Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments

1. Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments By: Lily Li

2. Summery • 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。

3. Erhu（二胡） • 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.

4. Erhu（二胡） • Python skin is used on the front endof the sound box. • The wood used for the erhu is preferably hard wood like zi tan (red sandalwood), laohong 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.

5. Guzheng（古筝） • 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 QinDynasty 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.

6. Guzheng（古筝） • 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.

7. Pipa（琵琶） • 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.

8. Pipa（琵琶） • 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.

9. Matouqin（马头琴） • 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.

10. Matouqin（马头琴） • 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

11. Yueqin（月琴） • The yueqin looks very similar to the pipa but only smaller. • It also has a few nicknames like moon guitaror 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.

12. Yueqin（月琴） • 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 plectrumto play it.

13. Konghou（箜篌） • 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.

14. Summery • 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?