Ying musical instrument of ancient China. Traditional Chinese instruments and what you can play on them. "Reflection of the Moon in Two Ponds"

Chinese traditional music, like all Chinese culture, is several thousand years old. Due to the isolation of the country from Europe, the instruments of the Celestial Empire are distinguished by their unique flavor for the West. They (together with all national music) absorbed elements of the music of the Tibetans, Uighurs, Manchus, Mongols, etc.

bianzhong bells

Traditionally, Chinese musical instruments are divided into several types according to the material from which they are made: bamboo, silk, wood, metal, stone, gourd, clay and leather. Many of them are extremely exotic, and some have been forgotten in the course of a long cultural evolution. For example, a significant rethinking of the game technique occurred after the creation of a single empire, when local regional features were reduced to a single standard.

A variety of Chinese were formed under the influence of rituals and religion. These were also the bells. They differed significantly from European ones. The first proper Chinese bells were called bianzhong. They replaced the Indian type of round instruments along with the spread of Buddhism throughout the Celestial Empire. Bianzhong were so popular that they appeared in neighboring Korea and even overseas Japan.

Drums

In addition to large bells, smaller models or several other devices appeared in China. Diangu can be attributed to them. This Chinese is a flat drum, which also looks like a tambourine. Special beaters are attached to it. Together with dyangu, they often play paiban crackers. They are made in the form of plates suspended in one bundle.

Xiangjiaogu is a Chinese type of timpani. Its body is made of wood and mounted on a special cylindrical stand. The design was the source of the instrument's name. Xiangjiaogu can be translated as "elephant's foot". Usually this instrument is used solo. For playing, it is set slightly inclined - so it is more convenient for the musician to tap on it with fingers and palms.

Brass

According to the international classification, Chinese have Western counterparts. For example, traditional di resembles its structure. Its trunk is made of reed or bamboo. More rare models are made of stone, such as jade.

Another Chinese wind instrument, the sheng, is similar to the harmonica. Researchers consider it one of the oldest in its class. Sheng consists of pipes, tongue and mouthpiece. His music is very varied, for which he is loved by performers not only from China. Sheng is often used in an orchestra specifically to enrich the sound and change the timbre.

Strings

The erhu is considered a Chinese fiddle. Vibrato is used to play it. Another type of violin is the huqin. He appeared in the middle of the VIII century and gained widespread popularity throughout the Middle Kingdom. Huqin subtype - jinghu. Since it originated with Peking Opera, it is often referred to as "Peking Violin".

Every Chinese stringed musical instrument in ancient times was made with silk strings. And only in the 20th century, by analogy with Western practice, their steel was changed to steel and nylon.

The seven-string Chinese zither is called qixianqin. It is distinguished by an oblong body a meter long and 20 centimeters wide. Qixianqin is considered one of the most ancient national musical instruments. It began to be actively used already in the III century BC.

Plucked

Traditional Chinese musical instruments were used in the playing of sizhu folk ensembles. These include plucked sanxian (or xianzi). It also became widespread in the performance of dance songs. Sanxian has much in common with similar Central Asian instruments setar and tanbur. Some researchers believe that it appeared after the Mongol invasion of the Celestial Empire.

A similar Japanese instrument, the shamisen, comes from the sanxian. Traditionally, it was most common in northern China. His soundboard was often covered with snakeskin. Other characteristic features of the sanxian are the long neck and the lack of frets on the peg holder. Another representative of the plucked is guzheng. It has 21 to 25 strings. Some players use plectrums similar to guitar picks when playing the guzheng.

Other tools

Some Chinese musical instruments have become historical artifacts. These include zhu. This five-stringed instrument was distinguished by an elongated long soundboard. Most of all, he looked like cymbals and zither. Zhu's popularity peaked during the Warring States period in the 5th-3rd centuries. BC e. It finally disappeared around the 10th century during the Song Dynasty.

The pipa is a Chinese plucked lute. Her body is pear-shaped. When playing the pipa, musicians must sit and use a plectrum. This tool has gained widespread popularity in China due to its versatility. It has been used and used in orchestras, ensembles and solo. Pipa appeared in the III century. Around the 8th century, it was adopted by the Japanese, who called it biwa.

The stringed yangqin is considered to be a Chinese similarity to cymbals. It is also similar to the Persian santoor and dulcimer. It is most commonly associated with Chinese opera, where it is played as an accompaniment. Yangqin is made of wood, giving its body the shape of a trapezoid. Bamboo beaters are used to sound the sound.

According to historical sources, in ancient times there were about a thousand musical instruments, of which about half have survived to this day. The earliest of these dates back over 8,000 years.

Traditional Chinese musical instruments are closely related to the emergence of music in China. They symbolize Chinese culture and were also indicators of productivity levels in ancient times.

Ancient researchers divided all instruments into eight categories or "eight sounds", according to the material that was taken as the basis for the manufacture of an instrument, namely: metal, stone, strings, bamboo, dried and hollowed gourd, clay, leather and wood .

Metal: refers to metal-made instruments such as gongs and bronze drums.

Stone: stone instruments such as carillon and stone plates (a kind of bells).

Strings: instruments with strings that are played directly with the fingers or in special thimbles - small plectra-marigolds worn on the performer's fingers or with a bow, such as the Chinese violin, 25-string horizontal harp and instruments with a large number of strings, like the zither .

Bamboo: instruments, predominantly flutes, made from bamboo stalk, such as the eight-hole bamboo flute.

Pumpkin tools: wind instruments in which a vessel made of dried and hollowed gourd is used as a resonator. These include sheng and yu.

Clay: clay-made instruments such as the xun, an egg-shaped wind instrument the size of a fist, with six holes or less, and fou, a clay percussion instrument.

Leather: instruments whose resonating membrane is made of dressed animal skin. For example, drums and tom-toms.

Wooden: tools made mostly of wood. Of these, the most common are the muyu - "wooden fish" (a hollow wooden block used to beat out the rhythm) and the xylophone.

Xun (埙 Xun)

Zheng (筝 Zheng)

According to ancient sources, the original zheng had only five strings and was made of bamboo. Under Qin, the number of strings increased to ten, and wood was used instead of bamboo. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the zheng became a 13-string instrument, the strings of which were stretched over an oblong wooden resonator. Today, you can still enjoy the harmonious tone of the 13, 14 or 16-string zheng, which is still actively used in China both in musical ensembles and solo.

Guqin (古琴 Guqin)

The guqin is characterized by a narrow and long wooden body with 13 round marks on the surface, designed to indicate the positions of the overtones or places where the fingers should be placed when playing. Generally speaking, the high notes of the guqin are pure and harmonious, the middle notes are strong and distinct, and its low notes are soft and elusive, with clear and charming overtones.

The sounds of the upper tonality "guqin" are clear, ringing, pleasant to the ear. Mid-pitched sounds are loud, while lower-pitched sounds are gentle and soft. The whole charm of the sound of "guqin" lies in the changeable timbre. It is used as a solo instrument, as well as in ensembles and as an accompaniment to singing. Nowadays, there are more than 200 varieties of guqin playing techniques.

Sona (唢呐 Suona)

Resonant and intelligible, this instrument is ideal for playing amazingly lively and pleasantly striking numbers and is often the leading instrument in brass and opera orchestras. Its loud sound is easy to distinguish from other instruments. He is also able to set the rhythm and imitate the chirping of birds and the chirping of insects. Sona is rightfully an indispensable instrument for folk festivities and festivals.

Sheng (笙 Sheng)

Sheng is distinguished by its bright expressiveness and incredible grace in changing notes, with a clear, sonorous sound in the upper key and gentle in the middle and lower keys, it is an integral part of folklore concerts for wind and percussion instruments.

Xiao and Di (箫 Xiao, 笛 Di)

Xiao - vertical bamboo flute, di - horizontal bamboo flute - traditional wind instruments of China.

The history of "xiao" is about 3000 years old, when "di" appeared in China in the 2nd century BC, having got there from Central Asia. In its original form, the xiao resembled something like a flute, consisting of 16 bamboo pipes. Today, xiao is most commonly seen in the form of a single flute. And since such a flute is quite easy to make, it is quite popular among the population. The two earliest pipes, dating from the Warring States period (475 - 221 BC), were discovered in the tomb of King Zeng in Suxian County, Hubei Province in 1978. Each of them consists of 13 perfectly preserved bamboo pipes, connected together in descending order of their length. The soft and elegant sound of the xiao is ideal for solo as well as playing in an ensemble to express deep soulful feelings in a long, gentle and sentimental melody.

Pipa (琵琶 Pipa)

The pipa, known in antiquity as the "bent-necked pipa", is a major plucked musical instrument, adopted from Mesopotamia towards the end of the Eastern Han period (25-220), and carried inland through Xinjiang and Gansu by the fourth century. During the Sui and Tang dynasties (581 - 907), the pipa became the main instrument. Almost all musical pieces of the Tang era (618 - 907) were performed on the pipa. A versatile instrument for solos, ensembles (of two or more instruments) and accompaniment, the pipa is renowned for its intense expressiveness and ability to sound passionately and heroically powerful, yet subtly subtle and graceful at the same time. It is used both for solo performances and in orchestras.

musical folk balalaika

The history of Chinese folk musical instruments spans several millennia. Archaeological excavations show that more than 2000 years ago, and possibly earlier, various musical instruments were already in use in China. For example, as a result of excavations in the village of Hemudu in Zhejiang province, bone whistles from the Neolithic period were recovered, and in the village of Banpo in Xi'an, a "xun" (fired clay wind instrument) belonging to the Yangshao culture was discovered. In the Yin ruins, located in Anyang, Henan Province, a "shiqing" (stone gong) and a drum covered with python skin were found. From the tomb of the imperial dignitary Zeng (buried in 433 BC), discovered in the Suxiang county of Hubei province, “Xiao” (longitudinal flute), “sheng” (lip organ), “se” (25-string horizontal harp), bells, "bianqing" (stone gong), various drums and other instruments.

Ancient musical instruments had, as a rule, a dual use - practical and artistic. Musical instruments were used as tools or household items and at the same time for playing music. For example, "shiqing" (stone gong) may have come from some kind of tool that had the shape of a disk. In addition, some ancient instruments were used as a means of conveying certain information. For example, beats on drums served as a signal to set off on a campaign, strikes on a gong - to retreat, night drums - to beat off night guards, etc. A number of national minorities still have a tradition of expressing love by playing melodies on wind and string instruments.

The development of musical instruments is closely connected with the development of social productive forces. The transition from the manufacture of stone gongs to metal gongs and the manufacture of metal bells became possible only after the development of metal smelting technology by man. Thanks to the invention and development of sericulture and silk weaving, it became possible to manufacture stringed instruments such as "qin" (Chinese zither) and "zheng" (an ancient plucked musical instrument with 13-16 strings).

The Chinese people have always been distinguished by their ability to borrow useful things from other peoples. Since the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), many musical instruments have been brought to China from other countries. In the era of the Han Dynasty, the flute and "shukunhou" (vertical zither) were brought from the western regions, and in the era of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) - cymbals and "son" (Chinese clarinet). These instruments, which became more and more perfect in the hands of masters, gradually began to play an important role in the Chinese folk music orchestra. It should be noted that in the history of the development of Chinese folk musical instruments, string instruments appeared much later than percussion, wind and plucked instruments.

According to historical records, the stringed instrument, the sounds of which were extracted using a bamboo plectrum, appeared only in the era of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and the bowed string instrument, the bow of which was made from a horse's tail, appeared in the era of the Song Dynasty (960 -1279). Since the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368), other stringed instruments have been invented on this basis.

After the founding of new China in the middle of the last century, musical figures carried out large-scale work and reform to eliminate a number of shortcomings of folk instruments, manifested in sound impurity, fragmentation of the tuning, sound imbalance, difficult modulation, unequal pitch standards for various instruments, the absence of medium and low instruments. register. Musical figures have made significant progress in this direction.

Guan

Guan - Chinese wind reed instrument (Chinese ЉЗ), genus Oboe. A cylindrical barrel with 8 or 9 playing holes is made of wood, less often of reed or bamboo. A double reed cane, tied with wire in the narrow part, is inserted into the guan channel. Tin or copper rings are put on both ends of the instrument, and sometimes between the playing holes. The total length of the guan ranges from 200 to 450 mm; the largest have a brass socket. The scale of the modern guan is chromatic, the range is es1-a3 (large guan) or as1 - c4 (small guan). Used in ensembles, orchestras and solos.

In China, guan is widely distributed in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the PRC. In the south, in Guangdong, it is also known as houguan (Chinese: ЌAЉЗ). The traditional Chinese name for this instrument is beat (Chinese ?кј) (it was in this form (вИвГ in traditional spelling) that it passed into Korean and Japanese).

Banhu

Banhu is a Chinese stringed bowed musical instrument, a type of huqin.

The traditional banhu has been used primarily as an accompaniment instrument in northern Chinese musical drama, northern and southern Chinese operas, or as a solo instrument and in ensembles.

In the 20th century, the banhu began to be used as an orchestral instrument.

There are three types of banhu - high, middle and low registers. The most common high register banhu.

The peoples of the East call music what we call noise.

Berlioz.

I studied at a music school in Russia for 8 years and my love for musical instruments never left me. Chinese musical instruments are very diverse and sound very interesting. First, watch the Chinese Symphony Orchestra play Katy Perry's "Roar" to begin with. She (Katie), by the way, burst into tears.

Now we can talk about tools.

Chinese instruments can be divided into strings, brass, plucked and percussion.

Erhu
So let's start with the strings. Most have 2-4 strings. The most famous are erhu, zhonghu, jinghu, banhu, gaohu, matouqin (Mongolian violin) and dahu. The most famous wind instrument is the erhu, which has only 2 strings. Erhu you can hear right on the streets, often beggars on the streets play this particular instrument.

Sheng
Wind instruments are mostly made of bamboo. The most popular are: di, son, guanzi, sheng, hulus, xiao and xun. You can really walk around here. The Sheng, for example, is a very interesting instrument that has 36 bamboo and reed pipes, it pairs very well with other instruments. One of the oldest is xun, a clay whistle that can be bought in many souvenir shops. Sona can imitate birds, the instrument became popular in the 16th century. The di flute attracts attention because of its pleasant sound, it has only 6 holes. Xiao and di are one of the oldest instruments, they appeared 3000 years ago.

Guzheng
Perhaps the Chinese plucked instruments are the most famous. Pipa, sanxian, zhuan, yueqin, dombra, guqin, guzheng, kunhou, zhu. My favorite instrument - the guqin - has 7 strings, the guqin has its own musical notation system, so a huge number of musical works have been preserved, I even tried to play it, it's not difficult, it just requires training, like any other instrument, but definitely easier than piano. Guzheng looks a bit like guqing, but it has 18 to 20 strings.

And finally pipa- a lute-like instrument, only 4 strings - a borrowed instrument from Mesopotamia, was very popular in the eastern Han.

And percussion - dagu, paigu, shougu, tungu, bo, muyui, yunlo, xiangjiaogu. Usually there are copper, wood or leather.

All Chinese instruments are also related to the seasons and cardinal points:

Drum- winter, also the drum announced the beginning of the war.

Spring- all tools made of bamboo.

Summer- Instruments with silk strings.

Autumn- tools made of metal.

Chinese musical instruments are very independent, which is why the Chinese love solo, although, of course, orchestras exist. However, the solo is more popular, but this is not surprising, the sounds of Chinese instruments are a little shrill, so their combination does not always sound beautiful. For them, the characters are sharp timbres, especially in opera.

A large number of musical instruments are of foreign origin. The oldest one dates back 8000 years. According to various sources, there used to be about 1,000 instruments, but, unfortunately, only half have come down to us.

Oddly enough, Chinese traditional musical instruments go great with brawls. In many famous Chinese films, the main characters fight to the sound of guzheng or guqing. Here, for example, in the film - "Showdown in the style of kung fu."

Chinese instruments were multifunctional - they served as tools, and musical instruments, and even as a means of transmitting information (for example, a gong or a drum). In Chinese culture, music has always played an important role. Since the Han era, music has flourished as it has become an official part of Confucian ceremonies.

I would also like to say that musical instruments are divided into 8 categories:

metal, stone, string, bamboo, gourd, clay, leather and wood instruments.

The first mentions of music in China are found already in the Qin era (2nd century BC). Getting pleasure through listening to music was sung by Confucius. The great sage himself played musical instruments, first of all, of course, the “king of all instruments” - guqing.
Even then, many forms of ensemble music were formed. For example, the most famous duo of silk and bamboo (丝竹 si zhu). It is named after the materials from which the instruments included in the duet are made.

In general, in China, there are eight categories of tools depending on the material:

• bamboo
• wood
• metal
• stone
• gourd
• earth (clay)

Guqin (qin)

Many legendary names of Chinese history are associated with the guqin: Confucius, the poets Li Bo, Tao Yuan Ming, Bo Juyi, the commander Gzhuge Liang - all played the qin and sang it in their statements and works.

The very shape of the qin - rounded at the top and flat at the bottom - symbolizes the "circle" of Heaven and the "square" of the Earth, as they are understood in Chinese natural philosophy. That is, the guqin instrument itself is the whole world, everything that exists between heaven and earth.

All instrument measurements also have a symbolic meaning:

• the length of the guqin is 36 cun (a Chinese measure of approximately 3.73 cm), which symbolizes 360 days in a year
• there are 13 points on the body of the qin for orientation during the game. They represent 12 months and 1 month of a leap year.
• The widest point of the instrument is 8 cun, which means eight winds.
• and the narrowest is 4 cun, the season of the season.

"Night cries of ravens"

Guzheng (zheng)

The explanatory dictionary explains that the name of the instrument comes from the sounds it makes: “zhen-zhen-zhen”.

Unlike the qin, the guzheng has pegs with which you can influence the pitch. In the countries of Southeast Asia, a similar tool is often found. For example, in Japan it is koto, in Korea it is kayageum.

The number of strings in the guzhen in ancient times was at first equal to thirteen, then fifteen, now it can reach twenty-one and even twenty-four.

"Blossoming moonlit night on a spring river"

Pipa

The name comes from the technique of playing the pipa. Reception, when the string is played from above, is called "pi", from below: - "pa".
The pipa has 4 strings and the body has frets.

There are two types of pipa pieces: large-scale and miniature. In terms of style, these plays can differ in character: military or secular.

There was one famous battle in history. The legendary struggle between the kingdoms of Chu and Han in China is still remembered. One of the most famous pieces for pipa is of a military nature and describes those events. How ancient this piece is can be judged by the fact that there is a recording of 700 years ago, which describes how a person experienced from listening to it. A very colorful piece in which you can hear the neighing of horses, and the blows of weapons, and the cries of people. In each small section, you can find out a specific battle scene.

"Siege from all sides"

Erhu

Er (二 er) means "two" (a pipa has two strings), and hu is the name of a people who lived north and west of China in ancient times.

Starting from the Tang era, the tool comes to China and is widely used. There is even a whole family of instruments - huqin - consisting of various varieties of erhu.

Erhu is often used in folk and theatrical music, solo or accompanied by singing.

Different accompaniments use different species from the zucin family. The most common type: the bow is threaded between the strings, the body is covered with the skin of a boa constrictor. Also common are the banhu - with a completely wooden body - and the jinghu, which is used in the Peking Opera and is all made of bamboo.

"Reflection of the Moon in Two Ponds"

didzy flute

Made from bamboo. Due to the fact that the idea is quite simple, many peoples have come to the invention of such an instrument. The didza, however, has a difference from other flutes - a film is pasted on one of the holes. It allows you to make the sound more sonorous. In the south, a long didzy is used, in the north, a short one.

8,000-year-old didza-like tools made from bone have been discovered in China. In ancient times, the hieroglyph "di", which is part of the name of the instrument, also meant "wash", "purify". That is why didza is called an instrument that purifies the soul.

Shen

This extravagant instrument consists of three parts: a body, pipes and a reed with a hole for the lips. Surprisingly, this instrument with a rather intricate device has more than two thousand years of history. In ancient shengs, however, the body was made of gourd, so this instrument belongs to this category. In China, accordions and the organ are believed to have originated from the shen.

Look at the game a shene and - it is possible to extract sounds on it both during inhalation and exhalation.

Sona

Some say that sona came to China from Persia. Now this instrument is widely used in many folk rituals from weddings to funerals.

The incredible composition "One Hundred Birds Meet the Phoenix" is often played at weddings - you can hear the imitation of the joyful sounds of birds in it.

Ocarina xun

It belongs to the category of earth, as it is made of clay.
The history goes back over 7000 years. According to legend, the xun originated from an ancient throwing weapon. Ancestors, when hunting, often used stones or lumps of clay on a rope. Some of them were hollow and made whistling sounds in flight. People liked it, and subsequently they began to deliberately blow into hollow pieces of clay or hollowed out stones, extracting these sounds, and then making such instruments on their own.

Playing Xiong by Professor Wang Jianxin of the Tianjin Conservatory:

Xiao

One of the most important instruments and a traditional pair of guqin in the famous duet 丝竹 - silk and bamboo. On the upper end of the flute there is an inwardly inclined hole into which the performer directs air. Initially, xiao had only four finger holes, later two more were added to them: five on the front side and one on the back.

The length of the xiao can vary from region to region and range from 50 to 75 centimeters or longer. In Japan, this type of flute is known as the shakuhachi.