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Sheng (instrument)

 
Sheng (instrument)

 
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Sheng (instrument)
 
 
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The Chinese
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 sheng (Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
: ?; Pinyin
Pinyin

Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
 sheng) is a mouth
Mouth

The mouth, buccal cavity, or oral cavity is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food and begins digestion by mechanically breaking up the solid food particles into smaller pieces and mixing them with saliva....
-blown free reed instrument consisting essentially of vertical pipes, in the Chinese orchestra
Music of China

The music of China dates back to the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty ....
.

Some believe that Johann Wilde
Johann Wilde

Johann Wilde was an 18th-century Germany violinist and musical instrument inventor. He is best known for inventing the nail violin in 1740. He is also credited with the introduction of the Chinese sheng mouth organ to the Court of St....
 and Pere Amiot
Jean Joseph Marie Amiot

Jean Joseph Marie Amiot was a FranceJesuits missionary....
 traveled to China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 and brought the first shengs back to Europe in 1740 and 1777 respectively, although musical instruments similar to shengs were known in Europe centuries earlier.

Traditionally, the sheng has been used as an accompaniment
Accompaniment

In music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with a solo ist or Musical ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played....
 instrument for solo suona
Suona

The suona ; also called laba or haidi is a Han Chinese shawm . It has a distinctively loud and high-pitched sound, and is used frequently in Chinese traditional music ensembles, particularly those that perform outdoors....
 or dizi
Dizi

The dizi , is a China transverse flute. It is also sometimes known as the di or hengdi , and has varieties including the qudi and bangdi ....
 performances, in kunqu
Kunqu

Kunqu , also known as Kunju, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. It evolved from the Kunshan melody, and dominated Chinese theatre from the 16th to the 18th centuries....
 and some other forms of Chinese opera
Chinese opera

Chinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE. There are numerous regional branches of Chinese opera, of which the Beijing opera is one of the most notable....
, and in small ensembles.






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Sheng
The Chinese
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 sheng (Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
: ?; Pinyin
Pinyin

Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
 sheng) is a mouth
Mouth

The mouth, buccal cavity, or oral cavity is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food and begins digestion by mechanically breaking up the solid food particles into smaller pieces and mixing them with saliva....
-blown free reed instrument consisting essentially of vertical pipes, in the Chinese orchestra
Music of China

The music of China dates back to the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty ....
.

Some believe that Johann Wilde
Johann Wilde

Johann Wilde was an 18th-century Germany violinist and musical instrument inventor. He is best known for inventing the nail violin in 1740. He is also credited with the introduction of the Chinese sheng mouth organ to the Court of St....
 and Pere Amiot
Jean Joseph Marie Amiot

Jean Joseph Marie Amiot was a FranceJesuits missionary....
 traveled to China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 and brought the first shengs back to Europe in 1740 and 1777 respectively, although musical instruments similar to shengs were known in Europe centuries earlier.

Traditionally, the sheng has been used as an accompaniment
Accompaniment

In music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with a solo ist or Musical ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played....
 instrument for solo suona
Suona

The suona ; also called laba or haidi is a Han Chinese shawm . It has a distinctively loud and high-pitched sound, and is used frequently in Chinese traditional music ensembles, particularly those that perform outdoors....
 or dizi
Dizi

The dizi , is a China transverse flute. It is also sometimes known as the di or hengdi , and has varieties including the qudi and bangdi ....
 performances, in kunqu
Kunqu

Kunqu , also known as Kunju, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. It evolved from the Kunshan melody, and dominated Chinese theatre from the 16th to the 18th centuries....
 and some other forms of Chinese opera
Chinese opera

Chinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far as the third century CE. There are numerous regional branches of Chinese opera, of which the Beijing opera is one of the most notable....
, and in small ensembles. In the modern symphonic Chinese orchestra
Chinese orchestra

The term Chinese orchestra can refer to either:* The ancient Chinese orchestra, or* The modern Chinese orchestra...
, it is used for both melody and accompaniment. Its warm mellow sound expresses lyrical melodies well, while its ability to play chords makes it a highly prized accompaniment instrument.

The sheng has been used in the works of a few non-Chinese composers, including Lou Harrison
Lou Harrison

Lou Silver Harrison was an United States composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K.R.T. Wasitodiningrat .Harrison is particularly noted for incorporating elements of the world music into his work, with a number of pieces written for Javanese style gamelan musical instrument, including ensembles constructed and tu...
, Tim Risher
Tim Risher

Tim Risher is an United States of America composer, trombonist, and pianist. Risher received his B.A. in Music at the University of Central Florida and his M.M....
, Brad Catler, and Christopher Adler.

Types

Shengs are broadly classified into two categories: traditional sheng (???; pinyin: chuántong sheng) and keyed sheng (??; jiàn sheng). Keyed shengs have only been developed in modern times, c. 1950 onwards.

Traditional sheng

Traditional sheng (???, pinyin
Pinyin

Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
 Chuántong Sheng)
The traditional sheng is the original type of sheng, which has seventeen, twenty-one, twenty-four or thirty pipes (depending on maker, model and regional culture). Uses treble clef when in western notation, but more often uses jianpu, Chinese numerical notation.
Range of A Traditional Sheng
The difference between a traditional and keyed sheng lies in its mechanism. On a traditional sheng, the holes on the pipes are pressed directly by the player's fingers. On a keyed sheng, the holes are opened and closed by means of keys or levers. Without keys, the great number of pipes and the size of the alto to bass instruments makes it impractical for operation by hand.

Covering a hole causes the entire length of the pipe to resonate with the reeds' frequency. If the hole is open, the resonance frequency would not match, and hence no sound is produced.

Keyed sheng

Currently, there are four main ranges of keyed sheng, forming a family of soprano, alto, tenor and bass. All of them are chromatic throughout their range, and tuned to the equal temperament scale.
  • Gaoyin sheng (???, pinyin
    Pinyin

    Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
     Gaoyin Sheng)
    36-pipe sheng with a soprano range of G3 to F#6 (Taking middle C = C4). Uses treble clef
    Clef

    A clef is a musical notation used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff , it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line....
  • Zhongyin sheng (???, pinyin
    Pinyin

    Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
     Zhongyin Sheng)
    36-pipe sheng with an alto range of C3 to B5. Perfect 5th lower than Gaoyin sheng. It has an additional row of 12 keys coloured in black, which when depressed plays all 3 pipes corresponding to the same note in different octaves. E.g., pressing the black "C" causes the notes C3, C4 and C5 to be sounded simultaneously. Uses treble and alto clefs.
  • Cizhongyin sheng (????, pinyin
    Pinyin

    Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
     Cìzhongyin Sheng)
    36-pipe sheng with a tenor range of G2 to F#5. One octave lower than soprano sheng. Uses alto clef, or treble clef transposed down an octave.
  • Diyin sheng (???, pinyin
    Pinyin

    Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
     Diyin Sheng)
    32-pipe sheng with a bass range of C2 to G4. Uses bass clef.


Notable sheng players

  • Feng Haiyun (who is currently a visiting professor at the Central Conservatory of Music
    Central Conservatory of Music

    The Central Conservatory of Music is the national leading College or university school of music in Beijing, PRC.Founded in 1950, the Conservatory offers courses to both Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China and foreign students, and caters for all levels from primary up to postgraduate programmes....
     in Beijing).
  • Hu Tianquan - introduced several technical improvements on the construction of the instrument
  • Guo Wanpeng
  • Guo Yi
  • Keliang Li
  • François Picard
  • Rodrigo Rodriguez
  • Wang Hong
  • Wang Zhengting
  • Weng Zhenfa
  • Wu Tong
  • Wu Wei
  • Xu Chaoming


See also

  • Yu (wind instrument)
    Yu (wind instrument)

    The yu was a free reed wind instrument used in ancient China. It was similar to the sheng , with multiple bamboo pipes fixed in a wind chest which may have been made of bamboo, wood, or gourd....
  • Music of China
    Music of China

    The music of China dates back to the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty ....
  • Saenghwang
    Saenghwang

    The saenghwang is a Korean wind instrument. It is a free reed mouth organ derived from the Chinese sheng , though its tuning is different....
  • Sho
    SHO

    SHO may refer to:*...
  • Traditional Chinese musical instruments
    Traditional Chinese musical instruments

    Traditional Chinese musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments. Traditionally, they were classified according to the materials used in their construction....
  • Lusheng
    Lusheng

    The lusheng is the Chinese name for a musical instrument with multiple bamboo pipes, each fitted with a Free reed aerophone, which are fitted into a long blowing tube made of hardwood....
  • Mangtong
    Mangtong

    The mangtong is a China end-blown Free reed aerophone. It is used primarily by the Hmong people and Dong people ethnic groups of the southern Chinese provinces of Guizhou and Guangxi, although it is sometimes used in contemporary Chinese compositions for traditional instrument orchestra....


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