Chapter 17 · Musical Pitch: The Pitch-Pipe Zhonglü—The Musical Dao of Fullness That Can Still Be Empty

I. The First Month of Summer's Pitch Corresponds to Zhonglü

The "Monthly Ordinances" of the Book of Rites records that, in the first month of summer, "the pitch corresponds to Zhonglü" (律中仲吕, also written Zhonglü 中吕). Xiaoman falls within the first month of summer, and so its pitch corresponds to Zhonglü.

Ancient China possessed a system of "twelve pitch-pipes" (十二律)—Huangzhong, Dalü, Taicu, Jiazhong, Guxian, Zhonglü, Ruibin, Linzhong, Yize, Nanlü, Wuyi, and Yingzhong. These twelve pitches correlate with the twelve months, embodying our ancestors' profound thought of "the unity of pitch and calendar"—the rise and fall of musical pitch and the succession of the seasons, the waxing and waning of yin and yang, are different manifestations of one and the same cosmic rhythm.

The correspondence between the twelve pitches and the twelve months runs as follows: the eleventh month, mid-winter, corresponds to Huangzhong; the twelfth month, late winter, to Dalü; the first month, early spring, to Taicu; the second month, mid-spring, to Jiazhong; the third month, late spring, to Guxian; the fourth month, early summer, to Zhonglü; the fifth month, mid-summer, to Ruibin; the sixth month, late summer, to Linzhong... Zhonglü corresponds precisely to the fourth month, the first month of summer—the very month in which Xiaoman falls.

II. The Significance of the Name "Zhonglü": Yin Pitches Nearing Their End, Yang's Extreme Approaching

To understand the correspondence between Zhonglü and Xiaoman, we must first clarify the distinction, within the twelve pitches, between the "pitches" proper (律) and the "pitch-pipes" (吕).

The twelve pitches are divided into the "six lü" (六律, yang pitches) and the "six lü" in the other sense (六吕, yin pitch-pipes)—in English we may distinguish them as the "six yang pitches" and the "six yin pitch-pipes." The six yang pitches are Huangzhong, Taicu, Guxian, Ruibin, Yize, and Wuyi, belonging to yang; the six yin pitch-pipes are Dalü, Jiazhong, Zhonglü, Linzhong, Nanlü, and Yingzhong, belonging to yin. The yang pitches and yin pitch-pipes alternate, with odd-numbered months corresponding to yang pitches and even-numbered months to yin pitch-pipes.

Zhonglü is a member of the six yin pitch-pipes, situated within the sequence of yin pitch-pipes. But what is most fascinating is this—although Zhonglü belongs to the yin "pitch-pipes," the fourth month, the first month of summer, to which it corresponds, is precisely the month of yang qi at its most flourishing (hexagram Qian, six yang lines, pure yang)! This creates a profound tension: in the month of yang qi's greatest flourishing (the fourth month), the corresponding pitch is, of all things, the yin Zhonglü.

This tension conceals, precisely, the hidden mechanism of "the transition between fullness and emptiness." According to the principles set out in the "Treatise on Pitch-Pipes" (Lüshu) of the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) and the "Treatise on Pitch-Pipes and the Calendar" (Lüli Zhi) of the Book of Han (Hanshu), Zhonglü stands at the juncture where the yin pitch-pipes are nearly exhausted, on the verge of giving way, in the following month, to Ruibin (a yang pitch, corresponding to mid-summer, the fifth month, and to hexagram Gou, in which a single yin line is born). It is the last, faintest remaining trace of yin qi within a month of yang's flourishing—yin qi is here nearly exhausted, while yang qi is here approaching its utmost extreme. The character zhong (仲, "middle") in "Zhonglü" points precisely to its position at the midpoint, the turning point, of the waxing and waning of yin and yang.

How profoundly this accords with the spirit of "Xiaoman"! Xiaoman is the threshold at which yang qi is "full and flourishing, approaching its extreme" but has not yet triggered "the birth of yin"; Zhonglü is the juncture at which yin qi is "declining, nearly exhausted," about to yield to the extreme of yang. Both stand upon the eve of the transition between fullness and emptiness—one from the angle of "fullness" (yang approaching its extreme), the other from the angle of "emptiness" (yin nearing exhaustion), together marking that subtle moment of "about to turn but not yet turned." Musical pitch and the solar term, at this threshold of "about to turn but not yet turned," sound out one and the same mysterious note of the waxing and waning of fullness and emptiness.

III. The "Harmony" of Music and "Full Yet Not Overflowing"

The fundamental spirit of musical pitch lies in a single character—"harmony" (和). And the mystery of "harmony" lies, precisely, in "not-fullness," in "leaving room to spare."

The "Record of Music" (Yueji) chapter of the Book of Rites states: "Music is the harmony of Heaven and Earth... Because of harmony, the hundred things are all transformed and grow" (乐者，天地之和也……和故百物皆化). It also states: "The greatest music shares its harmony with Heaven and Earth" (大乐与天地同和)—the greatest music is as harmonious as Heaven and Earth itself.

What is the "harmony" of music$13 "Harmony" is not the infinite amplification of a single note (that would be noise, "fullness"), but the proper coordination, mutual restraint, and room to spare among many different notes. If a piece of music sounded every note at its loudest extreme (fullness), it would not be music at all, but noise; only through modulation, rising and falling, tempo and pause, and blank space left unfilled (not-fullness) can it become "harmony," can it become "music."

The Analects, "Ba Yi," records Confucius's discussion of the music of the "Guanju" ode: "Joyful, yet not excessive; sorrowful, yet not injurious" (乐而不淫，哀而不伤)—joyful, yet not carried to excess; sorrowful, yet not causing harm. This "not excessive," "not injurious," is precisely the embodiment, in music, of "full yet not overflowing"—joy (fullness) tempered by restraint (not overflowing), sorrow (fullness) tempered by proper measure (not overflowing). Emotion, in music, is given full expression (fullness), yet always maintains the proper measure of "central harmony" (not overflowing). A piece of music that is "joyful yet not excessive, sorrowful yet not injurious" is the perfect musical presentation of the realm of "Xiaoman"—emotion abundant yet not overflowing, expression full yet restrained.

IV. "The Greatest Music Has the Faintest Notes": The Highest Music Is "Not Full"

Chapter 41 of the Laozi contains a startling line: "The greatest music has the faintest notes" (大音希声)—the greatest, most perfect music is, instead, one whose sound can scarcely be heard (xisheng, "rare sound").

This is the Daoist school's most profound insight regarding music (and, by extension, regarding "fullness"). Why does "the greatest music" have, instead, "the faintest notes"$14 Because any specific, audible sound (fullness) is limited, partial—to play this note is to not play that one; to emphasize this key is to obscure that one. Only "the faintest notes" (a state approaching silence, retaining infinite blank space) can encompass every possible sound, and thus constitute truly "great," truly complete music.

"The greatest music has the faintest notes" is precisely the musical version of "great accomplishment seems flawed" and "great fullness seems empty." The most complete music (the greatest music), instead, presents itself as "faintest notes" (as if flawed, as if empty, not full). This is the very same wisdom as "small fullness with no great fullness"—the highest state is not "fullness" (the utmost of specific, audible sound), but "not-fullness" (the infinite potential contained within "the faintest notes").

From the pitch Zhonglü, to the harmony of "joyful yet not excessive," to the subtlety of "the greatest music has the faintest notes," we can see that the Chinese Dao of musical pitch is imbued, from beginning to end, with the spirit of "full yet not overflowing, full yet able to remain empty." Music is beautiful, is "harmonious," has "its function never fail," precisely because it never "plays to fullness," but always retains blank space, retains room to spare, retains that infinite possibility contained within "the faintest notes." The pitch-pipe Zhonglü, to which Xiaoman corresponds—as the mysterious note sounding at the juncture of yin and yang's transition—embodies most deeply, precisely, this musical Dao of "fullness that can still be empty, fullness that still leaves a margin." At the very moment yang qi approaches its extreme, it leaves behind, in one faint remaining strand of the nearly exhausted yin pitch-pipe, a lingering resonance of "not-fullness"—a resonance of turning and continuance, ceaselessly generative, for that full and flourishing Heaven and Earth.