Malaysia Culture - Traditional

Musics
Monday, 21 July 2014
Chinese tradisional instrument and music
I. 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
2000 years and developed from pentatonic to full scales. This
instrument has extremely wide dynamic range and remarkable
expressive power. 

 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. 
 Ruan ( )- commonly referred to as "Chinese guitar", is an ancient four-
stringed moon-shaped lute with long and straight
neck and various number of frets, dated back at
least to Qin Daynasty (around 200 BC). Ruan is
used to be called "p'i-p'a" (pipa) or qin-pipa. Since the
introduction of the oud-like instrument through the "silk-
road" around 5th century, a new type of "pipa" with pear-
shaped body and bent neck has been gradually
developed into the present form since the Tang Dynasty
(618-917AD), and the name pipa, which used to be
a generic term for all pluck string lutes, has been specifically given to
this newly-developed version, whereas the old form of pipa with straight-
neck and round body got the name "Ruan", after the name of the grand master of
this instrument, Ruan Xian who was one of the seven great scholars known as
"Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" in Chinese history of the 3rd century (the Six
Dynasties). They were truely good friends and did spend much time together in arts
and wine during one of the darkest periods in Chinese history. Ruan Xian and Ji
Kang (master of guqin, Chinese 7-stringed zither), are most famous for their
musical achievements and the life as true artists. The Ruan is mostly used for
Peking opera, and now also in modern Chinese orchestra. There are a family of
ruan of various size including "Zhong Ruan" (middle Ruan) and "Da Ruan" (large
Ruan) used in the same sense as viola and cello in western orchestra.

 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. The
guqin is often referred to as the
instrument of sages for the purpose of enriching the
heart and elevating human spirit. Confucius (around 600 BC)
was a master of this instrument. In the Imperial China's past, well-
educated people of the elite society were expected to master the
four arts, namely, the qin (guqin), qi (weiqi, which has somehow
been known as "Go" in the West according Japanese pronuciation),
shu (Calligraphy), and hua (painting). Being on top of the four
traditional arts, the guqin has historically been regarded as one of
the most important symbols 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. Fortunately, the situation has
much been improved in recent decades, there have been a growing number of guqin
players both in and outside China. Since november 2003, Guqin has been registered as one
of the master pieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of the humanity by UNESCO  
 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, the Koreankayagum, and the Mongolian Yagta 


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.

II. The Bowed String

Instruments: 
 Erhu ( )- or Er-Hu, a two-stringed fiddle, is one of the most popular

Chinese instruments in the Hu-qin ( ) family, where Hu stands for "foreign" or "the
northern folk" in Chinese, and "qin" is a general name for all kinds of string instruments.

 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 Hu-Qin 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 Qin dynasty ( around 1790 ),
which is often called the Hu-Qin. The pitch of Jing-Hu is the highest among
all instruments of the Hu-Qin 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. 

 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, particularly 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.

 Yehu  ( ):two stringed bowed instrument similar to erhu, however,

with a coconut sound body where Ye means coconut. It is found mostly in South China and
Taiwan. 

 Sihu  ( ): four stringed huqin used for accompanying local opera, most
commonly found in the North, such as Sanxi, Shanxi and Neimonggu. It is one of the three
leading instruments (together with dizi, yangqin) in "Er Ren Tai" of Neimonggu (Inner
Mongolia). "Si" stands for "four" in Chinese. The structure is similar to Erhu except it has
four strings. The horse-hair of the bow is divided into two group that go between the four
strings. 

 Zhuihu ( ), also known as Zhuiqin, is one of the most popular

instruments in Henan and Shandong Provinces, used for local opera and story-telling. The
instrument was invented toward the end of Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912) based on the
pluck string Sanxian and bowed string erhu. The striking difference from Erhu is that
Zhuihu has a fretless fingerboard similar to Sanxian. The use of the bow is
similar to that of erhu. Basically the instrument is derived from a smaller version of
Sanxian performed with a bow, producing beautiful sounds with a strong local flavour,
capable of imitating a lot of natural sounds such as birds and horse etc. The playing
methods adapt the left hand techniques for the Sanxian and the bow techniques of
erhu. The Zhuihu is one of the most beautiful instruments of the huqin family, which has
become very popular soon after its invention in Henan and Shandong. 

 Leiqin  ( ) is derived dirrectly from Zhuihu with few small

modifications when the instrument was introduced to Guangdong Province. The playing
method is the same as Zhuihu. 

 Morin Khur  (  Ma-Tou-Qin): The

Morin Khur or horse-headed violin is a typical Mongolian bowed
instrument with two strings, however, very different from Er-Hu. 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
Morin Khur has a wooden body and soundboard, 2 horse hair strings, and has a rich warm
tone and very beautiful sound. The peghead is decorated with a detailed carving of a
horse's head. 

 III. Hammered string instruments

- Yang-Qin or Chinese dulcimer

Yangqin ( ) is a Chinese

hammered dulcimer with a near-squared
soundboard. The instrument is very similar to
Santur, played with two bamboo sticks. 

 By Lee Soon Weng