ORIENTAL MUSIC. 243 



Hand-clappiug, not for applause, but rhythmic accentuation as 

 practiced in the East, may be supposed to have led to the Jew's-harp 

 and instruments consisting of bars free at one end, then to others free 

 at both ends, then to plates free all round, as cymbals more or less 

 concave, and subsequently to bells, sonorous boxes, drums, etc. 



A simple reed or pipe may be supposed to have led to many pipes 

 being systematized, their materials changed, their mouth-pieces varied, 

 as whistle, beak, single reed, etc. ; then that the powers of each pipe 

 were increased by the boring of holes in it at certain particular points, 

 much as a Gray's telephone increases the capacity of a single wire by 

 enabling it to transmit in both directions several messages simulta- 

 neously ; then, finally, to the systemization of such pipes. 



But here, at the end of our series, -^e find an instrument, the bag- 

 pipe, that figures in Chinese myths. However little we may relish 

 the quality of the tone of this instrument, when it is badly played, 

 and at only a short distance from us, we must give it the highest place 

 in the scheme, and admire the skill displayed in its formation. 



The real worth of Oriental music is not to be learned from routine 

 practical musicians, who rarely know anything of the underlying prin- 

 ciples of their art, but must be gained by a patient study of ancient 

 writings, in which the respective theories are recorded. For the most 

 part, the theories point to the possession or the possibility of greater 

 art-works than any with which we have become acquainted ; and the 

 cultivation of certain departments of the art, which we neglect. 



The Chinese are sensitive to changes of pitch (transposition), to the 

 exact agreement of the words of a song and its music, as well as to the 

 expression imparted to their ordinary speech by vocal inflections ; 

 while we are for the most part indifferent as to absolute pitch, set 

 poetic rhythms to dance-tunes, have different verses to the same music, 

 and less frequently speak with strongly marked variations of tone. 

 Their belief that not only the voice of man, but all nature, should 

 praise its Creator, led them to make an elaborate system of quality of 

 tone {timbre), selecting eight kinds of materials from the animal, vege- 

 table, and mineral kingdoms for the construction of musical instru- 

 ments. 



But, although they spent much labor in devising complete schemes, 

 formulating scales, and calculating them with great nicety (like the 

 modern Persians), even to the invention of the "equal temperament" 

 (which European nations subsequently learned to use), in devising a 

 regular notation, and in fact securing all the appliances necessary for 

 the production of really great music, we fail to find them in posses- 

 sion of a single melody that would be generally acceptable to a modem 

 audience. Their composers appear to be deficient in the power of im- 

 agination, without which it is impossible to invent a beautiful musical 

 idea. We regard our melodies as so many happy thoughts, or felici- 

 tous expressions, developed with consistency and true to some particu- 



