A Guide To Traditional Chinese Instruments: A Video Essay

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Hi everyone! In this video, I wanted to take a deeper look into the traditional Chinese instruments heard in many pieces and film scores. I hope you learn something from this presentation. Thank you!
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[@vtron9832]

Dude I say this from the center of my heart, thank you so much for making this video essay featuring the Chinese instruments’ descriptions and sounds!

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@kenrobinson8060]

This is the site I have been looking for and very well presented, CONGRATULATIONS.

[@igobykem6204]

Heya! Native Mandarin Chinese speaker here. I just wanted to give a few notes on Mandarin pronunciation for instrument names. Before I get into it, I just wanna say that I personally grew up around some of these instruments, and seeing someone make such a comprehensive video on them really made me happy. Excellent job on the video! 3:21 (Huqin) The error here is made in "qin." In Mandarin Chinese, the letter "q" makes a sharp "ch" sound, as opposed to "ch," which creates a softer one. In addition, "i" in Mandarin actually makes an "ee" sound on its own, but not before an "n," in which case it does sound sort of like "in." (Somewhere between in and een) Not much else to say here, but it is pronounced "hoo-chiin." 4:30 (Erhu) This one's easily mispronounced by literally every non-Mandarin speaker I've ever met, so it's not just you lol. In Mandarin, our "e" does not make the English "ee" or "eh" sound. Instead, it sounds more like a cross between "eh" and "uh." You might have to search it up, as the sound is difficult to approximate to English. So what about "er?" "Er" in Chinese sounds like the English "ar," or the word "are," so "erhu" is "ar-hoo," not "err-hoo." Also, in Mandarin, we have a particular system of how the intonation of each word rises or falls, but I don't wanna have to explain that. 12:15 (Gaohu) Pretty good try. The only note here is that the "a" in "gao" has a more open sound pronounced at the back of the mouth, like "ah," so it's "gaao-hoo." 14:53 (Zhonghu) Alright, an easy mistake here. As much it does look like "zong," which would be the case if it were spelt like that, "zh" actually sounds like a mix between "z" and "j," like a hard "z" sound. Also, in "ong," the letter "o" is long, as in "bow" and "arrow." You might need to hear this one to get it right, too, as Chinese often does get weird in this kind of stuff. But yeah, "jōng-hoo." 17:00 (Banhu) Again, very nice! Only, like before, the "a" has a more open sound, like in "faun." 18:42 (Gehu) Aw yiss, another weird-e word. The letter "e" in Chinese has a sound challenging to transliterate into English, so you're probably better off searching it up than having me try to explain it. 21:36 (Pipa) No big issue here. Just remember the open "a." 25:45 (Liuqin) This is just Mandarin being Mandarin again, honestly. The "iu" in Mandarin does not sound like "eyoo." It's more like "ee-oh." This is another one you may need to hear about perfecting. Also, the qin makes a "chin" sound. 26:51 (Guqin) Again, "goo-chin," not "kin." 29:05 (Guzheng) This is one of my favourite Chinese instruments. The most significant point is that the "zheng" makes a "zjung" sound. Yeah, remember when I said "e" sounded like "uh?" Kinda just add an "ng" to the end of that for something close to "ung." 31:49 (Yangqin) As much as "yang" is often pronounced "yaang" in Western culture (e.g. "Yin and Yang"), in Mandarin Chinese, it's actually "yahng," the same open "ah" at the back of the mouth. 33:24 (Ruan) You were actually pretty close with this one! "Ruan" tends to be a harder one to pronounce for non-Mandarin speakers, so congratulations! But yeah, the sound does sit close to "ruahn." Very nice! 33:48 (Gaoyin Ruan, Xiaoruan, Zhongruan, Daruan, Diyin Ruan) Oh boy, we've got a clump of them here. I'll just put my points in point form: -"gaoyin" sounds like "gaa-oh-yiin," with the same open "ah," soft "oh," and mix of "yeen" and "yin." -"xiao" is not "seeaoh." This one is also difficult for non-native speakers! "X" in Mandarin makes a hard "shh" sound, as opposed to a softer "sh" from the actual "sh," so "xiao" is actually "shheeaoh." -you pronounced "zhongruan" and "daruan" correctly. Nice! -in Chinese, we rarely, if ever, use soft "ih" sounds, like in "him," so "diyin" would sound like "dee-yiin." 36:15 (Dizi) Also, pretty close, only the "i=ee" rule doesn't apply in "zi." Instead, "zi" sounds like "dzuu." This one's also a weird one to put into English, so you should hear this one to get it as well. 38:56 (Xiao) Here we are again with the "xiao" sound! Same as in "Xiaoruan," it's more like "shheeaoh." 39:28 (Qixianqin) Oh, I could hear the struggle with this one. But, don't worry, this one's more straightforward than the others! It sounds more like "chee-shian-chiin." 42:18 (Sheng) Again, "e" in Mandarin does not make the same sound as in English, so "sheng" would sound like "sheung" or "shung." If you've got the sound of "e" on its own down, just add an "ng" to the end, and you've got "eng" too. 44:42 (Xun) You've got the "un" sound down for the most part (my only suggestion is bringing up the sides of your tongue a little for a more "eu-"like sound), but "x" does still make a "shh" sound. 47:05 (Hulusi) No issue at all with "hulu," but "si" sounds like "suu," just like in "dizi." So you might need to search this one up as well. 49:40 (Suona) Ooh, don't you just love weird combinations of sounds? "Suo" has a sound more like "suwoh." To get it right, start by saying it in two parts like "sue-woh," then making it faster until it flows as one sound. 52:24 (Dagu and Xiaogu) Same open "ah" for "da," so it sounds like "dah," and same deal with "xiao" mentioned before. 56:28 (Bo and Cha) "Bo" in this case actually makes a sound like "bwoh" or "buoh," and "cha" was pronounced pretty accurately, only the "a" is actually less open for something closer to "chawh." 58:35 (Gong) Yes, I know it's pronounced "gohng" literally everywhere, but, in Mandarin, it's pronounced "goung," with a long o. 1:00:56 (Zhuban and Paiban) "Paiban" was said right on! Nice! For "zhuban," though, make sure the "zh" sounds like "zj." Whew, that was a ride to type! Even with some pronunciation errors, the tries you made were pretty brave, and that's what matters! Well done! Hopefully, you learned a thing or two reading this, and thanks for reading it at all! Lol that's it

[@ChristopherSiu]

Haha thanks for taking the time to write all this! Much appreciated.

[@zenithapollostar487]

You communicate very good😊 I really like to watch you play your instrument and play your notes with true feeling..When I hear your music I feel some memories from ancient lives past lived. You make me feel between people to your music. Thank you 😊

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thank you very much!

[@theshillpill6937]

Nicely done! The is helps a ton, I’m planning to write a piece based off the Monkey King legend, Journey to the West

[@YaoEspirito]

What an informative and well put-together production! Fantastic 🙏🏾

[@ChristopherSiu]

Much appreciated!

[@reyfernandezjr]

You put a lot of effort to your videos, thanks a lot for your time and dedication !

[@ChristopherSiu]

It’s definitely fulfilling. Thanks Rey!

[@ndru4694]

Great work Chris for guiding the community.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks!

[@captebbtide]

I enjoyed this tutorial on Chinese instruments! I am, in fact, the proud owner of my own little "orchestra", with an nan-erhu, sheng, suona, vertical and horizontal bawus, a double bawu, huluci, xiao, pan pipe and a number of dizis, providing me hours of pleasure!😅😅

[@captebbtide]

😊

[@catarinadavid6323]

Fantástica aula!!! Gratíssima!

[@sera808]

Really enjoying watching this! Great video, really well put together.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks for watching!

[@adisi143]

A great job done. giving a broad range of information about Chinese traditional musical instruments.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks for watching!

[@dluxdsgn]

Thank you so much for this guidelines! It helps me a lot to understand the bunch of Chinese instruments😎🙏

[@pascalezanno9910]

Great and very useful video ! Bravo!

[@jefflin9125]

39:18 Corrections here, Xiao is traditionally made with bamboo, with very precise requirement of the choosing. it is usually qijie, which means if you look closely and count you will see its got 7 sections (parts? divisions? What I mean is the bamboo part), so yea.

[@jefflin9125]

And since you displayed the dizi range of bandi and dadi, thought you might as well show the difference between that of a nanxiao (Southern xiao) and beixiao (Northern xiao), as they are actually quite different

[@JimLane]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@ChristopherSiu]

My pleasure!

[@VoidloniXaarii]

Such a surprise this video. One of those things I've always wanted but never knew I did. BTW.. Been trying hard to learn Chinese for 3 years now but it turns out to be much much harder than any of the previous 4 languages I learned so it's discouraging... I thought I'd be much further already... But not giving up!!

[@ChristopherSiu]

You can do this!!

[@jqmichael13]

This is such a cool guide! Thank you for creating and sharing this. It really does a good job explaining and differentiating these instruments and will help me with implementing their sounds into my music. I've been wanting a guide like this for a long time. Thanks!!

[@ChristopherSiu]

You're very welcome! Please feel free to share it if you think others might find it useful as well :)

[@andy-simmons]

This is such a helpful video, thank you! Love the demonstrations.

[@ChristopherSiu]

You are so welcome!

[@iacoposeri3420]

Thank you so much, you’ve put together an amazing resource! ☺️🙏🏼

[@ChristopherSiu]

You're so welcome!

Wonderful sounding instruments, love the shēnghuáng.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Indeed!

[@masterstacker2833]

Another great video. You're on fire!

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks again!

[@kpb13]

Great video! Thanks!

[@ChristopherSiu]

You're welcome!

[@giuseppedaizzole7025]

Fantastic,interesting and well done....thanks

[@ChristopherSiu]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@rumar4u]

Very expressive... no doubt... and that Erhu sound has been on my head since my childhood. As much as I like it, probably due to my Western Culture, it never breaks my inner feelings like the Piano, Brass or an Strings Ensemble would. Same thing with the guitar.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Totally understand!

[@rumar4u]

@Christopher Siu Also, nice video dude. Great job in what you’re doing.

[@ChristopherSiu]

@@rumar4u Thank you!

[@ArturoAlbero]

I love this video, great job here!! It's almost a documentary about Chinese instruments :)

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks Arturo! Appreciate it :)

[@J-MLindeMusic]

Must have missed this one. Lucky to have found it, as lately I've been doing some research into Japanese and Chinese instruments so I could utilize them better in my writing. Bookmarked!

[@ChristopherSiu]

Amazing!!

This is really interesting, well done.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks Joël :)

[@lovelyhollow8638]

This really helped me with my band project

[@NevadaSYSTEMmusic]

Fantastic overview, really great content here! Also, have a unity ❤from a fellow member of canto struggle gang 😅

[@leonardocruz83]

Great video :)

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks!

[@iandabest3973]

This is very helpful. 好嘢啊！

[@BillyPalmerMusic]

I have Chinese family but actually know nothing about the musical heritage. This was an amazing starting point.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Glad it's helpful Billy :D

[@potatokitty]

中胡 sounds like an old man telling me a story from his childhood.

[@VoidloniXaarii]

Thank you very much

[@ChristopherSiu]

It's my pleasure!

[@crystalball020]

This channel is too under rated

[@ChristopherSiu]

Appreciate it!

[@abdulalshibly3930]

This is amazing! I have a request I don't know if you are familiar with the composer Joe Hisaishi he is a Japanese music composer He mainly composed for Ghibli Studios He uses a special music theory which is a mixture of traditional Japanese/Asian music theory and Traditional music theory I would love to hear some of your thoughts about him and if you want help watch the video "Why does Miyazaki music sound soo cool" from Sideways

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks Abdul! Great idea, I'll add that to the list!

[@KerwinYoungComposer]

Hi Chris, whenever you get around to it, I'd love to for you to present a comparative video on the sound quality between Jade Ethnic Orchestra -vs- Orchestral Tools' upcoming Phoenix Orchestra. Aside from the sound quality, I notice the Phoenix Orchestra isn't as thorough as Jade, and lacking the presence of guqin, choir, and some perc instruments. Phoenix seems to highlight the more commonly recorded Chinese instruments in cinema; as spearheaded by Harry Gregson-Williams. A comparative video would be quite interesting. BTW, I'm still using EW Silk, which IMHO is still a great library.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Definitely on the list Kerwin!

[@gabrielkaz5250]

Cordes frottées Gaohu : 13:10 Jinghu (à gauche), Erhu (à droite) : 10:06 Erhu : 7:42 Zhonghu : 15:39 Banhu : 17:38 Gehu : 19:27 Cordes pincées (à porter) Liuqin : 26:36 Pipa : 22:22 & 24:50 Gaoyin Ruan Xiaoruan Zhongruan : 34:20 Daruan : 34:48 Diyin ruan (Sur table) Guqin : 27:31 & 27:49 Guzheng : 29:58 Yangqin : 32:47 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Vents Dizi : 36:58 Dadi : 37:36 Xiao : 39:41 Bawu : 41:50 Sheng : 43:19 Xun : 45:36 Hulusi : 48:10 Suona : 50:12 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Percussions Paigu : 55:49 Xiaogu Dagu : Jiangu : 53:34 Tambour aigu : 55:36 Tambour medium : 54:53 Tambour grave : 54:09 Cha : 56:59 Bo : 57:41 Gong : 59:25 Poissons de bois (?) aigu : 1:00:34 Poissons de bois grave : 1:00:47 Claps : 1:01:35

[@dafingaz]

Nice!

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks!

[@dafingaz]

Christopher Siu thank you too!

[@mahg86]

Nice! Any sample libraries including Chinese instruments?

[@ChristopherSiu]

Strezov Sampling's Jade Ethnic Orchestra is the one that inspired this video :)

[@carolloughridge8483]

I enjoyed this video very much the only thing is that on the Disney flute you did not tell us about the bamboo membrane paper that goes over the one hole that gives the flu it’s Magic but that is a slight neglect other than that I found a very informing and very helpful thank you

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks for watching Carol!

[@rbrisk1]

What is the song of the woman playing the Guzheng called?

[@potatokitty]

What I do at 1am baffles me.

[@ChristopherSiu]

It's worth it I promise

[@irisyauinternational1802]

👍

[@Emihasdreamstoo]

Let’s start saving up money then. Maybe I’ll finally get one after I turn like 80🤧

[@yushenxiao2469]

33:40 the modern ruan should have 24 frets not 12

[@TheTristanmarcus]

Superb video 👍🏽🙏🏽❤ I have a question: for some reason, Sibelius 8 doesn't have Chinese instruments 🤔 Do you recommend writing for the nearest western instrument to the Chinese instrument that you really want? 🙏🏽👍🏽

[@ChristopherSiu]

Yes, that can definitely work!

[@TheTristanmarcus]

@@ChristopherSiu Thank you 🙏🏽🎶😎

[@roryonabike5863]

Why no brass?

[@ChristopherSiu]

Chinese instruments actually don't really contain the typical 'brass' instruments as we see in Western culture.

[@roryonabike5863]

@@ChristopherSiu Yes, but presumably there are ideas about why that is. Historically, did Chinese armies not have some kind of horn? In Chinese music, are there instruments made from animal horn?

[@ChristopherSiu]

@@roryonabike5863 That would be correct. As far as I'm aware, Chinese music doesn't really contain any form of the horn (the closest being a suona). Rather, they have dedicated plucked strings instruments, where our Western orchestra doesn't.

[@roryonabike5863]

@@ChristopherSiu That just cries out for an explanation. Surely the Chinese knew that it's possible to make instruments from horns, so the question is, why didn't they use them in orchestras?

[@ChristopherSiu]

Rory on a Bike Honestly I believe it’s as simple as: it never came into style. Just like how Western instruments were developed over time and included in the orchestra, so was the same for the Chinese orchestra. They just focused on more plucked strings than brass. Naturally, each culture’s orchestra will contain different elements.

[@lavaking]

Quietest pp gang where you at

[@pauldecastro4815]

that info on the hulusi and the stop note...wrong! the really good players don't have that problem.

[@urthsfount5611]

😅 the concept of “two main dialects in China” isn’t really a thing. About 2/3 of Chinese people speak a variation of Mandarin as their local dialect, while Cantonese only spoken by around 5%. Mandarin literally means language of the bureaucrats or the official language. Cantonese has an oversized presence overseas largely because of large number of Chinese immigrant were from Guangdong who were never educated properly while in China and didn’t really learn Standard Chinese.