What does sheng mean?

"Sheng" (pinyin: shēng) is a Chinese generic standardized first-degree character (commonly used) that was first used during the Warring States period, and in its original meaning refers to a wind instrument made of thirteen bamboo tubes of varying lengths. "

"Sheng" is a traditional folk musical instrument with a melodious tone and unique expressiveness and charm. With a long history in ancient China, the sheng is a wind instrument consisting of multiple tubes, usually thirteen or seventeen bamboo tubes, each of which is of a different length and size to produce different tones.

The sheng is a very important part of Chinese cultural tradition, it is one of the indispensable musical instruments in traditional Chinese music, and it is widely used in a variety of occasions, such as music, opera and folk music in ancient times. At the same time, the sheng has been introduced into modern music and become an important element of modern music, loved and used by more and more musicians and composers.

Formation and Development of the Sheng:

The earliest known physical object of the sheng is the Zenghouyi sheng,*** six of which were unearthed, and there are three kinds of tubes: 12, 14 and 18. Reeds made of bamboo, gourd body lacquered black background painted with exquisite decorations. Before the Han Dynasty, the sheng and yu occupy an important position in the court, and yu is relatively more heavily used.

Sheng bucket made of gourd, mouthpiece made of wood, a dozen bamboo pipes of varying lengths in the shape of a horseshoe, arranged in the sheng bucket above. After the Tang Dynasty, players changed the sheng bucket to wood, and later, after passing it down, replaced it with a brass bucket, while the reeds were also changed from bamboo to brass.

Different regions have different styles of sheng. After the founding of New China, Chinese musical instrument makers and musicians made many improvements to the sheng, and successively tried out many new varieties of sheng such as the amplified sheng and the keyed sheng, which overcame the shortcomings of not having a wide range of sound, not being able to transpose, and being inconvenient to play quickly, and brought the sheng a new vitality.

The sound of the sheng is bright and sweet, the treble is clear and transparent, the midrange is soft and full-bodied, the bass is thick and low, and the volume is large. It is also the only traditional Chinese wind instrument that can produce harmony. When playing with other instruments, it can play the role of harmonizing the orchestra's tone and enriching the orchestra's sound. In large-scale national orchestras, the sheng is sometimes used as a soprano, alto and bass sheng.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Sheng (Chinese character)

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Sheng (Musical Instrument)