Chinese instruments and perception,

By Michael Timpson  | Published Dec 2007

Chinese instruments have possibly become one of the most abundantly seen non-western instruments in the western world. When fi rst exposed to these instruments, one is overwhelmed by their different musical atmosphere, philosophy, and pure abundance of timbral beauty. Unlike western classical music, where bowed strings, such as the violin and cello, are the base of the orchestra, it is plucked string instruments that are at the heart and accompanying body Chinese music. A major subgroup of the Chinese plucked strings, are the zithers, of which, the guzheng plays a major role.

The guzheng, or zheng for short, is perhaps the most predominate Chinese instrument, and, like the violin or piano, it is often the instrument many parents want their child to learn. Its position in Chinese music is also not unlike the piano, in that it is an important member in nearly every type of Chinese ensemble. The instrument is parallel to the more familiar Japanese koto; in fact, the zheng is the instrument the koto originated from. The design of the zheng is a long wood zither with 17, 21, or sometimes 26 strings stretched entirely across the sounding board. Bridges, whose placement
can be moved in order to put the instrument in a specifi c tuning, suspend these strings. Traditionally, the tuning of the zheng has been the typical 5-note pentatonic scale that so many Chinese melodies are based, however, while this is still certainly the case in most repertoire, recent times have seen the instrument tuned scordatura. The practice of scordatura is any time the strings of an instrument (such as a guitar, violin, or in this case, the zheng) are tuned to something outside of traditional intonation. Some of the possible alternate tunings of the zheng have included western tonal scales, exotic Arab and Indian modes, jazz scales, and even polytonal, synthetic, atonal and microtonal systems. Normally these alternate tunings can only be performed by advanced players, but are certainly idiomatic.

Nevertheless, Chinese music tradition does not have the same emphasis on pitch as western music does; instead far more signifi cant is GESTURE, an element that is at the heart of zheng performance and technique. GESTURE is a musical element that pertains to the subtle sensibility of action (or inaction) and color; for in Chinese music, timbre reigns superior to all other factors. In contrast, Western Classical Music focuses far more on pitch, rhythms (and especially) harmony; GESTURE only plays a primary role in motivic development. In reality, the only parallel focus on GESTURE in the West is African-American traditions, such as the Blues. However, whereas the Blues focuses on freely and highly emotive GESTURE, Asian GESTURE is encapsulated by nearly the opposite: perfection, subtlety, and control.

The most indicative, and recognizable GESTURE of the zheng, is the pitch bend, that is, the player will use fingers on their left hand to press down on the string to the left of the bridge while they pluck the string to the right of the bridge with their right hand. This can be used to create a sense of the pitch rising or lowering by as much as a third, vibrato that may be slight to wild, graceful scooping, or simply a change in sound color or note. The right hand, which is normally fi tted with fi nger picks to pluck the note, also has many different ways of striking the string to create different timbres (including tremolo.) The left hand will sometimes move to the right side as well to play pitches with the flesh providing a contrasting color to the right hand’s picks.

While the instrument has traditionally been monophonic, that is playing primarily single line melodies, (with occasional strums, arpeggios, and glissandos to play chords), in modern times, the instrument has become polyphonic, that is playing multiple melodies simultaneously (like the piano) via using both the left and right hand at the same time to play notes; this has made the instrument even more substantial and an important member in most chamber music.

Although the emphasis on color, bending, gliss, etc. is surely to catch the ear of anyone fi rst hearing the instrument, perhaps the most eye-catching feature is the pure beauty of it’s design. Along each end of it stretched and raised strings is characteristic and ornate artwork. Unlike western instruments, whose sleek design is normally engineered primarily for the sound production, Chinese instrument manufacturers historically believed that the visual presentation of the instrument only enhances the experience and appreciation of performance.