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List of Chinese musical instruments

Grouping of musical instruments, Tang dynasty
The grouping of instruments includes (from the bottom, clockwise) a zhangu, pipa, two headed drum, tambourine, konghou, sheng, and two end-blown flutes (such as xiao or pipes.

Chinese musical instruments are traditionally grouped into eight categories known as bā yīn (八音).[1] The eight categories are silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and skin; other instruments considered traditional exist that may not fit these groups. The grouping of instruments in material categories in China is one of the first musical groupings ever devised.

Silk (絲)

Silk (絲) instruments are mostly stringed instruments (including those that are plucked, bowed, and struck). Since ancient times, the Chinese have used twisted silk for strings, though today metal or nylon are more frequently used. Instruments in the silk category include:

Plucked

Bowed

Re-enactment of an ancient traditional music performance
A mural from the tomb of Xu Xianxiu in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, dated 571 AD during the Northern Qi dynasty, showing male court musicians playing stringed instruments, either the liuqin or pipa, and a woman playing a konghou (harp)

Struck

Combined

Bamboo (竹)

A half-section of the Song dynasty (960–1279) version of the Night Revels of Han Xizai, original by Gu Hongzhong;[4] the female musicians in the center of the image are playing transverse bamboo flutes and guan, and the male musician is playing a wooden clapper called paiban.

Bamboo (竹) mainly refers to woodwind instruments, which includes;

Flutes

Free reed pipes

Single reed pipes

Double reed pipes

Wood (木)

A set of muyu, or Chinese wooden slit drums. The sound produced is affected by the instrument's size, type of wood, and how hollow it is.

Most wood (木) instruments are percussion instruments of the ancient variety:

Percussion instruments

Stone (石)

The stone (石) category comprises various forms of stone chimes.

Metal (金)

Clay (土)

Gourd (匏)

Hide-skin (革)

Others

Ethnic instruments

Playing contexts

Chinese instruments are either played solo, collectively in large orchestras (as in the former imperial court) or in smaller ensembles (in teahouses or public gatherings). Normally, there is no conductor in traditional Chinese music, nor any use of musical scores or tablature in performance. Music was generally learned aurally and memorized by the musician(s) beforehand, then played without aid. As of the 20th century, musical scores have become more common, as has the use of conductors in larger orchestral-type ensembles.

Musical instruments in use in the 1800s

These watercolour illustrations, made in China in the 1800s, show several types of musical instruments being played:

See also

References

Notes
  1. ^ Don Michael Randel, ed. (2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music (4th ed.). Harvard University Press. pp. 260–262. ISBN 978-0674011632.
  2. ^ "箜篌故事：凤首丝绸之路上的凤首箜篌" [Konghou Story: The Phoenix-headed Konghou on the Silk Road] (in Chinese). 23 August 2016. 图4 柏孜克里克第48窟中的凤首箜篌 公元十世纪 (translation: Figure 4 The phoenix-headed Konghou in Cave 48, Bezeklik, 10th century AD)
  3. ^ "少数民族拉弦乐器 : 艾捷克". www.chinamedley.com. Archived from the original on 12 December 2006. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  4. ^ Patricia Ebrey (1999), Cambridge Illustrated History of China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 148.
  5. ^ "photo". Archived from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  6. ^ Endymion Wilkinson (2000), Chinese history, ISBN 978-0-674-00249-4
Sources

External links