Ancient style Ruan recreation.

[DavidNguyen]

So I came across a video that used an Ancient style Ruan. In sound, it's very similar to the Vietnamese Dan Nguyet. Though the playing style sounds more like Pipa, because of the use of Fake nails. Most Ruan use steel strings, but I believe this uses either silk or nylon. Overall, other than a few cosmetic differences, it's not very different in look from a modern Zhong Ruan. Tell me what you guys think about the performance:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqBNxrFnDW0

[davidmdahl]

Good find, David. The ruan does sound more like a pipa, but given the shallow body, that is not surprising. I could not tell if the player bent any notes. The high frets would seem to be a waste if the strings are too stiff to bend.

Best wishes,

David

[DavidNguyen]

Thanks for the reply. It looks like he only bent some of the notes. I believe the strings weren't very stiff, but we do all know that the Chinese style has less notebending than it's Korean, and Vietnamese counterparts. Also, I wonder why they used a Dan Tranh. I'd understand if they were trying to simulate the ancient style Guzheng, but they seem to be using steel strings on the zither. Perhaps it's music particular to a certain province, and that style of Guzheng is found in that province. I know you can find Dan Tranh style Guzheng with tuning pegs in places like Taiwan

[davidmdahl]

There is plenty of note bending on the guzheng, and think as well on the pipa. I don't remember noticing any note bending at all on modern zhongruan. It would be an interesting question to pose to scholars.

All or most of the instruments in the ensemble appear to be the "old" style before they were modernized in the 20th C. The old guzheng looked a lot like the dan tranh. Some parts of Southern China and Taiwan still have a steel string guzheng that could be mistaken for a dan tranh. The ones that I have seen looked to be not quite as lightly constructed as a dan tranh though, with thicker gauges of steel string.

[edcat7]

Since there were pipas on stands I would hazard a guess the zhongruan player is mainly a pipa player. Dr. Cheng Yu a pipa player in the UK Chinese Music Ensemble plays the zhongruan as if it were a pipa.

I noticed at times he had his left thumb wrapped around the zhongruan like an acoustic guitar player.

[DavidNguyen]

Thanks for the replies. I do know that there are some schools in China that teach Pipa style Zhongruan. It would be nice to see the pipas in the video being played.