asian plucked instruments

ASIAN PLUCKED INSTRUMENTS

INFO COMPILED BY. MOISES OLVERA

Far East ATLAS of Plucked Instruments

• HOME• about• collection• books• index• links• lutes• guitars early• guitars modern• mandolins• cittern• banjos• steelguitars• miscellaneous• Europe West• Europe East• Europe South• Africa• Middle East• Central Asia• India• Far East• S.E. Asia• America N• America C• America S

You Tube

Far East

This is a long page. Most of the plucked instruments of the Far East look quite similar, clearlyoriginating from a single (Chinese) source.

Even the names are often quite similar, although usually you can distinguish (by smalldifferences) the instruments from each particular country. So on this page you find theinstruments from China, Mongolia, Tuva, Japan and Korea. Because Vietnam (where over theyears/centuries lots of Chinese refugies have moved to) appears to have very similarinstruments, this country is also included on this page.

For Tibet and West China seeCentral Asia.

For Philippines seeSouth East Asia.

top China

pipaexample : bought inHongkong 1984

L=1020 B=315H=70mmscale 725mm

You Tube

pipa

The pipa is the main lute of China. Old pictures show it must have been known for about1000 years; it is still the most popular plucked instrument. The name comes from pi (=play forward) and pa (= play backward).

The body and neck are carved from one block of heavy hardwood, painted black. Thefront is made from some soft wood. The first 6 frets are triangles of wood, with a bonerim. The other (about 25) frets are small strips of bamboo, about 1cm high, glued on thefront in normal western scale of 12 tones to an octave.

The peghead is sickle shaped and ends in a curl to the front, with a special Chinese typedecoration of different woods. The 4 long grooved friction pegs (ending with slices ofdifferent woods) are on both sides of the open peghead. The 4 silk strings are fixed to anicely shaped bamboo bridge, glued to the front. There is no soundhole, except one tinyhole under the bridge. Tuning is A d e a.

The pipa used to be played with bare fingers, although since the silk string are replacedby steel strings (for more volume) it is played with nail picks, taped to the thumb and allfingers, or with a plectrum. It is usually played in an upright position with the bodyresting on the left thigh. The picking direction is opposite that of guitar playing : thefingers flick out and the thumb pulls up (nail first). By playing "rolls" with alternatingfingers a mandoline-like tremelo is often used.

The music is (for centuries) written in special tablature, indicating string, fret position,finger, direction, volume, etc. The pipa is used in all Chinese orchestras foraccompaniment, but there are many solo pieces, usually reflecting some mood, orcelebrating some historical happening (often some battle).

top

ruanexample : bought viainternet fromApollo'sAxes, 2005

L=730 B=310 H=85mmscale425mm

You Tube

ruan

The ruan is the Chinese "mandolin". It comes in several sizes, but only the zhongruan(alto) and daruan (tenor) are commonly used in orchestras.

The body of the ruan is made from 2 round pieces of soft wood of about 30 cm diameterfor front and back, with a shallow rim of hardwood around them. The neck with a raisedfretboard is joined to the body. Usually there are two soundholes (round or other shape)on the front.

The peghead is sickle shaped and ends in a curl to the front, with a special Chinese typeof decoration, made of different woods. The frets are small strips of bamboo (or plastic),glued on the neck, in a normal western scale (12 frets to an octave).

The 4 long (grooved) friction pegs are with two on each side of the open pegbox. Theyhave an invisible mechanisme inside the peghead, which turns the peg on the front ofthe closed peghead.The 4 metal strings run over a loose bamboo bridge to a wooden stringholder at thebottom of the body. Tuning could be G d a e' (soprano) or C G d a (tenor).

The ruan is played with a plectrum. With sizes ranging from large, medium to small, themodern ruan is capable of producing a variety of tones that range from rich to delicate.It is often used in orchestral performances, as well as for accompaniment of folk operas.

the machine headsare inside the closedpeghead, withtraditional lookingpegs

For much more informationabout Chinese instruments,see : Chinese music.

top

yueh chinexample : bought fromRay Man Musicshop,London 1977

L=640 B=370 H=40mmscale 370mm

yueh chin / yueh qin

The yueh chin (qin is the old romanisation spelling) is the Chinese "moon-guitar" and isquite similar to the ruan.

The body of the yueh chin is made from 2 round pieces of soft wood of about 30 cmdiameter, for front and back, with a shallow rim of bended hardwood around them(thinner than the ruan). The short neck with the pegbox is made of one piece of woodand joined to the body. The peghead is sickle shaped and ends in a curl to the front, withusually a special decoration of different woods.

The 10 frets are small strips of bamboo, glued on the neck, in Chinese tone pitches (7 toan octave). Tuning is g d' g' d''.

The 4 long (grooved) friction pegs (with different coloured slices on the ends) are onboth sides of the open pegbox. The 4 silk strings are in 2 courses and fixed to ahardwood bridge which is glued to the front. There is only one tiny sound hole under thebridge.

The yueh chin is played with a plectrum, in mandolin-style.

top

liuqinexample : bought viaeBay 2006


You Tube

liuqin

The liuqin (pronunciation: Lee-oo-chin) is the small relative of the pipa. It's name derivesfrom the fact that it looks like a willow leaf (liu is Chinese for willow). It would originallyhave been made of willow too, but new models are made of tong and sandal wood. Theexample instrument is a modern, cheaper version where everything black is made ofblack plastic. Another name is liuyeqin.

In general the liuqin is made like the pipa. So the body, neck and pegbox are carvedfrom one piece of hardwood, and painted black. The front is made from some softwood.All frets are made from strips of bamboo and in a normal western scale. Usually thereare two soundholes next to the strings on the front, each covered with an ivory (nowalways plastic) pierced rosette.

The pegbox is sickle shaped with a forward curl that ends with a special decoration ofdifferent woods/plastics. It has 4 long grooved wooden pegs, two on each side of theopen pegbox. The 4 steel strings run over a small (rounded) bamboo bridge to some pinson the edge of the body. The tuning is g d' g' d''.

The liuqin is played with a plectrum, and is mainly used in the accompaniment of folkoperas, although quite often it can be heard as a solo instrument. Because of its shorterstrings & relatively small resonator, the liuqin is noted for high pitches and distinctivelybright tones.

On some liuqins the tail has aspecial device to fine-tune thestrings.

top

nanyin pipaexample : fromeBay

L=~950 B=0H=0mmscale 00mm

You Tube

nanyin pipa

Besides the normal pipa there is an other style pipa, called the nanyin pipa, or "Nanpa"or "horizontally held pipa", like in the old style. It is used in the Fujian region and onTaiwan.

The body is more or less the same (a bit wider) as the normal pipa, the main differencesare the frets and the pegbox. The front has a crescent-shaped sound hole on either side.

The frets have only 4 triangular pieces (instead of 6), missing the lowest and the topone. The nine lower frets are in a diatonic scale.

The peghead looks more like a Japanesebiwa, bending back.

The number of strings and tuning is thesame, but this pipa is not played vertical(resting on the knee), but horizontal, like aguitar. It seems this instrument andplaying style is older than the normal pipa.

Nanyin is a traditional opera sung in the Minnan (south Fujian) dialect. Closely tied withimperial and Buddhist music, poetic rhythm and drama tunes from Central China, Nanyinis accompanied by a band of erxian (fiddle), sanxian, dongxiao (flute), nanpa (bent-neckpipa) and paiban (clappers).

top

chinchinexample : boughtfrom bookshop inRotterdam 1995


You Tube

chinchin / qinqin

The chinchin (or qinqin, but same pronounciation) is a plucked instrument mainly used infolk music in South China.

The chinchin can be found with many different body shapes : some look like a guitar (likethis example), some have a flower-shaped body (like the Vietnamese Dan Sen), are sixor eight-sided, square or even banjo like. They usually have a banjo-like skin on thefront - often made of snake skin (python) - so the guitar-shaped chinchin looks a bit likea dobro. Other fronts are made of soft wood, like the ruan.

The neck and pegbox are often guitar-like, but the peghead could also be like on otherChinese instruments. There are 3 strings, usually steel, running over a loose smallwooden bridge to a fixing device at the edge of the body.

The chinchin will be usually strummed with a plectrum or with the forefinger, and is usedmainly to accompany singing folk songs.

The main difference with the flower-shaped Dan Sen from Vietnam is thenumber of strings :3 for the chinchin and 2 for the DanSen.

left a chinchin with flower-shapedbody (without strings or pegs) andright a real banjo-shaped chinchin.

(both from eBay)

top

sanxianexample right : boughtfrom bookshop inRotterdam 2004(left : from Chinesewebsite)


You Tube

the large one

You Tube

the small one

sanxian

The sanxian (or san-hsien, which literally means "3 strings" in Chinese) is a popularChinese banjo. It comes in two sizes : a small one (body diameter 14 cm) and a big one(body diameter 24 cm).

The body is made from a hoop of hardwood, with on front and back a snake skin(python), glued all around the edge of the rounded wooden front and back.

The neck is made of hardwood, with a joined-on pegbox of similar wood. The pegbox hasa slight curve to the back. The 3 long grooved friction pegs are cone shaped with strips ofdifferent woods at the ends. Two are on the right side and one is on the left side of theopen pegbox.The 3 silk strings run over a small wooden bridge to a separate rounded wooden pin atthe bottom of the body.

The sanxian is played with a plectrum. With a strong, rich tone and a notably wide range,it is widely used in accompaniment as well as orchestral and solo performances.

The big one (which has a less sharp sound) is used to accompany songs.

The example instrument has a special capodastre on the neck, through which all 3 stringsgo; by sliding this up and down the neck the easiest range for the singer can be found,without re-tuning.

top

guchinexample : boughtvia eBay, 2003


You Tube

gu chin / guqin

The chin or guchin (or old spelling qin or guqin) is a seven string fretless zither, and oneof the oldest instruments. Because it was played by the higher classes it was also knownas the "lute" of China. For more information about the guchin see silk.qin.com . InChinese, "gu" means old and "qin" means "musical instrument". So although it washistorically known as CHIN, during the last century is has been widely called GUCHIN.

The body of the chin is made from a big plank of hardwood (of about 1.20 meter),hollowed out from the back. The bottom is covered with a flat plank. The entire body ispainted with black lacquer. In the bottom plank is a long slit (soundhole), which iscovered on the inside with half a bamboo pole. Is has two round "feet" at the left side.The 7 silk strings are fixed on the right side to pegs that can be twisted (and thereforetuning the strings) from the bottom up. The strings run to a small bone bridge at the leftend of the soundbox, and are then fixed at the bottom to some tuning divice near thefeet. The seven strings can be tuned in a variety of keys, but the basic tuning is: C D F GA c d. On the far side of the top string (the thickest, furthest from the player) are 13white dots to indicate the flageolet points.

The chin is played by laying it flat on a table and plucking it with the right hand. The lefthand shortens the strings (more or less holding the thumb sideways) by pressing thestring down on the soundboard - often sliding up and down. Also a variety of flageoletscan be produced. Because of this technic of shortening the strings, it is the only zitherincluded here on the website.

There maybe are thousands of chin pieces in existence, some from 500 AD and many ofthese pieces are still played today. The music is in tablature, which gives detailedinformation about place, string, finger, direction, volume, etc.

There is much symbolism surrounding theinstrument. For example, it measures 3' 6.5"(Chinese feet and inches), to symbolise the365 days of the year; the upper surface isrounded, representing the sky, the bottom isflat and represents the earth.The five strings of the earliest chinssymbolise the five elements: Metal, Wood,Water, Fire and Earth. Finally, the 13mother-of-pearl inlays along the outer edgerepresent the 13 months of the lunar year.

In Imperial China, a well educated scholarwas expected to be skilled in four arts:chess, calligraphy, poetry, and chin.

top Mongolia

tobshuurexample : bought viainternet from Sound-of-Nature, 2004


tobshuur (inner Mongolia, China)

In the Chinese Province of Inner Mongolia they use a fretless tobshuur that looks verymuch like the well known cello of the Mongolians, the Morin Khuur.Like the Morin Khuur this tobshuur also has a nicely carved horse head on the top and aquite rectangular body. It is made in a factory.

The body is built like a guitar, with some soft wood front. The back, sides and neck arepainted. The neck is flush with the soundboard and has no fingerboard and no frets. Thetwo sound holes look a bit like f-holes. The decoration lines near the edge and theMongolian signs are painted on the wood.

The neck ends with a joined-on pegbox, with a carved horse head. The two (nylon) stringsare tuned with a flat T-shaped wooden peg on each side of the open pegbox. The stringsgo over a small loose bridge and are fixed by tying through two holes in a strip of wood atthe bottom of the body.

The tobshuur is strummed with the right finger (or a plectrum) and often only the firststring is fingered (and the second with the thumb). It is mainly used to accompany throatsinging.

top

tobshuurexample : bought viainternet from Sound-of-Nature, 2004


You Tube

tobshuur (Mongolia - the state)

In Mongolia (the country) the tobshuur has a different shape. Although it used to be madewith a skin top (like a banjo), nowadays they have changed to wooden tops for morevolume. Also quite recently the idea of a swan has turned up. On CD's of Mongolian musicthese instruments are now often called "swan-neck-lutes". The idea of the swan is not onlyused for the shape of the head, but also for the two sound holes (cut in the front), and forthe body. It seems not factory made. The instrument resembles much the Tuva bowed luteigli, which has a leather front and a horsehead peghead.

The body of this tobshuur is carved from one piece of wood, with on the back the carvingof two wings. The neck is joined to the body and is, together with the peghead, made ofone piece of wood. The peghead has a carving of a swan head. The eyes and the beack arepainted. The fretless neck is flush with the soundboard and has no fingerboard (the blackis painted on).

The tobshuur has two (now nylon) strings, tuned with a round wooden tuning peg on eachside of the (open on the back) pegbox. The strings go through holes near the nut to theback. The strings go over a rather big loose wooden bridge, and are fixed to a wooden pinat the end of the body.

The tobshuur is strummed with the right finger and often only the first string is fingered(or the second with the thumb). It is mainly used to accompany singing.

top

topshur / khomysexample : bought viainternet from Khomys.com, Novosibirsk,USSR, 2004


topshur / khomys (USSR)

This is another tobshuur or as it is called in USSR : topshur or khomys. It looks more likethe traditional tobshuur, as it has a skin front; but also like the Tuva bowed lute igli.

The body of the topshur is carved from a solid block of wood in a smooth oval shape, and asmall round soundhole in middle of the the back. The leather skin is not glued, butstretched by means of many pieces of (nylon) rope all around the back of the woodenbody. In the skin are 3 small decoration holes. The neck and (square) peghead are madefrom a separate piece of wood. All the wood is painted dark brown.

The topshur has two nylon (guitar) strings, which are tuned by a round wooden peg oneach side of the (open on the back) pegbox. The strings go passed a plastic nut throughsmall holes to the back. At the other end they run over a rather big loose wooden bridge toa small wooden pin at the end of the body.

The neck is not rounded, but 5-sided and slightly raised above the skin; it has no fretboard. The frets are in western scale, and are made from wound nylon, but in one longbinding, so all frets are joined.

The topshur is strummed with the right finger and often only the first string is fingered. Itis mainly used to accompany singing.

Note that a khomus is the name of a jaw harp.

The back of the topshur, with the ropes to fix the skin.

top

shanz / shudragaexample : seen duringconcert in Holland


You Tube

shanz / shudraga

This instrument is in fact the large size Chinese sanxian, which is often used in theMongolian area, and then called shanz or shudraga.

It has three nylon strings and is played in similar style (with plectrum) to accompanysinging.

top Tuva

doshpuluurexample :bought from Tuva viaeBay 2007


You Tube

after one minuut

doshpuluur

In Tuva (a small USSR republic just north-west of Mongolia) they use a kind of pluckedinstrument which is quite similar to the tobshuur, but called doshpuluur (also spelled :toshpulur, tochpuluur, dospulur, etc.)

It is a kind of banjo, but usually with a square wooden body, with goatskin on both sides.Sometimes (pine) wood is used for this.

The (pine wood) neck is long and has two or three metal strings. Often the peghead has acarving of a horse (very common around Mongolia). Some instruments have a few frets.Nowadays the strings are the lower 3 guitar strings, tuned with 3 separate guitar tuners;the long wooden pegs are just decoration.

Tuning could be C G c.

The doshpuluur is played strumming (usually only the first stringis fingered, the other string(s) are drones), to accompany throatsinging.

left :Choduraa Tumat from Tuva playing square box doshpuluur(from Russian website)

top

chanzyexample :bought via internetfrom Tuvatrader 2007


You Tube

chanzy

In Tuva they use a second kind of plucked instrument, which is quite similar to theshudraga and called the chanzy (also seen : chanzi and tyanzi). It is regarded as a specialshaped doshpuluur.

It is a kind of (round) banjo, with a (goat or snake) skin glued on the front of a roundwooden hoop. It has some decorative wooden box around it (made of triplex), in a kind ofheart shape (some call it kidney-shape). Usually it has two similar soundholes and somepainted decoration. The example instrument has a Ying-Yang shaped black plasticscratchplate glued to the skin.

The neck is long and made of pine wood. Some models have frets,others not or (like the example) only drawn on.Like on the doshpuluur the three (nylon) strings are tuned bymodern guitar tuners - the long pegs are just for decoration.Often the peghead has a carving of a horse (very common oninstruments around Mongolia). The strings run over a rather largeloose bridge on the skin to pegs on the bottom of the body.

Tuning could be F c f.

The chanzy is played strumming (usually only the firststring is fingered, the other string(s) are drones), toaccompany throat singing.

from Russian website

top Japan

shamisenexample : bought fromRay Man Musicshop,London 1990


You Tube

shamisen

The shamisen (or samisen) is the most well known Japanese plucked instrument, whicharrived around the 16th C in mainland Japan via the Chinese sanxian and the Okinawasanshin. Both predecessors used python snake as skin, but for some reason the Japanesestarted using the skin of dog, or cat (which is more expensive because you can get less skinfrom one cat...). Nowadays also plastic is used like on western banjos. Putting on a skin atthe very high tension that is required, is work of specialists. As is the woodwork : the neckis made of 3 pieces which fit together (with special lips and holes) so tightly that you canhardly see the joins.

The body of the shamisen is made from 4 pieces of hardwood, joined so they make analmost square hoop. On front and back a dog or cat skin is glued. The neck is made from 3pieces of hard wood : one goes through the body, (with the endpin used to fix the stringsto); the middle is just a piece of neck and the top piece has the pegbox glued to it. Thefretless neck is halfround and has no fretboard. The pegbox has a curve backwards andends in a rather sharp edge - often protected by a piece of black plastic. The left side of thebody is protected with a piece of decorative cardboard.

The 3 silk strings can be tuned by 3 long woodentuning pegs on the side of the open pegbox : two onthe right, one on the left. The rim of the holes is madeof copper. The brass nut is only for the first 2 strings;the 3rd runs over a cavity to make the string buzzing,like the biwa strings.

The strings run over a loose small, neatly carved bamboo bridge, and are tied to 3 colouredsilk ropes. These are fixed to the end of the neck sticking through the body. By slightlyloosening the strings, these ropes come loose from the pin and the strings can be woundaround the pegs, the neck taken in pieces and the entire shamisen fits in a small bag.

The shamisen is played with an enormous triangular plectrum (of different kinds of wood,but nowadays often made of plastic), which not only picks the strings, but also hits the skinat certain notes.The music is written in Japanese tablature, which gives quite detailed instructions how toplay. The shamisen comes in slightly different sizes for different types of music. The mostwell known use is in the BUNRAKU puppet theater.

For more information see shammy, japan and hogaku.it shamisen (in Italian).

top

biwaexample : bought viaeBay, 2004


You Tube

biwa

The biwa is the Japanese lute, and looks much like its predecessor -the Chinese pipa.However it is quite differently played and the sound is also completely different. There existseveral types of biwa, which differ in size and tuning. like the gaku biwa, the chikuzen biwaand the satsuma biwa. For more information see japan and hogaku.it biwa (in Italian).

The body of the biwa is carved from one piece of hardwood, with a thin softwoodsoundboard, slightly rounded. This has two half moon shaped soundholes, with bone inlayaround them. The back has vague carvings, like glued-on papers. The neck is part of thebody (although on the example both the neck and the pegbox can be taken separate). The5 (or 4) high frets (and the top bridge) are made from small "piles" of different woods, witha rounded top. The pegbox is square and bend backwards, ending in a kind of curl upwards.

The 4 (or 5) silk strings are tuned with long round wooden tuning pegs, 2 on each side ofthe open bexbox. They are fixed to the bridge, which is a carved piece of wood glued to thefront, and has bone (?) decoration on the sides and around the string fixing holes.

The biwa is played with a big size triangular plectrum, which not only hits the strings butalso the soundboard. Often there is a piece of decorative leather or paper glued to the frontwhere the plectrum hits the wood. Because of the round shape of the top of the frets thestrings buzz, which is the typical sound of the biwa. Often the strings are pressed downbetween the frets to get the pitches in between frets.

As biwas are rarely made anymore, you are lucky to find one - the example instrument hasburn marks on the front, and missed the pegs and one fret, which are replaced by somelook-alikes.

top

sanshinexample : bought viaeBay from Japan 2004


You Tube

sanshin

The sanshin is a banjo, like the Chinese sanxian (where the name seems to come from) andits close relative : the Japanese shamisen. It is the "national" instrument of Okinawa - oneof the Japanese islands.

The body of the sanshin is made from some pieces of wood glued together to form analmost round hoop. On front and back a skin is glued. This used to be made from python,but nowadays often a nylon skin with python imprint is used. The fretless neck with(shamisen-style) pegbox is made from one piece of wood, painted all black. The 3 nylonstrings are tuned with 3 long round wooden pegs (often black with white endings), 2 on theright and one on the left of the open pegbox. The strings run over a small loose plasticbridge to a decorative piece of rope-knot which is hooked on a pin at the bottom of thebody. Around the body is a piece of cloth with embroidery with special Okinawa decorationpatterns.

The instrument is played with a special finger-like plectrum, which fits over the index finger.It is made of horn or nowadays : plastic.

The sanshin is mainly used to accompany folk songs.

For more information see uruma.co.jp sanshin (in Japanese).

The special fingerpick to play thesanshin.

top

gekkinexample : from eBay

L= B=H=mmscale 00mm

gekkin

The gekkin is the close relative of the Chinese yueh chin, and nowadays the instrument isnot made in Japan anymore. All instruments come from China.

The old instrument is almost the same : so two circles of softwood for soundboard andback, joined by a narrow strip of hardwood for the sides. It has a separate neck, with asickle shape pegbox, ending in a decorative plate at the front with some woodcarving.The strings are tuned with long rounded friction pegs, two on each side of the open pegbox.Bamboo strips glued to the fingerboard are used as frets, usually in a full western scale.Sometimes on the old Japanese instruments there was special decoration or evensoundholes on the soundboard.

The main difference (if any) with the Chinese yueh chin is that the gekkin does not have 4silk strings in two double courses, but 3 or 4 separate steel strings.

Tuning could be a d' a' d".

It is played with a plectrum, but the gekkin is not often used anymore.

For more information see Gekkin (in Japanese).

top

taishogotoexample : bought via eBay, 2008L=690 B=130 H=75mm scale 500mm

Electronic taishogoto, from Japanese website Jamabika

taishogoto

Surprising to find the simple folk-like Indian bullbulltarang (see India) to be quite popular in Japan,where it is called taishogoto (also spelled: taisho-koto). Maybe this is the reason why this instrumentis often called "Japanese Banjo". Some instrumentsare electric and even have electronic devicesattached to it.

Basically the taishogoto is a long acoustic soundbox, with strings on top (close together), which canbe tuned on the left side, and strummed with a pickon the right side. With the left hand you can presstypewriter-like keys, which press down small metalbars on the strings, and work as frets (althoughthere are real frets as well).

The keys are usually numbered (both in India andJapan, music is notated in numbers, like our do, re,mi), according to their relative pitch.

The taishogoto is usually played by large groups ofwoman playing together popular music.

See more information here : Taishoharp.

You Tube

normal playing

You Tube

special playing

top KOREA

komungoexample : from book Korean Musical Instruments by KeithHoward

L=1500 B=200 H=60mmscale 1300mm

You Tube

komungo

The komungo is a long zither, quite similar to theJapanese koto, or the Korean kayagum. Althoughzithers are excluded from this website, the komungo isfretted so one string can be used for different pitches.

The body is made from usually paulownia wood,hollowed out at the bottom like a half tube. The back,and both ends are pieces of hardwood. There are 16fixed frets for the 3 inner strings and 3 movablebridges for the 3 outer strings (which are alwaysplayed open). The high frets are made of hardwood.

The 6 silk strings are at the players right side fixed to asmall piece of wood, and run from underneath througha hole in the body, over the wide nut/bridge to theother side of the zither and are there tied with a specialknot to a long silk rope, which is tied to the end of thebody.

The komungo is played sitting crosslegged with theright side of the instrument on the lap. The strings arenot strummed with the fingers, but with a bamboostick as plectrum. Nevertheless, the sound is quitesimilar to the koto and kayagum, which are alwaysplayed with (long) open strings.

top VIETNAM

In Vietnam most instrument resemble quite closely the Chinese ones, some even havesimilar names. However some instruments only exist in Vietnam, like the Dan Day and DanBau (DAN means LUTE).In general the Vietnamese instruments nowadays seem to be very highly decorated, withlots of inlayed mother-of-pearl all over the instrument.

Much information about Vietnamese instruments can be found on : vnstyle.vdc.com.vnvietnam music.

dan nguet / dan kimexample : bought viainternet from HongNhung in Vietnam,2006


You Tube

dan nguyet / dan kim

The Dan Nguyet or Dan Kim is a relative of the Chinese yueh chin or ruan, but with a muchlonger neck and only two strings.

The front and back of the body of the Dan Nguyet are made from a round piece ofunvarnished soft wood (diameter of about 350 mm). The side is made of bendedhardwood, 60 mm in height. There is no soundhole. The neck is separate, without afingerboard and glued to the body. The peghead is made from one piece, slightly sickleshaped and ending in a spade-like backward curve with some inlay decoration.

On both sides of the open pegbox is a long rounded tuning peg, ending with decorativeslices of different materials. Often the Dan Nguet still has holes for 4 pegs, but nowadaysonly 2 strings (and pegs) are used.The frets are pieces of hardwood, with the rim of bamboo. They are in a kind of pentatonicscale, based on 7 intervals in an octave. Two nylon strings (tuned to a fifth or a fourth) runto a carved wooden bridge, glued to the soundboard.

In the past fingernails were used to play Dan Nguyet. Nowadays, they play it with a plasticor tortoise-shell plectrum.

Dan Nguyet is used to accompany singing, in ceremonial music and in the traditionalorchestra.

Vietnamese instruments are nowadayshighly decorated with many mother-of-pearlfigures inlayed on sides, neck, pegbox andbridge.

top

dan senexample : bought viainternet from HongNhung in Vietnam,2004


You Tube

dan sen

The Dan Sen is a slightly smaller instrument than the Dan Nguyet, but is in fact made inthe same way.

The body of the Dan Sen has the shape of a flower (with 6 "petals") and two thin nylonstrings.In addition to the different body shape compared to the Dan Nguyet, the frets of the DanSen are fixed in a diatonic scale instead of the pentatonic scale of the Dan Nguyet, but stillbased on 7 intervals in an octave.

The side of the body, the bridge, and the neck are highly decorated with inlay mother-of-pearl.

It is only used in the Hat Boi (Traditional Drama) in South Vietnam.

detail of theinlay on theside of thedan sen

top

dan doan / dan nhat

dan doan / dan nhat

The Dan Doan looks very similar to the Chinese yueh chin (moonguitar). It is sometimesalso called Dan Nhat.

The Dan Doan has a round thin sound box with a short neck and three (silk or nylon)strings. The frets are strips of bamboo, glued to the neck and soundboard, in a diatonicscale.

It is played with a plectrum.

example : from websiteVietnam shop

L= B=00 H=0mmscale mm

top

dan dayexample : bought viainternet from HongNgung in Vietnam,2004


You Tube

dan day

The Dan Day is the main lute of the Viet majority. Its literary name is "Vo de cam" or"bottom-less lute". It can be found only in Vietnam.

The sound box of a Dan Day has the shape of a trapezium of hardwood with sides of 28x20cm, and a depth of 6 cm. The soundboard is made of unvarnished light softwood.

The back is also softwood, but with a rectangular sound hole,covered with a wooden rosette. The very long neck (about 80 cmbody to nut) is glued into the body (it seems to go right to thebottom with a pole) and continues into the peghead, which widens ina curved banian leaf shape. It has 3 long rounded pegs : two at theright and one at the left side of the pegbox which is open on theback.

There are no frets on the top half of the neck, only lower down are 10 high frets, made ofhardwood with a rim of bamboo. The 3 nylon strings run to a box- shaped bridge, glued tothe front.The tuning of the Dan Day is in 4ths. When the player presses at the first fret over thethree strings, the three tones are : g c' f'.

The playing of the traditional Dan Day lute differs from other lutes bysomething peculiar : open strings are never played.

It is used exclusively by men to accompany the "A Dao" singinggenre in North Vietnam.

top

dan tamexample : bought viaeBay, 2006

L=900 B=150H=80mmscale ~550mm

dan tam

This three-stringed banjo-lute is used by several ethnic groups in Vietnam. The Viet call itDan Tam, whereas the Ha Nhi call it Ta in.The Dan Tam exists in three sizes: large, medium, and small. The small one is the mostpopular. It is quite similar to the Chinese sanxian, and a relative of the Japanese shamisen,and the Mongolian shanz.

The sound box of the Dan Tam is oval-shaped, with (python) snake skin on the front. Infact the front is rounded wood, with a small square hole in the middle; the skin seems tobe glued to the rounded edge.

The back and sides of the body are made of wood. The back has a carved soundhole. Theneck is made of hard wood and fretless. There are three round wooden pegs, two on theright, one on the left of the open pegbox. The three strings were traditionally made oftwisted silk, but are nowadays usually nylon. They run through a small wooden devicebound to the neck that can slide up and down, providing a movable nut (and scale length).Tuning is normally f c' f'.

Playing is with a plastic plectrum. The tones of the Dan Tam are bright and cheerful. Thetechniques for the left hand include tremolos, trills, picking, stopping and especially sliding.Full tones, three-quarter tones and quarter-tones can be played. The Dan Tam is often partof an orchestra accompanying Cheo drama.

Left : the back of the bodywith the soundhole.

Right : the rounded front withthe python skin.

top

dan tyba

dan tyba

The Dan Tyba is very much similar to the Chinese pipa. The main difference is that the topsix frets are not triangular, but just the same high strips of wood that are used for the restof the frets. They are in a heptatonic scale.

Nowadays the instruments in Vietnam seem to be very highly decorated with mother ofpearl inlay; not only the neck and bridge, but also the back of the body.

The 4 strings are made of nylon, and tuned g c' d' g'.

The player uses a plectrum and plucks either upward or downward in a quick run. Thetechnique for left hand, which presses the strings, includes glissando, staccato, arpeggioand tremolo. The Dan Tyba music is light and cheerful. The instrument is played solo or aspart of an orchestra or a band accompanying the singing of Hue melodies or operas.

example : fromwebsite Vietnam shop

L= B= H=mmscale mm

You Tube

top

dan bauexample : bought viaeBay 2002


You Tube

dan bau

The Dan Bau is a monocord, a very typical Vietnamese instrument, as it is only playedhere.

The body is basically a large box, made of hardwood, about a meter long. The bottom isclosed with some flat soft wood. The top is covered with softwood too, but in a slightlyconcave shape.There is one metal string which runs from the right side over a tiny bridge through a holein the top to the back, where it can be tuned by a tuning peg - or nowadays often a hugesingle tuning machine from a bass guitar.The string runs slightly upwards to the left side where it is fixed to a long flexible polemade of horn, which stands on the soundbox and ends in a curl. At the fixing point of thestring a small round wooden "hat" (formerly a small gourd) is loosely fitted over the pole.As with all Vietnamese instruments the Dan Bau is highly decorated with inlay of mother-of-pearl.

The way of playing is to lay the Dan Bau on a table and hold the pole with the left hand.With the right hand the string is plucked with a long wooden plectrum, and by touching thestring at the same time with the side of the right hand flageolets are produced. This isquite tricky as there are no visible orientation points to find the proper spots. Howeveraccording to legend, the Dan Bau was traditionally played by blind (!) musicians. Bybending the pole with the left hand a vibrato, sliding sounds and all notes in between the(few) flageolet notes can be produced.Today, Dan Bau takes part in the ensembles of theatrical music, and even in groupsplaying modern music.

The example is a newer model and designed to fold in half for easy transport and even hasa single pickup for electric amplifying.

top

ghitaexample : bought viaeBay, 2003


You Tube

ghita

The ghita (or Dan Ghi-ta) is a remarkable guitar-shaped instrument, but typical of theVietnamese instruments. It is also called luc huyen cam.

The story is that the Vietnamese who emigrated to USA in the 1930's were eager to get aninstrument that could be played like their home instruments - when you pluck a thin stringbetween high frets (like on the Dan Nguyet for instance) you can easily bend the tone upby pressing a bit harder. To reach that same effect on a guitar (which was easy to buy inUSA) they scraped the fingerboard between the frets in a scalloped way. The frets were leftin place. (This is now also done by some guitar players to ease very fast playing). Thenumber of strings was reduced to 5 and tuned in an open tuning, like c f c' g' c''.

The example instrument is actually made inVietnam (in a hybrid Fender fashion), with 6tuning machines, but 5 strings, over a loosebridge. The instrument seems to have beenbashed about quite a lot and is even paintedat some stage. However the specialscalloped fingerboard has survived it all.

top

dan tinhexample : bought viainternet from HongNgung in Vietnam,2006


dan tinh

Dan Tinh is a kind of banjo, played by some ethnic groups in north Vietnam. The Tay andNung calls it Tinh Then, while the Thai ethnic group calls it Tinh Tau (Tinh means a lute andTau means a gourd).

The body of the Dan Tinh is made from a thick, round bottle-gourd. On the back are 6small soundholes. The front is often made from thin cinnamon wood whioch is glued in therim of the cut-off gourd. The bridge is a trapezium-shape small piece of wood, loose on thefront.

The neck of instrument is made of one piece of some hardwood (often Thung muc orstrawberry wood) and goes with a pin through the gourd and sticks out at the bottom.Traditionally the length of a Tinh lute is equal to 0.9x the fist’s length of the player (or 75-90 cm). Experience shows that this length would best fit with the player’s voice. There areno frets.

The tuning head is in the shape of a sickle (or a bird) and has two round friction pegs, oneon each side. Formerly, the strings were made from silk, polished with beeswax or theresin of sweet potato leaves. Nowadays they are replaced by normal (less tasty...) nylonstrings. They are fastened to the neck pin at the bottom of the body.

Dan Tinh has either two or three strings. The two-string Tinh is tuned at a fourth or fifth.The three-string Tinh is the same, with the 3th string tuned an octave lower than the highstring.

The Dan Tinh is played with a plectrum. Fingering techniques are mainly slipping,glissando, slurring, mordent and vibrating.

Dan Tinh is used by several ethnic groups to accompany singing. It is normally played bymen only, but in Then of the Tay ethnic group it is played by women only.

home top next

asian plucked instruments

Documents