guzheng

guzheng

Guzheng, also known as Han Zheng, Qin Zheng, Yao Zheng and Luan Zheng, is one of the traditional Chinese musical instruments, belonging to plucked instruments. It is one of the unique and important national musical instruments in China. The structure of guzheng is composed of panel, string, front Yueshan, string nail, tuning box, foot, back Yueshan, side plate, sound outlet, bottom plate and stringing hole.

The shape of Zheng is a rectangular wooden speaker. The string frame "Zheng column" (i.e. Yan column) can move freely, with one string and one tone. It is arranged according to the pentatonic scale. The earliest is 38 string Zheng (fense · Zheng). In Tang and Song Dynasties, there were 13 strings, and then increased to 16, 18, 21, 25, etc. the most commonly used specification is 21 strings. Usually, the former model of Guzheng uses S21, and s stands for S Xingyue mountain was jointly invented by Wang Xunzhi and Miao Jinlin. 163 represents the length of guzheng, which is about 163 cm. 21 represents the number of strings of guzheng, which is 21.

development history

Origin theory

Guzheng is an ancient musical instrument of the Han nationality. It was popular in the Qin Dynasty during the Warring States period and has a history of more than 2500 years. The origin of guzheng is still inconclusive.

The first is that "the zither is divided into two parts.". It is recorded in yinhualu written by Zhao Yu of Tang Dynasty: "Zheng, the music of Qin, is the stream of Qin. The 50 strings of ancient zither, since the Yellow Emperor ordered Su Nu to drum zither, the emperor was more than sad, breaking it, from the back zither to the 25 strings. Qin people's drum, brothers fight, and broken into two. The name of Zheng began from then on. " Jiyun of the Song Dynasty also supports this view: "Qin custom is thin and evil, father and son have a dispute over the zither, and each of them has its own half. At that time, it was called Zheng." Of course, in addition to the arguments between father and son, there are also arguments between brothers and sisters. It is recorded in the collection of music and Taoism by Oka Changming, a court musician in the reign of Yuanlu in Japan: "there are WANs and unjust people in Qin Dynasty. It is called Zheng because it is passed on to the two girls by one harp, and the two girls fight to break it

The second is "weapon improvement". According to this view, guzheng was originally a weapon in the Warring States period. Later, it was added with strings. When it was plucked, it was found to be pleasant to the ear, so it developed into a musical instrument. Therefore, it has the saying that "Zheng is music horizontally and becomes a soldier on site". With the passage of time, weapons are becoming more and more light, the huge guzheng will lose the role of weapons, only as a form of musical instrument.

The third is "sound naming.". In the later Han Dynasty, Liu Xi's Zheng article in Shi Ming said: "Shi Xian Gao Ji, Zheng Zheng ran also", and the "Zheng" of guzheng is named after the sound effect.

The fourth is "Mengtian made Zheng". In Han Dynasty, yingshao's "customs pass" wrote: "Zheng, according to the record of rites and music, five strings, build the body. Today's and lianger zither is shaped like a zither. I don't know who changed it. Or made by Meng Tian. " It can be seen that before the Han Dynasty, the shape of Guzheng should be "five strings, build the body", but at that time "Bing (Shanxi) Liang (Gansu) er Zhou Zheng shape like a zither", should be Shao who made the reform, also recorded the rumor of "made by Meng Tian", which shows that the Han Dynasty has spread the zither shape of a zither. In the Tang Dynasty, du you's "Tongdian · Lesi" records: "Zheng, Qin's voice." Fu Xuan's preface to Zheng Fu said: "I thought Meng Tian made it."

developing process

As far back as the Warring States period in the territory of Qin (Shaanxi Province), Zheng has been popular, then known as "Qin Zheng". Since then, it has spread to Henan, Shandong, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Inner Mongolia and other places. Due to the historical changes and regional influence, the local style and performance techniques are different, and therefore different guzheng schools are formed, which makes the development of Guzheng more and more prosperous.

Zheng had twelve strings before Han and Jin Dynasties (see "Twelve strings" in Deng Zheng Fu by Ruan li of Wei Dynasty).

In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Zheng was increased from 12 strings to 13 strings (see Tang Cen Shen's Qin Zheng song, sending my nephew Xiao Zheng back to Beijing: "it's the most bitter for you not to hear Qin Zheng's sound, and it's 13 strings wrapped in five colors").

After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it gradually increased to 15 strings. According to the book of the Great Qing Dynasty, which was published in the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, "Qin Zheng's 15 strings are like a zither."

From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China, there appeared a new system of sixteen string Zheng, which is the traditional Zheng popular in China in the past hundred years.

After 1949, Zheng, an ancient folk musical instrument, was studied by performers and relevant experts. Based on the reform of its shape and string quality, S-type 21 string nylon steel wire wrapped Zheng was successfully developed. Because of the increase of resonance body and the number of strings, this kind of Zheng obviously enriches the sound effect and the thickness of pronunciation. Zheng, which has been popular for thousands of years, is more euphemistic and charming. S-type 21 string nylon steel wire string zither is a popular zither in China and all over the world.

In 1965, Wang Changyuan successfully created the guzheng song "war typhoon". The appearance of "war typhoon" made the guzheng performance technology and skills enter a new height, thus ending the era when guzheng can only play gently and slowly. The techniques of sweeping and shaking four points, close shaking, buckle shaking and blowing to create typhoon effect in this song are innovative techniques, which improve and enrich the performance of guzheng Ability.

In the 1970s, Zhao manqin created and used new techniques such as double string transition glide, chord long tone, quick dial and 1 / 5 overtone in his performance practice. In addition, it broke through the traditional octave symmetry mode and created a "fast fingering technique system" composed of dozens of new fingering sequences, such as lunzhi, tanlun, tanyao, etc., which enables Zheng to play fast melody of five tones, seven tones and varying scales without changing the chord. It has laid a solid foundation for Zheng to enter the ranks of frequently played instruments from color instruments. Its representative works include "Dahu Shangshan" and "Jinggangshan Shangshan" The sun is red, etc.

Since the 1990s, the creation of Guzheng has ushered in the spring of colorful flowers. During this period, composers participated in the creation of Zheng music and strengthened their innovation. They broke through the limitations of traditional pentatonic modes, absorbed the colors of Ryukyu mode and Dujie mode of Japan, and drew lessons from the experience of Messian's manual mode. They designed many new modes and even created new ones Each octave is divided into three parts, each part is a large third interval, and each part can play the same tonic major minor mode. The new mode color and the method of multi tonality serial superposition promote the change of performance techniques. Such as "mountain charm" (Xu Xiaolin), "Fantasia" (Wang Jianmin), "konghou Yin" (Zhuang Yaoqu), "Mingshan" (Wang Zhongshan Qu), etc. In the stringing of these zither pieces, the conditions are prepared for the modulation. It is possible for different areas to play different modes with different tone sequences. It is not only a deviation from the traditional mode color, but also a return to the traditional mode color. The change of interval created conditions for the birth of new music language.

In the 21st century, a number of young guzheng performers have emerged, including Wang Zhongshan, Zhai Zhirong, Qiu Ji, Yuan Sha, Jiang zhoujian, Liu Le, Bao Dong, song Xinxin and other teachers. Over the years, these performers have visited Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other regions and countries for many times, making Zheng a musical instrument to the world.

Basic structure

The unified specification of guzheng is: 1.63 meters, 21 strings. The panel of guzheng is mostly made of Tung wood from Lankao, Henan Province. The frame is white pine. There are mahogany, old mahogany (Burmese branches), Phoebe and red sandalwood on the head, tail and side plates of guzheng. The sound quality of Guzheng depends on the panel and strings. The surrounding materials slightly improve the timbre of guzheng, and the old mahogany, red sandalwood and red sandalwood are the best. From early times to modern times, there were 12 strings, 13 strings, 18 strings, 23 strings, 25 strings and so on. There are many kinds of string fixing methods for Zheng in different regions. The new types of Zheng include "butterfly style Zheng" and "tune changing Zheng".

Zheng is a plucked instrument with many strings and columns. Its shape is similar to that of a long box, with a slight protrusion in the middle and a flat or nearly flat bottom plate. The head of Zheng has its feet falling slowly. A Zheng string is arranged on the panel of the wooden box. Place a code under each string. The code can be moved left and right to adjust the pitch and quality. Zheng's variety is different, the structure is not the same, the following is a twenty-one string Zheng structure

Zheng is mainly composed of panel, bottom board, side board, head, tail, Yueshan, code, pin, tone hole and string. Zheng's merits and demerits depend on the material quality and production technology of each part. The resonance body of Zheng is composed of a panel, a bottom plate and two Zheng sides. There is a sound bridge in the resonance body, which is arched. In addition to the need of resonance effect, it also plays a supporting role. The quality and structure of the resonance body have a great influence on the sound of Zheng.

panel

The panel is made of Wutong wood, which is placed for many years and is dry and loose, with straight grain and straight eyes. The panel determines the timbre and volume of the zither. Some people try to make it with white pine.

floor

: made of Wutong wood or made of other hard wood.

Zheng Bian

It is also called side board, which is the side of Zheng. Zheng has two sides. The side near the body is called neizheng side, and the other side is called waizheng side. Zheng edge is generally made of wood, but also made of Fraxinus mandshurica, mahogany or other miscellaneous wood. There is also the right to try wood production

Zheng head

: made of wood, purple wood or other solid wood. The function of Zheng head is to fix the string, which is fixed by the hole through the string (some Zheng heads fix the nails). There is a sound hole on the side of the head of Zheng. There is a sound window on the sound hole for the sound. Because the head of Zheng is interlinked with the resonance body, the scope of resonance is expanded (some Zheng, the head of Zheng is not interlinked with the resonance body).

Yueshan

Chinese PinYin : Gu Zheng