Yueqin
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The ''yueqin'' (; ja, 月琴, Gekkin; ko, 월금/月琴, Wolgeum; vi, Nguyệt cầm), also called a moon lute or moon guitar, is a
traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
string instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the ...
. It is a
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
with a round, hollow soundboard, a short fretted neck, and usually four strings. It is an important instrument in the
Peking opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...
orchestra, often taking the role of main melodic instrument in lieu of the bowed string section. The instrument was invented in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in the 3rd to 5th centuries AD, during the Jin dynasty. The
ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings * Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa * John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, t ...
, another Chinese instrument, is the ancestor of the yueqin. The name ''yueqin'' once applied to all instruments with a moon-shaped soundboard, including the
ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings * Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa * John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, t ...
; however, "yueqin" now applies to a separate category from the
ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings * Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa * John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, t ...
family.


Etymology

The word ''yueqin'' is made of two characters, ''yuè'' (月 "moon") and ''qín'' (琴 "stringed instrument,
zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...
"). Its name in Korean (''wolgeum'') Japanese (''gekkin'') mean the same thing, and are
Sinoxenic Sino-Xenic or Sinoxenic pronunciations are regular systems for reading Chinese characters in Japan, Korea and Vietnam, originating in medieval times and the source of large-scale borrowings of Chinese words into the Japanese, Korean and Vietname ...
words, meaning they were borrowed from Chinese, but pronounced in the local way.


History

The ''yueqin'' originated from the ''
ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings * Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa * John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, t ...
'', a similar stringed instrument that may have been invented as early as the 2nd century BC, during the
Western Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...
. It grew popular during the
Jin Dynasty (265–420) Jin is a toneless pinyin romanization of various Chinese names and words. These have also been romanized as Kin and Chin (Wade–Giles). "Jin" also occurs in Japanese and Korean. It may refer to: States Jìn 晉 * Jin (Chinese state) (晉國), ...
, and has been known by its current name since the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
. The instrument was introduced to Japan during the Tang Dynasty, and reached its peak in the 1830s. Yueqin was banned in Japan during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and it was restored after the war. Another very similar instrument, called ''đàn đoản'' or ''đàn tứ'', is occasionally used in
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.


Construction and types


Soundboard

The ''yueqin'' typically has a round soundboard with no sound-hole, but inside the sound box are one or more strands of wire attached only at one end, so that they vibrate, giving the instrument a particular timbre and resonance. Occasionally, the body of the yueqin may be octagonal in shape.


Frets

The ''yueqin'' has a short fretted neck. Frets on all Chinese lutes are high so that the fingers never touch the actual body—distinctively different from western fretted instruments. This allows for a greater control over timbre and intonation than their western counterparts, but makes chordal playing more difficult. The frets were formerly arranged rather like those on a
mountain dulcimer The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length ...
, so that the instrument is diatonic; however, the fret size is high enough that any pitch may be bent up a minor 3rd. Modern yueqin have frets tuned in semitones.


Strings

Most ''yueqin'' have four strings, although others have two or three. Yueqin used for
Beijing opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...
have two strings, only one of which is actually used, the lower string being there purely for sympathetic resonance. In
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, the yueqin has a longer neck, and two or three strings. The strings on the traditional form of the instrument were made of silk, though nylon is generally used today. The anchor on a modern ''yueqin'' may have up to five holes, so it can be strung and tuned as a three or four-stringed instrument. The nut, at the peghead end of the instrument, is filed with notches appropriate to the number and position of the strings. There is no bridge or saddle; the strings are simply attached to the anchor at the base of the instrument.


Tuning

The strings are tuned in courses of two (each pair of strings is tuned to a single pitch), generally tuned to the interval of a perfect fifth. * Three-string instruments are often tuned A D * Four-string instruments are often tuned to A D a d; ** However, in recent practice, the instrument is tuned G D g d so modern
liuqin The ''liuqin'' (Chinese: , pinyin: ) is a three, four or five -stringed Chinese mandolin with a pear-shaped body. The range of its voice is much higher than the ''pipa'', and it has its own special place in Chinese music, whether in ...
and
ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings * Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa * John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, t ...
players can easily double on yueqin.


Plectrum and picks

A long, sharp plectrum is often used to play the yueqin, which is sometimes attached to the instrument with a piece of cord. In Beijing opera, the player uses a small wooden dowel instead of a plectrum to perform, and only plays in first position; this requires the performer to use
octave displacement In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
in order to play all the pitches within a given melody. Modern yueqin are often played with a
guitar pick A guitar pick (American English) is a plectrum used for guitars. Picks are generally made of one uniform material—such as some kind of plastic (nylon, Delrin, celluloid), rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, tagua, or stone. They ...
.


Compared with the ''ruan''

While both instruments have a moon-shaped soundboard, the modern
ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings * Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa * John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, t ...
uses a bridge, whereas the yueqin simply attaches the strings the frame, similar to the design of the
pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...
. In addition, most yueqin do not have the obvious double soundholes, like the ruan, instead they have the single small soundhole located under where the strings are attached (also similar to
pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...
). Both features gives the Yueqin a sound quality in between ruan and pipa. While the ruan is used mostly for its lower range instruments (i.e., zhongruan and daruan), yueqin is primarily a treble tuned instrument, even though the size of its soundboard is larger than the zhongruan. Southern yueqin have a long neck, use two strings, and have an improvisational and flexible intonation practice; some Southern yueqin have also acoustical metal coils inside the soundboard to amplify the instrument. Northern yueqin have a very short neck, and have bamboo in both the front and back, requiring the performer to hold the instrument away from their body. The northern instruments range from single to four stringed instruments. Regardless of the neck size or strings, all yueqin are tuned around the same treble pitch level. A common technique in performance is "snapping" the pick on the string (similar to Japanese
shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...
.) Yueqin is the loudest member of the plucked lute family of Chinese instruments; one instrument can easily be heard over a full
Chinese orchestra The term Chinese orchestra is most commonly used to refer to the modern Chinese orchestra that is found in China and various overseas Chinese communities. This modern Chinese orchestra first developed out of Jiangnan sizhu ensemble in the 1920s ...
.


Gallery

File:Horniman_instruments_02.jpg, A ''yueqin'' in the
Horniman museum The Horniman Museum and Gardens is a museum in Forest Hill, London, England. Commissioned in 1898, it opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Modern Style. It has displays of anthropology, natural history and musical ...
File:Yueqin.jpg, Front and back of a modern ''yueqin'' File:Yueqin (8625257310).jpg,
Beijing opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...
musician playing the ''yueqin'' File:Blind girl sing for a living in Jiufeng.jpg, A blind Taiwanese woman playing the southern style long-necked ''yueqin'' File:Ming and Qing Era Music performance on stage.jpg, A band of MINSHINGAKU or Ming and Qing era music playing antique ''gekkin''s File:Woman Playing a Moon Zither.jpg, A Japanese woman playing the ''gekkin''. Photo by
Adolfo Farsari Adolfo Farsari (; 11 February 1841 – 7 February 1898) was an Italian photographer based in Yokohama, Japan. His studio, the last notable foreign-owned studio in Japan, was one of the country's largest and most prolific commercial photograph ...
, 1886 File:Gekkin Yueqin Moon Guitar kimono girls 1889 Japan.jpg, Illustration from a guide to playing the ''gekkin'', by Nagahara Baien, 1889 File:Gekkin YueQin Moon Harp 1884 illustration.jpg, Japanese illustration of a ''gekkin'', 1884 File:THOM Chinese Moon-Guitar.jpg, Western illustration of a ''yueqin'', by Waldo Selden Pratt, 1907


See also

*
Đàn nguyệt The đàn nguyệt ( "moon lute") also called nguyệt cầm, đàn kìm, is a two-stringed Vietnamese traditional musical instrument.The Garland handbook of Southeast Asian music - Page 262 Terry E. Miller, Sean Williams - 2008 "This lute is th ...
*
Music of China Music of China refers to the music of the Chinese people, which may be the music of the Han Chinese in the course of Chinese history as well as ethnic minorities in today's China. It also includes music produced by people of Chinese origin in som ...
*
Music of Taiwan The music of Taiwan reflects the diverse culture of Taiwanese people. Taiwan has undergone several economic, social, and political changes through its cultural history, and Taiwanese music reflects those issues in its way. The music of the c ...


References


External links


Yueqin page


(second and third rows) *(Japanese yueqin page


Video



from The Musical Instruments E-book {{Authority control Chinese musical instruments Necked lutes Peking opera es:Yueqin#top