Chapter 119 wind instrument

The earliest musical instruments were almost all evolved from labor tools, and the same is true for bone whistles.The earliest bone whistle was made of limb bones of birds and animals. It was originally used to imitate the calls of birds and animals during hunting, and later evolved into a musical instrument.More than 160 bone whistles have been found in the Hemudu cultural site in Yuyao, Zhejiang, more than 7,000 years ago, and in the Neolithic site in Meiyan, Jiangsu, which belonged to the Qingliangang culture and Liangzhu culture.The length varies from 6 to 8 cm, and the body is slightly curved.Among them is a bone whistle. When it was unearthed, a limb bone was inserted into the cavity. Put the holed part into your mouth and blow gently, while twitching the limb bone in the cavity, you can play simple music.

Before learning how to make fire by drilling wood, the fire used by human beings was "sky fire" such as lightning striking trees and burning them. In order not to let it go out, they kept adding grass and firewood.After burning for a long time, the soil around the fire became hard, which inspired the primitive people a lot. They gradually kneaded the soil into various shapes, and then put them in the fire to burn. The earliest pottery products.These pottery products not only brought great convenience to their lives, but they also found that when they were struck, they would make clear, low, exciting and melodious sounds, so they used pottery to make musical instruments. Before metal was smelted, bells and drums were all made of pottery (a pottery drum is called a "earth drum", which is made of a pottery drum frame and covered with animal skins).They may blow some small pottery unintentionally, and find that they can make some pleasant sounds, so they invented a wind instrument made of clay - Xun.

The Xun can be regarded as the oldest wind instrument in our country. The earliest pottery Xun unearthed today is the object of the late Neolithic Age more than 6,000 years ago. It is said that the earliest Xun originated from a projectile or a kind called "stone meteor". hunting tools, and later gradually turned into musical instruments. In recent decades, many xuns have been unearthed one after another. A pottery xun with a sound hole was unearthed at the Hemudu Cultural Site in Hangzhou Bay, Zhejiang, about 6,000 years ago.There are two pottery xuns unearthed from the Yangshao Cultural Site in Banpo, Xi'an, one without a sound hole and the other with a sound hole.The one with the sound hole can blow the two tones of F and bA, forming a minor third interval.Three pottery xuns from the Yangshao culture period were unearthed in Jingcun, Wanquan County, Shanxi Province. One is a cylindrical one-hole xun; It is round, has a blow hole and two sound holes, and is a three-hole Xun, which can produce three sounds e1, b1, and d2.In recent years, more than 20 pottery xuns have been unearthed from the tombs of the early civilians in the slave society at the Huoshaogou Cultural Site in Yumen, Gansu Province. They are all in the shape of fish. The four tones of Jiao, Zheng and Yu.Of the three pottery xuns unearthed from the Yin tomb in Shulige, Huixian County, Henan Province, the larger one is broken.The two smaller ones have five sound holes in addition to the blowing holes, which are six-hole Xun.They can emit eleven tones such as a1, #c2, e2, #f2, g2, #g2, a2, #a2, b2, c3, #c3, etc.The pottery xun from the Wuding period unearthed from the Yin Tomb in Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan Province is also a six-hole xun, and its pronunciation is similar to that of the pottery xun in Shuli Pavilion, Hui County.

Since the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the xun has basically been shaped into a six-hole xun, and it was not until the Han Dynasty that the seven-hole xun appeared.Xun was a very important musical instrument in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and there are many descriptions about Xun in Chinese literature. Offspring are gradually not taken seriously.Xun is also used in "Qingyue" in the "Nine Bules" of the Sui Dynasty.The music art was highly developed in the Tang Dynasty, and many new musical instruments appeared continuously, so the use of Xun basically disappeared.Later, Xun only appeared in the court music of the Qing Dynasty, and then it was used for Qin Xun ensemble.In recent years, Xun has become popular again for its unique and simple charm.

In August 1956, the Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Musicians Association decided to use the pattern of an ancient national musical instrument as the emblem of Chinese music after serious discussions and extensive solicitation of opinions from all sides. This musical instrument is the pan flute. It is said that when our ancestors were fishing and hunting, they were inspired by the sound of "whining" in the wind after the broken reeds by the water's edge, and cut the reeds and blew them to imitate the calls of birds and animals.Later, people discovered that the length and thickness of the reeds are different, and the pitch of the sound is also different, so they arranged the long and short reeds together to become one of the oldest musical instruments - reeds.

Later, people no longer used reeds that were soft and easily deformed and broken, but instead made them of hard and durable bamboo. This was the earliest pan flute, and it was called "Xiao" at that time. "Shiben·Zuo Pian" said: "Xiao, made by Shun. Its shape varies like a phoenix wing, ten tubes, and two feet long." Tubes, thirteen tubes, sixteen tubes, twenty tubes, twenty-one tubes, to twenty-four tubes (in modern times, it has been developed to two rows of fifty tubes in total), Zhang Zai's "Bo Ya" said: "Xiao, the big one Twenty-four pipes have no bottom; the smaller one has sixteen pipes and has a bottom." In ancient times, it was one of the most important and popular musical instruments. Shun's music "Shao" is called "Xiao Shao" because Xiao is the main instrument.In "Nine Songs Xiangjun", the great poet Qu Yuan described "Looking at the husband and the future, but who thinks about the difference when blowing the difference". Arranged according to the length of the tube, shaped like a bird's wing.It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the single phoenix-winged pan flute was changed into a double phoenix-winged shape, that is, short in the middle and long on both sides, and the bamboo weaving tied with ropes was changed to be inserted into the wooden base.

In August 1978, a large number of precious musical instruments were unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng during the Warring States Period in Suixian County, Hubei Province. Among them were two pan flutes with slightly different sizes. As a result, there is one that can still be played today. It is not arranged according to the rhythm, but it is beyond the range of the pentatonic scale.This discovery has attracted great attention and attention from the world music circle. After the Yuan Dynasty, the drama gradually developed, while the accompaniment gradually became simplified, the range was narrow, and the pan flute with low volume was gradually eliminated.After the founding of the People's Republic of China, through the efforts of musicians, the pan flute has been reborn. The improved pan flute has a more beautiful tone, increased volume, and developed performance techniques. Universal favorite.

It is also worth mentioning that there are also pan flutes in Western music. Its structure, shape, performance method and timbre are almost exactly the same as Chinese pan flutes. It is called Pan-Pipes in English, and it is said to be invented by Pan, the god of shepherds in ancient Greece.In Mozart's famous opera "The Magic Flute", Papageno played this instrument.In some countries in Eastern Europe, such as Romania, Hungary, etc., pan flutes are more popular among the people.The Romanian folk song and dance troupe has visited China many times to perform. The famous Romanian music and "Hora Dance" played by the artists with the pan flute are cheerful, warm, beautiful and pleasant, and are very popular among the Chinese people.

Pan flutes are generally bottomed. Its tone is not as bright and bright as bottomless wind instruments such as flute, xiao, guanzi, suona, etc., but it seems a little illusory, so it gives people a sense of ethereal and ethereal, like a distant place. The sky and the sound of nature floating in the dense forest make people feel "like hearing fairy music and temporarily brightening their ears". 筚篥, also written as 秱篥, Bili, and Bei篥, is today’s Guanzi.It was originally a musical instrument of the minority nationalities in Northwest China. Tang Duan Anjie's "Yuefu Miscellaneous Records" said: "The 秱篥 is originally the national music of Kucha. It is also called the sad 篥, which is similar to the 笳." Come to surprise the Chinese horse. "Old Tang Book·Music History" said that it was "a horse that the Hu people boasted to startle the Chinese".Its shape is made of bamboo, with a whistle made of reed on it, and nine holes in the tube.During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were many kinds of large 筚篥, small 筚篥, vertical small 筚篥, peach skin 筚篥, double 筚篥, etc.In the Tang Dynasty, 筚篥 was a very popular musical instrument, and there were many 筚篥 masters such as Yu Chiqing and Wang Manu.

Probably everyone knows that Mr. Nan Guo who "fakes the yu for numbers", he plays the yu.Yu and Sheng belong to the same category of musical instruments, and they belong to the category of "Pao" in the "Eight Sounds". "Yiwenleiju" forty-four quotes "Shiben" saying: "Sui is also used as a sheng." Said: "Nuwa's sheng spring." This is incredible, the appearance of sheng and yu is almost at the same time as the birth of human beings.Although we don't know the exact time when Sheng and Yu appeared, they were widely used in Shang and Zhou dynasties.The well-known Mr. Nan Guo is a fake Yu blower in Qi State.According to "Han Feizi Nei Chu Shuo Zuo Shang", "King Xuan of Qi ordered people to play the Yu, and there must be three hundred people." What a spectacular scene this will be!Mr. Nan Guo was mixed in this 300-member Yu-playing team.The difference between Sheng and Yu is only in the size and the number of tubes.Both of these instruments are piped in the pagoda, and there is another blowpipe.Each sound pipe has a sounding reed.The shape of the yu is larger than that of the sheng. At first, it was thirty-three tubes, and later it was changed to twenty-three tubes.Yu was an important wind instrument in the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties.A Ming vessel of Yu was unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb No. 1, with 22 tubes, divided into two rows.After the Tang and Song Dynasties, the use of Yu was less, and it was almost lost later, and only retained a little place in the gala music.

Among the national musical instruments in China, Sheng is one of the oldest musical instruments, and it is said that it was made in the Sui Dynasty by Nuwa.In the oracle bone inscriptions unearthed, there is a record of "harmony", and "harmony" is also a sheng. "Erya Shiyue" said: "The big sheng is called the nest, and the small one is called the harmony." It can be seen that there was already an instrument like the sheng in the Shang Dynasty.In the classification of ancient musical instruments, it belongs to the category of "匏" in "eight tones". In 1978, among the cultural relics unearthed from the tomb of Zenghouyi in the Warring States Period in Leigudun, Suixian County, Hubei Province, there were several ancient pao sheng. The method is exactly the same as today's Sheng.After the Tang Dynasty, the Sheng Dou was made of wood, and finally, it was made of copper. The sheng and the yu are the same musical instrument, but the yu is bigger and the sheng is smaller.But the smaller sheng has a much wider range of use than the yu, and it has been used for a much longer time than the yu. In the Tang Dynasty, the use of yu gradually decreased, and it was basically lost in the Song Dynasty, but the sheng has been used until now. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods when music was highly developed, Sheng was already a very important musical instrument. "The Book of Songs Xiaoya Luming" has a poem "I have a guest, play the zither and play the sheng".There are also six so-called "voiceless" poems (actually instrumental music) such as "Yu Li" and "You Geng", which are called "Sheng Poems".Since then, Sheng has always been an important instrument in both elegant and popular music. The shape of the sheng is also constantly improving. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the seventeen-reed sheng, fourteen-reed sheng, thirteen-reed sheng and ten-reed sheng have been popular. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the research and development of Sheng has been greatly developed, and the number of reeds has increased to 21 reeds, 24 reeds, 26 reeds, 27 reeds, 32 reeds, 36 reeds, 5 reeds Eleven springs.It has also successively been developed into keyed sheng, turntable sheng, bass sheng and row sheng, etc., which not only widen the range and volume, but also overcome the disadvantage of inconvenient tuning, and greatly improve the expressiveness of the sheng. The horns are the horns of cattle and sheep, just like the "shell" in musical instruments is seashells.A nomadic people popular in the north of the Han Dynasty.It has no sound hole and can only play a single tone, so I am afraid it was not used as a musical instrument at first, but it was used in military music and halogen book (ceremony guard) bands in the Han Dynasty, and it has been used in future generations, especially military music. middle.Tang Lihe's "Yanmen Taishou Xing" "The sound of horns fills the sky in the autumn scenery, stuffed with swallow fat and condensed night purple", Song Fan Zhongyan's "Fisherman's Pride" "Sounds of horns from all sides", Xin Qiji's "Broken Array" "Dreams return to blowing horns and camping ", describing the sound of horns in the army. Horns were originally the natural horns of animals, and later they were made of bamboo, wood, leather, metal, etc.Especially the copper horns of later generations are completely different in shape from the natural horns. Wang Qi of the Ming Dynasty said in "Sancai Tuhui": "The ancient horns were made of wood, but today they are made of copper, which is a variant of the ancient horns. Huge. This is often stored in the belly, and it comes out as soon as it is used. It is the joy of the army." Until the Qing Dynasty, the advocacy of great music in the halogen book was still in use. Many people have heard of the Hujia musical instrument since they read Cai Wenji's "Hujia Eighteen Beats". Hujia, which was popular in the ethnic minority areas in northern Saibei and the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, the earliest Hujia was to roll up reed leaves and blow them. "Taiping Yulan" quoted "Cai Yan Biography" as saying: "Jia, Hu people roll reed leaves and blow them. It’s also for making music, so it’s called Hujia.” Later, two kinds of Hujia appeared, one was played by flattening one end of a reed pipe, and the other was played by making a reed into a whistle and installing it on a wooden pipe.These two kinds of Hujia have no holes, so they cannot blow out melodies.In the Han Dynasty, another kind of Hu Jia with three holes on the body appeared. According to legend, Liu Kun, a patriotic general at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, was good at playing Hujia. When he was the governor of Bingzhou, he was surrounded by tens of thousands of Hun soldiers in Jinyang City.Liu Kun formed a band of Hujia and played "Five Lanes of Hujia" towards the enemy camp. The Xiongnu soldiers missed their hometown and retreated with tears. The Hu Jia with three holes was replaced by the 筚篥 after the Tang Dynasty. This is a wind instrument that appeared in the Shang and Zhou dynasties.There are records about it in "Chu Ci".Song Chenyang's "Book of Music" said: "Chi, the flute with a bottom, is blown horizontally." Its appearance is very similar to that of later generations, and it also has a blow hole and several sound holes. The difference is that the side of the flute blows the hole. One side has a bottom (i.e. no way), while the other side has no bottom.And Chi has bottoms at both ends.Another difference is that the flute has a membrane, but the chi does not. Chi was also widely used among the people during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.According to records, Wang Chen of Hejian in the Northern Wei Dynasty had a maid, Chaoyun, who was good at playing chi.Chen was the governor of Qinzhou, and the Qiangs rebelled and refused to surrender after repeated begging, so he asked Chaoyun to pretend to be a poor old woman and beg for money.After hearing this, the Qiang people felt homesick and surrendered with tears.So the people of Qin said at that time: "A fast horse is worse than an old woman playing the chi." After the Tang and Song Dynasties, Chi was only used for court music.In the Qing Dynasty, it was circulated that the blow hole and the sound hole were not on the same plane, which was different from the flute. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, most of the xiaos referred to panxiaos. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, bamboo single-pipe porous wind instruments mainly refer to the horizontal and vertical xiaos, both of which were called flutes at that time.In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ma Rong wrote "Flute Fu" and said: "The upper hole is open to the hole, and it is easy to hold when it is cut. Yi Jingjun knows the rhythm, so the original four holes are added. One is added after the hole is added by Jun Ming. It’s called Shang Sheng and five tones complete.” What is described here should be Xiao rather than Di.In the original four holes, Jingfang (Jun Ming) of the Eastern Han Dynasty thought that there was no Shang sound, so he added a hole, and it was added on the back, which is very similar to the modern flute.In the Western Jin Dynasty, Xun Xu improved the rhythm of the flute. His flute has six sound holes, five at the front and one at the back, which is exactly the same as today's flute.The pottery figurines of the Han Dynasty and the sculptures of the Yungang Grottoes in the Northern Wei Dynasty all have the image of flute blowing. It can be seen that Xiao was already in use during the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the horizontal flute and the vertical flute were called completely separately, the horizontal flute was called the flute, and the vertical flute was called the flute.Xiao is also known as "Qin Xiao" and "Feng Xiao", and because it has no bottom, it is also called "Dong Xiao".Compared with the flute, the sound of the xiao is softer and more melodious, so although its technical changes are not as rich as the flute, it is more lyrical, especially expressing a complex of Qingyuan sorrow. Shakuhachi is actually a kind of flute, the difference is that the material it uses is a section of bamboo root.The shape of Shakuhachi is similar to that of Xiao, but thicker. It is generally made of the root of top-grade bamboo such as carnation and Guanyin bamboo.Its timbre is very similar to the flute among western musical instruments, but it is more simple and moist. Some people compare them to the difference between the countryside and the town. Di is the most important wind instrument among Chinese national musical instruments.Made of bamboo, blown horizontally, with one blow hole, one film hole, and six sound holes (new flutes with seven, nine, ten and eleven holes appeared in modern times). When did the flute appear, there has been no conclusion. In the past, it was believed that the flute played horizontally appeared only in the Han Dynasty, and the bamboo wind instrument played horizontally in the pre-Qin period was a bottomed chi.However, archaeological excavations in recent years have given us a new understanding of this issue. Among the cultural relics unearthed in Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, there is a bone flute very similar to our six-hole flute, which has a history of 7,000 years ago.Sixteen vertical bone flutes (made of bird limb bones) were unearthed from the early Neolithic site in Jiahu Village, Wuyang County, Henan Province. According to the determination, they have a history of more than 8,000 years, and the sound holes range from five to eight. There are different holes, among which the seven-tone hole flute is the majority.In addition, there are seven bronze flutes played horizontally according to the sound holes in the Warring States period collected by overseas Chinese in the United States, two flutes played horizontally in the tomb of Zeng Houyi in the early Warring States period (433 BC) unearthed in Suixian, Hubei, and three flutes unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan. The two horizontal flutes in the No. 1 Han Tomb (before 168), and the No. 1 tomb unearthed in Luobo Bay, Guixian County, Guangxi, a flute made of two-section bamboo with seven sound holes, are sufficient to prove that the flute It is the most primitive instrument. The flute was already a very popular musical instrument in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and Tang and Song Dynasties, and masters such as Huan Yi, Tang Xuanzong, and Li Mo appeared. The range of the flute is wide, up to two and a half octaves. The timbre is beautiful and crisp, and the playing skills are very rich and expressive.The traditional flute can be divided into bangdi and qudi.The bangdi generally has the third hole as G, which is the main accompaniment instrument of the northern bangzi, with a high pitched and bright sound.Generally, the third hole is D, and the timbre is relatively deep and beautiful. It is mostly used for the accompaniment of Kunqu opera and Jiangnan silk and bamboo.There are twelve modern flutes ranging from C to B, and there are also bass flutes lower than C. Suona was originally a wind instrument popular in Persia and Arabia. It was introduced to China around the Yuan Dynasty and became a very important instrument after the Ming Dynasty. It was mainly used in the military and ceremonial guards at first.Ming Wangpan Sanqu [Chaotianzi] "Singing the Trumpet" said: "The trumpet, the suona, the song is small, the tune is big, and the official ships come and go like a mess, it all depends on your voice." Ming Wangqi's "Sancai Tuhui" said: "Suona is made like a trumpet, with seven holes. The head and tail are made of copper, and the pipe is made of wood. I don't know when it started. It should be the music of the army, and it is often used by the people today." Combining the meaning of these two passages, It can be seen that suona was first used in ceremonies and military, and later widely used in folk. The structure of suona is to install a thin copper tube on top of a conical wooden tube, and a whistle made of reeds on it.A copper horn is connected below the wooden tube.There are eight sound holes on the wooden pipe (seven in the front and one in the back).The timbre of suona is high pitched and bright, and the volume is also louder.After the development of opera in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the role of suona became more and more important, and many cut-scene signs used suona as the main instrument.In folk wind and percussion music, Suona is also one of the most important instruments.In modern times, suona is not only used in national instrumental ensembles, but also a very popular solo instrument. A musical instrument called "Guan" is mentioned in "Zhou Li" and "Zhou Li".But everyone's explanations are different. Guo Pu's annotation of "Erya" said that it "has a bottom", and Cai Yong's "Yueling Zhangju" said that it "has holes and no bottom".This kind of pipe has been lost, and it is not clear what it looks like. The popular Guan, also known as "Guanzi", is the 筚篥.In ancient times, it was also called "head pipe" or "jia pipe".Guanzi is very popular in the north, and it is often in the leading position in wind music, and it is also a good solo instrument.In recent years, the tube has been modified, and the range has been expanded to nearly three octaves. The keyed tube can play twelve semitones completely, and it is easy to transfer. "The Yellow River is far above the white clouds, an isolated city and thousands of miles of mountains. Why should the Qiang flute complain about the willows? The spring breeze does not cross the Yumen Pass." Wang Zhihuan's "Liangzhou Ci" should be well-known. The Qiang flute is mentioned in the poem, which shows that at least in the Tang Dynasty, Qiang flute is already a very popular instrument.In fact, the history of Qiang flute can be traced back a long way. Ma Rong's "Flute Fu" in the Han Dynasty said that "the double flute in modern times started from the Qiang", which shows that the Qiang flute was popular in the Han Dynasty.Perhaps the history of Qiang flute can be traced back a long time, but there is no written record and underground excavation evidence. Qiang flute is popular in Maowen Qiang Autonomous County of Sichuan and the Qiang area around Heishui, but in history, the scope of Qiang people's activities is much wider. The modern Qiang flute is made of locally produced oil bamboo (long bamboo joints and thin tube body). Two bamboo tubes with the same diameter and length are selected, and the outer skin of the bamboo is cut off to form a square column (some adjacent skins of the two tubes are flattened. ), tied with thin wire at the first, middle and end.The body of the tube is jointless, with a total length of 13-19 cm, with five or six pressing holes.The upper end of the tube is equipped with a bamboo spring whistle.When playing, hold the oboe in your mouth and press the holes with your index, middle and ring fingers.Vocal range c1-c2.The tone is crisp and bright, with a slight sense of sadness. Among the Yi, Hani, Miao, Dai, Wa, Blang and other ethnic minorities in Yunnan and Guangxi, there is a wind instrument very similar in shape and playing method to the bamboo flute, which is the Bau. Bawu is called "Jifeili" by the Yi people, "筚" by the Dai people, "Meiba" or "Niuba" by the Hani people, and "Bai" by the Wa people.Its tube body is made of moso bamboo (also made of wood), and generally has 4-8 sound holes. There are some differences in the shape and performance of the Bawu of various ethnic groups, and there are no certain specifications.The more commonly used Bau is about 27.5 cm long, with eight sound holes (seven in the front and one in the back), and a blow hole on the side of one end.The biggest difference between the Bawu and the bamboo flute is that a small triangular copper reed is embedded in the blow hole of the Bawu. When playing, the airflow vibrates the reed to make a sound. There are two types of bau, horizontal blowing and vertical blowing.The tube body of the horizontal blower is thicker, and the tube body of the vertical blower is thinner.The sound of Bau is soft and sweet, elegant and mellow. It is often used as an accompaniment for dance and rap, and is suitable for singing melodies.Bau, which is popular in the Yi area of ​​the Honghe River Basin, has a soft and slightly nasal sound, especially suitable for playing lyrical music. The volume of the traditional bau is low, the range is not wide, and the expressiveness is greatly restricted.For example, the Bakong Bawu of the Yi nationality can only produce nine sounds: c1, d1, e1, f1, g1, a1, b1, c2, and d2.After the founding of the People's Republic of China, musicians continued to improve the Bau, thickened the tube body, and used keys to increase the volume of the Bau and widen the range, which greatly enriched the expressive force of the Bau.Now there are two types of reformed bau used for stage performances, one is the 18-hole F tune plus key bau, and the other is the 17-hole F tune plus key bau.These two kinds of Bawu both use plastic tubes as the tube body, which are connected in series by the upper part with reeds and the lower part with finger holes and keys. The range of the former can reach nearly three octaves of G-f2, and the range of the latter It can also reach c-f2 two degrees more than eight.The added key of Bau does not affect the original performance of portamento, tapping, flying fingers, erasing and other skills. Hulusi is a musical instrument made of gourds by ethnic minorities in Southwest China. Cucurbit silk, also known as gourd flute, is a favorite musical instrument of Achang, Dai, Yi and other ethnic minorities.It uses a gourd as a speaker, and the slender top of the gourd is opened as a mouthpiece.Three bamboo tubes of different lengths are inserted side by side at the lower part opposite to the mouthpiece, and each bamboo tube has a sharp copper reed at the part inserted into the gourd.The bamboo tube in the middle is the longest and the thickest, and it is the supervisor. There are seven sound-pressing holes on it, six holes in the front and one hole in the back.Open and press the sound hole when playing, you can make a nine-degree sound from c1-d2.The two bamboo tubes next to each can produce a single tone (one tube can produce a d1 sound, and the other can produce a1 sound).When playing the melody, the continuous bass emitted by the bamboo pipes on both sides and the melody blown by the supervisor form various harmonies, which is very special (you can also close the bamboo pipes on both sides to make it silent). The timbre of cucurbit silk is soft and sweet, with strong lyricism. It can be used for solo or ensemble. The gourd sheng is a wind instrument popular in the Yi, Wa, Dai, Nu, Miao, Lahu, Lili, Naxi and other ethnic minorities in southwest my country.It has a long history. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were already gourd sheng in the southwest. In the Tang Dynasty, the gourd sheng had already entered the court. According to the article "Haiyuu" in Duan Anjie's "Yuefu Miscellaneous Records", there was a gourd sheng in the "Yiyue Department" used for court performances.Among the ethnic minorities in the Southwest, the gourd sheng is very popular. Tang Fanchuo’s "Manshu" said in Nanzhao area, "Young children parade in the alleys at night, blowing the gourd sheng, or blowing the leaves. In the rhyme, they all send love words. call to each other".In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhou Qufei also said in "Ling Wai Dai Answer": "The joy of the Yao people includes reed sand, blunderbuss, gourd sheng, and bamboo flute." Until now, the gourd sheng is still the favorite of many ethnic minorities in Southwest China. one of the musical instruments. Gourd sheng uses gourds as a bucket, and several bamboo tubes of different lengths are inserted on it. There are five tubes, six tubes, seven tubes, and eight tubes.A rectangular bamboo or copper reed is installed inside the bamboo tube, and the reed vibrates to make a sound when played.Near the Sheng Dou, each bamboo tube has a sound hole.A bamboo tube is attached to the slender top of the gourd as a mouthpiece.When playing, press your fingers on the sound hole, hold the mouthpiece in your mouth, and you can pronounce it by blowing or sucking.Each sound tube can also produce two notes from the minor second to the major third if pressed down on the tube opening through the bottom of the gourd.After the reform, the gourd sheng has ten tubes, the sheng bucket is made of wood, and a resonator is added to the sound tube, and the range is extended to nearly three octaves of g-f2. There are three types of gourd sheng: treble, middle and bass.The timbre of the high-pitched gourd sheng is bright, the timbre of the middle-pitched gourd sheng is soft, and the sound of the low-pitched gourd sheng is thick. The gourd sheng can be used as an accompaniment or as a solo.The Yi, Lahu, Lisu, Naxi and other ethnic minorities in Sichuan and Yunnan areas all dance the gourd sheng dance on festivals or harvest days, and even in sacrificial and funeral activities. Lusheng is a wind instrument popular in the Miao, Yao, Dong, Zhuang, Yi, Wa, She, Shui, Gelao, Benglong, Lahu and other ethnic minorities in southwest my country. It has a long history. The earliest written records can be Dating back to the Song Dynasty.Fan Chengda, a famous poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, said in "Guihai Yuheng Zhi": "Lusha (that is, Lusheng), a Yao people's music, is shaped like a flute, with eight vertical pipes and one horizontal pipe running through it." It is said that it is "like a Xiao", It means that it is like a pan flute, with eight bamboo tubes of different lengths arranged together and running through a long horizontal bamboo blowpipe. This shape is very similar to today's reed.The name of Lusheng was first seen in the documents of Ming Dynasty. Ni Ren of Ming Dynasty recorded in "Nanzhao Unofficial History" that the Miao people in central Yunnan (now Guizhou area) "every year Mengchun dances to the moon, men play Lusheng, women ring bells and sing together, side by side Dance, tireless all day long.""Miao Su Ji" in the Qing Dynasty also recorded: "Every year in Mengchun... Both men and women change their costumes and make-up. The men weave bamboo into reeds and blow them before blowing them. Tireless all day.” This custom is still popular among the Miao, Dong, Shui, Gelao and other ethnic minorities in Guizhou, Yunnan and Hunan. The principle of the reed is basically the same as that of the sheng. The modern reed is to insert bamboo tubes of different lengths into the bucket. There are copper reeds at the root of the bamboo tube, and there are finger holes on the tube about an inch away from the bucket.When playing, blow or suck the blowpipe on the Sheng bucket with your mouth, and press the sound hole with your fingers to pronounce.The length of the tube is different, and the pronunciation is different.Lusheng can play single tones, double tones such as fourths, fifths, sixths and octaves, and chords. Modern Lusheng generally has five tubes, six tubes, eight tubes, and ten tubes, and the most commonly used one is six tubes.The reeds that have been reformed in recent years also have as many as 19 tubes and 21 tubes, which make their range wider and their volume louder. Lusheng is divided into three types: large, medium and small. The large tube length can reach 60 to 70 centimeters, while the small tube length is only 20 to 30 centimeters.Their blowpipes are much longer than those of the sheng, which is mainly for the convenience of the player to dance while blowing. The hands can be stretched longer, and the dancing posture is more beautiful. The biggest feature of Lusheng performance is that the player dances while blowing. This kind of dance is called "Lusheng dance". The Lusheng dance of the Miao nationality, also known as "stepping on the hall", is still the most representative of the Miao folk dances, but now most of the women do it with bare hands and no longer ring the bell.During the festival, the reed dance is on a large scale, and the reeds are played together by hundreds of hands, which can be said to vibrate the forest.And there are hundreds of people participating in the dance. Everyone surrounds the reeds, singing and dancing counterclockwise to their heart's content, which is very spectacular.During "Dancing Flowers" and "Dancing Moon", young people also choose their partners and find love through Lusheng Dance. The reed dance of the Dong people in Hunan, also known as "stepping on the sheng hall", is usually performed on festivals. The men play the reeds first, and the women hold folding fans or colorful handkerchiefs after them. They sing and dance with enthusiasm. The Lusheng dance of the Shui people is mostly performed every September during the Shui people's New Year.It is also the man who plays the Lusheng and dances in front, and the woman who holds a flower handkerchief and dances behind.However, its movements are imitative, mainly imitating labor and life scenes such as boating, horseback riding, shooting and hunting, or buffalo rolling in the pond. Among ethnic minorities such as the Miao and Dong, there are many reed melodies that have been passed down among the people.There are more than 100 songs of the Dong nationality, and more than 30 of them are commonly used.There are more traditional Lusheng music of the Miao nationality. There are some "big scores" with a length of more than 30 sections. adapted from folk music.