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Chinese Musical instruments
The Plucked String Instruments
The lute family
Pipa-four-stringed lute with 30 frets and pear-shaped body. The
instrumentalist holds the pipa upright and play with five small
plectra attached to each finger of the right hand. The pipa history
can be dated back at least 2,000 years and developed from pentatonic
to full scales. This instrument has extremely wide dynamic range
and remarkable expressive power.
Pipa
Liuqin - a smaller version of pipa with four strings, which sound
similar to mandolin. Liuqin is played with a piece of spectrum,
and is used to be accompany instrument for folk songs and local
opera. However, in recent decades, Composer Wang Huiran made great
contribution to its making and composed many pieces such that
the liuqin also becomes a soloist instrument.
Sanxian - A long necked lute with three strings without frets.
In Chinese, "san" and "xian" stands for "three"
and "strings", respectively. The sound-body is made
of round wooden box covered
with snake skin, just like erhu. A piece of plectrum is used to
play the instrument. This instrument is often used for accompanying
folk songs and local opera. The sanxian is most popular in the
north.
Sanxian
Yueqin - moon-shaped lute with shorter neck and four strings,
played with a spectrum, used for accompanying local operas. "yue"
stands for "the moon" in Chinese.
The zither family
Guqin - seven-stringed zither without bridges, the most classical
Chinese instrument with over 3000 years of history. It is literally
called qin yet commonly known as "guqin" where "gu"
stands for ancient. Confucius (around 600 BC) was a master of
this instrument. To learn to play qin used to be regarded as a
very important element for education for the purpose of enriching
the
heart and elevating human spirit. In Imperial China, scholars
and ladies of the high society were expected to master the four
arts, namely, the qin (guqin), qi (weiqi or Go), shu (Calligraphy),
and hua(painting). The guqin has historically been regarded as
the symbol of Chinese high culture. Unfortunately only small number
of people in China could play the instrument, because classical
musical education of this kind has never reached general public.
The situation for today has not been improved much, which is a
shame. The situation for lute pipa was similar. Due to this reason,
a lot of ancient repertoire were lost with the pass-away of masters
or the written scores were burned or destroyed in war or turmoil.
However, the guqin repertoire has been better preserved than all
other instruments.
Guqin
Zheng or Guzheng - Chinese zither with movable bridges and 16
- 25 strings. In the same family there are the Japanese koto,
the Vietnamese dan tranh and the Korean kayagum.
The harp family
Konghou - One of the most ancient Chinese music instruments that
appeared in written texts of the Spring and Autumn period (around
600 BC). The structure of the konghou looks similar to the
harp, however, with its bridges spanning the strings in the way
similar to guzheng. There were the wo-konghou (horizontal konghou),
su-konghou (vertical konghou) and phoenix-head konghou. Unfortunately
not much of this ancient instrument has been preserved. The reproduction
of the konghou started in the mid 50's. The structure of Today's
konghou is a combination of su-konghou and wo-konghou with the
shape similar to harp. The performing skill is diversified. Besides
right-hand techniques, the left hand can play vibratos, glissandos,
etc. The tone quality is mellow and graceful and has a typical
Chinese flavour.
Konghou
The Bowed String instruments
The huqin family
Erhu - or Er-Hu, a two-stringed fiddle, is one of the most popular
Chinese instruments in the Huqin family, where Hu means "foreign"
or "the northern folk" in Chinese.
Erhu
Zhong-Hu: If we call the "Erhu" Chinese violin, the
Zhong-Hu is then the Chinese viola, where "Zhong" stands
for "middle", thus the abbreviated name for the mid-pitched
Erhu. It was developed on the basis of Erhu in the 1940s. Both
the structure and performing skill of these two kinds of Huqin
are quite the same, yet Zhong-Hu has a deeper-sounding timbre
but not as agile. Being more suitable for singing melodies (particularly
some Mongolian melodies), Zhong-Hu is thus often used as tutti
or accompanying instruments, sometimes for solo too.
Jing-Hu: Principally used as accompanying instrument for Beijing
Opera, Jing-Hu is another important two-stringed fiddle in the
Huqin family. It was developed in the Qin Dynasty (around
1790), which is often called the Huqin. The pitch of Jing-Hu is
the highest among all instruments of the Huqin family. Due to
its forceful and clarion timbre, Jing-Hu is suitable almost exclusively
for Beijing opera.
Ban-Hu: Ban-Hu has many other names such as Pang-Hu, Qin-Hu, Hu-Hu
and Da-Xian, etc. It is the leading accompanying instrument for
Bang-Zi and other northern tunes or ballads, particularly for
the local operas in Henan Province, central China. Similar to
Jing-Hu, the timbre of Ban-Hu is clarion and bright, which makes
it hard to join other instruments for tutti. Therefore it's
usually for solo, especially for presenting joyful and passionate
moods.
Banhu
Gao-Hu: Gao-Hu, also called High-pitched Erhu or Yue-Hu, is especially
designed for playing Cantonese folk melodies and operas. Gao-Hu
is often used for performing vivid and brisk rhythms, particuIarly
for higher-pitched tunes that Erhu cannot play. In comparison
with Erhu, Gao-Hu has louder volume yet brighter tones, and thus
it servers both as solo and leading instrument in performing Cantonese
operas and folk melodies.
Si-Hu: four stringed Huqin used for accompanying local opera,
most commonly found in the North, such as Shanxi, Shaanxi and
Inner Mongolia. It is one of the three leading instruments (together
with dizi, yangqin) in "Er Ren Tai" of Inner Mongolia.
"si" stands for "four" in Chinese. The structure
is simiIar to Erhu except it has four strings. The horse-hair
of the bow is divided into two group that go between the four
strings.
Horse-headed qin (Ma Tou Qin): The horse-headed qin or horse-headed
violin is a typical Mongolian bowed instrument with two strings,
however, very different from Red-Hot. The horse hair of the bow
doesn't go between the two strings, instead, the instrument and
the way of playing is more similar to cello than to erhu. The
instrument was originally made from a horse head for the body,
horse skin for the resonator, and horse hair for the strings and
bow. The
music played upon this instrument is of great variety and virtuosity.
Much of the music typically sounds like human voice, and can imitate
a horse to such an extent as real, such as galloping horse, the
whinnying, etc. The modern horse-headed qin has a wooden body
and soundboard, 2 horse hair strings, and has a rich warm tone
and very beautiful sound. The peg head is decorated with a detailed
carving of a horse's head.
Ma Tou Qin
Hammered String Instruments
Yangqin or Chinese dulcimer
Yangqin is a Chinese hammered dulcimer with a near-squared soundboard.
The instrument is very similar to Satur, played with two bamboo
sticks.
Stamps of Folk Instruments:
Plucked strings
Stamps of Chinese National
Musical Stringed Instruments
Chinese lunar new year and 12 animals
Chinese Folk Theatrical Art
Chinese folk art
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Festivals of China
Architecture in Ancient China
Chinese Garden
Chinese Famous Grottoes
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Traditional Chinese Medicine
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