Chinese Orchestra

Hi everyone! As an introduction, I will be first talking about the world of Chinese Orchestra (CO). To start things off, modern CO is actually a very recent invention considering the history of some of the instruments. The first modern CO was actually introduced in the 1920s by Jiangnan Sizhu to mimic western symphonic orchestra using Chinese instruments. A modern CO setup has 4 different sections. The strings, which are further subdivided into Chinese strings and lower strings. The pluck, the Winds and finally Percussion.

A modern CO setup

While it's true that the modern CO setup didn't appear until the early 20th century, archaeological findings suggest that ancient China has developed and sophisticated music culture. The ancient form of the orchestra was used to play a form of ceremonial music known as 雅乐 (yayue). Ancient China was also the first the establish the pentatonic scale, with 宫(gong)，商(shang)，角(jue)，徵(zhi)，羽(yu), corresponding to do, re, mi, so, la. Fa and Ti was added later to make the 7-tone scale used now. During the Zhou dynasty, the Zhou scholars came along and provided a classification system for the traditional instruments, 八音. This classification was based on the materials made:

Metal(金), such as the 钟, or copper bells.

Silk(丝), for string instruments such as 琴(Qin)，瑟(Se).

Gourd(匏), use to make mouth organs, 笙(Sheng).

Leather(革), stretch to make animal skin drums. 大鼓(DaGu)

Stone(石), for ceremonial chimes. 磬(Qing)

Bamboo(竹), material use to make flutes. 笛子(DiZi)

Clay(土), which can be used to make flute or percussion instruments. 埙(Xun)

Wood(木), such as the 拍板(PaiBan)

Source: Introduction to CO

With western influence and the exchange of ideas made on the silk road, more and more instruments that contributed to the modern orchestra started appearing. Instruments such as 二胡，琵琶，阮, originally evolved from traditional middle eastern instruments (In-depth description will come later). By the 20th century, China was filled with many instruments with different origins. With this new asset, China begins to explore the combinations of the different types of instruments. By the 1960s, the modern setup was more or less completed with the current orchestra setup you see now. Experimentation of music and instruments still carries on today. Many modern orchestras started to have musical influence from the west, such as jazz, blue and pop, which many have applied to their compositions. Recent pieces also made used of western chords progressions to be played using Chinese instruments, bringing out a new flavor in the music scene. 

This ends my introduction to Chinese Orchestra. Interesting isn't it? Do drop by comments if you have any inquiries. My next post will be about the specific instruments in the orchestra. Stay Tuned!