The TENG Guide to the Chinese Orchestra

The following sections are included:

• Reviews
• About TENG
• Preface
• Credits
• Acknowledgements
• Composers Featured
• Contents
• How to Use This Book
• History of the Chinese Orchestra

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE DÍ
• FEATURES OF THE DÍ
• PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE DÍ
• COMPOSING FOR THE DÍ
• FINGERING CHARTS FOR THE DÍ

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE SHĒNG
• FEATURES OF THE SHĒNG
• PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE SHĒNG
• COMPOSING FOR THE SHĒNG

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE SUǑNÀ
• FEATURES OF THE SUǑNÀ
• PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE SUǑNÀ
• COMPOSING FOR THE SUǑNÀ
• FINGERING CHARTS FOR THE SUǑNÀ

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE GUǍN
• FEATURES OF THE GUǍN
• PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE GUǍN
• COMPOSING FOR THE GUǍN
• FINGERING AND INTONATION ON THE GUǍN

The following sections are included:

• XIĀO 箫
• XŪN 埙
• BĀWŪ 巴乌
• HÚLÚSĪ 葫芦丝

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF CHINESE PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS
• DRUMS
• GONGS
• CYMBALS
• WOODEN INSTRUMENTS
• OTHER PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS
• WESTERN PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE ZHĒNG
• FEATURES OF THE ZHĒNG
• PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE ZHĒNG
• COMPOSING FOR THE ZHĒNG
• RELATED INSTRUMENTS

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE YÁNGQÍN
• FEATURES OF THE YÁNGQÍN
• PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE YÁNGQÍN
• COMPOSING FOR THE YÁNGQÍN

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE RUǍN AND LIǓQÍN
• FEATURES OF THE RUǍN AND LIǓQÍN
• PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE RUǍN AND LIǓQÍN
• COMPOSING FOR THE RUǍN AND LIǓQÍN

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE PÍPÁ
• FEATURES OF THE PÍPÁ
• PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE PÍPÁ
• COMPOSING FOR THE PÍPÁ

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE SĀNXIÁN
• FEATURES OF THE SĀNXIÁN
• PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE SĀNXIÁN
• COMPOSING FOR THE SĀNXIÁN

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE ÈRHÚ AND THE HÚQÍN
• FEATURES OF THE HÚQÍN
• PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE HÚQÍN
• COMPOSING FOR THE HÚQÍN

The following sections are included:

• HISTORY OF THE GÉHÚ
• PHYSICAL FEATURES AND PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE GÉHÚ
• COMPOSING FOR THE GÉHÚ

Composed by the prolific musician Hé Dàshǎ around 1930, The Peacock Displays Its Plumage was a Cantonese-style guitar solo piece which was a bestseller on vinyl records and became a popular piece in the Cantonese repertoire. This arrangement by Péng Jiāhuàng (published in 1963) was cited as a score excerpt in the 1981 orchestration book Mínzú Guǎnxián Yuèfǎ 《民族管弦乐法》 by Hú Dēngtiào 胡登跳…

The Shan Pui River is located in the Yuen Long District, the northwest of the Hong Kong Territories, where the famous Hong Kong Wetland Park is. Some parts of the Shan Pui River have been turned into a water channel in the town centre, but the other part leads to the wetland and ends at Shenzhen Bay. It made international news headlines with the unexpected appearance of a little crocodile in 2003…

Fusion was commissioned by the Macao Academy for Performing Arts in 2009 to mark the 10^th anniversary of Macao’s return to China. In this piece, the composer fuses Eastern and Western music elements to express his appreciation of the harmonious co-existence of both cultures in Macao…

Composed in 1984, The Terracotta Warriors Fantasia is a classic Chinese orchestra piece inspired by the terracotta army which was being excavated in the Shaanxi province at that time. The thousands of sculptures depicting the armies of Emperor Qín Shǐ Huáng 秦始皇 were part of his vast necropolis and served to protect the emperor in his afterlife…

We Soar was commissioned in 2013 for the 10^th anniversary of the Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra, which the composer was a founding member of. This majestic and passionate piece expresses the determination of youths to pursue dreams and soar towards greater heights…

Prince Sang Nila Utama and Singa narrates the legendary tale of the titular prince’s founding of the Kingdom of Singapura.

Sang Nila Utama was a prince from Palembang, the capital of the Srivijaya Empire in the 13^th century. In 1299, he embarked on a journey to the island of Temasek, which is now known as Singapore. When a powerful storm threatened to sink his ship, he threw his crown overboard in a bid to appease the sea gods. The storm instantly subsided and his entourage landed safely on the island…

Counting Toads was composed based on the theme from the Sichuan folk song Shǔ Hámá 《数蛤蟆》 (Counting Toads). The title comes from a line in the song “hámá bù chī shuǐ, tàipíng nián” “蛤蟆不吃水, 太平年”, which translates to “when the toads do not need to drink, there is peace in our time”.

The Sham Shui Po district in Kowloon is popularly known as the “digital hub in Hong Kong” for its concentrated source of computer products and electronic accessories, so much so that it enjoys equal fame with the Akihabara area of Tokyo and the Guang Hua Computer Market of Taipei…

“Kampung” is the Malay word for village. The composer is a city-dweller who dreams of leading a simpler lifestyle in a village, and this composition is an expression of his yearning…

Jino Dance is the second of three movements from Diānxī Tǔfēng 《滇西土风》 (Melodies of West Yunnan) composed by Guō Wénjǐng. It is not a light and cheerful dance as its allegretto tempo marking might suggest. Instead, the music is characterised by a steady rhythm and depicts the unique rustic lives of the mountain people…

The Sound of Water was Yán Hùichāng’s graduation work as a student of the Shanghai Conservatory. In 1981, Yán went to various places such as Hainan island to experience life and gather ideas for composition. He was greatly moved by the sight of precipitous waterfalls, babbling brooks, mirror-like lakes and roaring seas. These scenes of nature with water greatly inspired Yán, who then spent one year conceptualising this tone poem in four movements:

• Waterfall
• Lake
• Streams
• Sea

Sun Ritual is inspired by the drumming dance of the Jino tribe from Yunnan, China. The composer explores the sonic characteristics of the Èrhú and the Chinese orchestra, juxtaposing and fusing their sounds to create a sense of mystery and mythology…

Commissioned by Mǐn Xiǎofēn 闵小芬 in 2004, “Ping Pong” Concerto for Pípá and Chinese Orchestra has three movements, namely:

• Huangshan Mountains
• Invitation (6 April 1971)
• Diplomacy

The Suǒnà concerto Beckoning the Phoenix (1996) uses phoenixes from ancient times as a symbol to evoke a sense of cultural pride and spirit.

In Huǒ zhōng de Fènghuáng 火中的凤凰 (Phoenix in the Fire), a painting series by Táng Xiǎohé 唐小禾 (1987), the phoenix is born and grows in the darkness, attains maturity through the baptism of fire, and eventually flies to the sun. The vitality and spirit embodied by the paintings’ titular phoenix inspired Qín Wénchēn to compose Beckoning the Phoenix, a symbol of man’s eternal yearning for and pursuit of life…

Buka Panggung (Malay for “opening of the stage”) was inspired by the preshow ritual of wayang kulit, a traditional form of puppet shadow play that is practiced in Malaysia and Indonesia. The piece begins as a bit of cooked rice is smeared on each of the instruments and a small amount of water is placed inside each of the large, hanging gongs. Incense is then burnt in a small receptacle and passed among all the musical instruments and puppets. This entire ritual is carried out by the dalang (storyteller cum puppeteer) to purify the area where the shadow play will be performed…

The concerto for Dí and Chinese orchestra Despair in the Desolate Mountains is a symphonic portrait of descriptions of the treacherous path to Sichuan by Tang Dynasty poet Lǐ Bái 李白 (701-762). In his famous poem Shǔ Dào Nán 蜀道难 (The Difficult Path to Sichuan), the phrase “yòu wén zǐguī tí yè yuè, chóu kōng shān” 又闻子规啼夜月, 愁空山 describes a lonely traveler hearing the pitiful cries of cuckoos at night, echoing his despair at surmounting the desolate mountains…

Dance of the Yao People was inspired by the long drum dance, a form of traditional festival music of the Yao people of southern and southwest China. Composed collaboratively by Liú Tiěshān and Máo Yuán in 1952, Dance of the Yao People was originally written for the Western symphony orchestra…

Orchestra Suite No. 2 by Chew Hee Chiat is based on two short melodies, composed in such a way that potentially resembles the folk songs of many different cultures. Chew derived his inspiration from Tang Capriccio, a CD recorded by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. For Chew, listening to this CD opened up a new world of possibilities for Chinese orchestra composition…

The following sections are included:

• GENERAL NOTES
• LIST OF INSTRUMENTS
• RANGE CHART

The following sections are included:

• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Authors