Transcript Music - EasternStyle - Utah Valley University

Chinese Musicology:
1/3 Method
Pentatonic scale
v.
12-tone scale
1/3 Method
• Perfect 5th at higher pitch
Cut 1/3: forward arrow
• Perfect 4th at lower pitch
Patch 1/3: backward arrow
x 3/2
x 3/4
F1 G1 A1 B1C D E F G A B
F1 G1 A1 B1C D E F G A B
F1
C
G1
D
A1
E
B1
#
F
#
C
#
G
D#
A#
F1 G1 A1 B1C D E F G A B
1.8984375
1.8020225
1.6875
1.601807
1.5
1.423828
1.333333
1.265625
1.201355
1.125
1.06787
1
=(3/2)3(3/4)2
=(3/2)5(3/4)5
=(3/2)2(3/4)
=(3/2)4(3/4)4
=(3/2)
=(3/2)3(3/4)3
=(3/4)-1
=(3/2)2(3/4)2
=(3/2)4(3/4)5
=(3/2)(3/4)
=(3/2)3(3/4)4
=(3/2)2(3/4)
=(3/2)-1
Pipa
– the lute
6 xiangs
Total
30 frets
24 pings
Tuning
ADEa
Pipa History
• Pipa – meaning plucking back and forth
• Appeared in Chinese written texts of the
second century BC
• North-South Dynasty (420-589 AD), pipa with
a crooked neck was introduced from Middle
Asia.
• The two styles were combined and evolved
into the present day pipa.
Pipa
– the lute
Finger-Plucking Techniques:
彈: forward
挑: backward
摭: inward
分: outward
滾: long inward
輪: long outward
掃: inward swash
拂: outward swash
推: push
Pipa
The bold strings rattled like splatters of sudden rain,
The fine strings hummed like lovers' whispers.
Chattering and pattering, pattering and chattering,
As pearls, large and small, on a jade plate fall.
Erhu
– the spiked fiddle
Erhu History
Erhu dates back at least a thousand years. Different names
appear at different times and places. It is called 胡弓 in
Japan, Dan Nhi in Vietnam. At its early age in China, it was
嵇琴. Mongolians have a similar instrument called morinhuur. A more descriptive term is spiked fiddle. Its timbre is
closer to human voice than other string instruments. Its
key part is a snake skin-covered sound box. A gauge is used
to replace the finger board and nut. The bow is captured
between two strings. These quaint features make the
playing hard to perfect and yet it is these features that give
charm in the music of erhu.
Erhu: Comparing with Violin
• Longer strings
• Same finger position for two strings
• No fingerboard: more flexibility
• No peg box or nut
• Sound box: drum-like
• Bow captured between two strings
Erhu Ergonomics:
Comparing with Violin
• Easier on fingering:
up-down motion
same stop for both strings
easier for fiddling
• Harder on bowing:
captured
horizontal
Erhu
•The article “Why is the violin so hard to play?”
applies to erhu too.
http://plus.maths.org/issue31/features/woodhouse/index.h
tml
• Since there is no fingerboard, finger pressure is
a critical part of the erhu technique. The
instrument is thus capable of tremendous tonal
flexibility and expressiveness.
Why is the violin so hard to play?
by J Woodhouse and PM Galluzzo
When you pluck a note on a guitar string, there isn't very much that can go wrong.
You may not play the right note at the right time, of course, but a single note will
always come out at the expected pitch, and sounding reasonably musical. When a
beginner tries to play a violin, things are much more difficult. When a bow is drawn
across a string, the result might be a musical note at the desired pitch, but on the
other hand it might be an undesirable whistle, screech or graunch. This difference
stems from a fundamental distinction between the physics of plucked and bowed
strings.
Linear versus nonlinear: plucked versus bowed
A plucked string, like that on a guitar, can be described by linear systems theory.
The essential feature of a linear system is that if you can find two different solutions
to the governing equations, then the sum of the two is also a solution. In the context
of vibration, this idea has a direct physical application.
A vibrating object like a stretched string has certain resonance frequencies, each
associated with a particular pattern of vibration called a vibration mode. The
corresponding resonance frequencies are the "fundamental" and "harmonics" of the
note to which the string is tuned. If the string is set into vibration in the shape of one
of these modes it will continue to vibrate in this shape at the corresponding
resonance frequency, with an amplitude which gradually dies away as the energy is
dissipated into sound and heat.
Why is the violin so hard to play?
by J Woodhouse and PM Galluzzo
Now if the string is vibrated in a way that involves several of the mode shapes at
once, then the principle of linearity comes into play. Each mode simply goes its own
way, vibrating at its particular resonance frequency, and the total sound is the sum
of the contributions from these separate modes (you can read more about adding
harmonics in Music of the Primes in Issue 28). The guitar player can vary the
mixture of amplitudes of the various modes, by plucking at different points on the
string or using a different plectrum, but the set of resonance frequencies is always
the same. In musical terms, the pitch of the note is always the same but the tonal
quality can be adjusted.
A bowed string is different. A note on a violin can be sustained for as long as your
bow-stroke lasts, with a steady amplitude. Although energy is being dissipated into
sound and heat, somehow the bow is supplying additional energy at exactly the
right rate to compensate. This is one identifying sign of a non-linear system, for
which the idea of adding contributions from different vibration modes cannot be
applied in the simple way described above. The theory of such systems is always
more intricate, and there is scope for very complicated outcomes and chaotic
behaviour (read more about chaos in Issue 26). The range of good and bad noises
which can be made on a violin string are examples of these complicated outcomes.
The same general comments apply equally well to other musical instrument capable
of a sustained tone such as the woodwind and brass instruments…….
Dizi
- flute
Dizi
membrane
Dizi History
• Flute: Likely the oldest musical instrument of
human kind
• Varieties include
qudi (曲笛): more mellow and lyrical sound
bangdi (梆笛): more bright and vigorous
sound
• The first written record of the membrane
(dimo) dates from the 12th century.
Demo at 山青水秀611kdFBdje20110915.flv
or
http://www.im.tv/VLOG/Personal/485269/1010915
Guzeng
- zither
Guzeng - zither
koto (Japanese)
gayageum (Korean)
đàn tranh (Vietnamese)
• 15-34 (normally 21) Strings
• Pentatonic Tuning
… D E F# a b …
• No frets
Guzeng History
• 2500 years
• Recently, half-tone strings are added.
Guzeng - zither
Left hand: vibrato, halftone and sliding
Right hand: similar to pipa, creating sounds that
can evoke the sense of a cascading waterfall,
thunder, horses' hooves, and even the scenic
countryside