Yueqin

"Moon guitar" redirects here. For the Vietnamese instruments sometimes known by that name, see Đàn nguyệt.
Not to be confused with the similarly-shaped ruan.

Yueqin

The yueqin. The instrument comes in a variety of sizes and pitches.
String instrument
Classification	String instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	321.322 (Composite chordophone)
Developed	China
Related instruments
Ruan

The Template:Tlit (Template:Zh; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx or Template:Langx), also called a moon lute or moon guitar, is a traditional Chinese string instrument. It is a lute with a round, hollow soundboard, a short fretted neck, and usually four strings. It is an important instrument in the Peking opera orchestra, often taking the role of main melodic instrument in lieu of the bowed string section.

The instrument was invented in China in the 3rd to 5th centuries AD, during the Jin dynasty. The Template:Tlit, another Chinese instrument, is the ancestor of the yueqin. The name Template:Tlit once applied to all instruments with a moon-shaped soundboard, including the Template:Tlit; however, "yueqin" now applies to a separate category from the ruan family.

Etymology

File:MUSICIANS 2.jpg

Chinese musician playing the Template:Tlit (right), 1874

The word Template:Tlit is made of two characters, Template:Zhp and Template:Zhp. Its name in Korean (Template:Tlit), Japanese (Template:Tlit) and Vietnamese () mean the same thing, and are Sinoxenic words, meaning they were borrowed from Chinese, but pronounced in the local way.

History

File:Baron Raimund von Stillfried und Rathenitz (1839-1911) - Girl playing on gekin - n. 1007.jpg

A Japanese woman playing a Template:Tlit, c. 1890

The Template:Tlit originated from the Template:Tlit, a similar stringed instrument that may have been invented as early as the 2nd century BC, during the Western Han dynasty. It grew popular during the Jin Dynasty (265–420), and has been known by its current name since the Tang dynasty. The instrument was introduced to Japan during the Tang Dynasty, and reached its peak in the 1830s. Template:Tlit was banned in Japan during the Second World War, and it was restored after the war. Another very similar instrument, called or , is occasionally used in Vietnam.

Construction and types

File:Chinese Yueqin QM r.jpg

A Template:Tlit in the Queensland Museum

File:Korean Wolgeum.jpg

Template:Tlit of Korea

Soundboard

The Template:Tlit 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 Template:Tlit may be octagonal in shape.

Frets

The Template:Tlit 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, so that the instrument is diatonic; however, the fret size is high enough that any pitch may be bent up a minor 3rd. Modern Template:Tlit have frets tuned in semitones.

Strings

Most Template:Tlit have four strings, although others have two or three. Template:Tlit used for Beijing opera have two strings, only one of which is actually used, the lower string being there purely for sympathetic resonance. In Taiwan, the Template:Tlit 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 Template:Tlit 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 and ruan players can easily double on Template:Tlit.

Plectrum and picks

A long, sharp plectrum is often used to play the Template:Tlit, 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 order to play all the pitches within a given melody. Modern Template:Tlit are often played with a guitar pick.

Compared with the Template:Tlit

While both instruments have a moon-shaped soundboard, the modern Template:Tlit uses a bridge, whereas the Template:Tlit simply attaches the strings to the frame, similar to the design of the Template:Tlit. In addition, most Template:Tlit do not have the obvious double soundholes, like the Template:Tlit; instead, they have the single small soundhole located under where the strings are attached (also similar to Template:Tlit). Both features gives the Template:Tlit a sound quality in between Template:Tlit and Template:Tlit. While the Template:Tlit is used mostly for its lower range instruments (i.e., Template:Tlit and Template:Tlit), Template:Tlit is primarily a treble tuned instrument, even though the size of its soundboard is larger than that of the Template:Tlit.

Southern Template:Tlit have a long neck, use two strings, and have an improvisational and flexible intonation practice; some Southern Template:Tlit have also acoustical metal coils inside the soundboard to amplify the instrument. Northern Template:Tlit 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 Template:Tlit are tuned around the same treble pitch level. A common technique in performance is "snapping" the pick on the string (similar to Japanese shamisen.) Yueqin is the loudest member of the plucked lute family of Chinese instruments; one instrument can easily be heard over a full Chinese orchestra.

Gallery

• A Template:Tlit in the Horniman museum
  A Template:Tlit in the Horniman museum
• Front and back of a modern Template:Tlit
  Front and back of a modern Template:Tlit
• Beijing opera musician playing the Template:Tlit
  Beijing opera musician playing the Template:Tlit
• A blind Taiwanese woman playing the southern style long-necked Template:Tlit
  A blind Taiwanese woman playing the southern style long-necked Template:Tlit
• A band of MINSHINGAKU or Ming and Qing era music playing antique Template:Tlits
  A band of MINSHINGAKU or Ming and Qing era music playing antique Template:Tlits
• A Japanese woman playing the Template:Tlit. Photo by Adolfo Farsari, 1886
  A Japanese woman playing the Template:Tlit. Photo by Adolfo Farsari, 1886
• Illustration from a guide to playing the Template:Tlit, by Nagahara Baien, 1889
  Illustration from a guide to playing the Template:Tlit, by Nagahara Baien, 1889
• Japanese illustration of a Template:Tlit, 1884
  Japanese illustration of a Template:Tlit, 1884
• Western illustration of a Template:Tlit, by Waldo Selden Pratt, 1907
  Western illustration of a Template:Tlit, by Waldo Selden Pratt, 1907

See also

• Đàn nguyệt
• Music of China
• Music of Taiwan

External links

• Template:In lang Yueqin page
• (Japanese yueqin page) kokone.to
• Page of a Japanese builder and repairer of yueqins

Video

• Yueqin video: Qing Shen Yi Chang (), performed by Fang Jinlong from The Musical Instruments E-book