Sheng (instrument) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

sheng (Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

: 笙; Pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

shēng) is a mouth

Mouth

The mouth is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food andsaliva. The oral mucosa is the mucous membrane epithelium lining the inside of the mouth....

-blown free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes.

Traditionally, the sheng has been used as an accompaniment

Accompaniment

In music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with an instrumental or vocal soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner...

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 performances. It is one of the main instruments 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. The style originated in the Wu cultural area...

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...

. Traditional small ensembles also make use of the sheng, such as the wind and percussion ensembles in northern China. In the modern large Chinese orchestra

Chinese orchestra

The term Chinese Orchestra can refer to either:* The ancient Chinese Orchestra, or* The modern Chinese Orchestra-The ancient Chinese Orchestra:...

, it is used for both melody and accompaniment

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

Lou Harrison

Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...

, Tim Risher

Tim Risher

Tim Risher is an American composer, trombonist, and pianist. Risher received his B.A. in Music at the University of Central Florida and his M.M. in music composition from Florida State University...

, Daniel Bjarnason, Brad Catler, and Christopher Adler.

Some believe that Johann Wilde

Johann Wilde

Johann Wilde was an 18th-century German 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. Petersburg, Russia....

and Pere Amiot

Jean Joseph Marie Amiot

Jean Joseph Marie Amiot was a FrenchJesuit missionary.-Life:Joseph Marie Amiot was born at Toulon. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1737 and was sent in 1750 as a missionary to China. He soon won the confidence of the Qianlong Emperor and spent the remainder of his life at Beijing...

traveled to China

China

and brought the first shengs to Europe in 1740 and 1777 respectively, although there is evidence that free reed musical instruments similar to shengs were known in Europe a century earlier.

History

Chinese free reed wind instruments named he and yu were first mentioned in bone oracle writing dating from the 14th–12th centuries BC, and were identified in later texts as types of sheng. The first appearance of the word "sheng" is in the Shijing (Book of Odes) c. 7th century BC. Ancient instruments with gourd wind chambers, varying numbers of pipes, with bamboo or metal reeds have been discovered in archaeological finds at the tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng (c. 433 BC) in present day Hubei province, and the Han tombs at Mawangdui (c. 2nd century BC) in Hunan

Hunan

' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...

province.

In the eighth century, three yu and three sheng were sent to the Japanese court and these have been preserved in the Shōsōin

Shosoin

The is the treasure house that belongs to Tōdai-ji, Nara The building is in the azekura log-cabin style, with a raised floor. It lies to the northwest of the Daibutsuden...

imperial repository in Nara

Nara, Nara

is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture...

. All the instruments had 17 pipes with a long curving mouthpiece and are very similar to the traditional sheng in use today. However variants with different numbers of pipes, and chromatic instruments have been documented over the centuries.

Acoustics and performance

The sheng's reeds vibrate at a fixed frequency, unlike single reeds, double reeds and pointed free reeds which vibrate at the pitch according to the length of the attached air column. Covering a hole on the sheng's pipe 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.

The sheng is played by alternately blowing and inhaling, and a player can produce a continuous sound without pause. The traditional performance style is to sound two or three notes at the same time by adding a fifth and/or octave above the main melody note. When a higher note is not available, a lower note a fourth below the main melody note can be played instead.

Types

Shengs can be classified into traditional sheng (传统笙; pinyin: chuántǒng shēng) and keyed sheng (键笙; jiàn shēng). Keyed shengs have only been developed in the 20th century, c. 1950 onwards.

The difference between a traditional and keyed sheng lies in its mechanism. On a traditional sheng, the holes on the finger 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 larger instruments makes it impractical for operation by hand.

Traditional sheng

The traditional sheng (传统笙, pinyin

Pinyin

: chuántǒng shēng) used in, for example, northern Chinese ritual music, 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. The style originated in the Wu cultural area...

and Jiangnan sizhu

Jiangnan sizhu

Jiangnan sizhu is a style of traditional Chinese instrumental music from the Jiangnan region of China.-Name:The name Jiangnan sizhu is made up of two parts. Jiangnan is the traditional name for the area south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze river in southern Jiangsu, Shanghai, and northern...

ensembles generally have 17 pipes but with only 13 or 14 sounding pipes. Its scale is mainly diatonic, for example the 17 pipe (4 silent) sheng used in Jiangnan sizhu is tuned:

a′ b′ c″ c♯″ d″ e″ (2 pipes), f♯″ g″ a″ b″ c♯″′ d″′ or

A4, B4, C5, C♯5, D5, E5 (2 pipes), F♯5, G5, A5, B5, C♯6, D6.

With the development of guoyue
Guoyue
Guoyue is a modernized form of Chinese traditional music written or adapted for some form of grand presentation, usually through a large orchestra of Chinese instruments. It was created in mainland China beginning in the early 20th century and is frequently broadcast on radio and television in the...

music in mid-20th century China, the sheng underwent changes to increase its range and volume. The guoyue sheng had all its 17 pipes fitted with reeds, then the number of pipes increased to 21, and metal tubes were attached to the bamboo pipes to amplify its sound. The other change was the development of the keyed sheng.

Keyed sheng

Chromatic 24 and 26 pipe keyed sheng were common during the 1950s, but current models usually have 36 pipes. There are four main ranges of keyed sheng, forming a family of soprano, alto, tenor and bass. All are chromatic throughout their range, and tuned to the equal temperament scale.

Gaoyin sheng (高音笙, pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

Gāoyīn Shēng)
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 symbol 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. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the staff...
Zhongyin sheng (中音笙, pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

Zhōngyīn Shēng)
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 (次中音笙, pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

Cìzhōngyīn Shēng)
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. The cizhingyin sheng can also be used as diyin sheng.
Diyin sheng (低音笙, pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

Dīyīn Shēng)
32-pipe sheng with a bass range of C2 to G4. Uses bass clef.

Much larger types of keyed sheng include the da paisheng (lit. large row sheng); a large floor standing organ-like instrument with foot pedals, and the baosheng (lit. held sheng), which is played resting on the player’s lap or on a stand.

Notable sheng players

Feng Haiyun (冯海云) (who is a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music
Central Conservatory of Music
The Central Conservatory of Music is the national leading music school in Beijing, China.Founded in 1950, the Conservatory offers courses to both Chinese nationals and foreign students, and caters for all levels from primary up to postgraduate programmes...

in Beijing).
Hu Tianquan (胡天泉) - introduced technical improvements on the construction of the instrument
Guo Wanpeng (郭万鹏)
Guo Yi (郭艺).
François Picard
Rodrigo Rodriguez http://www.rodrigo-rodriguez.com/Biography.html
Wang Hong
Simon Jeffes
Ross Hewitt
Wang Zhengting (王正亭)
Weng Zhenfa (翁鎮發)
Wu Tong (吴彤)
Wu Wei (吴巍)
Xu Chaoming
Ng Cheuk-yin, composer and bandleader of SIU2 (Hong Kong)
Guo Changsuo, principal player at Singapore Chinese Orchestra.
Yang Ji Wei , founder of The TENG Company, winner of the 2004 National Chinese Music Competition (Solo - Sheng, Suona & Guan Category) and the 2005 NAC-Shell Singapore Arts Scholarship

External links

http://www.ksanti.net/free-reed/history/sheng.html
http://curriculum.calstatela.edu/courses/hist494a/archae/zhy-sheng.html
http://www.patmissin.com/history/western.html
http://www.chime.com.cn/A-5-1.htm
Sheng, 19th century at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
http://chrismusica.com/rare_instrument.html - Article and video about the Sheng

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.