Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 312 Supervision of the Imperial Music Bureau

In the early years of the Kaiyuan era, the current emperor adjusted the administration of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, retaining its function of providing elegant music, while transferring some of the entertainment such as acrobatics and other forms of entertainment to the Left and Right Music Bureaus.

However, the seated and standing musicians of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices still retained the function of teaching and rehearsing various styles of music, and continued to teach in the Imperial Music Bureau.

One of the duties of the Xielu Lang was to supervise and examine the students' studies when they taught music at the Taile and Guchui departments.

Led by Li Fei, Zhang Dai arrived at the Taile Department Hall. As soon as he entered, he was surrounded by the sounds of various kinds of music and instruments, and there were male and female singers performing songs.

While the song and dance performances were certainly pleasing to the eye, the scene of teaching music at the Tai Le Shu (Imperial Music Bureau) was hardly beautiful. Firstly, the various musical pieces were played in a chaotic and disorderly manner, making the noise even more disruptive. Secondly, the actors who were learning the music were all dressed in plain clothes with little makeup.

"The Imperial Music Bureau teaches not only musicians in the capital, but also musicians from various prefectures and counties. These musicians are usually crude in their skills and ignorant of music and etiquette, only knowing how to play instruments. They must be taught from scratch, tested every ten days or so, and once they have completed their studies, they will return home and spread music and etiquette throughout the prefectures and counties of the country!"

Li Fei explained the teaching content of the Taiyue Department to Zhang Dai. The musicians under the Taichang Department basically had some basic knowledge of etiquette and music. Even the newly recruited musicians had a family background in music. Therefore, the main teaching targets were musicians from various prefectures.

As he spoke, he found the curriculum of the music teaching department and handed it to Zhang Dai. Zhang Dai glanced at it and realized that the musicians' learning of music was not just as simple as humming and playing instruments.

Their studies were very demanding, requiring them to learn all kinds of music, including court music, elegant music, banquet music, and music from various Hu tribes. Each month, they had to learn more than a dozen pieces.

These musical pieces range in length from several hours to a few quarters of an hour, and usually involve a ensemble of various instruments. Within the allotted time, participants must not only learn their own instrument but also integrate it into the entire piece. Failure to complete the task within the allotted time results in a penalty.

"Zhang Xielu, please take your seat here. Summon the actors for a trial lesson!"

The various noises in the hall subsided a bit. Li Fei raised his hand to signal Zhang Dai to sit in the upper side seat in the hall, and then summoned a troupe of musicians to perform.

This troupe consisted of about twenty actors, both men and women, each holding a musical instrument. After entering the stage, they took their positions under the direction of the conductor and then looked in the direction where Zhang Dai was sitting.

Reminded by Li Fei, Zhang Dai grabbed a small flag with a bamboo handle from the table, held it high in his hand, and then the musicians in the hall began to play.

This is what is known as the "raising the banner and playing music". When the official performance is to take place, Zhang Dai, as the music director, will lead the musicians to the designated position. After he raises the banner, the musicians will begin to play. When he lowers the banner, the performance will end. It does not require as many movements as a symphony orchestra in later times.

Zhang Dai only had a superficial understanding of ancient vocal music, and much of it was based on errors perpetuated by later generations. He was not familiar with music theory. However, as a music assistant, he did not need to be an expert in music. The Imperial Music Bureau had its own music officials to handle professional matters, and his role was simply to supervise and reward/punish.

The performers in the Taile Department were also divided into ranks. The common ones were simply called voice actors, dancers, or female entertainers. Those with seniority and skill, who were proficient in playing one or more large-scale pieces, were called Taile Gongfeng. Taile Gongfeng were generally the core members of the orchestra.

The next level up is the assistant instructor of the band, who can participate in the band's daily teaching and management work and is no longer an ordinary performer.

After passing several examinations, the assistant instructor of the Tai Le Academy was promoted to Tai Le Doctor. After passing several more examinations, the Tai Le Doctor could be granted a nominal official position, which meant becoming an official of the rank of Tai Le, but he could only serve in the Tai Le Bureau.

After passing an examination, a Taile Doctor who holds a nominal official position can be promoted to Yuezheng (Music Master). Above Yuezheng is Taile Cheng (Assistant Music Master), and above Taile Cheng is Taile Ling (Chief Music Master).

Those who come from an entertainment background and hold the position of Taile Ling (太乐令) reach the ceiling of their careers. Unless they have a special opportunity, it is difficult for them to break through and obtain a higher official position.

Ren Zhifang, whom Zhang Dai and his companions visited last night, was the Right Music Master of the Imperial Music Bureau, a high-ranking musician within the bureau, but in reality, he was still registered as a musician and treated like a slave.

Although Zhang Dai was ignorant of music theory, he had the assistance of professionals. When the piece ended, he put down his banner, and a music scholar stepped forward to point out the errors in the performance: "The sheng player entered the music three beats late, and the se music was out of tune during the final note..."

All the musicians who were called out walked out of the line with nervous expressions. Then a music master stepped forward to check if anyone was missed and recorded the musicians who made mistakes, which were then sent forward along with their lesson lists.

Zhang Dai only needed to sit in the audience and wait for the list to be presented. He would then compare the time these people had spent learning the music with the severity of their mistakes, and thus decide on the appropriate punishment.

Punishments included additional practice time and repetitions, with no rest allowed if the practice wasn't completed. Both flogging and caning were forms of corporal punishment, differing only in the instruments used. Disqualification meant stripping the performer of their official status and sending them to various departments like the Ministry of Agriculture to perform even more menial and arduous servitude.

When Zhang Dai first took charge, he did not intend to create a harsh image for himself. Seeing that the mistakes made by these actors were not serious, he only sentenced them to one or two additional punishments.

Upon hearing this punishment, the offending performers, awaiting their fate, kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Zhang Xielu, for your leniency and compassion. We will certainly work even harder and strive for excellence in the future, and complete our studies as soon as possible!" "Completion of studies" meant mastering fifty difficult pieces to qualify for a position. These difficult pieces were complex and challenging to perform; mastering more than fifty pieces was considered graduation. Even those with exceptional talent might require several years. After graduation, those who behaved with integrity could be promoted to assistant instructor.

Seeing that Zhang Dai had gotten the hang of things, Li Fei stood up and said with a smile, "There are still some cases left in the front hall. Zongzhi, would it be alright if you kept these for yourself?"

He wasn't originally the head of the Imperial Music Bureau; he only brought Zhang Dai along to help him familiarize himself with the work. After spending some time with him, he naturally had to go back to attend to his own business.

“Registrar Li is busy with his own affairs, so I will stay here to supervise the classes.”

Upon seeing this, Zhang Dai quickly got up to see Li Fei off, then returned to the hall and sat down, ordering the next group of actors to be brought into the hall for assessment.

The Imperial Music Bureau has thousands of musicians on duty. As for the lessons they are supervising, there is no need for Zhang Dai, the Assistant Musician, to be present from beginning to end. Otherwise, he could just sit here and listen to symphonies every day and not have to do anything else.

Normally, after the music supervisors and other officials from the Imperial Music Bureau completed their supervision, they would compile the results and submit them to the Assistant Music Master for review. If they did not trust the supervision results from the Imperial Music Bureau, they could conduct a spot check at a later time.

However, Zhang Dai was trying to avoid his superior Xue Tao's harassment, so he was happy to stay here and listen to the music, rather than go to the front and see Xue Tao's cold face.

Without grand ceremonies and sacrificial activities, the affairs of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices are mostly like this: busy but not necessary. If you want to be busy, there will be countless things waiting for you. If you want to be lazy, you can not do any important work for ten days or half a month. However, it is not possible for the court to continue to operate without you.

After supervising several lessons, the situation remained largely the same, with only a few actors occasionally making minor mistakes. Zhang Dai refrained from severely punishing them, offering only slight reprimands. After all, he was an outsider instructing experts, and there was no need for him to abuse his power in front of these actors.

Sitting here listening to music was boring, but there were professionals like Dr. Tai Le and the Music Master to check for errors. So Zhang Dai had someone bring him pen and ink and began to consider writing a letter to Wang Jun, who had already returned to Hexi, so that he could send it to Hexi as soon as possible through Jiang Xingwei and hopefully it would play a certain role.

Because he was not clear about Wang Jun's personality, and the other party was now in a state of high spirits after making great achievements, he carefully considered his words to avoid making the opposite of what he intended, so he wrote slowly.

At this moment, a new piece of music began to play in the hall. Even though Zhang Dai was not familiar with music, he could hear that there were many chaotic tones in it, making the original piece of music sound discordant.

After the piece was finished, he put down his pen and listened attentively to Dr. Tai Le's comments, because it was the worst piece of music he had heard all day.

Sure enough, Dr. Nata Le began to sort things out from the beginning, pointing out more than a dozen mistakes. Almost all of these mistakes were made by one of the jiegu drum players. The jiegu drum has a rapid, loud, and penetrating sound, which is the soul of a piece of music. Once it is played incorrectly, the rhythm of the whole piece will naturally go out of control.

The drummer who kept making mistakes was between forty and fifty years old, with a ruddy face. When Dr. Tai Le pointed out his mistakes one after another, he not only did not show any remorse, but became even more angry.

He suddenly put down the drumstick in his hand, pointed at the music professor, and angrily said, "Xu Asan, you dog, who are you mocking? When I became the music professor, you hadn't even joined the class yet! You're not supposed to be in my class today, so what's wrong with making a few mistakes?"

When the drummer got angry, Zhang Dai was taken aback. All the actors he had seen were respectful, but he hadn't expected this guy to be so individualistic. He immediately slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "Silence! Doctor, please stop making a fuss!"

"Then, Lü Xie, you should rest. This matter is due to infighting among our incense masters; you are unaware of the situation..."

However, the drummer not only did not restrain himself, but instead spoke in a tone that warned Zhang Dai not to meddle in other people's business.

Seeing such a troublemaker, Zhang Dai could no longer hold back and immediately said in a deep voice, "Quickly seize this unruly servant!"

Several officials rushed forward to subdue the drummer, who continued to struggle. As he was brought before them, a strong smell of alcohol wafted towards Zhang Dai. He frowned again, waved his hand, and shouted, "Take this unruly servant away and give him ten strokes of the cane to sober him up before he comes to listen to the instructions!"

"You young official, do you know who I am? Don't be greedy for power and cause trouble, release me at once!"

Upon hearing this, the drummer glared and roared again.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai didn't get angry but laughed instead. "Who the hell are you? Even if you were the father of the current sage, since you're still working as a court jester in the Imperial Academy, you'd be an unrecognized illegitimate father! Trying to scare me?"

(End of this chapter)