The ''lāruǎn'' ( 拉阮; also spelled ''la ruan'') is a relatively new Chinese

string instrument In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...

blending the acoustics of the '' ruan'' with that of the Western

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

. Its larger counterpart is the ''dalaruan'' (大拉阮), which corresponds to the

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

. The instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body like ruan, with neck no frets but bowed by horsehair bow These musical instruments were created in the 20th century to be an alternative to other bowed bass register instruments used in Chinese orchestras, such as '' dihu'', cello/double bass, '' gehu''/'' diyingehu'', ''damatouqin''/''dimatouqin'', and '' paqin''/''dapaqin''. The China National Traditional Orchestra of Beijing is one of the few Chinese orchestras using this instrument.

References

Chinese musical instruments Necked lutes Cellos {{China-music-stub

See also

References