The history and origin of the gourd xiao (hulusi)
The history of the gourd xiao (hulusi) is relatively long, and its origins can be traced back to the pre-Qin era, which was transformed from the gourd sheng evolution. It is an evolved and modified version of the gourd sheng. It still maintains the ancient musical instrument's legacy in its construction, with the same number of pipes as the three-pipe flute, and the same sound holes in the two sub-pipes, while the sustained interval of fifths is similar to the ancient flute's "Harmonization of Voices". But its main tube has opened seven holes, and the later generations of flutes very similar to the xiao flute, but also shows it in the history of the leap.
After the founding of New China, China's national music workers on the gourd xiao has carried out continuous reform. 1958, Yunnan Provincial Song and Dance Troupe was the first to extend the range of 14 tones. In recent years, some literary groups in Beijing have made two new gourd xiao. The six-barrel gourd xiao can be played in monotone, diatonic, single melody plus sustained tone and two harmonic melodies plus sustained tone. Both maintain the original instrument's unique tone and style, but also increase the volume, expand the range, rich sound color and expressive power. In the garden of national instruments in China, it has become a remarkable oddball. 1980 early, the Central National Orchestra visited Japan group, had used this new gourd xiao for the Japanese people to play, was welcomed and praised.
The Dai folk legend: a long time ago, a flash flood, a small Dai family Bu Bao picked up a large gourd, broke through the waves, to save their sweethearts, his faithful love touched the Buddha, the Buddha gave the gourd loaded with tubes, Bu Bao blew a wonderful music, and suddenly the winds and waves are calm, the flowers bloomed, the peacock opened its screen, and wished the couple good luck and happiness. From then on, the hulusi has been passed down from generation to generation in the Dai family.
The Dai people are multi-talented, able to sing and dance, in the festivals, whether in the river dragon boat or in the riverside to put Gao Sheng, or in the square to catch the pendulum, or in the bamboo building in the drinking and singing, can be heard moving song. Zanha (folk singers) in the hulusi accompanied by singing the ancient legends and beautiful myths, singing the suffering of the old society and the happiness of the new society.
Hulusi tones
Hulusi, a reed coupled vibrating class of instruments, *** there are high, medium, bass 3 types, commonly used C, D, F, G and other keys. The differences in customs and regional environments among various ethnic groups make the hulusi an instrument with a different structure.
Because the traditional gourd silk in the production of seven pronunciation holes (main tube), a pronunciation hole a sound (not like the bamboo flute as through the breath changes in a sound hole can be (keyi) blown out of the octave to), plus a tube sound a **** can be (keyi) blown out of the eight tones to. So the general traditional gourd silk by moving the palace tone position, change the original fingering, theoretically should be able to blow out five to six keys, but due to the limitations of the range and scale arrangement, the traditional gourd silk can only be turned to four keys, and commonly used only two keys, both barrel tone for the bass "5" and barrel tone for the "1" and barrel tone for the "1" and the "1" and barrel tone for the "1" and the "1". There are only two keys in common use, which are "5" for the bass and "1" for the barrel tone and this key (5 for the barrel tone) is the most commonly used. Take C key gourd silk as an example, in addition to blowing out the key (the third hole as 1) can also be blown out of the key of G (tube tone as "1"), it is the national tuning pentatonic scale based on the six-tone tuning, in blowing music on a certain limitation, not all music can be played, according to the music of the range of the appropriate to choose, the best key is to The best key is to play in the third hole as "1". If the music needs to be transposed, it can be solved by replacing the hulusi, which is commonly used in the keys of Bb, C, D, F, etc. The range of the hulusi is not as wide as that of the familiar hulusi, but it can be changed. The range of the hulusi is not like that of the familiar bamboo flute, which can reach more than three octaves, and is usually within 9 degrees, not exceeding 11 degrees at most, and is a national tonal scale. Its tone is light and delicate, mellow and simple, soft and charming, extremely expressive and loved by the people. Whether it is folk music, or professional stage can hear it play the beautiful sound.
Hulusi is often used to play folk tunes such as mountain songs and ditties, and is best suited to playing smooth and lyrical music, such as "phoenix-tailed bamboo in the moonlight" and "long-lasting love", which have become representative of its classic repertoire. Hulusi in the Dai, Achang and other ethnic people in the most popular, is a recreational instrument, in the festival, whether it is in the river rowing a dragon boat or in the riverside put "Gao Sheng", or in the square, "Catch the pendulum" or in the bamboo building in the wine feast, can be heard in the melodious sound. The sound of it can be heard. Young men and women to express their love or people walking on the road as well as labor in the fields, but also often play the hulusi, adding a lot of joy to people's lives.
How do you play the hulusi?
The hulusi is pronounced by overblowing, which is an octave higher than the original gene on the hulusi, and is mainly realized by the strengthening of the breathing power and lip muscle control of blowing, the speed of breathing, and the control of the abdominal muscles. Breath and finger coordination is also beginners should pay attention to, first of all, pay attention to the finger to press the finger hole can not leak, breath should be smooth, this is very important, when the finger changes, breath application should not be affected. Hulusi on the most easy to blow out the sound is "1" sound, the least easy to blow out the soprano "5" "6" and bass "5" "6", so, when the first scholars pick up the hulusi blowing, the first blowing "1" sound, and then you can according to the fingering table and practice (lianxi) repeated practice (lianxi), until proficient until, in addition, beginners often do not have to posture, lose sight of the other, or Simply horse and pony. To blow a good hulusi, the first step is to posture, so that all parts of the body more relaxed, conducive to the smooth flow of breath, in the future performance can achieve good results. The second part is to press the hole with air leakage phenomenon, if you make a habit of it, it will have a great impact on the tone and pitch of the music played. So we should pay attention to overcome, and then do not pay attention to the practice of long tone, indeed, long tone month breath to blow more than ten seconds or even longer, the sound to be beautiful to be stable is not too easy, long-term practice boring, but to ensure that in the future to be able to play a piece of music, complete and smooth practice long tone is very necessary, if you do not pay attention to the practice of long tone, even if in the future you can play the music that the tone will not be too beautiful, seriously affect the playing effect, so we should pay attention to the long tone practice, even if in the future you can play the music that the tone will not be too beautiful, seriously affect the playing effect. The sound of the music will not be too beautiful, which will seriously affect the performance effect, so we should pay attention to the practice of long tones.
How to master the strength of the piece:
First inhale, then tighten the lip muscles, so that the mouth wind slightly fine, and then slowly exhale the breath, the resulting is a weak tone. Playing bass 5, 6, 7 is to pay special attention to, because these three notes itself requires a strong airflow, want to get the effect of the weak tone has a certain degree of difficulty, but also not good control of the tailpiece. Only through repeated practice and slow experience can you find the best feeling from them. Can only slow blowing 5, 6 two tone airflow should be slower to get the effect of weak tone, but also should pay attention to the airflow is too slow to send the normal tone, master the premise of weak blowing, you can blow the sound to the normal strength or stronger, and then from strong to weak. Breath should sink when blowing bass, and rise when blowing treble, not slack. Pay special attention to the control of breath changes, too much force will make the reed deformed or can not send the normal tone, with too little air also can not send the tone. After you have mastered the practice of long, weak tones, it will be easy to play weak and strong tones. It is important to pay attention to the control of the breath to make it gradually increase, in order to achieve good results.
A small discussion of the classification and difference of the gourd silk
1, according to the number of attachment pipe pronunciation points:
Double tone gourd silk - only the soprano attachment pipe sends a single tone, the other attachment pipe only to play the role of accessories.
Three-tone gourd silk - two tubes are respectively issued a single tone. Bass pipes are not commonly used, especially in the middle and bass gourd silk its practicality is almost zero.
2. According to the form of the attached tube:
Tone plug type - a single tone attached tube with a soft plug tightly plugged, when used to pull out.
Advantage: the sound hole is always closed.
Push-hole style - the sound of a monophonic appendage is controlled by opening and closing the sound hole with the little finger of the upper hand or the thumb of the lower hand.
Advantages: easy to play in time with the director, fast transitions.
Polyphonic - polyphonic windpipe with four tone holes, the first, third, fourth and fifth tone holes of the main pipe, can be used with the main pipe to send a simple melodic tone.
3, according to the pitch division
can be divided into super soprano hulusi, soprano hulusi, soprano hulusi, tenor hulusi, alto hulusi, tenor hulusi, bass hulusi, sub-bass hulusi and so on.
4, according to the range of division
Traditional gourd silk - the standard traditional type of gourd silk range for a pure octave plus a pure four degrees, that is, contains seventeen semitones, *** nine full hole tone. When the cylinder tone is 5 (so), the sound is pronounced from 3
(mi) to 6 (la) which is one octave higher, and the holes are arranged as 3 5 6 7 (bass group) 1 2 3 5 6 (treble group).
Expanded range hulusi - also divided into keyed and unkeyed. The range is widened to one octave and five tones in the same head.
5. Divided by origin
Yunnan Hulusi - sweet, rounded, clear analysis of the tone, is the standard traditional type of Hulusi, with a distinctive Dai style.
Northern Hulusi - tone rough, open, large volume. However, some manufacturers produce one less tone than the standard traditional type of hulusi.
Other origins of gourd silk - tone varies.
6. Divided according to the form of disassembly
Detachable gourd silk - the main tube, attached tube can be dialed down from the gourd, easy for professionals to maintain, but also easy for users to make fine adjustments.
Non-detachable gourds - the main tube and the attached tubes are bonded to the gourd and cannot be disassembled by non-professional maintenance personnel.
7, according to the tuning form of division
tunable gourd silk - the main tube, attached to the tube are installed on the copper tuning syllable (referred to as copper plug), can be fine tuning pitch, can not be adjusted cylinder sound. The tuning is non-linear, and cannot be changed after tuning.
Non-tunable gourd silk - the main tube, attached to the tube are not installed on the copper tuning system (referred to as copper plug).
8, according to the material classification
gourd, wood, rubber, cloisonné ......
double tube gourd silk
traditional double tube gourd silk - two identical main tube mounted on the same gourd, at the same time, the melodic double tone. emits a melodic double tone.
Double-barreled two-tone gourd silk - a combination gourd silk. This is where two main tubes in the keys of F and bB are mounted on a double-chambered, double-spouted gourd, combining them to form a wide-range gourd silk in the key of F. And so on
It can be combined into many keys of gourd silk.
Double-barrelled chordal gourd silk - A and B main tubes matched in major or minor thirds are mounted on the same gourd and produce chordal tones at the same time.
What kind of hulusi should beginners use
Hulusi Beginners should use what kind of hulusi this issue should be said that there is a certain controversy at present, because there are many differences in the conditions of beginners, such as musicality, economic conditions, whether there are more professional teachers and teaching materials and so on. There are more professional teachers and teaching materials, etc., because these conditions of the beginner often affect the choice of instruments, such as college students do not have economic resources, relying on their parents' financial support to go to school, there is not a lot of pocket money to buy the more expensive hulusi, then only to choose the quality of the relatively poor, inexpensive (this is not to say that the price of the instrument to determine the quality of the good and bad); again, some friends, although they like the hulusi, but there is no teacher around, but they do not have a teacher. The Hulusi, but there is no teacher around, only rely on their own self-study, self-study effect is not necessarily very good, then buy a good instrument to, may not be able to play the best performance of the instrument.
In general, the beginner should have a few conditions for the choice of the gourd silk: the first is pure tone, play up to the sense of translucency, bright sense; the second is a better tone, if the tone is not accurate enough, will lead to the hearing of the wrong impact, in the long run, will inevitably lead to serious consequences; the third is attached to the pipe volume and tone should be the same as the main tube as far as possible, the contrast can not be too large. Appearance and materials and production process can be appropriately relaxed, according to personal preference to choose the appearance; price can be based on their own economic strength to choose a multi-grade instruments.