Transcript Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments

By: Lily Li
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In this presentation, I’ll present ten different
traditional Chinese instruments. They are the
erhu, guzheng, pipa, matouqin, hulusi,
jingerhu, yueqin, sanxian, konghou, and
banhu. In Chinese they are the 二胡，古筝，琵
琶，马头琴， 葫芦丝，京二胡，月琴，三弦，箜篌，
and the 板胡。
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This instrument has only two strings, and
you can’t take the bow out of the strings.
You can adjust the strings at the top.
It is called the “Chinese Violin” and the
“Chinese two-stringed fiddle”.
Not only can you play traditional music on
the erhu, but you also play rock, pop,
jazz and many other forms of modern
music.
The material used to make an erhu must
be very precise.
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Python skin is used on the front end of the sound
box.
The wood used for the erhu is preferably hard
wood like zi tan (red sandalwood), lao hong mu
(aged red wood), wu mu (black wood), and hong
mu (red wood).
The erhu has no fingering board, instead they
press their fingers on the string to stop the
vibration of the strings.
The sound of the erhu is produced through the
vibration of the python string through bowing.
This instrument has a very long history going
back to more than a thousand years ago.
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During the Warring States period, the
instrument has already appeared in
early forms.
The instrument got affluence from a
different instrument the se.
By the Qin Dynasty the instrument was
already in a mature form. By the Tang
Dynasty it was the most played
instrument.
The playing techniques for the guzheng
is very unique.
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Some technics include basic plucking actions
with the right or both hands at the right
portion and pressing actions at the left
portion as well as tremolo with the right hand.
The sound produced by the guzheng sounds
kind of like a cascading waterfall, thunder, or
horses' hooves.
This special sound produced by the guzheng
is unique and can only be produced by the
guzheng.
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This instrument also has a very long
history dating back to the Han dynasty.
The Pipa is an instrument that has
four strings and belongs to the
plucked category.
It is also commonly know as the
Chinese Lute.
This instrument is shaped like a pear
and has about 12 to 26 frets.
Many other instruments were derived
from the pipa, like the Japanese biwa.
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The instrument pipa not only popular in the
music world but also in the literature world.
Many poem writers of the ancient Han
dynasty write about a pipa or the sound of a
pipa in their poems, commonly indicating
that they are sad.
To play the pipa you have to use fake
fingernails that are very long, you also need
these fake fingernails in playing the guzheng.
This is because you need the long nails to
pluck the instrument kind of like the pick of a
guitar.
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This instrument is a traditional
Mongolian stringed instrument. It is
very popular and import to their
culture since it is considered s
symbol of the Mongolian nation.
The Matouqin got its name from the
carved horse head at the top of the
instrument. It is said that the
instrument contains the soul of the
horse carved.
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This instrument like the erhu has only two
strings and they are made from nylon or
horses’ tail.
The larger string, known as the "male" string,
has 130 hairs from a stallion’s tail, while the
"female" string, the smaller of the two strings,
has 105 hairs from a mare’s tail.
The frame is traditionally covered by camel or
sheep and sometimes even goat skin
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The yueqin looks very similar to the
pipa but only smaller.
It also has a few nicknames like
moon guitar or moon zither.
There are four strings to the
instrument and are often tuned in
courses of two.
This instrument was invented during
the Jin dynasty.
The ancestor of the yueqin is the
ruan, another traditional instrument.
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The yueqin is also used a lot in Beijing Opera.
But there is a light difference between the two.
There are two strings but only one is actually
used, the lower string is there only for
sympathetic resonance.
The strings of the instrument were made of
silk, more commonly nylon now a days, and
you also need a long, sharp plectrum to play
it.
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The konhou is the ancient Chinese
harp.
It is also known as the kanhou.
This instrument went into extinction
in the Ming dynasty but them revived
in the 20th century, but it is now a
double bridged harp. The new modern
harp does not resemble the ancient
one though.
This instrument was also adopted in
Korea but like the Chinese harp it too
is not played anymore.
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The Chinese had many unique instruments
found nowhere else in the world. They had
many different playing techniques and are
made from many different materials. But one
thing that we should have all learned is that
we should protect our music and pass it on,
and make sure it does not extinct like the
konghou did. Music is part of our culture and
life would be very dul without music. Don’t
you agree?