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MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. |
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what square-shaped bell called tetchinig. Like other ancient Chinese bells it was made of copper alloyed with tin, the proportion being one pound of tin to six of copper. The te~ tckung, which is also known by the name of piao, was principally used to indicate the time and divisions in musical performances. It had a fixed pitch of sound, and several of these bells attuned to a certain order of intervals were not unfrequently ranged in a regular succession, thus forming a musical instrument |
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which was called picn-tclutng. The musical scale of the sixteen bells which the picn-tchung contained was the same as that of the king before mentioned. |
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The hiucn-tchutig was, according to popular tradition, included with the antique instruments at the time of Confucius, and came into popular use during the Han dynasty (from B.C. 200 until a.d. 200). It was of a peculiar oval shape and had nearly the same quaint ornamentation as the tc-tchung; this consisted of |
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