The Image of Music and Sound in Xunzi's 'On Music': A Study of Character, Cosmos, and the Cultivation of Rites and Music

Section 5: "Yu, Sheng, and Xiao are Harmonious" ($\text{yú shēng xiāo hé}$) — The Harmony of Wind Instruments

"The yú, shēng, and xiāo are harmonious" ($\text{yú shēng xiāo hé}$)—This states the character of these three wind instruments is "harmony" ($\text{hé}$).

The concept of "Harmony" ($\text{hé}$) holds a supremely exalted position in pre-Qin philosophy. "Harmony" ($\text{hé}$) is not "Sameness" ($\text{tóng}$); this is a crucial distinction in pre-Qin thought. The Discourses of the States ($\text{Guó Yǔ}$), in the "Speech of Zheng" ($\text{Zhèng Yǔ}$), records the words of Scholar Shi Bo:

"Harmony ($\text{hé}$) indeed generates things; Sameness ($\text{tóng}$) cannot continue. To equalize the different ($\text{yǐ tā píng tā}$) is called harmony ($\text{hé}$), hence it can flourish and things return to it. If one adds sameness to sameness, everything will eventually be discarded."

"To equalize the different" ($\text{yǐ tā píng tā}$) is harmony ($\text{hé}$); accumulating identical elements results in mere sameness ($\text{tóng}$). "Harmony" generates, "Sameness" does not. This distinction is profoundly significant.

Furthermore, the Zuo Zhuan ($\text{Zuǒ Zhuàn}$), in the twentieth year of Duke Zhao, records Yanzi’s discussion distinguishing "Harmony" from "Sameness":

"Harmony is like a soup: water, fire, vinegar, salted meat paste, salt, and plums are used to cook fish and fowl, heated by firewood, seasoned by the cook. ... Sound is like flavor: one primary tone ($\text{yī qì}$), two structures ($\text{èr tǐ}$), three classes ($\text{sān lèi}$), four materials ($\text{sì wù}$), five notes ($\text{wǔ shēng}$), six pitches ($\text{liù lǜ}$), seven tones ($\text{qī yīn}$), eight winds ($\text{bā fēng}$), nine songs ($\text{jiǔ gē$), inter-completing each other. Clarity and turbidity, large and small, long and short, fast and slow, sorrowful and joyful, hard and soft, slow and quick, high and low, in and out, sparse and dense, complement each other ($\text{yǐ xiāng jì yě}$)."

Yanzi uses cooking to illustrate musical "harmony" ($\text{hé}$), pointing out that "harmony" is the mutual cooperation, supplementation, and coordination of different sounds. The many contrasting elements—"clarity and turbidity, large and small," etc.—"complement each other" ($\text{yǐ xiāng jì yě}$), resulting in "harmony" ($\text{hé}$).

Why do the yú, shēng, and xiāo embody "harmony" ($\text{hé}$)$16

The yú and shēng both belong to the gourd family (the shēng has a gourd chamber). Structurally, both are reed instruments where multiple pipes are inserted into a gourd chamber. Blowing into the chamber allows several pipes to sound simultaneously, producing a "chord" effect from a single player. This is the most unique characteristic among pre-Qin instruments—most produce only one note at a time, while the shēng can produce multiple notes simultaneously, which is the essence of "harmony" ($\text{hé}$). The Book of Odes ($\text{Shī Jīng}$), Minor Odes of the Kingdom, Deer Call ($\text{Lù Míng}$), states:

"I have worthy guests; I strike the sè and blow the shēng. Blowing the shēng and beating the reeds, receiving the baskets they bring."

"Striking the sè and blowing the shēng"—the pairing of sè and shēng is an embodiment of "harmony" ($\text{hé}$). "Blowing the shēng and beating the reeds"—the shēng produces sound via its reeds, with multiple reeds vibrating together, making the instrument itself an image of "harmony" ($\text{hé}$).

The yú is similar to the shēng but larger, with more pipes, producing a louder sound. The xiāo (the ancient xiāo was not the modern vertical flute but a panpipe, a set of arranged pipes) was also a multi-pipe instrument. All three are characterized by the coordinated action of multiple pipes, and their sound quality is defined by "harmony" ($\text{hé}$).

On a deeper level, "harmony" ($\text{hé}$) in pre-Qin thought is not just a musical term but a social ideal. The Analects, in the chapter Xue Er ($\text{Xué Ér}$), records Ziyou’s saying:

"In the application of Rites ($\text{Lǐ}$), harmony ($\text{hé}$) is most valued. The way of the former kings, this is what is beautiful."

"Harmony is most valued" ($\text{hé wéi guì}$) is the highest realization of $\text{Lǐ}$. The "harmony" ($\text{hé}$) of the yú, shēng, and xiāo not only describes their musical quality but also subtly implies the social ideal of achieving harmony through music—different sounds coordinating, like different groups of people living in harmony.