Glossary
Glossary
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Dizi ()
“The di 笛 is also called the dizi 笛子. Today, the di is made of bamboo, with eight holes altogether: six for the fingers, one for blowing, and one for the "membrane", which gives the instrument a special and penetrating timbre. The di can be found in various sizes. The performance technique of the different sizes of the di varies depending on the individual genre in which the di is used. Traditionally it appeared in genres such as Jiangnan sizhu 江南絲竹, or Silk and Bamboo Music of the Jiangnan provinces, Guandong yinyue 廣東音樂, or Cantonese Music, chuidayue 吹打樂, or Wind-and-percussion Music, Kunqu 昆曲, or Kun Opera, and bangzi-system operas 梆子腔系戲曲. The instrument plays a vital role in the accompaniment of the last two genres. Because of this reason members of the di family can be roughly categorised into the following two types: qudi or bangdi , named after the respective operas. The qudi 曲笛 is longer than the bangdi 梆笛and thus has a lower range. Its characteristics are a round and relaxed sound, and long and cantabile melodies. This is the so-called southern style in di-playing. The sound of the bangdi, on the contrary, is more piercing. Typical of the bangdi, which represents the northern style in di-playing, are short and vivid melodies produced with more tonguing compared to that of the qudi. Nowadays, influenced by the development of a modern Chinese orchestra, the di of sizes other than the traditional ones are made to perform compositions written with Western idioms.” ()
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Sanxian
“Literally, "sanxian" means "three strings", which refers to the number of strings on this instrument. It is sometimes also called xianzi 弦子 . The name sanxian appeared in a written source from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), which claims that it was created in the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368). The structure of the sanxian closely resembles that of the qinpipa 秦琵琶 from the late Qin Dynasty (221 B.C. - 206 B.C.): the sound box of both instruments is mounted with animal hide. As the qinpipa was developed from another plucked instrument called the xiantao 弦鼗 or a (handled) drum with stretched strings, there is a saying that the xiantao may be the ancestor of the sanxian. If this saying is correct, then the sanxian would be older than ruan and the pipa. The sanxian was also exported, after the ruan and the pipa, to Japan during the sixteenth century and became the Japanese shamisen 三味線. Compared to other Chinese plucked instruments, sanxian has two distinctive structural features: first, both sides of its sound box are mounted with snakeskin instead of wood; second, it is fretless.
Traditionally, the sanxian is used as a major accompaniment instrument in many regional narrative songs, especially in Jingyun dagu 京韻大鼓, in which the dasanxian 大三弦, or the large sanxian, is used, and in Suzhou tanci 蘇州彈詞, where the xiaosanxian 小三弦, or the small sanxian, is used. The score Xiansuo Beikao (弦索備考 [Reference Collection of String Music]) from the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911) suggests that the sanxian (called xianzi in this score) was used in a string ensemble. In the modern Chinese orchestra, the large sanxian is used. The sanxian is plucked with fingers or with plectrum. The tunings of a large sanxian and a small sanxian are different. The range is fixed according to the length of the neck of the instrument.
The "solo tradition" of the sanxian, like that of most of the Chinese instruments, only started to develop in the second half of the twentieth century. A large part of its solo repertoire comprises adaptations of traditional instrumental or vocal genres.” (So Hon To)