器和細打擊樂器，故「粗」、「細」的標準，關涉到十番樂的分期，亦即「形成」階段的「粗」、「細」，不能和各地十番樂的「粗」、「細」等同視之。

Even though traditional Chinese operatic novels often describe scenes of Shi-fan music activities, where multitudinous music-making takes place, definitions of Shi-fan Gu (Shi-fan Drums) and Shi-fan Luo-gu (Shi-fan Gongs and Drums) by literature from Ming and Qing dynasties are limited. In some cases, names such as Cu Shi-fan (Coarse Shi-fan), Xi Shi-fan (Fine Shi-fan), and Cu-xi Shi-fan (Coarse and Fine Shi-fan) are used, which remain ambiguous as to what they refer to exactly. This article first attempts to investigate the various Shi-fan names through the conceptual lens of ming-shi, literally name-reality, as well as the chronological evolution of Shi-fan music. Afterwards, I analyze that Shi-fan Gu and Shi-fan Luo-gu differ in instrumentation and structures of suites, and illustrate that the distinction between cu (coarse) and xi (fine) is applicable to both orchestral instruments and percussion instruments. While in the initial stage, Shi-fan Luo-gu in Jiangnan developed the improved Xi Luo-gu Yue-pu (Fine Score of Gongs and Drums) in response to the expansion of percussion instruments and the addition of string-and-bamboo instruments, the term Xi Shi-fan began to refer to the exclusive use of plucked string instruments and small percussion instruments when Shi-fan music spread to Tianjin. Therefore, the standards for telling between cu and xi are subjected to the different periods of Shi-fan music. In other words, what cu and xi meant in the initial stage (in Jiangnan) should not be assumed to be the equivalent of the same pair of terms used in Shi-fan musics found in different regions.