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
Struck
Combined
Wenqin (文琴) – a combination of the erhu, konghou, sanxian and guzheng with 50 or more steel strings.
Qingzhou cuoqin (青州挫琴) – strucked and bowed zither from Shandong, China.
Bamboo (竹)
Bamboo (竹) mainly refers to woodwind instruments, which includes;
Flutes
Free reed pipes
Single reed pipes
Double reed pipes
Wood (木)
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:
Woman playing a dizi.
Woman playing a jinghu.
Woman playing a luo.
Woman playing a pipa.
Woman playing a sanxian.
Woman playing a yunluo.
Woman playing a xiaoluo.
Woman playing a haotou.
Woman playing a xiao.
Woman playing what looks like a yangqin or some sort of psaltery-like instrument.
^Don Michael Randel, ed. (2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music (4th ed.). Harvard University Press. pp. 260–262. ISBN 978-0674011632.
^"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)
^"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.
^Patricia Ebrey (1999), Cambridge Illustrated History of China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 148.
^"photo". Archived from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
Lee, Yuan-Yuan and Shen, Sinyan. Chinese Musical Instruments (Chinese Music Monograph Series). 1999. Chinese Music Society of North America Press. ISBN 1-880464-03-9
Shen, Sinyan. Chinese Music in the 20th Century (Chinese Music Monograph Series). 2001. Chinese Music Society of North America Press. ISBN 1-880464-04-7
Yuan, Bingchang, and Jizeng Mao (1986). Zhongguo Shao Shu Min Zu Yue Qi Zhi. Beijing: Xin Shi Jie Chu Ban She/Xin Hua Shu Dian Beijing Fa Xing Suo Fa Xing. ISBN 7-80005-017-3.
External links
Chinese musical instruments
Chinese Musical Instruments Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong
Chime A look at ancient Chinese instruments
Chinese musical instruments (Chinese)
Chinese Instruments Website Archived 2022-07-25 at the Wayback Machine (English)
Chinese musical instruments
The Musical Instruments E-book
World of Instrumental Music
The Grand Chinese New Year Concert Archived 2017-10-25 at the Wayback Machine
Chinese Instrument
Chinese Musical Instruments (The Modern Appearance)