China.txt

Mystic and inward looking Chinese religion.

Chinese religion concerned with norms of moral behavior

Major religion in China emphasizing meditation and inner knowledge

Pentatonic modes without semitones

• curved board zither with 21 strings
• bridges can move to tune strings

four-string pear-shaped fretted lute

traditional bowed lutes

two-string bowed spike fiddle

bowed spike fiddle pitched an octave above the erhu

Four string fiddle

• fretless fingerboard lute with shallow resonator
• used in opera and epic narratives

• plucked fingerboard lute with circular resonator
• used in opera and storytelling

earliest version of yueqin

hammered box-zither

end-blown bamboo pipes

vertical bamboo notch flute

transverse bamboo flute

double-reed instrument

multiple pipe single reed instrument with air chamber

Gong

Collections of bronze bells

• Large barrel-shaped drum with riveted heads
• Used in folk, religious, and court music

Small horizontal drum on a stand

idiophone - wooden slats on a string

Sophisticated Chinese zither

• Hand lightly touches vibrating string but does not stop vibration
• Creates higher pitch than open string

Chinese word for harmonic

• "Wild Geese Descending onto the Sandbank"
• Guqin song

Small cymbals

Gong and drum folk ensembles

Folk ensemble with gong, drum, and two suona

• silk-and-bamboo ensembles
• Feature dizi, sanxian, erhu and other soft instruments with ban for tempo

• Sizhu song
• Variation on a parent tune

Classical dramatic form

• Beijing Opera
• most popular dramatic form

Jingxi song

Popular Chinese musician banned by the communist government for his performance

"Pop instrumental" group featuring women from music conservatories and orchestras on traditional instruments