Pa Yin, can be played by using the right hand, the left hand, or both. It usually requires 3 or 4 fingers to produce the sound by plucking. If it is played using 3 fingers, then they are the middle finger, the index finger and the thumb. If it is played using 4 fingers, then they are the fourth finger, the middle finger, the index finger and the thumb. It is usually used to go along with the melody of the music by adding a touch of musical effect. When Pa Yin is played using only the right hand, then the fingers of the left hand will press down and shake slightly on the strings on the left side of the guzheng to produce the Can Yin sound.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Xiao Cuo, which can be played using either the right hand, the left hand or both. Usually when it is played using the left hand, it is to produce the base sound. It is played using the thumb and the index finger. It can only be used to play for between 2-4strings, unlike the Da Cuo, which can only be played for between 6 strings. While the right hand is playing the Da Cuo, the left hand is usually positioned on the strings on the left side of the guzheng. The fingers of the left hand will press down on the strings to produce the Xia Hua Yin.
Gua Xuan, in the form of playing from the lowest pitch to the highest pitch by playing the notes from top to down. It is played using the thumb. It can be played by using either the left hand, right hand, or both. When the right hand is playing the Gua Xuan, the left hand will be positioned at the on the strings on the left side of the guzheng. The finger of the left hand will press down the stings to produce the desired effect of the sound, called Xia Hua Yin.
Gua Xuan, in the form of playing from the highest pitch to the lowest pitch by playing from the bottom to upwards. It is played using the thumb. It can be played by using either the right hand, the left hand, or both. When the right hand is playing the Gua Xuan, the left hand will be positioned at the string on the left side of the guzheng. The finger on the left hand will press down on the string to produce the desired effect of the sound, called the Xia Hua Yin.
Yao Zi, which is played using the right hand by clenching the fist and placing and thumb over the index finger and then using the middle finger to support the index finger which will in turn support the thumb. This method is often used to play the melody of a piece of music.
Da Cuo, which can be played using either the right hand , left hand or both. When it is played using the left hand, it is usually to produce the base sound and to enhance the music. Da Cuo is played by using the thumb and the middle finger, it only play the octave notes. As it is seen in the video, while the right hand is playing the Da Cuo, the left hand is positioned on the left side of the guzheng and presses down the string to produce the effect of the sound, this is called Can Yin.
Monday, September 13, 2010
About Guzheng
Guzheng, a.k.a. Chinese Zither, is a plucked-string musical instrument with over 2500 years of history. Among all the traditional musical instruments, the guzheng has the most beautiful sounds and retains the highest popularity worldwide.
Throughout the history of Chinese culture, people from various nationalities and cultural backgrounds have developed many different styles of playing the guzheng and guzheng music. The modern Guzheng, Koto and Kayagum are developed from the traditional Chinese zheng, making the instrument an extremely important piece of Asian musical culture.
Every style or genre of guzheng music is tied to a regional people group. The northern style includes sub-styles such as Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi; the southern style includes sub-styles, namely Canton, Chaozhou, Hakka, and Zhejiang.
The sound of the guzheng can express the scenic countryside, a cascading waterfall, breeze, rain, thunder. People also express their feelings through the guzheng.
Throughout the history of Chinese culture, people from various nationalities and cultural backgrounds have developed many different styles of playing the guzheng and guzheng music. The modern Guzheng, Koto and Kayagum are developed from the traditional Chinese zheng, making the instrument an extremely important piece of Asian musical culture.
Every style or genre of guzheng music is tied to a regional people group. The northern style includes sub-styles such as Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi; the southern style includes sub-styles, namely Canton, Chaozhou, Hakka, and Zhejiang.
The sound of the guzheng can express the scenic countryside, a cascading waterfall, breeze, rain, thunder. People also express their feelings through the guzheng.
The History of Guzheng
The Zheng, commonly known as Guzheng , is a plucked string instrument that is part of the zither family. It is one of the most ancient Chinese musical instruments according to the documents written in the Qin dynasty (before 206 BC). Zheng is the forerunner of Japanese koto, Korean kayagum, Mongolian yatag, and Vietnamese dan tranh. Due to its long history, the zheng has been called guzheng or Gu-Zheng where "Gu" stands for "ancient" in Chinese. The guzheng has been a popular instrument since ancient times and is considered as one of the main chamber as well as solo instruments of Chinese traditional music. Since the mid-19th century, guzheng solo repertoire has been growing and evolving towards an increasing technical complexity.
The Chinese character for "zheng" is composed of two parts: the upper part means "bamboo" and the lower part is "argue". According to a legend, there was a master of se, 25-stringed zither, who had two talented daughters who loved playing the instrument. Now there came a time that the master became too old, and wanted to pass his instrument over to one of them. However, both daughters wanted to have it. The master felt very sad that he had only one instrument, and in the end, out of desperate, he decided to split the instrument into two - one got 12 strings, and the other 13. To his amazement, the new instrument sounds mellow and even more beautiful than its original. The happy master gave the new instrument a new name "zheng" by making up the character with the symbolisms representing "bamboo" and "argue". The word "zheng", the name of this instrument, pronounces the same as the word "zheng" which means "argue" or "dispute". The origin of the Chinese character representing this instrument seems to indicate that the early version of the instrument was made of bamboo, which is different from that of today. However, this legendary story, though it might be true according to the origin of the Chinese character for this instrument, should not be taken too seriously. It might well be the case that the character is just "borrowed" here for the name of instrument due to the fact that its pronunciation is a closer imitation of the sound the instrument produces. It is very common is Chinese literature, particularly in ancient poems, to described the sound of the guzheng as "zheng zheng", similar to the case of pipa.
Zheng (Guzheng) is build with a special wooden sound body with strings arched across movable bridges along the length of the instrument for the purpose of tuning. In the early times the zheng had 5 string (quite probably with bamboo sound body); later on developed into 12 to 13 strings in the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907AD) and 16 strings in the Song and Ming dynasty (from the 10th to 15th century). The present day zheng usually has 21-25 strings.
Note that guzheng should not be confused with guqin, 7-stringed zither without bridges.
Tuning: The pitch of a given string is determined by the position of the bridge, therefore, Guzheng can in principle be tuned to any desired scales. Traditionally, pentatonic scale is used. The instrumentalist plucks the strings with the right hand and touches the strings with the left hand to produce the desired pitch and create subtle tones and ornaments. Full scale can also be obtained by skilfully applying press on certain strings from the other side of the bridge with the left hand.
Techniques: Guzheng player attaches a little plectrum on each finger using a special tape. For traditional repertoires, the instrumentalist mostly uses three fingers of the right hand for plucking whereas the left hand pressing the string from the other side of the bridge to create special tonalities and ornaments. For some contemporary repertoires, both hands are needed to produce complicated harmonies using four fingers of each, which means that even the fingers of the left hand need to ware plectrums. In some cases, one can use cello bow to play on the Guzheng to produce sustained sounds and special effects. One can also use sticks to hit on the strings in the way like a percussion instrument.
Modern guzheng playing: For traditional Chinese music, the left hand techniques are very essential to guzheng playing, as is well-expressed by the great musicologist, Prof. Dr. Tran Van Khe: "the right hand produce the sound, and the left hand give the soul to the music" ( See the article "An introduction to traditional and classical music from China" for details). The modern guzheng playing has been very much influenced by western music; It is now common among the younger generation for the fingers of both hands to wear small plectrums to pluck the strings in order to play harmonies and accompaniments (one hand plays the melody, and the other accompanies like a base). As a matter of fact, to be able to play with a supper speed and precision has become the necessary condition to win a competition nowadays. As a result of this new development, the guzheng playing appears (and sounds) like playing harp or piano. Therefore, the guzheng is sometimes also referred to as "Chinese harp" or "Chinese piano".
(Special thanks to http://www.philmultic.com/guzheng/)
The Zheng, commonly known as Guzheng , is a plucked string instrument that is part of the zither family. It is one of the most ancient Chinese musical instruments according to the documents written in the Qin dynasty (before 206 BC). Zheng is the forerunner of Japanese koto, Korean kayagum, Mongolian yatag, and Vietnamese dan tranh. Due to its long history, the zheng has been called guzheng or Gu-Zheng where "Gu" stands for "ancient" in Chinese. The guzheng has been a popular instrument since ancient times and is considered as one of the main chamber as well as solo instruments of Chinese traditional music. Since the mid-19th century, guzheng solo repertoire has been growing and evolving towards an increasing technical complexity.
The Chinese character for "zheng" is composed of two parts: the upper part means "bamboo" and the lower part is "argue". According to a legend, there was a master of se, 25-stringed zither, who had two talented daughters who loved playing the instrument. Now there came a time that the master became too old, and wanted to pass his instrument over to one of them. However, both daughters wanted to have it. The master felt very sad that he had only one instrument, and in the end, out of desperate, he decided to split the instrument into two - one got 12 strings, and the other 13. To his amazement, the new instrument sounds mellow and even more beautiful than its original. The happy master gave the new instrument a new name "zheng" by making up the character with the symbolisms representing "bamboo" and "argue". The word "zheng", the name of this instrument, pronounces the same as the word "zheng" which means "argue" or "dispute". The origin of the Chinese character representing this instrument seems to indicate that the early version of the instrument was made of bamboo, which is different from that of today. However, this legendary story, though it might be true according to the origin of the Chinese character for this instrument, should not be taken too seriously. It might well be the case that the character is just "borrowed" here for the name of instrument due to the fact that its pronunciation is a closer imitation of the sound the instrument produces. It is very common is Chinese literature, particularly in ancient poems, to described the sound of the guzheng as "zheng zheng", similar to the case of pipa.
Zheng (Guzheng) is build with a special wooden sound body with strings arched across movable bridges along the length of the instrument for the purpose of tuning. In the early times the zheng had 5 string (quite probably with bamboo sound body); later on developed into 12 to 13 strings in the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907AD) and 16 strings in the Song and Ming dynasty (from the 10th to 15th century). The present day zheng usually has 21-25 strings.
Note that guzheng should not be confused with guqin, 7-stringed zither without bridges.
Tuning: The pitch of a given string is determined by the position of the bridge, therefore, Guzheng can in principle be tuned to any desired scales. Traditionally, pentatonic scale is used. The instrumentalist plucks the strings with the right hand and touches the strings with the left hand to produce the desired pitch and create subtle tones and ornaments. Full scale can also be obtained by skilfully applying press on certain strings from the other side of the bridge with the left hand.
Techniques: Guzheng player attaches a little plectrum on each finger using a special tape. For traditional repertoires, the instrumentalist mostly uses three fingers of the right hand for plucking whereas the left hand pressing the string from the other side of the bridge to create special tonalities and ornaments. For some contemporary repertoires, both hands are needed to produce complicated harmonies using four fingers of each, which means that even the fingers of the left hand need to ware plectrums. In some cases, one can use cello bow to play on the Guzheng to produce sustained sounds and special effects. One can also use sticks to hit on the strings in the way like a percussion instrument.
Modern guzheng playing: For traditional Chinese music, the left hand techniques are very essential to guzheng playing, as is well-expressed by the great musicologist, Prof. Dr. Tran Van Khe: "the right hand produce the sound, and the left hand give the soul to the music" ( See the article "An introduction to traditional and classical music from China" for details). The modern guzheng playing has been very much influenced by western music; It is now common among the younger generation for the fingers of both hands to wear small plectrums to pluck the strings in order to play harmonies and accompaniments (one hand plays the melody, and the other accompanies like a base). As a matter of fact, to be able to play with a supper speed and precision has become the necessary condition to win a competition nowadays. As a result of this new development, the guzheng playing appears (and sounds) like playing harp or piano. Therefore, the guzheng is sometimes also referred to as "Chinese harp" or "Chinese piano".
(Special thanks to http://www.philmultic.com/guzheng/)
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