Xiao

Xiao, also known as Dong Xiao, is also a very old musical instrument. It is made of bamboo, which is directly blown, with a blowing hole at the upper end, and the sound hole is divided into the first five and the last one.

Xiao, also known as Dong Xiao, plays musical instruments. This kind of flute with single pipe and vertical blowing appeared as early as the pottery figurines in Han Dynasty. Later, there were many murals and stone carvings. Before the Han Dynasty, the single-pipe musical instruments that blow horizontally and vertically were collectively called flutes or flutes, and the so-called flute players were paixiao. The shakuhachi, the flute tube and the vertical chopsticks in the Tang and Song Dynasties were the predecessors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and even the modern flute. In order to distinguish the flute that blows horizontally, the flute that blows vertically was called Xiao in Ming Dynasty. Qing Dynasty's "After the Justice of Law and Lv": "In the Ming Dynasty, the flute is straight, and there is no vertical flute. Today, the flute is one foot eight inches long and weak. It blows from the upper mouth and has a back hole. The flute blows horizontally, and there is no back hole. Then today's flute is an ancient flute, and I believe it. "

there are five sound pressing holes in front of the flute tube and one sound pressing hole in the back. Except for two depressions near both ends, the others are the same as modern bamboo flute. In the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Lianggong's "Min Xiao Ji" contained: "Dehua porcelain flutes and flutes are bright and white in color and fine in style, but there is no one who is in tune with one or two; Together, the sound is bleak and far away from the bamboo. " It can be seen that burning is not easy.

Modern flutes are made of purple bamboo, yellow withered bamboo or white bamboo, with a total length of 7-78 cm and an inner diameter of 1.2-1.4 cm. The upper end is provided with bamboo joints, and the lower end and the pipe are hollow. The edge of the upper end is provided with a blowhole, and the middle part of the pipe body is provided with six sound pressing holes, one behind the five front holes, two below the back holes for tuning, and two auxiliary sound holes under it, which can beautify the timbre, increase the volume and tie the floating ear. There are no membrane holes. Some flutes are increased to eight press holes with copper sockets, which can fine-tune the pitch.

The common Xiao are Zizhu Dong Xiao, Nine-section Xiao and Black Paint Nine-section Xiao. Purple bamboo flute, with thick tube, unlimited number of sections, deep and loud timbre, is mostly used for solo or ensemble; Nine-section flute, with nine sections on the pipe body and carved with various patterns or characters, and some are inlaid with bone rings at the lower end; Nine flutes are painted in black, and the tube body is painted in black. These two kinds of nine-section Xiao, with pure pronunciation and beautiful timbre, are mostly used to accompany local operas.

the tune of the flute is different. The common tone is G, which can be flat-blown and super-blown, and the range is D1-E3. Xiao has a soft tone and deep bass, and weak performance is the most distinctive. It is good at expressing long, delicate and elegant music. It is suitable for solo and ensemble, and also used for instrumental ensembles such as Jiangnan Sizhu and Cantonese music and accompaniment of Yue Opera. Ensemble of Qin and Xiao is also one of the common forms of performance.

The volume of Xiao is not large, and the intensity is not large. Its timbre is mellow, soft, quiet and sweet. It is often combined with guqin, pipa, erhu and other musical instruments to play music with elegant and remote artistic conception. In bands, Xiao is often used as a solo instrument to play quiet music passages.

Xiao, also known as Dong Xiao, is an ancient vocal instrument in China. As early as thousands of years ago, Xiao was circulated among the people in China. About its origin, we should start with the flute. When Paixiao was first formed thousands of years ago, it was called Xiao. Later, in the process of blowing the flute, people found that holes with different distances can also blow out different sounds, so the flute gradually changed from a flute composed of multiple pipes to a cave flute with several holes in a single pipe.

Today's Xiao existed in the Han Dynasty, but it was called "Qiangdi" at that time. Qiangdi was originally a musical instrument of the Qiang people living in Sichuan and Gansu, and it spread to the Yellow River valley in the 1st century BC. After development, it gradually evolved into a six-hole flute, which is very similar to today's Xiao.

Xiao has a simple structure and is very similar in shape to a flute. It is generally made of purple bamboo, yellow withered bamboo or white bamboo. The pipe body is a little longer than a flute, and the top end is sealed with bamboo joints. There is a blowing hole on the edge of the seal, five sound holes on the front of the pipe body, and a sound hole on the upper part of the back. In addition, there are three or four sound holes and sound-assisting holes on the back of the lower end of the pipe body, which are used to adjust the pitch, beautify the timbre and increase the volume.

Xiao's timbre is soft and elegant, with deep pronunciation in the bass area, which is very distinctive when played weakly; The midrange tone is round and beautiful. Xiao's playing skills are basically the same as those of the flute, but its flexibility is far less than that of the flute, and it is not suitable for expressing fast and fancy content. It is only suitable for playing long, delicate, quiet and lyrical tunes, which are mostly used to express the beauty of nature and express the inner feelings of characters. Xiao is rich in expressive force, which can be used for solo, ensemble and ensemble, as well as folk music such as Jiangnan Sizhu, Fujian Nanyin and Guangdong Music, and it is also used for accompaniment of some local operas.

There are many kinds of Xiao, such as Zizhu Dong Xiao, Yuping Xiao and Jiujie Xiao.

types of Xiao

1. Zizhu Dong Xiao, Jiujie Xiao and Heiqi Jiujie Xiao

2. Yuping Xiao

There are many kinds of Xiao, including Zizhu Dong Xiao, Jiujie Xiao, Jiujie Xiao and Yuping Xiao.

Purple bamboo flute, with thick tube and unlimited number of sections, has a deep and bright tone, and is mostly used for solo or ensemble.

Nine-section Xiao, with nine sections on the pipe body and carved with various patterns or characters, some of which are embedded with ox bone rings at the lower end.

Nine-section flute with black paint is named after the tube body is painted with black paint.

These two kinds of nine-section Xiao, with pure pronunciation and beautiful timbre, are suitable for local operas or light music, and sometimes for solo or ensemble.

Making Xiao

Xiao is longer and thinner than Qu Di, and is made of bamboo.

when making, first of all, pay attention to the material selection, the mouthpiece and the sound hole must be in a straight line, and the scale must be accurate.

Xiao's structure is relatively simple. It is made of purple bamboo, yellow withered bamboo or white bamboo, with a total length of 7-78 cm, which is slightly longer and thinner than that of Qu Di. The inside of the tube is 1.2-1.4 cm, with bamboo joints at the upper end and hollow joints at the lower end and inside. The mouthpiece is opened at the upper edge, thereby blowing to develop sound. In the middle of the flute tube, there are five sound holes on the front and one sound hole on the back to control the sound level. The two round holes parallel to the back of the lower end of the tube are sound outlets, which can be used for tuning. The two round holes below the sound outlet are sound-assisting holes, which can beautify the timbre and increase the volume, and can also be used to tie the floating spike (decorative tapestry).

The sound quality of the flute is closely related to the bamboo materials selected and the production. Bamboo harvested from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox should be solid and heavy in weight, and purple bamboo with even flowers and purplish brown flowers is better, without defects such as moth-eaten, dry shrinkage, splitting, bee waist and big belly, with perfect tube body and fine and straight texture.

when making, the mouthpiece and the sound hole must be in a straight line, rounded above the mouthpiece, and the sound hole should be rounded, and both of them should be cut into an inward inclined shape. The hole wall should be smooth, the inner chamber should be smooth, the bamboo joints should be polished, the diameters at both ends should not be too different, and the lacquer decoration should be beautiful. In terms of sound quality, the scale should be accurate, and the sound should be beautiful regardless of light blowing and heavy blowing, and there should be no empty or different sounds. The timbre should be honest, beautiful and mellow.

the tune of the flute

The playing skills of the flute are similar to those of the flute, but not as sensitive as the flute.

Xiao is often set to G key.

Xiao's playing skills are basically the same as those of flute, and it can play the sliding sound, overlapping sound and beating sound freely, but its sensitivity is far less than that of flute, so it is not suitable for playing colorful tongue, overlapping sound and other expressive skills, but suitable for playing long, quiet and lyrical tunes to express quiet and elegant feelings.

The tune of the flute is different, the common tone is G, when the six sound holes are completely closed, the barrel tone is (d1), and the range is from (D1 ~ E3) with two octaves and the other sophomore. Xiao's timbre is soft and elegant, with deep pronunciation in the bass area and distinctive features when played weakly; The midrange tone is round and beautiful; The high-pitched area is tense. The volume of the flute is small, so it is better for the band to play several flutes at the same time. When playing with a single flute, attention should be paid to the moderate volume contrast on the orchestration.

Xiao is not only suitable for solo and ensemble, but also used for folk instrumental ensembles such as Jiangnan Sizhu, Fujian Nanyin, Guangdong Music, Changzhou Sixian and Henan Bantou Band, as well as accompaniment of local operas such as Yue Opera. In the ancient song "Moonlit Night on a Spring River", at first, the flute played a light Boeing, and with the drum sound simulated by the pipa, it described the scene of the flute and drum playing on a cruise ship. In the whole music, the flute sound was continuous and smooth.

In addition, the ensemble of Qin and Xiao complements each other and is euphemistic, which can better express the profound artistic conception of the music.