most quiet

[wall]

Loooking for the most quiet Chinese wind instrument.  Qin Xiao?  Xun?  Zhu Xun?
Appreciate any help with this, as I can't easily get to a store to try them out.

I want something I can play late at night without making a disturbance.
Thanks!

[Blue]

There's no such thing as a Chinese wind instrument that can be played late at night without making a disturbance. I've once played my root xiao in a hotel in Spain during the afternoon, and someone banged on the wall telling me to stop. (Maybe that person was trying to have a siesta.)

But in the high density apartment that I'm living in, I've played the xiao up till 10pm and no one complains. People do complain in writing if I play the dizi, however. Maybe that's one of the reasons I like to play the xiao more.

[billdsmall]

Hi wall,

I have a zhu xun and it's definitely a quiet instrument...mainly because I never play the darn thing. Really don't like it at all, but I digress. Better to play a xiao, and learn how to control the dynamics so that you become able to play it softly. Start by playing only in the low octave. A ceramic xun is very likely pretty quiet. I don't have one but I've heard them on CDs, etc. I just think that a xiao is much more versatile and more fun to play than any type of xun. Good luck!

[meoweth]

Qin Xiao is pretty quiet. Compared to dizi, dizi is like 100x louder.
But there are root-end, shakuhachi type of xiao, which have a wider bore, those can be quite loud.
You want to get the thin, long xiaos that are quite common. If its a V-cut embrochure it can be even quiter than the U-type, but I wouldnt really suggest V-cut unless you specifically want that kind of tone.

[wall]

Thank you for the replies! billdsmall, I'm curious: what is not to like about the zhu xun? Is the instrument out of tune? Is the embouchure tricky? I was thinking about trying one.

Also was thinking about this "full mouth" xun that Red Music is selling. For all intents and purposes it would seem to be a xun with ocarina mouthpiece. Wonder if anyone has tried this:

www.redmusicshop.com/Xun/Professional%2010%20Hole%20Xun%20Flute,%20Full%20Mouth(Easy%20to%20Play),%20XUN-MK,%2012%20Notes

[edcat7]

I have a couple of xuns which I haven't played for quite a while solely because of time constraints.

Redmusic shop custom made me a cd backing track with scores. I was told all the information is freely available on the internet but I don't read Chinese and my computer skills are basic.

If you do buy a xun the 10 hole ones are better than the 8 hole.

[billdsmall]

Regarding the zhu (bamboo) xun, the embouchure is similar to a xiao's, a u-shaped notch. No problem there. For me it's just an awkward instrument, trying to hold it comfortably and maintain stability whilst covering the holes. (I'm not British but I've always wanted to use whilst in a sentence).