Taoist music refers to the music applied by Taoism in ceremonious activities. The Taoist music of Mt.Wudang enjoys a quite long history. During the late stage of the Eastern Han Dynasty when the religion of Five-dou-rice came into being before long, it was spread from Hanzhong in the Shu Kingdom to its neighboring area Mt.Wudang. the sacrifice-to-gods ceremony of the Five-dou-rice in Mt.Wudang was fairly magnificent in its form. The ceremony was carried on in a form of singing and dancing by wizards. The ancient wizards enterained or subdued the gods through singing and dancing to achieve the goal of praying for good fortune.

        During the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, emperors of the Northern Wei Dynasty believed in Taoism. Kou Qianzhi, a well-known Taoist who practiced Taoism in Mt. Huashan and Mt. Songsha implemented reforms on Taoism. It was another development stage of the Taoist music to set up altar and chant classics in Taoist ceremonies. What should be especially mentioned was the Taoist classics-chanting was changed into classics-singing. Learned personages from the north constantly went to Mt. Wudang for herbal medicine and other purposes. Kou Qianzhi's movements thus were extensively spread to Mt. Wudang.

        During the periods of Tang and Song Dynasties, more and more influential social activities were held in Mt. Wudang. In the Zhenguan Period of the Tang Dynasty, Yaojian, the minister of Junzhou State set up an altar to pray for rain and succeeded, then Mt. Wudang received great attention. Before long, frustrated persons of the Tang Dynasty were constantly degraded and resided in Fangxian and Yunxian counties in Wudang mountain area. The royal music of the Tang Dynasty was then brought to Mt. Wudang. Chen Tuan in the Five Dynasties was very familiar with classics and history and he was quite cultured in music. He had practiced Taoism in Mt. Wudang for over 20 years and exercised the five-dragon-sleep method. What was special was that there was music in his sleep and the music probably was a kind of lullaby. Zhaogou, an emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, called Sun Jiran who was in charge of Mt. Wudang to the imperial palace in Lin'an to set up an altar and sing classics. It not only took Wudang Taoist music to the royal court, but also brought back the royal court music to Mt. Wudang. All of these exerted profound impact on the Taoism music of Mt. Wudang.

        Emperors of the Yuan Dynasty had the greatest esteem for Emperor Zhen Wu. It was special that the birthday of Emperor Renaong was on the same day with that of Emperor Zhen Wu, Thus, when the day came, large-scale sacrificial ceremony for emperor's birthday was on an increasing trend, sometimes even four times a year. According to historical records, the ceremonies were carried out in the form of passing joss-sticks, which had a comparatively great influence on the society. And many historical records portrayed the magnificent scene of those ceremonies. The classics reading and chanting and the Taoist singing and dancing directly arranged by the imperial family were on large scale, of high taste, and had profound influence as well.

        It was in the Ming Dynasty that the Taoist music of Mt. Wudang enjoyed the most brilliant period. At the earlier Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang established the Institute of the Metaphysical Sect to manage national Taoism. In 1382, the institute was changed into the Taolu Department, which was divided into the Taolu Department, which was divided into two groups of "Quanzhen" and "Zhengyi" under the jurisdiction of the Board of Rites. When Emperor Chengzu ascended the throne, he threw a lot of endeavors in constructing Mt. Wudang. And he wrote "The Great Ming Emperor-made Metaphysical Sect Musical Chapters" to be performed and sung on Mt. Wudang. The Taoist music of Mt. Wudang became the most important musical activity at that time and its special status in China's music history was ascertained.

        The Great Ming Emperor-made Metaphysical Sect Musical Chapters comprised three parts and totally recorded 14 Taoist songs.

        The first part included nine songs, which were all written by the emperor himself and legally ascertained as the standard for singing in the Taoist's sacrificial activities. Comprising 10 songs, the second part was the core of the emperor-made musical chapters.

        The third part was composed for Xu Zhicheng and his younger brother Xu zhi'er. Serving for the king of the Wu Kingdom, the two brothers believed in Taoism and had a merit of loving the people and being loyal to the emperor. The aim for Emperor Chengzu to write the musical chapter lied in strengthening his political power. The first chapter emphasized on unifying the thoughts and singing for peace. The second chapter focused on popularizing that the power of the emperor. The third chapter intended to advise the subjects of the feudal rulers to abide by the law and behave themselves.

        It's regretful was the above-mentioned royal court music, due to the impacts of other Taoist music, wasn't passed on in Mt. Wudang. while Emperor Chengzu was constructing Mt. Wudang, in response to the request of Zhang Yuqing -the 44 th Heavenly Teacher, the emperor ordered Sun Biyun to dispatch senior Taoist priests from different places across the country to take charge of all the temples in Mt. Wudang. The deed brought the Taoist sacrificial ceremony music of varied places to Mt. Wudang, which thus broke the unified situation by the emperor-made music. It was also because that the Great Ming Emperor-made Metaphysical Sect Musical Chapter was too elegant and sophisticated in the expression forms, which was disadvantageous in spreading. It only existed in Mt. Wudang for a transient period. Historical record showed that in the late Ming Dynasty, the Taoist music in Mt. Wudang inclined a form to folk music.

        In the Qing Dynasty, Wudang Taoism went down among the folk people. Therefore, making pilgrimage and worshiping in temples became a convention among people in provinces of Henan, Sichuan, Hubei, Shanxi and some other places. The pilgrimage groups brought folk music of different places to Mt. Wudang. And the Taoist music in Wudang Mountain became much more worldly. In respect to the names of the tunes of the Taoist classics fascicles and maintains the musical instrument constitution and the performance rules, has had little different from the folk music in style.

        The daily compulsory classes of the Taoist priests in Mt. Wudang include the morning alrar class and the evening altar class. The rites of the morning class are on every early morning. With three times of drumming, the Taoist priests get their clothes ready and enter the temple. After serving joss sticks and water to Emperor Zhen Wu, the Taoist priests begin singing regular classics in succession. When the morning class ends, they exist the temple in the sound of Taoist drums.

        The rites of the evening class are basically the same as that of the morning class. The content of the evening class mainly includes comprehending classics and attaining Tao, excusing from death and paying debts of gratitude, and guiding people. The classics chanted in the evening rites are not the same as those in the rites of the morning class.

        The rite of performing a Taoist service is a kind of large-scale activity held on the Taoist sites. Before the rite, senior Taoist priests and errand-men must abstain from meat and wine and take a bath. The ritual costumes and the classics books should be fumigated by top-grade sandalwood so as to keep the site clean. The ritual activities of performing a Taoist service last for over three days and large-sized Taoist sacrificial rite with flying funeral banners should be set up. The Taoist service performance of gold Taoist amulet is the highest standard Taoist sacrificial rite set for emperor and the nobility. According to historical records, Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty held sacrificial ceremony and put gold dragon and jade slips in the Five-Dragon Palace. And the jade slips, gold dragon and jade tablets put by the King of Xiang of the Ming Dynasty are all well kept nowadays. The empress and the imperial concubine could hold grand sacrificial ceremony of jade Taoist amulet. In the Yuan Dynasty, empress set up the grand sacrificial ceremony of jade Taoist amulet to prey for rain and snow. Two of the events were recorded in the Annal of the Wudang Mountain. The sacrificial ceremony held by the officials was called the Taoist service performance of yellow Taoist amulet or the Luotian grand sacrificial ceremony.

        The sacrificial ceremony usually lasted for three days, five days and seven days. Sometimes, it lasted for nine days, 49 days or even one or two years. The sacrificial ceremony in common palaces and temples went on for three or five days. The sacrificial ceremony cost considerable expenditures of manpower and money. Various documents cost two months to complete, which were all written in regular script by writing brush without any mistake and extra character.

        At the end of 1994, the Luotian Grand Sacrificial Ceremony, a national significant, ritual meeting, was held in the White Cloud Temple in Beijing. It was jointly sponsored by the White Cloud Temple of Beijing, the Green Pine Temple of Hongkong and the Pailing Guidance Temple of Taiwan, and assisted by Mt. Wudang of Hubei, the White Cloud of Shanghai, the Xuanmiao Temple of Suzhou, the Baopu Taoist Academy of Hanzhou, the Sanyuan Temple of Guanzhou, the Qingcheng Mountain of Sichuan, the Eight Immortals Palace of Shanxi and the Green Pine Temple of Australia. The event could be regarded as the first in Chinese history. Participated in the ceremony were not only senior Taoist priests from over ten provinces across the country, but also some overseas Taoist priests.

        In lunar September of 1996, the Taoist Association of Mt. Wudang held the Jiujiu Imperial Alter Sacrificial Ceremony at the Purple Heaven Palace. The Zixu imperial alter was set up in an aim to eliminate disaster and pray for good fortune of a country's prosperity and peace. The altar had three rings-the exterior ring, the middle ring and the interior ring. The exterior ring as built from the ground with an area of 419.9 square meters. The mid-ring id 0.8 meter higher than the outside one and its area is 416.7 square meters. The interior ring was 0.7 meter higher that the middle one, with an area of 413.5 square meters. Gates of the altar were set according to the directions. Seven poles were planted in each direction on each ring of the alter and a total of 147 lanterns were hung. Placed in the gate were the five cereals in which scissors, ruler, balance, mirror and lantern were stuck. 28 Taoist priests paid obeisance to the South Gate, the East Gate, the West Gate and the North Gate in front of the Obeisance-paying Platform. In the soft music by flutes and pipes, all the believers were guided to walk round the ritual altar by the girls scattering flowers.

        There are two kinds of Taoist religious rituals-the Yang sacrificial ceremony and Yang ritual, and the Yin sacrificial ceremony and Yin ritual. The above-mentioned is the yang ritual. The yin ritual is for extensively sparing people people's life. When it begins, instrumental music will be played for half an hour. In the drum music, the senior Taoist priests in Taoist garments make three circuits of the alter, receiving the joss sticks presented by the errand-man. Then the senior Taoist priests mount the alter. After burning the joss sticks for gods, the senior priests lead the ritual Taoist priests to pay obeisance. Following, different classics are canted by the Taoist priests for different purposes until the ritual reaches its climax. Finally, the senior Taoist priests pay obeisance and all the ritual participants chants "Sanguiyi". The ceremony concludes.

        The Jade Emperor is one of the honorable gods consecrated by Wudang Taoism. On every birthday of the Jade Emperor, Taoist musical ritual is always held and classics for the Jade Emperor is chanted, praising for the Jade Emperor and the Sanqing Heaven God and praying to the gods to ward off calamities and send down blessings. With a simple and elegant style, the vocal is similar to the chanting music.

        The Taoist Master here refers to Emperor Zhen Wu consecrated by by Wudang Taoism. On his birthday or ascension day (May 3 rd and September 9 th in Chinese lunar calendar). Memorial Presented to the Taoist Master Musical Ritual will be held on Mt. Wudang. Scaling mountains and fording streams, believers in groups from all directions make pilgrimages to Mt. Wudang. There remain nine songs in the existing Memorial Presented to the Taoist Master. The lyrics, representing the wish of the Taoist priests and the believers, are written on the yellow paper for worshiping the gods. In the singing and dancing, the paper together with the joss sticks and fruits are presented to the Taoist Master, praying Emperor Zhen Wu to bestow his kindness and ensure that the believers' wish could come true. After the praise classics are sung, the worshiping paper is burning in the censer, wishes reaching the heaven in the smoke.

        The Taoist music of Mt. Wudang is divided into the vocal music, the instrumental music and songs. The vocal music is parted into the Yang tune and the Yin tune. The Yang tune is applied in practicing Taoism and obtaining longevity and the Yin tune id for isolated souls and wild ghosts. The instrumental music has three kinds of the formal tune, the informal tune and the ritual instrumental tune. The formal tunes are ones with thick religious hues. The informal tunes mostly are the folk musical tunes and the ritual instrumental tunes refer to the instrumental tunes performed by diverse percussion instruments. A number of percussion instruments such as cymbals, gong, drum and wooded fish are regarded by Taoism as the ritual instruments and possess magic function, therefore, corresponding rules and regulations were laid down on the application. Songs are the content reflected by the music. The existing Taoist musical tunes in Mt. Wudang are related to the ritual procedures and the classics content, mainly serving for the Taoist service performance and ritual.

        The Taoist music of Mt. Wudang has a kind of tension. In the specific atmosphere, it mixes with the mountains, rivers, valleys, temples and Taoist figures into an integrity, making people generate a magic feeling of aestheticism. During the long development course of the Taoist music of Mt. Wudang, it has formed various music patterns of solo, chanting, unison, drum-beating and trumpet-blowing, instrumental ensemble and so on. According to the requirements of the requirements of the religious ceremonies, flexible changes and combinations are always adopted to cope with diverse religious sites. The Taoist music of Mt. Wudang plays a special role in respect to the functions required by Taoism. The Taoist music ingeniously transplanted certain ingredients of the folk witch dance and drama into itself, further enhancing its function of entertainment. To the common people, watch the Taoist service performance and ritual is like enjoying a drama and listening to a concert. Nowadays, we still can hear the wonderful naturally borne Taoist music that gently reverberates in the temples and mountains.