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Ruan
Feb 8, 2006 22:04:43 GMT
Post by lumry on Feb 8, 2006 22:04:43 GMT
hey, i was wondering if any one on this board plays ruan...if so is there any good website that i can find a fingering char for it? or how to learn it without a teacher?
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Ruan
Feb 9, 2006 1:23:20 GMT
Post by YouLanFengChune on Feb 9, 2006 1:23:20 GMT
Can u read chinese?
I can send you a ruan book or 2, and that is easy to solve, cs ruan is a veyr easy instrument compared to others
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Ruan
Feb 13, 2006 2:15:51 GMT
Post by lumry on Feb 13, 2006 2:15:51 GMT
sorry i can't read chinese
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Ruan
Oct 14, 2006 2:04:49 GMT
Post by lumry on Oct 14, 2006 2:04:49 GMT
so does any one know of any online sites that have some techniques shown?, also are there any english books that ahve instructions on the ruan?
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Ruan
Oct 16, 2006 1:23:28 GMT
Post by jetz320 on Oct 16, 2006 1:23:28 GMT
Where do you live? Can you find a teacher? Do you live in California?
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Ruan
Oct 23, 2007 20:12:08 GMT
Post by davidmdahl on Oct 23, 2007 20:12:08 GMT
I have found a few links on the web to solo zhongruan performances, such as those at Eason, but zhongruan seems to be rarely recorded in a solo or small ensemble context. I find the sound and the style to be intriguing and would like to hear more. Is anyone aware of CDs or MP3s of solo zhongruan?
I have not found any zhongruan books so far. Do players use pipa books or something else? It seems that the sound would be a great addition to a Chinese music ensemble, often top heavy with higher-pitched instruments.
Best wishes,
David
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Ruan
Sept 2, 2008 17:23:34 GMT
Post by spaco on Sept 2, 2008 17:23:34 GMT
Hello, sorry for the threadomancy, but I'm new to the forum and to the zhongruan. I bought one while in Shanghai and brought it back with me to the states, hoping to learn it. Are there people here that play it? Any useful links or other communities on the internet? I have a book, but it is in chinese notatation. Any good resources for learning to read chinese notation?
Thanks! Daniel
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Ruan
Sept 3, 2008 2:05:11 GMT
Post by song on Sept 3, 2008 2:05:11 GMT
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Ruan
Feb 24, 2009 22:05:05 GMT
Post by xiuxin on Feb 24, 2009 22:05:05 GMT
hi all--- im new here and am really wowed by this great forum. i thought i would post my first posting here, as the ruan is one of my axes, as it were. i play the daruan, and love its deep mellow sound. as far as learning, i have had no instruction, and because of that i have only gotten so far, and actually most of the music i play on it ends up sounding more western that eastern. but one thing that i did find was this site-- chordfind.com/4-string/-- that allows you to find all the chords on any given tuning. not that this helps for strictly traditional playing, but at least you can learn some basic chords and get some chops. also i just found this yahoo group-- launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Ruan/-- and even though it only has 6 members, it would be great to help it along and get another info/discussion venue going. by the way, i also play the erhu and dan ho, and although i have a dan bau, but i dont play it often enough. i also am learning traditional Asian carpentry, and so am making some sort of "invented" traditional Asian instruments, but more on that as it comes together. also, i hope that this thread is not "dead," as the last posting was a while ago, but for what its worth i hope that we can still swap some more info on the ruan.
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Ruan
Feb 25, 2009 5:49:07 GMT
Post by davidmdahl on Feb 25, 2009 5:49:07 GMT
Welcome to the forum, xiuxin! I hope you find what you are looking for. I know of one good zhongruan CD "The Sword" by Xie Sheng Yi and would love to know of others. The wikipedia article is small, but has some good information, including tuning for the various sizes of ruan: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuanBest wishes, David
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Ruan
Mar 16, 2009 10:27:35 GMT
Post by grandryan20 on Mar 16, 2009 10:27:35 GMT
YouLanFengChune Do you mind if you could send the books to me? Thanks, im still not professional in Ruan yet
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Ruan
Apr 17, 2009 20:57:12 GMT
Post by jlh1917 on Apr 17, 2009 20:57:12 GMT
My dear friends! I started a reorganizing my chinese stuff some months ago, but it seems I bit off more than I could chew. I tried to find the titles in chinese characters and in pinjin. Now I got stuck. I couldn't find two tracks' titles of Miao Xiaoyun's album The Art Of The Chinese Lute(s). And I'm not sure if the others are correct or not. I try to copy/paste my results of the tracklist here: 01. 终南古韵 Zhong nan gu yun (Ancient Tune Of Zhongnan) 6:44 宁勇 Ning Yong 02. Sound From Afar 5:39 Chen Wenjie 03. 雲南回憶 YunNan hui yi (Memory Of Yun-Nan, 1st Movement) 7:55 刘星 Liu Xing 04. Moon Over The Jade Mansion 7:34 宁勇 Ning Yong 05. 霸王卸甲 Ba wang xie jia (Conqueror Xiang Yu Doffs His Armor) 9:30 Wang Fandi 06. 望秦川 Wang qin chuan (Overlooking The Qin River) 6:02 宁勇 Ning Yong 07. 颍州古典等 Yingzhou gu dian deng (Yingzhou Ancient Tunes) 2:56 traditional 08. 雲南回憶 YunNan hui yi (Memory Of Yun-Nan, 2nd Movement) 8:24 刘星 Liu Xing If anyone could help, please check the list above and mend it if he can find any mistakes. And please tell me the chinese titles of tracks 02. & 04. thanks in advance.......Tom
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Ruan
Nov 2, 2010 12:32:31 GMT
Post by shanghaiangels on Nov 2, 2010 12:32:31 GMT
I bought a set of Zhongruan strings...and tuned them exactly like a Violin and Mandolin tuning....but 1 octave lower. This way the fingering is easy for me as I play both Violin and Mandolin too.
It sounds good...as the 2 thinner strings have more tension now and not as flabby.
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Ruan
Aug 12, 2014 20:54:56 GMT
Post by melodytheunicorn on Aug 12, 2014 20:54:56 GMT
Excuse my necromancy, bu I just bought a xiaoruan in San Francisco, and I cannot find ANY resources to learn how to play. It is tuned d-a-d-a. That is really all I know. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Ruan
Aug 13, 2014 1:18:14 GMT
Post by edcat7 on Aug 13, 2014 1:18:14 GMT
Hi Melody and welcome,
I have a zhongruan and liuqin and they're both tuned DGdg. There are method books available but my former zhongruan teacher got me them from Taiwan. Try easonmusicstore in Singapore first. They are bound to have some since I've prepaid for some liuqin lessons via Skype.
Timing is ESSENTIAL for the ruan and from memory the first couple of exercises from various books that I have are the same. Get a metronome set it at sixty and do the following exercise on each string: (Sorry but I don't know how to scan)
X X X X / X X X X / X X X X / down up down up etc
XX XX XX XX/ XX XX XX XX/ XX XX XX XX/ down up down up but at each half beat
X XX X XX/ X XX X XX/ X XX X XX/ down, down up, down
XX X XX X / XX X XX X / XX X XX X / down up, down. down up down etc
When you can play it confidently at 60, then do it again at 40 and 80.
Because of gravity the down stroke is always slightly louder than the up stroke so to counter this the up stroke must be played with more force. There's a tendency to "pick" at the strokes with the wrist hardly moving. This is not good technique: the wrist must be thrown so it rotates almost at an angle of 180. I would put some protective plastic film over the strumming area. This would be your first lesson if you had to pay for it.
You'll have to wait a few days if you want the second exercise since my wife is away and she knows how to scan.
I'd recommend you get a method book from Eason (since I'm also a dreadfully slow typist!) Also there are couple of videos on posture and how to hold the pick from Eason's website. Again I'd recommend lessons with Eason via Skype.
Hope this helps
Ed
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Ruan
Aug 15, 2014 4:36:02 GMT
Post by melodytheunicorn on Aug 15, 2014 4:36:02 GMT
Thanks so much for the excercise, I'll be working on that. Would it be bad to tune it like a mandolin or ukulele? That would make things a lot easier. All the resources I have found are for zhongruan, and mine is a xiaoruan. Thats why its a-d-a-d instead of the d-g-d-g like zhongruan. I assume, thats what the woman at the shop said.
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Ruan
Aug 15, 2014 8:47:51 GMT
Post by edcat7 on Aug 15, 2014 8:47:51 GMT
There are different tunings for the zhongruan/liuqin but the one I use is DGdg. When you get a method book use the same tunings as suggested and relevant for the exercises otherwise it will be totally confusing - a duck talking to a chicken.
If you tune it like an ukulele won't the string tensions be different? If your idea is to play Western tunes that might be ok but if you want to play Chinese tunes you'll have to be able to do different techniques and understand jianpo (Chinese notation).
If you are a confident guitarist you should be able to pick it up fairly easily, however a few Skype lessons will help you with techniques. I've seen a couple of self taught zhongruan players on youtube and it's clear they play it as though it were a guitar.
Timing is essential with the ruan: it started out as an ensemble instrument and it set's the beat which other instruments have to follow.
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Ruan
Aug 16, 2014 4:07:20 GMT
Post by melodytheunicorn on Aug 16, 2014 4:07:20 GMT
Yes, my main intention is for western music or I would leave it tuned the traditional way. All the method books I have found are in chinese, although I can read jianpu, since I also play dizi. Also all the books I have found are for zhongruan, and mine is a xiaoruan. It is smaller than a zhongruan and is tuned differently, as I mentioned before.
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Ruan
Aug 16, 2014 7:41:31 GMT
Post by edcat7 on Aug 16, 2014 7:41:31 GMT
If you can play the guitar then picking up the ruan will be easy. I don't understand how a competent guitarist can play any other fretted instrument if the tunings are different. I suppose an understanding of musical theory is necessary. Are you going to strum your xiaoruan like an ukulele?
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Ruan
Aug 16, 2014 14:42:57 GMT
Post by melodytheunicorn on Aug 16, 2014 14:42:57 GMT
Yes, I think so, although I may use a thumb pick or something. I'll just have to see how it sounds. I don't lay guitar, so this is a new experience. I used to have an erhu, but other than that I'm new to stringed instruments.
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Ruan
Aug 17, 2014 12:15:35 GMT
Post by song on Aug 17, 2014 12:15:35 GMT
HI Melody
I understand you have downloaded our zhongruan chord chart and I have advised you how to transpose the chart for your xiaoruan. Is there anything else I can help you with?
SW
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Ruan
Aug 20, 2014 22:00:12 GMT
Post by melodytheunicorn on Aug 20, 2014 22:00:12 GMT
No thanks, I think I have a good start now. Thanks for all your help though!
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Ruan
Sept 19, 2015 9:17:42 GMT
Post by timbullins on Sept 19, 2015 9:17:42 GMT
There are different tunings for the zhongruan/liuqin but the one I use is DGdg. When you get a method book use the same tunings as suggested and relevant for the exercises otherwise it will be totally confusing - a duck talking to a chicken. If you tune it like an ukulele won't the string tensions be different? If your idea is to play Western tunes that might be ok but if you want to play Chinese tunes you'll have to be able to do different techniques and understand jianpo (Chinese notation). If you are a confident guitarist you should be able to pick it up fairly easily, however a few Skype lessons will help you with techniques. I've seen a couple of self taught zhongruan players on youtube and it's clear they play it as though it were a guitar. Timing is essential with the ruan: it started out as an ensemble instrument and it set's the beat which other instruments have to follow. The tunings in the books are based on the movable 'do' system, you don't change the tuning, you change your fingering. The standard string tuning is Gdgd.
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Ruan
Mar 19, 2016 18:48:39 GMT
via mobile
Post by makumberu on Mar 19, 2016 18:48:39 GMT
Hey everyone!
Well I'm kinda new to this forum, this is actually my first post, so firstly I wanted to apologize for the 10 year (lol) delay on my response!
Ever since I can remember, I have liked oriental culture, so when I found out about the zhongruan, I naturally felt in love with it, specially since I had some knowledge in the guitar from the lessons took when I was younger (I regret not continuing with them even tough the reason was to study harder to get in a good university).
Even tough I consider myself as an average zhongruan player I think I could help the beginners on it, since the several books I've bought and the lesson I've had really pushed me forward on it!
Therefore if you require any sort of assistance on the zhongruan or the gaoyinruan and with jianpu(I dare not help with xiaoruan and daruan since they are tuned adad, different from the gdgd I'm used to) I'll be more than happy to assit. I know how infuriating it is to have an instrument and have no means on improving on it since you see no one available to teach you (or if you don't know how to speak chinese so instructional books are pretty much worthless).
Learning an instrument with the right tools can be really rewarding, I've just bought a xiao and I'm really excited/apprehensive on learning it, and you can be sure I'll come to this forum to see if I can get assistance, so the least I can do is to repay the best way I can!
Anyway, long story short if you need help with the zhongruan (or gaoyinruan) techniques just reply this post and I'll do my best to assist you!
PS: BTW, if you are interested in buying a zhongruan, or pretty much any chinese instrument, I recommend Eason, Mr. Wah treats his costumers really well and his instruments are top notch (specially the professional/concert ones, it's where my xiao will come from!).
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