Ethnic musical instruments. Historical Geography of Musical Instruments of Central Asia Melodics of Chinese Music

Dutar. Du - two. Tar - string. An instrument with forged frets and two vein strings. Do you think the fewer strings the easier it is to play?

Well, then listen to one of the best dutar players, Abdurahim Khait, an Uighur from Xinjiang, China.
There is also a Turkmen dutar. The strings and frets of the Turkmen dutar are metal, the body is hollowed out of a single piece of wood, the sound is very bright, sonorous. The Turkmen dutar has been one of my favorite instruments over the past three years, and the dutar shown in the photo was brought to me from Tashkent quite recently. Amazing tool!

Azerbaijani saz. The nine strings are divided into three groups, each of which is tuned in unison. A similar instrument in Turkey is called baglama.

Be sure to listen to how this instrument sounds in the hands of a master. If you have little time, then watch at least starting at 2:30.
From saz and baglama came the Greek instrument bouzouki and its Irish version.

Oud or al-ud, if you call this instrument in Arabic. It is from the Arabic name of this instrument that the name of the European lute originated. Al-ud - lute, lute - do you hear? The usual oud has no frets - the frets on this specimen from my collection appeared on my initiative.

Listen to how a master from Morocco plays the oud.

From the Chinese two-stringed erhu violin with a simple resonator body and a small leather membrane, the Central Asian gidjak originated, which in the Caucasus and Turkey was called kemancha.

Listen to how the kemancha sounds when Imamyar Khasanov plays it.

The rubab has five strings. The first four of them are doubled, each pair is tuned in unison, and the bass string is one. The long neck has frets in accordance with the chromatic scale for almost two octaves and a small resonator with a leather membrane. What do you think the downward curved horns coming from the neck towards the instrument mean? Does its shape remind you of a sheep's head? But okay form - what a sound! You should have heard the sound of this instrument! It vibrates and trembles even with its massive neck, it fills all the space around with its sound.

Listen to the sound of the Kashgar rubab. But my rubab sounds better, honestly.

The Iranian tar has a double hollowed-out body made from a single piece of wood and a membrane made from fine fish skin. Six paired strings: two steel strings, followed by a combination of steel and thin copper, and the next pair is tuned to an octave - a thick copper string is tuned an octave below the thin steel. The Iranian tar has forced frets made of veins.

Listen to how the Iranian tar sounds.
The Iranian tar is the ancestor of several instruments. One of them is an Indian setar (se - three, tar - string), and I will talk about the other two below.

Azerbaijani tar has not six, but eleven strings. Six of the same as the Iranian tar, an additional bass string and four unplayed strings that resonate when played, adding echoes to the sound and making the sound last longer. Tar and kemancha are perhaps the two main instruments of Azerbaijani music.

Listen for a few minutes, starting at 10:30 or at least starting at 13:50. You have never heard such a thing and could not imagine that such a performance is possible on this instrument. This is played by the brother of Imamyar Khasanov - Rufat.

There is a hypothesis that the tar is the ancestor of the modern European guitar.

Recently, when I talked about the electric cauldron, they reproached me - they say, I take out the soul from the cauldron. Probably, about the same thing was said to a person who, 90 years ago, guessed to put a pickup on an acoustic guitar. About thirty years later, the best examples of electric guitars were created, which remain the standard to this day. A decade later, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Pink Floyd followed.
And all this progress has not hindered the manufacturers of acoustic guitars and classical guitar players.

But musical instruments did not always spread from east to west. For example, the accordion became an extremely popular instrument in Azerbaijan in the 19th century, when the first German settlers arrived there.

My accordion was made by the same master who made instruments for Aftandil Israfilov. Hear what this instrument sounds like.

The world of oriental musical instruments is large and diverse. I haven't even shown you a part of my collection, which is far from complete. But I must tell you about two more instruments.
A pipe with a bell at the top is called a zurna. And the instrument under it is called duduk or balaban.

Celebrations and weddings begin with the sounds of the zurna in the Caucasus, Turkey and Iran.

Here is what a similar instrument looks like in Uzbekistan.

In Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, zurna is called surnay. In Central Asia and Iran, the lingering sounds of another instrument, the karnay, are added to the sounds of the surnay and tambourines. Karnay-surnay is a stable phrase denoting the beginning of the holiday.

Interestingly, an instrument related to karnay exists in the Carpathians, and its name is familiar to many - trembita.

And the second pipe, shown in my photo, is called balaban or duduk. In Turkey and Iran, this instrument is also called mey.

Listen to how Alikhan Samedov plays the balaban.

We will return to the balaban, but for now I want to talk about what I saw in Beijing.
As far as you understand, I collect musical instruments. And as soon as I had a free moment during my trip to Beijing, I immediately went to the musical instrument store. What I bought myself in this store, I will tell you another time. And now that I did not buy and what I regret terribly.
In the window there was a pipe with a bell, the design exactly resembling a zurna.
- How does is called? I asked through an interpreter.
- Sona, - they answered me.
- How similar to "sorna - surnay - zurna" - I thought aloud. And the translator confirmed my guess:
- The Chinese do not pronounce the letter r in the middle of a word.

You can read more about the Chinese variety of zurna
But, you know, zurna and balaban go hand in hand. Their design has a lot in common - maybe that's why. And what do you think? Next to the sona instrument was another instrument - the guan or guanji. Here's what it looked like:

Here's what it looks like. Guys, comrades, gentlemen, but this is the duduk!
And when did he get there? In the eighth century. Therefore, it can be assumed that it came from China - the timing and geography coincide.
So far, it is only documented that this tool spread to the east from Xinjiang. Well, how do they play this instrument in modern Xinjiang?

Watch and listen from the 18th second! Just listen to what a luxurious sound the Uighur balaman has - yes, here it is called exactly the same as in the Azerbaijani language (there is also such a pronunciation of the name).

And let's look for additional information in independent sources, for example, in the Iranian encyclopedia:
BALABAN
CH. ALBRIGHT
a cylindrical-bore, double-reed wind instrument about 35 cm long with seven finger holes and one thumb hole, played in eastern Azerbaijan in Iran and in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Or does Iranika sympathize with the Azerbaijanis? Well, the TSB also says that the word duduk is of Turkic origin.
Azerbaijanis and Uzbeks bribed the compilers?
Well, well, you definitely won’t suspect the Bulgarians of sympathy for the Turks!
on a very serious Bulgarian site for the word duduk:
duduk, dudyuk; duduk, dudyuk (from the Turkish düdük), squeaker, svorche, glasnik, additional - Naroden darven is a musical instrument of the aerophonite type, half-closing pipes.
Again they point to the Turkish origin of the word and call it their folk instrument.
This tool is widespread, as it turned out, mainly among the Turkic peoples, or among the peoples who had contact with the Turks. And every nation reasonably considers it to be its folk, national instrument. But only one takes credit for its creation.

After all, only the lazy did not hear that "duduk is an ancient Armenian instrument." At the same time, they hint that the duduk was created three thousand years ago - that is, in an unprovable past. But the facts and elementary logic show that this is not so.

Go back to the beginning of this article and take another look at musical instruments. Almost all of these instruments are played in Armenia too. But it is quite clear that all these instruments appeared among much more numerous peoples with a clear and understandable history, among which the Armenians lived. Imagine a small people living in dispersion among other peoples with their own states and empires. Will such a people create a complete set of musical instruments for an entire orchestra?
Frankly, I also thought: “Okay, those were big and complex instruments, let’s leave them aside. But at least the Armenians could come up with a pipe?” And it turns out that no, they didn't. If they came up with it, then this pipe would have a purely Armenian name, and not the poetic and metaphorical tsiranopokh (the soul of an apricot tree), but something simpler, more popular, with one root, or completely onomatopoeic. So far, all sources point to the Turkic etymology of the name of this musical instrument, and the geography and dates of distribution show that the duduk began its distribution from Central Asia.
Well, let's make one more assumption and say that the duduk came to Xinjiang from ancient Armenia. But how? Who brought him there? What peoples migrated from the Caucasus to Central Asia at the turn of the first millennium? There are no such nations! But the Turks were constantly moving from Central Asia to the west. They could well spread this tool in the Caucasus, and on the territory of modern Turkey and even in Bulgaria, as the documents indicate.

I foresee one more argument of the defenders of the version of the Armenian origin of the duduk. Like, a real duduk is made only from an apricot tree, which in Latin is called Prúnus armeniáca. But, firstly, apricots in Central Asia are no less common than in the Caucasus. The Latin name does not indicate that this tree has spread throughout the world from the territory of the area bearing the geographical name of Armenia. Just from there it penetrated into Europe and was described by botanists about three hundred years ago. On the contrary, there is a version that the apricot spread from the Tien Shan, part of which is in China, and part in Central Asia. Secondly, the experience of very talented peoples shows that this instrument can even be made from bamboo. And my favorite balaban is made from mulberry and sounds much better than apricot ones, which I also have and are made just in Armenia.

Listen to how I learned to play this instrument in a couple of years. People's Artist of Turkmenistan Gasan Mammadov (violin) and People's Artist of Ukraine, my countryman from Ferghana, Enver Izmailov (guitar) participated in the recording.

With all this, I want to pay tribute to the great Armenian duduk performer Jivan Gasparyan. It was this man who made the duduk an instrument known throughout the world, thanks to his work a wonderful school of playing the duduk arose in Armenia.
But speaking of "Armenian duduk" is justified only about specific instruments, if they are made in Armenia, or about the type of music that arose thanks to J. Gasparyan. Only those people who allow themselves unsubstantiated statements can point to the Armenian origin of the duduk.

Please note that I myself do not indicate either the exact place or the exact time of the appearance of the duduk. Probably, it is already impossible to establish and the prototype of the duduk is older than any of the living peoples. But I am building my hypothesis about the spread of the duduk, based on facts and elementary logic. If someone wishes to object to me, then I want to ask in advance: please, when building hypotheses, in the same way, rely on provable and verified facts from independent sources, do not shy away from logic and try to find another intelligible explanation for the facts listed.

The music of the peoples of Central Asia, according to experts, is very original and diverse. Numerous musical instruments of Central Asia are known, there are about seventy-two varieties of them. Some of them were popular in past centuries, some are successfully used today. The most famous musical instruments of the peoples of Central Asia are:

• oud or barbad;
• tanbur;
• eve;
• ikidilli;
• bozuk;
• dilly tuyduk, Gosha dilly tuyduk;
• balaman hammysh.

Musical instrument oud or barbad

This instrument differs in that it has no frets and contains five strings. Music is performed with the help of a special device called kirishkakara or plectrum.

During the Middle Ages, this instrument was widely known among the inhabitants of the East, including among the Central Asian peoples. Scientists who wrote treatises at that time also mentioned the name of this instrument. From scientific sources it became known that initially this Asian musical instrument was called barbard, and around the eighth-ninth centuries it was renamed to oud.

Both names, which refer to the same instrument, are of Arabic origin and are translated as a swan's neck.

This instrument was created by a Merv musician named Bard Mervezi, who at one time became famous throughout the East. The man led the musical salon, which existed at the court of Khysrov Pervezi, who reigned from 590 to 628.

The sound of the oud was enjoyed by the inhabitants of the Turkmen land from ancient times to the beginning of the eighteenth century. If the information is that the strings of this instrument were made of silk. According to scientific sources, the instrument originally had four strings, and a certain al-Farabi attached a fifth to it, thanks to which it was possible to expand its musical capabilities.

Very often this instrument is mentioned in the literature of the classics of Turkmenistan.

Musical instrument tanbur (tambura)

The tambura was widely used by the peoples of the Eastern and Central Asian countries, this is mentioned by a well-known Uzbek scientist who has been studying the musical culture of these countries all his life. On the Turkmen lands it was played somewhere until the seventeenth-eighteenth century.

The instrument differed in that it had a small head and a long neck. In appearance, it looks like a dutar. The base of the instrument was wooden; it was made of walnut, mulberry, apricot. The tambura was three-stringed, and the frets consisted of sixteen to nineteen silk strings.

To play this instrument, a silver or metal kirishkakara was used, which was worn on the index finger. In the epic called "Gerogly", as well as other classical works, there is a mention of the use of tambura by the Turkmens.

Chen musical instrument

In the same epic "Gerogly" one can read that a musical instrument called chen was a national among the Turkmens. This instrument was used in the State National Orchestra of Folk Instruments in 1941. However, due to the lack of performers over time, he was expelled.

Musical instrument kanun

This instrument is ancient, it was used by eastern peoples. Kanun was used in ancient times by the Turks and Arabs, and after a while it became popular among the inhabitants of Iran, Afghanistan, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

During the celebrations, the kanun was used on Turkmen soil from the ninth to the eighteenth centuries. Today, this tool is also very popular.

Musical instrument ikitelli

This instrument is bowed and has the second name okly-gopuz.

The book “Music of the Peoples of Asia and Africa” of 1973 of the Moscow edition says that the Turkmen ikitelli is very similar to the Turkic ikili.

Musical instrument buzuk

A musicologist named Temel Garakhan in 1999 published the book “Turkish Baglama”, which provided information that the musical instruments of Central Asia, baglama, saz, ikidilli, tambur, bozuk, are similar to gopuz.

The buzuk was also played with the help of the kirishkakar. It is difficult to judge the appearance of the original instrument, since for many centuries it was developed and improved by different peoples.

Musical instruments of Central Asia dilly tuyduk, Gosha dilly tuyduk

It is he, according to most musicologists, who is the progenitor of all known wind musical instruments. Almost all peoples used such an instrument, only its name was distinctive.

Turkmen shepherds called it the shepherd's horn. Folklore groups performed with him, some performers were real virtuosos.

An Asian Caucasian musical instrument, over a hundred years old, is currently in the Moscow Museum. M. Glinka.

Gosha dilly tuyduk is one of the paired instruments. It is much more difficult to play on it than on the dilly duduk. People who have heard the sound of this instrument admired him. After all, a musician could blow sounds simultaneously from two pipes or alternately from each.

Musical instrument gamysh balaman

It is very similar to the dilly tuyduk, but is a more advanced model, so they were used as independent tools. The hammock of the balaman was distinguished by the fact that it had a closed tip, in a place intended for blowing.

Thanks to this feature, it was easier to extract sounds from the pipe. In addition, this instrument has more fret holes, so the performance possibilities are much wider. A musical instrument called gamysh balaman was most often used in the vicinity of Caracal.

Video: What does a tambura sound like

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At all times, people devoted part of their lives to culture. So, despite the nomadic way of life and various difficult times, the inhabitants of Central Asia carried their musical culture through the centuries. Thanks to akyns and masters of the past, national instruments have survived to this day almost in the same form as they were 100 and 200 years ago. The peoples of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan can still hear, play or simply hold in their hands the unique musical instruments characteristic of Central Asia.

Let's tell you more about them.

Uzbek karnai

Karnay is a massive wind instrument made of copper and brass alloys. A large trumpet reaches a length of up to 3 meters and allows you to create unique melodies.

Modern Uzbek musicians traditionally use karnai at weddings. These deep solemn sounds symbolize the holiday today. You can hear them not only from the next street, you can even hear them from another quarter of the city. At the festival, melodies, decorated with karnay, loudly and publicly declare that a celebration is being celebrated in this house.

Previously, karnay was used both as a tool for convening warriors, as well as in order to notify the population that an enemy was approaching, a nuisance. The sound of the karnay was heard throughout the village and people were ready for certain actions thanks to the volume of the national wind instrument.

Tajik rubab

The rubab is a stringed instrument with a long history. It is made by hand from special types of trees. The process of cutting out a jug-shaped body is very painstaking and requires not only great diligence, but also special skills. The secrets of soaking log cabins, stretching the skin of an animal on the main part of a musical instrument, tuning strings and pegs in Tajikistan are passed on only from master to student.

Rubab sounds very lyrical. The strings give rise to a wondrous melody or accompaniment for a poet's song. But the real masters of the game can also play on the rubab dance national Tajik melodies, many of which are already countless years old, and they are simply considered traditional folklore.

Kyrgyz komuz

Komuz is a national Kyrgyz stringed musical instrument. It has only three strings, but it has a very sonorous and melodic sound. A real komuz is made from wild apricot (apricot tree). The carpentry process for creating the shape of the komuz, the corresponding recess in the body, the top, the neck, and so on, is very complex and requires great skill. A piece of sawn wood for the future komuz must dry completely; for this, it can be placed in a special dark room for several years.

There are no frets on the neck of the komuz, as well as on some other musical instruments of the peoples of Central Asia. They learn to play it by ear, so not everyone can become a komuzchi (a master of playing the komuz).

The sound of a stringed instrument is practically inimitable, therefore, so many characteristic melodies have been written for the komuz, which are performed by national akyns, both solo and in an ensemble.

Sources of information, photos and videos

Gidzhak (gijak, girzhak, gijak, gijjak) is a stringed bowed folk musical instrument of Uzbeks, Tajiks, Karakalpaks, Turkmens, Uighurs. The design of the gidzhak is very close to the Persian kemanche, which is common in Azerbaijan, Iran and Armenia.

In folk musical instruments - all the philosophy and wisdom of the ages. Performed on gidjak folk music, songs, instrumental pieces, maqoms(a vocal-instrumental cyclical genre, the melodic basis of which is most often the intonation of crying). Gidzhak and its varieties, along with other folk instruments, are included in the Uzbek national instrumental orchestras.

Gijak body- spherical, traditionally made from a special variety of pumpkin, wood or other material (for example, a large coconut), covered with leather on top. Instrument sizes vary and often depend on the material from which it is made.

Number of strings modern gidzhak - four, although historically this number was also inconsistent, most often three-stringed gidzhaks were found. In the old days, the gijak had silk strings, today they have metal strings.

It is generally accepted that the gidzhak dates back to the 11th century. invented Avicenna(Abu Ali ibn Sina) - a great Persian scientist, physician and philosopher who laid the foundation for the field of science of musical instruments (instrument science), described almost all musical instruments existing at that time and compiled a detailed classification of their types.

At classic gidjak game the instrument is held vertically, the sound is produced by a special short bow in the shape of a bow, although modern players also use a violin bow.

However, there virtuosos who play on the gijak not only classical folk music, but also unusually bright passages. In the video below you can not only listen, what does gidjak sound like but also look virtuosic gidjak game masters of his craft - Uzbek musician Farkhodzhon Gapparov(work "Storm" by Iranian composer Bizhan Mortazavi):

Music since ancient times has occupied a prominent place in the life of the Chinese, as well as other peoples. Ethnographers-musicologists establish that in the early stages of human history, music was closely connected with pantomime performances, with dance.

The origin and development of Chinese musical art

The ancient Chinese in their legends associated the appearance of musical works and instruments with the gods. According to them, the gods considered man their finished creation only when they taught him music. However, a reliable picture of the history of the development of Chinese musical culture can only be recreated on the basis of data from a number of sciences: archeology, ethnography, etc. musicology, literary criticism, etc.

The oldest musical instruments in China (percussion musical instruments - stone plates) were found by archaeologists at Neolithic sites in the valley of the river. Huanghe. The oldest stringed instruments (chuse - se from the ancient kingdom of Chu) date back to the 5th-3rd centuries. BC e. Inscriptions on bones and shells speak of the variety of musical instruments, various musical performances. In the II millennium BC. e. bronze musical instruments appeared. Some later sources indicate that already in the middle of the II millennium BC. e. khu was arranged - crowded song and dance performances, which, apparently, had a ritual character (they were dedicated to the beginning and end of agricultural work). Gradually, the song as a piece of music separated from the dance. And in the period of the Western Zhou (XI-VIII centuries BC), a set of songs "Shijing" ("Book of Songs") was compiled for the first time from the folk songs of various regions of China. Recordings of ancient songs make it possible to talk about the differences in the music of songs from different regions of the country (for example, the music of the songs of the Chu kingdom).

Musical science began to be created in ancient China as well. The most ancient treatise on music "Yuejing" was included in the complex of 6 classical books that originally existed in China. "Description of Music" ("Yueji") was then included as one of the chapters in "Ili" ("Rite"), compiled by Confucius himself. Judgments of Confucius about music are also found in the Moon. Music played a big role in all aspects of Chinese life. That is why the Confucians attached such great importance to music. According to their teaching, musical harmony was supposed to be an indicator of social and political harmony.

Music enjoyed great honor at the courts of the Wangs in the Zhou era: the performance of songs and dances at the court was in charge of a special court service (Dasyue). During the Han period, a special music chamber (Yuefu) was established. During the Han era, there was a rapid development of musical culture. It was during this period that new musical instruments appeared (kunhou borrowed from outside - stringed harp-like instruments, etc.). It is well known that Buddhism, which penetrated China, had a great influence on the development of Chinese music.

A new flowering of Chinese music falls on the Tang era. Dunhuang's frescoes depict various musicians, singers, and dancers.

Notes of song and dance music of the Tang era have been found. At the end of the XIII-beginning of the XIV century. the famous poet and musician Zhang Yan creates the book "Sources of Qi" ("Ciyuan"), which is considered by Chinese music historians as the earliest work on vocal art.

In the XVIII century. The publication of a 62-volume collection of Chinese classical melodies was undertaken, covering the period of the 8th-17th centuries. Recently, the ancient signs of this code have been translated into modern notes. In the eras of Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, Chinese music was enriched by the influence of the music of other peoples: the Mongols, Tibetans, Uighurs, etc., many new musical instruments were borrowed (pipa, erhu, yangqing, etc.) . Since the 17th century orchestral music began to be created in China. In the Ming and Qing eras, music became much more diverse, and the specifics of the music of opera (musical and dramatic) performances were determined.

Melody of Chinese music

The melodic pattern of Chinese music is always unusually distinct, convex and peculiarly colorful, melodious and at the same time rhythmic.

It is characteristic that the musical notation captures far from all the bends of the melody, but only its main core, while the performer arbitrarily strings various ornaments on it, and his improvisation sometimes has a very wide amplitude, depending primarily on the skill of the performer.

Although modern choirs sing in many voices, the melody of traditional folk songs is always sung in unison; In Chinese music, especially ancient music, there is no polyphonic voice guidance, much less complex harmonization of the melody. Therefore, the Chinese folk song is essentially a solo song, regardless of the number of singers.

Weak intonation possibilities are largely compensated for by a very convex and emphasized rhythm, and hence the exceptional role of percussion instruments. Due to the emphasis on rhythm in the nature of Chinese music, it is close to poetry.

After all, every Chinese word has a characteristic melodic pattern, determined by tone. And it is very likely that in the musicality of Chinese speech one can look for its connection with Chinese music.

Rhythm is most characteristic of the music of the northern regions. For example, some researchers associate the origin of yangge (song and dance performance) with extra-melodic, rhythmic drum music, which then acquired a melody. In South Chinese music, the timbre coloration is much brighter; not the rhythm, but the melody comes to the fore. For example, Guangdong music is distinguished by melodiousness, in which, along with a clear and clear rhythm, generally inherent in Chinese music, the melody flows beautifully, melodiously, freely. melodious, reminiscent of Indonesian music.

The works of Chinese music are characterized by strict and clear programming. The predominance of landscape paintings is characteristic. Thus, among the musical compositions of the Chaozhou region (Guangdong province) one can * name the musical pictures "Festive boating" and "Reflection of the autumn moon on the surface of the lake."

musical scale

The most characteristic feature of the old scale of Chinese music is the pentatonic scale. With such a sound system, within one octave contains about sounds of different heights. The five-tone scale was established around the 4th century BC. n. e. musical theorists of ancient China with the help of mathematical calculations and philosophical reasoning. The most common is the non-semitone pentatonic scale, i.e., between adjacent steps, the intervals reach a whole tone or semitone. In this feature of Chinese music, there is also a certain limitation of its possibilities.

However, one cannot consider the national style of Chinese music only from the point of view of the pentatonic scale. Pentatonic frets did not hamper the development of musical culture. Already in the III century. BC e. a seven-sound, and then a twelve-sound gamma was installed. By the end of the Zhou era, the creation of a complete twelve-tone musical scale laid the foundation for the further development of Chinese music. The development of musical culture also took place as a result of influence coming from outside. With Buddhism, elements of the musical culture of India and Central Asia penetrated into China. In the XIV century. Under the influence of the Mongolian musical culture, the diatonic scale took shape in Chinese music. Although in China in the XVI century. Chou Tsai-yu used a tempered scale, the tempered scale was not established in Chinese music. Chinese music was still based on the five pentatonic scales. And in the nature of the sound of pentatonic music, its possibilities were fully used. Already since ancient times, despite a certain constraint of the sound row system, folk music has been distinguished by great melodic and intonational richness.

Musical instruments

Insufficient flexibility, static intonation-modal structure is compensated by a rich and very diverse composition of musical instruments that still exist in the compositions of folk orchestras and theater orchestras.

From the fact that the basis of the musical canvas was a clear rhythm, the extremely important role in Chinese music of percussion instruments, which are extremely diverse, is completely understandable. And the primacy among all this diversity undoubtedly belongs to the drum (gu); these are double-sided drums tangu, gangu, shugu, diangu, tambourine logu, etc., one-sided snare drum bangu. Membrane percussion instruments also include tambourine dagu and bajiaogu. Drums were made of wood, pumpkin, clay, bronze. Drum membranes were made of leather, bull bladder and other material. During the performance, the drums are held in hands or placed on special stands. The performer strikes the membrane with a hand and a stick. The use of drums is extremely wide. It would not be an exaggeration to say that without a drum in China not a single festival is conceivable, no celebration is conceivable. The importance of the drum in the orchestra is evidenced by the fact that the drummer essentially performs the functions of the conductor of an orchestra consisting of Chinese national instruments.

Other percussion instruments are also widespread - metal gongs, from which the sound is extracted by hitting a wooden mallet, copper cymbals, fangsyan - stone, jade or, very rarely, metal oblong quadrangular plates suspended on a wooden frame-stand, differing from each other only in thickness, and as a result, when struck with a stick, each emits its own sound. The presence of qings (stone gongs, lithophones) - shiqing, teqing or bianqing (a set of qings tuned differently) should be especially emphasized. A feature of another kind of percussion instruments - bronze bells and bells (bozhong and bianzhong - a set of bells) is that the sound is extracted by hitting the bell with a wooden mallet. To beat the rhythm, wooden percussion instruments are also used: wooden plates kuaiban, as well as castanets such as kaiban, banzi, paiban. The plates were made from hardwood trees. The performer holds one plate in his hand in the palm of his hand, hitting it with the second plate, which he holds in the other hand (banzi), or with the movement of the hand in which he holds a bunch of plates, hits them against each other (paiban). Among the percussion musical instruments, although rare, is the muyui (“wooden fish”), essentially a kind of wooden bell, usually in the form of a fish (hence the name of the instrument), from which the sound is also extracted by hitting a wooden mallet.

String instruments are also distinguished by a great variety: se and zheng - stringed plucked musical instruments such as table harp. The whole body of the instrument is slightly convex, it is a deck, strings, usually silk, are stretched along the entire length of the instrument, a stand is installed under each string, by moving which the instrument is tuned. Play with one (right) hand or both hands. Qixian-qing (a kind of zither), pipa (a kind of lute), kunhou (a kind of harp), etc. are very expressive. The type of bowed musical instruments hu (erhu, sihu, banhu, etc.) is diverse. The erhu body, for example, is hollow, with a snakeskin soundboard on the upper side. A bamboo neck-vulture is inserted into the resonator, it contains a pair of pegs for two silk strings, with the help of rotating pegs the strings are stretched. They play sitting, the instrument rests against the knee with the resonator leg, holding it vertically. The hair of the bow is passed between the strings, the distance between which does not exceed

3-4 mm. In the Chinese folk instrument orchestra, the erhu occupies the same important place as the violin in the symphony orchestra.

Wind instruments are very popular. These are bamboo xiao (longitudinal flute type), chi and di (transverse flute type), paixiao (multi-barreled flute). Xuan was made from clay - an oval-shaped wind instrument with 6 holes for changing the pitch of sounds. Air was blown in through the hole-muzzle at the top of the xuan.

These tools are very simple. A more complex instrument is the laba (or son) trumpet, a kind of oboe. The body of the laba is an almost conical wooden tube with eight holes, with the help of which the performer changes the pitch. A very peculiar instrument is the sheng, which consists of a round body, into which a branch pipe for blowing air and up to 20 bamboo tubes are inserted. Bronze tongues are inserted at the ends of the tubes in oblique sections. Holes are made in the lower part of the tubes, which the performer, when playing, closes alternately with his fingers.

The sound comes from the vibration of the reeds. Depending on the number of tubes inserted, several types of shengs are distinguished.

Contemporary music and performing arts

In the last period, especially after the May 4 movement, there has been a rapid process of enrichment in the content and form of new Chinese music. In 1919, the composer Xiao Yu-mei founded a music department at Peking University. It was the first department at a Chinese institution of higher education, where classes were held according to the program of European music schools. A number of such departments arose later at other universities. During this period, patriotic works are created that glorify love for the motherland, the life of the common people. Thus, the composer Zhao Yuan-jen wrote "The Song of Labor" and "The Song of the Sale of the Canvas". With the development of the revolution, such revolutionary songs as "The Internationale", "Varshavyanka" and others penetrate into China. With the creation of the CPC and the outbreak of revolutionary wars, music begins to play an increasingly important role in the struggle of the people. As early as 1932, Nie Er and Lu Ji initiated the creation of a revolutionary musical group that rallied leading Chinese musicians around itself. In his short life (1912-1935), the communist composer Nie Er wrote about 50 militant revolutionary mass songs, among them the "March of the Volunteers", now approved as the anthem of the PRC. Significant works in Chinese music are the Cantata on the Yellow River and the Movement for the Rise of Production by the composer Xi Xing-hai (1905-1945), which had a great influence on the further development of Chinese music. What is new in the revolutionary song is its concreteness, political sharpness, simple language, sharp expressiveness. The revolutionary song is characterized by brevity, clarity and clarity of thought expressed in the text, swiftness, assertiveness, strong-willed rhythm, bright beautiful melody (“Praise to Lenin”, “Song of Workers and Peasants”, “May 1”, “Brother and Sister Raise Virgin Lands”) . The new content and new form did not deprive the song of its national flavor, it remained a Chinese folk song and thus replenished the treasury of the rich song culture of the people.

With the formation of the People's Republic of China, Chinese musical culture received certain conditions for its development. In the works of the first years, people's power is glorified, which gave land to the peasants, made a woman a free, equal member of society, etc. Song and dance musical art develops. New genres of music are being explored. Thus, a group of students from the Shanghai Conservatory wrote a concerto for violin and orchestra "Liang Shan-bo and Zhu Ying-tai", "Youth Concerto". The greatest Chinese composers Ma Si-tsun and He Lu-ding are working fruitfully. Composer Wu Tseu-qiang wrote the music for the national ballet "Beauty Fish", staged with great success at the Central Opera and Ballet Theater in Beijing, staged by P. A. Gusev.

The All-China Association of Music Workers and the Union of Chinese Writers are working together to collect, record, systematize and study folk music. Folk music is studied and taught in conservatories and music schools. After 1949, almost every enterprise, in the countryside, in an educational institution created its own amateur art group, local ensembles of national song and dance, musical drama, etc.

The musicians are trained by Beijing 1 and Shanghai Conservatory. Along with such great masters as the violinist Ma Sy-tsun, young musicians who have come forward in recent years, including laureates of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, also perform. P. I. Tchaikovsky Liu Shi-kun and Ying Cheng-tsun, as well as Li Ming-chiang (student of Prof. T. P. Kravchenko). Guo Shu-ying, a pupil of the Moscow Conservatory, successfully performs in opera performances. In 1957-1958. the Central Symphony Orchestra was created (chief conductor - Li De-lun, graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, student of Prof. N. P. Anosov). Successful concert activities are conducted by numerous orchestras of folk instruments. A large number of performers gather annual music festivals "Shanghai Spring".

Soviet music has an enormous influence on the development of Chinese musical culture. The Chinese people became acquainted with Soviet music through the fighting, mass Soviet song, which began to penetrate China already during the years of the revolution of 1925-1927. The Soviet songs "March of Budyonny", "Song of the Motherland", "Katyusha", "Hymn of the Democratic Youth of the World", "Moscow Evenings" and others are well known to the Chinese people. Numerous performances by Soviet musicians in China were a great success. Through acquaintance with Soviet music, Chinese musicians mastered the achievements of world musical culture, the Soviet experience in building a new musical culture, national in form, socialist in content.