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Post by caeman on Sept 16, 2011 13:17:05 GMT
Thanks to EdCat7, it looks like I am finally diving into the world of Chinese music.
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Post by xindi on Sept 16, 2011 19:16:42 GMT
Lovely  Welcome! Guess it won't be your only instrument either! |
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Post by edcat7 on Sept 16, 2011 23:26:39 GMT
Xindi
I managed to off-load one of my many hulusis to caeman. Will also send him some jianpo notes and backing music by email.
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Post by caeman on Sept 20, 2011 12:02:39 GMT
I am a self-taught multi-instrumentalist. I have no fear of new instruments. I sit down and follow a methodical path to song playing. I taught myself how to read music and some music theory and I am having a blast.
I have long loved the sound of Chinese tradition music. The wailing sounds of the Erhu, the breathy sounds of the various flutes. Simply beautiful. At some point, I will get an Erhu, but I have a rather lengthy wish list of instruments to go through waiting to be bought.
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Post by edcat7 on Sept 20, 2011 12:38:43 GMT
The hulusi is very easy to learn how to play. With a bit of help from my teacher I mastered 'Bamboo Fern Under the Moonlight' in 2 months. My teacher thought it would take 6 months.
Dance of the Yao Tribe is more difficult with double tongueing necessary to make it sound best. I find double tongueing alot easier on a dizi. Maybe it's because I haven't done alot of double tongueing on a hulusi.
Have sent your hulusi today!
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Post by xindi on Sept 20, 2011 21:47:50 GMT
Good luck Caeman - you'll fall in love with Ed's hulusi's - he has enough to set up his own shop  I'm narrowing my repertoire to the flute family (that clarinet and guanzi I have rarely get played now) and the guzheng. Well, maybe the harmonica, since that's incredibly portable lol. And of course - my imaginary drums when I'm sitting bored in trains, trying to practice 7/16 rhythm. |
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Post by caeman on Sept 20, 2011 23:30:50 GMT
I love new challenges.
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Post by edcat7 on Sept 21, 2011 14:21:46 GMT
Xindi 'Sticks and Stones....... ......So there! Caeman If you can play the hulusi you'll also be able to play the bawu (same fingering). There's a good G one from Virtual-village on ebay. The F is not so good; I have 2 F's with the thumb hole off-centre. |
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Post by xindi on Sept 21, 2011 21:32:09 GMT
Ed - my bawu is broken (sob).
After transporting it on the motorcycle, the corks in the headjoint came loose and rolled down the shaft of the bawu.
To my dismay, they weren't even cork - they were like synthetic sponge. There are two pieces. I've tried to reposition them using a flute cleaning brush x 2 from each end in the headjoint to position it, until it makes a sound.
Nothing I do, can restore the full octave + 1 note that it used to have.
I paid 300 Yuan for that rosewood beauty! And it is designed like ....errrr... 300 Yuan's worth ummm.
Maybe I shouldn't be so disappointed, but for 50 Yuan, I've had better xiao flutes.
How's your jian pu Caeman?
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Post by edcat7 on Sept 21, 2011 21:45:22 GMT
At least you didn't fall off your bike and broke your arm like David did. Shame about your bawu, is it worth taking back to China for repair. If I can dig up something slow and depressing we could do a duet.
I've got 5 bawus. Yes I really should open a shop.
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Post by caeman on Sept 22, 2011 12:12:32 GMT
Jian pu?
<goes to Google>
Oh, simplified notation. Also called tablature in other music fields. I don't need now that I can read sheet music. I used to use similar things when I began learning to play harmonica and tinwhistle, but I don't touch the stuff now. I find it simpler just to use actual music notation. When I learn a new song, I tend to learn it on multiple instruments.
For example, I recently heard "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing", a traditional hymn. I hadn't heard the song in a long time. This past Saturday, I sat down and learned it. I learned it first on tinwhistle, then guitar. Next up will be fiddle.
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Post by sanmenxia on Sept 22, 2011 13:53:08 GMT
Jianpu might look like tablature at first but it isn't, if by tablature you mean a form of written music that shows where you put your fingers.
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gawn
Intermediate
Posts: 43
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Post by gawn on Sept 22, 2011 15:16:01 GMT
The problem is, that most Chinese tunes come only in jianpu.  For me it's easier to read western staff notation as well, but most Chinese music is not available in staff notation. So I'm afraid, learning to read jianpu is a must if you want to play Chinese instruments and music...  |
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Post by davidmdahl on Sept 22, 2011 17:13:37 GMT
I found jianpu, the "simplified notation", not too difficult to learn. I have used staff notation for over forty years, so it is second nature to me, but for Chinese music, I much prefer jianpu. I suppose it helps if you are familiar with a keyboard (piano) since it is easier to visualize the scale degrees.
Once you can get by with jianpu, a lot of music is available to you, and transposition to other keys is a lot easier. For playing in a Chinese music ensemble, reading jianpu is a must.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by caeman on Sept 23, 2011 19:51:50 GMT
I'l give it the old college try, but in looking over a simplified notation description page, it looks confusing as heck, more like a kludge of ideas.
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Post by edcat7 on Sept 23, 2011 20:43:07 GMT
Caeman I'll draw you a fingering chart for the hulusi, it's even easier than the dizi since it only plays on 1 octave plus 2. There is no note 4 for the hulusi and bawu. One number corresponds to one finger position. No embouchure problems. SIMPLE Check out www.hulusi.com |
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Post by sanmenxia on Sept 24, 2011 14:03:17 GMT
There is traditional Chinese music in Western notation but I suspect it is not as common as numerical notation (jianpu). I have a book of the Liu Tianhua pieces in Western notation.
You can find some Chinese music in Western notation on the jianpu websites.
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Post by xindi on Sept 24, 2011 22:18:03 GMT
I'l give it the old college try, but in looking over a simplified notation description page, it looks confusing as heck, more like a kludge of ideas. It's like learning a new (symbolic) language. The beautiful of jian pu, is that it is 'simplified' notation: this means you can pick it up very fast - much faster than western notation. Although I learnt western notation when I was 5 years old, I found learning simplified jian pu much faster as an adult. If you learn different instruments, in western notation, you can have treble clefs; bass clefs, and of course - the alto clef. These systems are not easily interchangeable for instrumentalists (for instance - most flutists will never ever use the bass clef, whereas a pianist will use both treble and bass clef). A viola player will use the alto clef, and will usually make use of the treble clef too, however reading one, clef, does not naturally entail, reading another. Now Jian Pu: once you know it - you will know how to read it for any instrument. There may be a bit more detail (for instance - glissandi technique for Gu Zheng) however, its fundamentals are there. If you struggle with reading stave notation like I do from a metre, you will find Jian Pu easier to read too. It is harder to confuse a written 3. with a 2. or a 7. whereas the spacings between the stave lines in the treble clef, can become very very cluttered and garbled, particularly for rapid time signatures. I'm a fan of jian pu now - particularly for chinese regional music. You simply cannot gain the repertoire and breadth of repertoire, without jian pu. Even for hulusi music - the majority is in jian pu, even if it only takes a few minutes to transcribe it into western notation. |
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Post by caeman on Sept 24, 2011 23:17:37 GMT
The fingering chart will be handy.
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Post by edcat7 on Sept 25, 2011 21:32:08 GMT
It's a shame my Virtual-village F bawus have off-centre thumb-holes, I bought a chromatic erhu tuner and tested all my woodwind. One F bawu was perfectly in tune. I wish I could say the same about my other instruments. The only other instrument that was also perfectly in tune was my bamboo D dizi sold by asiafolk on ebay.
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Post by sanmenxia on Sept 25, 2011 21:51:29 GMT
They might be tuned to a "natural" tuning, based on overtones, rather than the equal temperment on your electronic tuner.
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Post by xindi on Sept 25, 2011 22:35:42 GMT
I guess I tend to be quite happy with just temperment. Ed - nothing comes in tune straight out of the box as far as the woodwind I have goes, except the single piece flutes, which deviate some at the octaves. Even the Boehm flutes - they need a little adjustment at the metal tenon, and the embouchure plate variations can make the chromatic tuner look off the Richter scale.
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