Qiang music is primitive and simple, belonging to our national mode, with five tones and six tones as the main ones. Five-tone songs include five modes, with five tones as the main tone: Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng and Yu. In addition, there are some special pentatonic scales, such as feather sign, palace change, Shang and Jiao Qing, as well as palace, Shang, Jiao Qing and Zheng, but they are rarely used. Six scales are widely used in Qiang folk songs. In a six-tone scale song composed of two pentatonic scales, Zheng, Yu, Gong, Shang, Yu, Gong, Shang and Qing, the horn sound and the clear horn sound do not appear in a phrase or a paragraph at the same time, and only four tones, Gong, Shang, Yu and Gong, are the main tones (the initial sound and the final sound). There are few complete seven-tone scales used in folk songs, usually seven tones that are alternated and transposed by five-tone scales or six-tone scales, so songs that use seven tones still have five-tone colors.
The basic feature of Qiang dance is that it retains the rough and simple style of original music and dance, and is mostly performed in folk religious sacrificial activities. Dancers not only please their ancestors' gods through dancing, but also entertain themselves, with percussion instruments such as sheepskin drums and hand bells, which deepen people's worship and mystery of the gods; The performance of dance movements is not directly related to the content of lyrics, and most dances use songs to promote the cycle of dance steps; In the same phrase, the male leads the female, the movements are completely repeated, and the ups and downs of the rhythm are skillfully matched with the ups and downs of the dance. Qiang dance has various forms and rich contents, and there are certain procedures according to the requirements of function and etiquette. According to its form and function, Qiang dance can be divided into four types: self-entertainment, sacrifice, etiquette and assembly.
Salang means "singing and swinging". This kind of dance is the most popular and popular in Qiang area, and it is a very old self-entertainment dance. Salang has cheerful and smooth tunes, clear rhythm and rich lyrics. The dance can be performed indoors and outdoors, with men and women in front, and the number is not limited. Around the fire pond or yard, it is not sealed and sings and dances counterclockwise. At the beginning, men and women take turns to sing the dance music once, and then dance together, from slow to fast. When the dance is intense, the hero speeds up the dance steps, takes the lead to exchange various dance steps, or alternately kicks or rotates left and right, men and women compete, and the atmosphere is getting warmer. At the climax of the dance, the man shouted "scare feed" and the woman replied "yo feed!" This is the end of a song, and then put on new dance music and rhythm.
"Xi coarse cloth" means "banquet and dance" in southern dialect. It is a sacrificial dance performed by the people after a banquet during funeral sacrifice, and there is no fixed performance procedure. In addition, there are "Wache Horse" and "Jiangde" which reflect the festive atmosphere after the harvest, and "Shikui Yukui" which praises decorations. The tune of "Xi coarse cloth" music is slow, but the rhythm is very distinct, and the form is short and repetitive.
The A Qiang woman "Renmu Nasongwa" dressed in traditional costumes is a traditional ceremonial dance of the Qiang people, which is mainly danced by the elderly over 60 years old. In Chibusu dialect, it means "a dance to show respect and welcome when guests come". If no one dies suddenly in the stockade for three years, this dance will be performed to show good luck. Dance usually appears at the beginning and end of the welcoming ceremony. When dancing, several men and women stand separately in a figure of eight in front of the guests, buckle their partner's belt with their little fingers and sing together to express the respect and praise of the whole village for the guests.
"Keshiji Hassud" is a song sung in the dance of "jumping armour", commonly known as "jumping armour" and "jumping armour". It is a dance that is performed by men wearing armor, helmets and weapons made of cowhide at grand funerals for war dead, national heroes or prestigious old people. Mainly popular in northern Maoxian, Heishui and other marginal cottages. This song has a sad tone, uses a very unstable angle mode, and has a slow rhythm, expressing a kind of sadness and sadness.
"Moen Nasha" is a sacrificial dance that Shibi danced in the sacrificial activities of the Qiang people, also known as "sheepskin encouragement". There is no singing in this piece, only two percussion instruments, sheepskin drum and castanet (bronze bell), accompany it. The ringing sound of the ring board is crisp, and different sound combinations are struck with the drum rhythm and dance rhythm of the sheepskin drum, which enhances the expressive force of the dance.
When it comes to Qiang music, we have to mention multi-voices. Multi-voice, also known as harmony or harmony, means that more than two groups of singers sing the same song according to their respective voices. The multi-voice parts of the Qiang nationality are mainly distributed in the small surname Qiang township, Heishui and parts of Maoxian in Songpan County. During the period of 1984, Mr. Zheng, a cultural center in Songpan County, recorded two multi-voice Qiang folk songs for the first time in Xiaoqiang Township, and invited experts from Sichuan Musicians Association to appraise them, which was recognized and attracted the attention of China music circles. 1986, professor fan zuyin and his party from the central conservatory of music made a special trip to da' erbianzhai, a small Qiang nationality township in Songpan county for further confirmation, thus denying the statement that 19, in the 1980s, some people in the music industry thought that there was no multi-voice in China and the hometown of multi-voice was in Europe (it was later confirmed that most ethnic groups descended from the ancient Qiang nationality preserved multi-voice folk songs). The Qiang people's multi-voice singing methods mainly include Yin, Nisha, Lou and Metz, and their singing methods and meanings are different according to specific scenes. Qiang musical instruments include Qiang flute, oral string, suona, foot washing drum, sheepskin drum, gong, castanet, finger bell and shoulder bell. In addition, the Qiang people also have folk dramas such as Qiang Opera, Duangong Opera, Samurai Opera, Lantern Opera, Lantern, Gong and Drums.