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The liuqin (柳琴; pinyin: liǔqín) is a four-stringed Chinese lute with a pear-shaped body. It is small in size, almost a miniature copy of another Chinese plucked instrument, the pipa. But the range of its voice is much higher than the pipa, and has its own special place in the Chinese music, whether in orchestral music or in solo pieces. This has been the result of a modernization in its usage in recent years, leading to a gradual elevation in status of the liuqin from an accompaniment instrument in folk Chinese opera, narrative music, i.e. Suzhou pingtan, in northern Jiangsu, southern Shandong and Anhui, to an instrument well-appreciated for its unique tonal and acoustic qualities. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (480x640, 55 KB)A liuqin This image has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its creator, SunTzu2. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (480x640, 55 KB)A liuqin This image has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its creator, SunTzu2. ...
Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), also known as scheme of the Chinese phonetic alphabet...
The lute is a plucked string instrument with a fretted neck and a deep round back. ...
A woman plays the pipa in the New York City Subways Times Square Station, 2004. ...
A woman plays the pipa in the New York City Subways Times Square Station, 2004. ...
Music of China appears to date back to the dawn of Chinese civilization, and documents and artifacts provide evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC _ 256 BC). ...
In music accompaniment is the art of playing along with a soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played. ...
19th century Chinese opera Chinese opera costumes Chinese opera is a popular form of drama in China. ...
Suzhou (Simplified Chinese: è‹å·ž; Traditional Chinese: 蘇州; pinyin: SÅ«zhÅu; Wade-Giles: Su-chou; sometimes seen transliterated as Su-chow, Suchow, or Soochow) is a famous city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. ...
Jiangsu (Simplified Chinese: 江è‹; Traditional Chinese: 江蘇; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chiang-su; Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsu) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. ...
(Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ShÄndÅng; Wade-Giles: Shan-tung) is a coastal province of eastern Peoples Republic of China. ...
Anhui (Chinese: 安徽; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: An-hui; Postal System Pinyin: Ngan-hui, Anhwei or An-hwei) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China. ...
Historically the liuqin was commonly made of willow wood, while the professionals used versions constructed with a higher-quality red sandalwood or rosewood. In contemporary versions though, the front board is made of tong wood (桐木) and for the reverse side, of red sandalwood, as comparable to historical types.
History
The liuqin has gone by various names, firstly the liuyeqin (柳叶琴), meaning willow-leaf-shaped instrument. This was the original term for the liuqin, which is visibly an abbreviation of the term liuyeqin. The other reference to the liuqin is the tu pipa (土琵琶), literally meaning unrefined pipa, because of the aforementioned dimunitive size and resemblance of the liuqin to the pipa.
Throughout its history, the liuqin came in variations ranging from two (which only had and a half octaves) to five strings. However, the earliest precursor of the modern four-stringed liuqin appeared and experienced popularity during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 - 907). This version had three strings, and was only used for accompaniment purposes in traditional operas, as mentioned before. The Tang Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (June 18, 618–June 4, 907), lasting about three centuries, followed the Sui Dynasty and preceded the Song Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China. ...
The three-stringed liuqin remained in use for much of dynastic China from the Tang Dynasty until the late 20th century. The tunings used were thus D-G-D and D-A-D. With the advent of modernization of traditional Chinese music in 1970s, the four-stringed liuqin was developed as an improvement to its musical range, and the body of the instrument was enlarged to allow the player to handle the instrument with greater ease. There, however, still remains a five-stringed liuqin, which was developed with a A-D-A-D-A tuning to cater to needs for an alto liuqin in 1975. In music, an alto or contralto is a singer with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano. ...
Playing technique, tones and range Its technique is closer to that of the mandolin than that of the pipa, using a plectrum and frequently using the tremolo technique. Its strings are either tuned in fifths, G-D-A-E (as a mandolin or violin), or else in a mixture of fourths and fifths, as for example G-D-G-D, which is a more common tuning employed by mainstream players of the liuqin. This makes playing of the liuqin exactly the same as the ruan, hence players of either the liuqin or the ruan often double on both instruments. Carved (electric) and round backed mandolins (front) A mandolin is a small, stringed musical instrument which is plucked, strummed or a combination of both. ...
Various guitar picks A plectrum (plural plectra or plectrums) is a device for plucking or strumming a stringed instrument. ...
Tremolo is a musical term with two meanings: A rapid repetition of the same note, a rapid variation in the amplitude of a single note, or an alternation between two or more notes. ...
This does not cite its references or sources. ...
The ruan (阮, pinyin: ruǎn) is a Chinese plucked string instrument. ...
The modern liuqin has four steel strings. Like the ruan, the number of the liuqin's frets was increased from 7 to 24 over the course of the 20th century. These frets are arranged in half-step intervals. Its refreshing and jubilant tonal quality is more delicate than that of the yueqin. The moon guitar, also called moon-zither, gekkin, la chin, laqin, yueh-chin or yueqin (Pinyin from Chinese 月ç´), is a traditional Chinese string instrument. ...
Notable players of the liuqin - Wang Hongyi (王红艺), daughter of Wang Huiran
- Wang Huiran (王惠然), esteemed "Father of the liuqin"
Liuqin repertoire
Works composed/co-composed/adapted by Wang Huiran (王惠然) - Canal of Happiness
- Melody on a Moonlit River
- Sing a Mountain Song of Love
- Spring Comes to River Yi (春到沂河)
- Swords
- The Lark (Yun Que) Romanian Folk Music
- Warrior Suite
External links
More information On the instrument - Liuqin photographs (first row)
- Liuqin
- Liu Qin (a Mp3 recording available here as well)
- Information on the liuqin (also includes information on other plucked-string instruments and notational description of instrumental tonal range)
On players of the liuqin - Concert information on Wang Huiran
- Press release on Wang Hongyi
- Information on Wang Huiran and Wang Hongyi
Listening
See also Traditional Chinese musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments. ...
Related Chinese plucked-string instruments
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