The Chinese dizi is a delicate instrument known for its whimsical, light tones. The dizi is a transverse flute, usually made of bamboo, which has six finger holes and an extra seventh hole, known as the “membrane hole”. This membrane hole is what makes the dizi so special. A fine covering, most often made out […]
The most famous of all the Chinese instruments is the erhu, a two-stringed bowed instrument with a box resonator. And the most famous of all erhu pieces is undoubtedly ‘The Moon Reflected in Second Spring’, or erquan yingyue in Chinese. ‘The Moon Reflected in Second Spring’ was written by Hua Yanjun, better known as Blind […]
Chinese music is influenced by the teachings of Confucius, who thought of music as a means of soothing one’s passions and of chasing away conflict and desire. Thus, music is an instrument of purifying a person’s thoughts. There are several “families” of musical instruments used in traditional Chinese music. One of these is the Bowed […]
Traditional Chinese music has a history of more than 8,000 years. Music in China was very much a part of the Confucian tradition, which used music for performing rituals. Some instruments dug up from archaeological sites of the Shang Dynasty including panpines, bronze bells and stone chimes date back to the 1766-1027 B.C. By the […]