The History of Woodwind Instruments--木管乐器的历史

Thursday, July 01, 2010

木管乐器的历史

木管乐器的起源可溯至两万年前的史前时代，那时人们已了解，对着中空的动物的骨或角或一截竹管、壳或有孔的葫芦吹气可发出声音。这种「乐器」就是原始的笛子，发声的方法就像是经由瓶颈吹气。 古时候，在典礼祭祀或传达命令、示警时常用笛子，一些原始笛子至今还保存着，并常在一些民族的音乐中担任伴奏。 尾端吹气的笛子吹奏时要直着拿，球形的笛子包括简单的圆形贝壳、骨头，或中空的石头，上凿一个吹气孔。

当然，很早的时候，人们就知道在管侧切一个凹口，对着尾端吹气可以发声，这种刻有凹口的笛子就是雷高德木箫的鼻祖，两者发声的原理完全相同。

我们还可发现另一种原始的乐器，就是将一片叶子置于拇指之间，用力吹气，会产生悠长的啸声，这种刺激空气的发声法在原始的部落中并不常见，其历史很难确定。 最早的簧管（牧笛）可能是由一截竹管制成，末端则由会震动的簧片发声。 这种简单的「乐器」任谁都会做，只要切下麦端，切成Ｖ字形放入嘴中吹就可，不管其起源如何，在文明开始前，牧笛已粗具雏型了。

这些早期的木管乐器没有指孔。 用劲吹长笛，可吹出各种和音和有限的音域，但有牧笛只能吹出单音。 当文明开始在东方和地中海萌芽时，乐器上也开始附有指孔增加音调变化。 另一个进步是双管的产生；双手各拿着带有刻痕的长笛和牧笛，分别吹出不同的旋律。 「奥罗斯」和「提比」双管牧笛是古希腊和罗马人最常用的木管乐器。

牧笛是西方文明古国的产物，而长笛则是原始部落主畏的木管乐器。 但是到了文艺复兴时期，两者都成为西方最流行的乐器。 从这时候开始，木管乐器开始改良，演进成现代的形式；按孔增加，音域扩充了，各种不同大小的同类型乐器也逐渐产生。 由于音乐家到各国旅行演奏的次数频繁，音符的音高也有了一定的标准。 雷高德木箫是最早具备现代形式的木管乐器，因为它本身即是古雅的乐器，没有经过太多的改良。 从巴洛克时代起，雷高德就被音量较大，音色较美的长笛取而代之，从此就不曾改进。

然而，巴洛克的作曲家并没有将各种乐器的特殊音色，充份发挥出来，直到浪漫时期木管乐器变化多端的音色才作了淋漓尽致的发挥，交响乐团的木管乐器部份，一般包括两支长笛，两支竖笛，两支双簧管和两支巴松管。 十九世纪，按键系统经过重新设计后，使得演奏者吹奏时更为轻松愉快，其中以德国长笛制造家贝姆的贡献为最大。 此外，还有多种改良，使乐器本身更接近现在的形式，发挥更广的音域效果。 本世纪初，木管乐器在管絃樂合奏中已扮演要角，而且也是重要的独奏乐器。

The History of Woodwind Instruments

Woodwind instruments’ origin can be dating back to some 20,000 years ago in the prehistoric times, when people already know, that blowing against the hollow animal bones or horn, or a length bamboos, shell, or hole in the gourd can produce sound. This "instrument" is the original flute. In ancient times, flute is used in the ritual ceremony, or to convey commands, warnings. Till today, some ethnical music still uses the original flute as accompaniment. When playing the end-blowing flute, the player needs to hold it straight. There is another type of flute, the “spherical” flute, which includes simple circular shells, bones, or the hollow of the stone, in which one needs to chisel out a hole to blow air through it.

Of course in ancient times, people knew that cutting a pipe on its lateral side, and blow the air through the end of the pipe can produce sound. This is the ancestor of the wooden recorder. Both use the same principle to produce sound.

We also found another original musical instrument, which is to place a leaf between thumbs, blow forcefully, and this will produce a long howling sound. This type of sound-producing principle is not common, and its history is difficult to determine. The first reed (shepherds pipe) may be made by a bamboo and the end of the bamboo by the vibrate-able reed which produces sound. Anyone could make such a simple "instrument", no matter what is its origin, long before the beginning of civilization, the concept of a shepherds pipe has been there.

These early woodwind instruments have no finger holes. If blow forcefully, one can produce harmonics and limited range of notes, but there are some shepherds pipe can only produce a single note. When civilization began to sprout in the East and the Mediterranean, the instrument also began improve in terms of the range of notes with the newly added finger holes.

Shepherds pipe is the product of an ancient civilization of the West, while the long flute the primitive tribes. But by the times of Renaissance, both have become the most popular musical instruments in the west. From that time onwards, woodwind instruments started to improve and modify, slowly evolve into their modern forms; by adding the finger holes increases the range, and since then many different sizes of instruments of the same family have been manufactured. As the musicians often travel to other countries to perform, the pitch of the notes have been demanded to be of certain standard. The wooden recorder is the earliest form of modern woodwinds, because it itself is quaint musical instruments, without much modification. From the Baroque era, the wooden recorder has been replaced by the louder and soothing long flute.

However, the Baroque composers did not fully utilize the tone colors of the various instruments. Not at least till the Romantic period that the tone colors of the woodwind instrument are fully utilized in the music. In a symphony orchestra, the woodwind section would include generally two flutes, two clarinets, two oboes and two bassoons. In the nineteenth century, the fingering system has been redesigned to ease the players. The German flute manufacturer, Bohm, contributed the most in this. In addition, there are many improvements that make the instruments evolve to their modern forms and to be able to produce a broader range. Since the beginning of this century, woodwind instruments play an important role in the orchestra, but also as an important solo instrument.