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Post by lbowen on Oct 25, 2012 10:02:17 GMT
Hi, guanzi sounds very appealing! Is it as difficult as everyone says? (I'm a dizi player with a few months experience, and a few weeks experience with xun...)
Is this the kind of instrument thats "not for beginners"? To be honest I'm feeling tempted to pick up every portable-ish wind instrument I see before I head back...
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Post by Blue on Oct 25, 2012 17:25:35 GMT
Normally, I would say that maybe you should concentrate on the dizi for at least a year before trying other Chinese wind instruments such as the xiao, bawu, or hulusi. Some people say that the embouchure for the xiao is much more difficult than the dizi even though ironically I find the opposite to be true for my case.
But given the potential difficulty of finding a guanzi teacher in New Zealand compared to China, maybe you should try live for the day in terms of experimenting with different wind instruments. Just make sure it doesn't interfere with your academic studies if you're studying abroad in China.
The wikipedia article on the guanzi states "The guan is quite difficult to play, largely due to the difficulty of controlling the embouchure; a Chinese saying states that "the sheng (mouth organ) takes 100 days to learn, but the guan takes 1,000 days to learn." You might not get that 1000 days in China, but even getting a chance to learn it might make you happy.
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Post by edcat7 on Oct 25, 2012 22:53:24 GMT
I played around with Xindi's guanzi (now where he?) a while a ago. After a quick tuition, and on my second attempt I managed to my surprise, play a few bars of the hulusi tune ' Phoenix bamboo under the moonlight'.
Liam
I would buy musically everything that you can afford before you return to NZ. You have the luxury of actually trying the wares before you buy. You'll only kick yourself later. Buy a C hulusi and a F bawu too!
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Post by lbowen on Oct 25, 2012 23:27:58 GMT
Wow that's great to hear! Last year I bought a hulusi and tried it.... and could only produce about 3 notes, whatever fingering I tried! I tried a bawu yesterday, and the sound is lovely! Never seen any guanzis here... The only other winds in xinhua bookstore are xiaos (huffing and puffing for a few minutes, without making any sound) and suonas... which are apparently more popular here in shandong than any other place in China
Allen, yeah, wikipedia says a lot of things about Chinese flutes... Here are some I've been unable to find on taobao, has anyone heard anything about them?
- Hengxiao
- Koudi
- Tuliang
- Chi
- Jijian di
Interfering with my academic studies? I'm an English teacher at a kindergarten! I hope it doesn't affect my teaching... just kidding
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Post by edcat7 on Oct 25, 2012 23:48:13 GMT
I saw the hulusi played in a Shanghai street market some years ago. I immediately fell in love with the instrument and years later actually found a teacher here in London. That was just a beginning of my musical journey. It's far easier to play than the dizi and there are some excellent books with 2 cd's, one with the hulusi and backing track and one with just the backing track - perfect for performing.
I always thought that if I could get away I too could teach English in China or Hong Kong. Hmmm...too many ghosts there...
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Post by Blue on Oct 27, 2012 0:16:53 GMT
Hate to say this but Asians in East Asia can be subtly racist in choosing English teachers. They will automatically assume that American Born or British Born Chinese wouldn't have the same English ability as a white. Kinda equivalent to making a claim that a non-Asian sushi chef would never make as good of a sushi as Asians can. Anyway . . . . . If you can master the xiao, then you have a good chance to master all other wind instruments. You could travel around with a root-end xiao like a Zen monk asking for money/donations. My impression of a "Hengxiao" that it's simply a dizi transverse flute without the buzzing membrane hole. "Heng" means transverse or horizontal as opposed to vertical. Never encountered an actually koudi before, but one could purchase it here www.eason.com.sg/products/dizi/wdz42.jspSuona . . .. . . . encountered its Greek equivalent in a music store in Athens: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zurna |
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Post by edcat7 on Oct 27, 2012 0:49:18 GMT
Yes I did notice In a certain English language school in Shanghai I the only native English speaker there. The teachers came from all over the world including Poland.
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Post by lbowen on Nov 12, 2012 12:15:13 GMT
Going back to guanzi, I've been looking at some on taobao, and one seller told me that their guanzi could only play one octave.... wikipedia tells me that all guanzi that aren't houguan should be able to play 2.5 octaves (the main appeal for me, if I wanted a 1 octave instrument I'd go for bawu) - is there any way to distinguish between a guanzi that can play 2.5 octaves and one that can play 1 octave, or is this just an issue of how well you can play? Clearly I'd only be able to reach higher octaves later, but it's still an issue
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Post by Flolei on Nov 12, 2012 12:32:47 GMT
I think that all guanzis can play an octave and half + one octave more with overblowing. Attachments:
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Post by Blue on Nov 12, 2012 13:27:49 GMT
Let me guess . . . . . . suddenly Jock will appear advertising that you can purchase guanzis on buychina.com just like Mayor Quimby's catchphrase in the cartoon show The Simpsons is "Vote Quimby"  |
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Post by lbowen on Nov 13, 2012 7:55:22 GMT
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Post by edcat7 on Nov 13, 2012 14:01:26 GMT
That's a good price for that guanzi. Xindi's one cost 4x as much from a vendor in the US
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Post by maluna on Apr 27, 2019 2:55:39 GMT
Going back to guanzi, I've been looking at some on taobao, and one seller told me that their guanzi could only play one octave.... wikipedia tells me that all guanzi that aren't houguan should be able to play 2.5 octaves (the main appeal for me, if I wanted a 1 octave instrument I'd go for bawu) - is there any way to distinguish between a guanzi that can play 2.5 octaves and one that can play 1 octave, or is this just an issue of how well you can play? Clearly I'd only be able to reach higher octaves later, but it's still an issue If the Guanzi reed is good and you can play well, usually the range is 2 octaves. It could be plus one more note up (meaning 2 half notes). For example, on your "G" guan, the range is from low 'd' to the 2 octaves higher 'd', or 'e'. |
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