Zhongruan
Encyclopedia
The zhongruan is a Chinese plucked string instrument
. In English, it is sometimes called a “moon guitar
”, because it has a round sound box. The zhongruan has a straight neck with 24 frets on the fingerboard
and 4 strings. It is usually played with a plectrum
(guitar pick). It can also be played with fingers (index finger and thumb with acrylic nails), which is similar to the way of playing the pipa
(琵琶). The zhongruan is a tenor-ranged instrument in the family of ruan
(阮). In ancient China
, the ruan was called Qin pipa (Qin [Dynasty] pipa, 秦琵琶). Now the ruan has expanded to different sizes and the zhongruan is the "medium" one.
and used to accompany other instruments in Chinese orchestra
. It can also be played solo
.
Watch and listen: Zhongruan solo - "The Turned Over Curtain", 倒垂簾
(紅木). For the best sound quality and visual appearance, it is made of red sandalwood (紫檀木), because red sandalwood is best known for its beautiful wood grain
, unique purplish color, hardness and rareness. Therefore, a red sandalwood made zhongruan is heavier and more expensive.
For reference, see: The Construction of Ruan (in Chinese), 中國民樂網
Note that the frets on all Chinese lutes are high so that the fingers never touch the actual body--distinctively different from western fretted instruments. This allows for a greater control over timbre and intonation than their western counterparts, but makes chordal playing more difficult.
Composers:
Plucked string instrument
Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such as way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate...
. In English, it is sometimes called a “moon guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
”, because it has a round sound box. The zhongruan has a straight neck with 24 frets on the fingerboard
Fingerboard
The fingerboard is a part of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument and above which the strings run...
and 4 strings. It is usually played with a plectrum
Plectrum
A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate tool held in the player's hand...
(guitar pick). It can also be played with fingers (index finger and thumb with acrylic nails), which is similar to the way of playing the pipa
Pipa
The pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments . Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26...
(琵琶). The zhongruan is a tenor-ranged instrument in the family of ruan
Ruan
The ruan is a Chinese plucked string instrument. It is a lute with a fretted neck, a circular body, and four strings. Its strings were formerly made of silk but since the 20th century they have been made of steel...
(阮). In ancient China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, the ruan was called Qin pipa (Qin [Dynasty] pipa, 秦琵琶). Now the ruan has expanded to different sizes and the zhongruan is the "medium" one.
Usage of the Zhongruan
The tuning of zhongruan is G-D-G-D. Since the zhongruan has a rounded， calm and rich tone, it is usually played as a lead instrument in small ensemblesMusical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
and used to accompany other instruments in Chinese orchestra
Chinese orchestra
The term Chinese Orchestra can refer to either:* The ancient Chinese Orchestra, or* The modern Chinese Orchestra-The ancient Chinese Orchestra:...
. It can also be played solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
.
Watch and listen: Zhongruan solo - "The Turned Over Curtain", 倒垂簾
The Construction of Zhongruan
For a good quality zhongruan, it is usually made of rosewoodRosewood
Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for guitars, marimbas, turnery , handles, furniture, luxury flooring, etc.In general,...
(紅木). For the best sound quality and visual appearance, it is made of red sandalwood (紫檀木), because red sandalwood is best known for its beautiful wood grain
Wood grain
In speaking of wood the term grain refers to the alternating regions of relatively darker and lighter wood resulting from the differing growth parameters occurring in different seasons . The term is used in several ways. Perhaps most important is that in woodworking techniques...
, unique purplish color, hardness and rareness. Therefore, a red sandalwood made zhongruan is heavier and more expensive.
- The lute head (琴頭) is for decoration. Three common decorative patterns are ruyiRuyiRuyi is a curved decorative object that is a ceremonial sceptre in Chinese Buddhism or a talisman symbolizing power and good fortune in Chinese folklore. A traditional ruyi has a long S-shaped handle and a head fashioned like a fist, cloud, or lingzhi mushroom. Ruyi are constructed from diverse...
(如意, good fortune), peonyPeonyPeony or paeony is a name for plants in the genus Paeonia, the only genus in the flowering plant family Paeoniaceae. They are native to Asia, southern Europe and western North America...
and dragonDragonA dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
. They are usually made of plastic or ivoryIvoryIvory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
.
- Under the lute head is a pegboxPegboxA pegbox is the part of certain stringed musical instruments that houses the tuning pegs....
(弦軸箱) with tuning pegsPEGSPEGS may refer to:*Program for Exceptionally Gifted Students*Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School...
(琴栓) that hold the strings. The pegs are usually made of wood or buffalo horn. Nowadays, most the zhongruans have tuning machine headMachine headA machine head is part of a string instrument ranging from guitars to double basses, a geared apparatus for applying tension and thereby tuning a string, usually located at the headstock. A headstock has several machine heads, one per string...
s (弦鈕) instead of a peg box, since they make it easier to tune, and the pegs are made of wood.
- The strings (弦) were made of silk in the old times. The number of strands of silk determined the thickness of the string. Nowadays, metal wound polymer strings are used.
- A nutNut (hardware)A nut is a type of hardware fastener with a threaded hole. Nuts are almost always used opposite a mating bolt to fasten a stack of parts together. The two partners are kept together by a combination of their threads' friction, a slight stretch of the bolt, and compression of the parts...
(山口) is placed between the pegbox and the neck to secure the strings. It is usually made of plastic, buffalo bone or ivory.
- The neck (琴頸) connects the lute head and the body. It has a fingerboardFingerboardThe fingerboard is a part of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument and above which the strings run...
(指板) and 24 frets (品). The frets are usually made of plastic, buffalo bone, wood and metal (copper). For a good quality zhongruan, the frets are made of a combination of plastic and copper, or wood and copper, with the metal part inlaid at the top of each fret. In combining two materials, the frets last without damaging from long-time practice.
- The circular sound boxSound boxA sound box or sounding box is an open chamber in the body of a musical instrument which modifies the sound of the instrument, and helps transfer that sound to the surrounding air. Objects respond more strongly to vibrations at certain frequencies, known as resonances...
(共鳴箱) body is made of a combination of front board, back board and side board. There are two sound holeSound holeA sound hole is an opening in the upper sound board of a stringed musical instrument.The sound holes can have different shapes: round in flat-top guitars, F-holes in instruments from the violin or viol families and in arched-top guitars, rosettes in lutes. Bowed Lyras have D-holes and Mandolins may...
s (音孔) on the front board to transmit sound. Some common shapes for the sound holds are circle, moon, S, and bird.
- At the lower part of the body, a bridgeBridgeA bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
(琴碼) is placed to support the strings and transmit vibration.
- At the bottom of the body is a tailpieceTailpieceA tailpiece is a component on many stringed musical instruments that anchors one end of the strings, usually the end opposite the end with the tuning mechanism the scroll, headstock, peghead, etc.-Function and construction:...
(縛弦) to anchor the strings .
For reference, see: The Construction of Ruan (in Chinese), 中國民樂網
Note that the frets on all Chinese lutes are high so that the fingers never touch the actual body--distinctively different from western fretted instruments. This allows for a greater control over timbre and intonation than their western counterparts, but makes chordal playing more difficult.
Some Famous Zhongruan Music Pieces
- 《滿江紅》 The River All Red (zhongruan concerto)
- 《雲南回憶》Reminiscences of Yunnan (zhongruan concerto)
- 《睡蓮》 Water Lily (zhongruan solo)
- 《絲路駝鈴》 Camel Bells of the Silk Road (zhongruan solo)
- 《孤芳自賞》Narcissistic (zhongruan solo)
- 《火把節之夜》 The Night of the Torch Festival (zhongruan solo)
- 《倒垂簾》The Turned Over Curtain (zhongruan solo)
- 《天地之間》 Between the Sky and the Land (zhongruan duet)
Zhongruan composers and performers
Performers:- 徐陽 Xu Yang
- 刘波 Liu Bo
- 沈飞 Shen Fei
- 魏蔚 Wei Wei
- 魏育茹 Wei Yuru
- 吳強 Wu Qiang
- 阮仕春 Ruan Shichun
- 张蓉晖 Zhang Ronghui(新加坡华乐团 Singapore Chinese Orchestra)
- 冯翠珊 Feng Cuishan(新加坡华乐团 Singapore Chinese Orchestra)
- 林惠龙 Ian Ling
- 丁晓燕 Ding Xiaoyan
- 张鑫华 Zhang Xinhua
- 苗晓芸 Miao Xiaoyun, tenor and bass ruan, pipaPipaThe pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments . Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26...
- 白玉 Bai Yu
- 周长花 Zhou Changhua
- 马兰花 Ma Lanhua
- 崔军淼 Cui Junmiao
Composers:
- 林吉良 Lin Jiliang
- 王仲丙 Wang Zhongbing
- 劉星Liu Xing
- 寧勇Ning Yong
- 吳俊生 Wu Junsheng
- 苏涵达 Tommy Su Handa
See also
- RuanRuanThe ruan is a Chinese plucked string instrument. It is a lute with a fretted neck, a circular body, and four strings. Its strings were formerly made of silk but since the 20th century they have been made of steel...
- Traditional Chinese musical instrumentsTraditional Chinese musical instruments-The Eight Sounds or Eight Tones :The eight categories are: silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and hide. There are other instruments which may not fit these classifications. This is one of the first musical classifications ever.-Silk :...
- Chinese OrchestraChinese orchestraThe term Chinese Orchestra can refer to either:* The ancient Chinese Orchestra, or* The modern Chinese Orchestra-The ancient Chinese Orchestra:...