Ruan is a traditional musical instrument of the Han nationality, abbreviated for Ruan Xian. According to legend, Ruan Xian of the Western Jin Dynasty played this instrument, hence the name. The four strings have columns, which resemble a moon harp. Started in the Song Dynasty, it was widely spread among the people in the Yuan Dynasty, becoming people's favorite plucked musical instrument, with a wide range and rich expressiveness.

Ruan, the abbreviation of Ruan Xian, also means long-necked pipa, which resembles the current moon qin, which is different from the song item pipa that came from Qiuzi. Ruan Xian, one of the seven sages of the bamboo forest in the Western Jin Dynasty, played the pipa, and unearthed a piece of copper pipa from the tomb of Ruan Xian during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, named "Ruan Xian", referred to as "Ruan". The structure is a straight-handled wooden circular resonance box, with four strings and twelve columns, which are played vertically by hand. In the Tang Dynasty, the pipa was a messenger in the army, so there was a saying that if you want to drink the pipa, you will urge it immediately.

Among the Chinese orchestras in the development of modern China, Ruan Xian musical instruments include Zhong Ruan and Da Ruan. As a alto part in a plucked instrument.

After 1949, the Nguyen Xian musical instruments were improved and developed into Ruan ethnic instruments, including the high-pitched Ruan, the small Ruan, the middle Ruan, the big Ruan, and the bass Ruan. Among them, the soprano ruan is used in the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra to replace the liuqin as a treble plucked instrument, and the middle ruan and the big ruan are commonly used by various Chinese orchestras as the bass plucked instrument.

The Nguyen speaker is round, with twelve columns, four strings, played with false nails or picks, and can be used for solo, ensemble and singing and dancing accompaniment or to participate in the national band performance, and has rich artistic expression.

2 Development history, edit

origin

Nguyen size type

Han Dynasty, there are many horse musical instruments introduced into our country, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Yuan Ding two years (115 BC), Zhang Qian envoy to Wusun country (now Uzbek nation), Wusun King hunting arrogance and Han intermarriage, before the marriage of Princess Wusun, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered the craftsmen who know how to play music with reference to the qin, zheng, building, wo gong hou and so on to create a musical instrument that can be played on the horse, round speaker, straight handle, twelve columns, four strings, this instrument is Ruan, called "Qin Pipa" at that time.

According to the literary and historical data from the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin dynasties, Ruan is a kind of musical instrument with a round body, straight neck, four strings, and 12 pillars (pins) created by the Han people themselves. The origin is around 217 BC to 105 BC, and it was called Qin Pipa or Qin Hanzi in the Han Dynasty.

Ruan Xian of the Western Jin Dynasty is good at playing this kind of pipa, so this piano is named Ruan Xian. In the Tang Dynasty, the pipa, which was introduced to China from the Western Regions around 350 years ago, was prevalent and ranked first in the music club. Gradually, the curved neck pipa is called the pipa, and the straight-handled round pipa is called Ruan Xian. Until the Qing Dynasty, although Ruan still maintained the ancient system, the vocal range was only more than one octave, and the old Ruan, which was popular among the people, degenerated into two or three strings.

Ruan Xian in the Western Jin Dynasty (266-316 AD) "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" was an outstanding musician, and he liked to play this instrument the most, and he was playing the stereotyped Ruan at that time. Due to Ruan Xian's good playing and the society's admiration for the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest at that time, this instrument became popular all over the country for a while, and became the main instrument for solo, ensemble or accompaniment to Xianghe songs. Later, due to social unrest, Nguyen was lost for a time.

Dunhuang

tang dynasty

Nguyen

According to the "New Tang Dynasty Book, Yuan Xingchong", during the Tang Dynasty (684~701), the Shu people Kuai Lang obtained bronze tools in the ancient tomb, and his body was round like a pipa, which was similar to the musical instrument played by Ruan Xian in the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest". Yuan Xingchong believed: "This Ruan Xian's instrument is also, the forest of fate, the strings, its sound is elegant, and the musician is called Ruan Xian." ”

Ruan in the Tang Dynasty had four strings and 13 columns, and it was relatively well developed. Bai Juyi, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, once vividly described Ruan's pure and mellow timbre in his poems. It is as pleasant to the ear as a jade plate. In the Tang Dynasty's "Qing Shang Music" and "Western Liang Music", Ruan Xian is also one of the main musical instruments.

Ruan Xian spread Dongying during the Tang Dynasty. To this day, in the Shosoin Temple of Todaiji Temple in Nara, the ancient capital of Japan, there is still a treasure of a Luodian red sandalwood Ruan Xian handed down from the Tang Dynasty. This 100.7 cm long Ruan Xian, four-stringed, 14-fret, on the panel of the circular resonance box, with two circular sound holes and inlaid sound windows, and a four-piece music picture on the abdomen. The neck and the piano are inlaid with luodian, and on the back panel of the case, there is a beautiful pattern of flowers and branches, and there are two flying birds. The fineness of its craftsmanship and the beauty of its shape are rare for later generations.

Song dynasty

Ruan Xian is simply called Ruan, which began in the Song Dynasty. At the end of the 10th century, the Song family increased Ruan Xian from four strings to five strings, but did not call it five strings Ruan Xian, but called "five strings Ruan", and the name of Ruan began from there.

Yuan Dynasty

In the Yuan Dynasty, Ruan was widely spread among the people and became a favorite plucked musical instrument.

Qing Dynasty

Judging from a Qing Dynasty Ruan collected by the Chinese Music Research Institute, until the Qing Dynasty, Ruan still maintained the ancient system, with a vocal range of only one more octave. The old Ruan, which was popular among the people, degenerated into two or three strings, and even if it was four strings, every two of them were pronounced with one note, the vocal range was very narrow, and the scale was incomplete.

nowadays

Nguyen

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Nguyen's reforms and performing arts developed rapidly. In the 50s of the 20th century, a series of reforms were carried out on Ruan, so that Ruan had four voices: treble, alto, tenor and bass, and became a family of its own. After the reform, Ruan Du was four-stringed, using metal strings, which was easy to tune, and the vocal range was extended to more than three octaves, and the volume was increased. Chromatic tones are complete, and they can be transposed at will. In terms of performance techniques, in addition to traditional fingering, it also absorbs the techniques of other Chinese and foreign plucked instruments, which greatly enriches the expressiveness of Ruan.

In 1977, a thin resonance plate was added to the enlarged case to divide the chamber into two parts. This intertimbre is mellow and rich, and the volume is noticeably increased.

The 1979 electric amplification zhongruan not only maintains the traditional timbre of Ruan, but also enriches the charm of pronunciation.

Developed in the 80s of the 20th century, the fretless Daruan has a sound column in the treble area of the case, and due to the reduction of the height of the pass and the binding strings, the strings are closer to the fretboard, which is easy to play. It maintains the original volume of Da Ruan, the timbre is relatively soft, and the performance can learn from the techniques of wiping, slipping, kneading, beating, and chanting of the three strings, pipa and zheng, which is suitable for playing a smooth melody like a song, and the expressiveness is extremely rich, with a moving artistic effect.

The thickness of the face and backplate is gradually thinned from the center to the periphery, the "V" shaped sound beam is pasted in the panel and the "U" shaped groove is dug around, and the sound hole is changed to a symmetrical bird shape, which is beautiful in shape, solid and loud in pronunciation, and the timbre is pure and thick and round, which significantly enhances the expressiveness and can be used for solo performance.

3 Structure editing

Nguyen's structure

Ruan is composed of headstock, neck, body, string shaft, mountain pass, fret, saddle, string binding and strings.

The headstock and neck are glued together with two pieces of hard wood, the top of the headstock is mostly decorated with ethnic style carvings, the neck is glued with a fingerboard, and the fingerboard is embedded with 2 4 frets, and the frets are arranged according to 12 equal laws.

The body is a flattened resonance box made up of a top, back, and frame plate glued together. On the panel, there is a glue on the frets and a sound hole. There are 4 pins, in addition to ordinary pins, copper gears can also be used. The strings use silk strings, casing strings, or metal strings.

The materials used to make the ruan are roughly the same as the pipa. The neck and body frame are also available in basswood or poplar. The back panel is made of paulownia wood. Fingerboard with mahogany. The pins can be mahogany, boxwood or sandalwood. The roundness of the body should be accurate, the back plate should be flat and smooth, the neck and body should be on the same plane, the glue joints should be tight and firm, the spacing between the frets should be accurate, the surface should be evenly painted, and the wood grain should be clear.

Zhongruan is a Chinese musical instrument, the timbre is quiet, soft, poetic, similar to the Qin Qin, often played as a melody or a sentence in the ensemble, with a moving effect; when used as an accompaniment, the rich rhythmic changes can highlight the characteristics of the piece, and the use of more than two Zhongruan divisions to play harmony in the orchestra will make the alto part of the plucked instrument group fuller.

Da Ruan is five degrees lower than Zhong Ruan, this secondary music instrument, the pronunciation is solid, strong and powerful, similar to the Western instrument cello, when playing the melody in the orchestra, it is often combined with Zhong Ruan as an octave to enhance the effect of the middle play, the smooth arpeggio is most suitable for the lyrical melody, when playing a single note or chord, it can enhance the rhythm and bring out the warm and unrestrained effect of the music. Zhong Ruan and Da Ruan are suitable for solo performances, ensembles or accompaniments. In the national band, it is often used to compose various sound patterns such as two-note or three-note chords to enhance the performance of the whole band. It is often accompanied by instruments such as erhu, banhu, dizi and suona. In Peking Opera and other local operas, Zhong Ruan and Da Ruan are also commonly used.

The low ruan is a bass instrument, with a deep and low sound, like the double bass, a Western instrument, and in folk bands, the low ruan is only used to play harmonic rhythms or simplified tunes. Some bands also use it as a bass stringed instrument.

After 1977, the varieties of ruan made by the reform are: double-layer resonance box zhongruan, electric amplification zhongruan, big ruan with arch on the face and back, fretless ruan, and six-string ruan.

4 Kinds of editing

Nguyen

The varieties of ruan include big ruan, medium ruan, small ruan and low ruan, including four voices: treble, alto, tenor and bass, forming a family of musical instruments.

Xiao Ruan, effective chord length (Yamaguchi to string) 41, speaker diameter 29.5 cm, Zhong Ruan, effective chord length 51, speaker diameter 35.5 cm, Da Ruan, effective chord length 69, speaker diameter 50 cm, low Ruan, effective chord length 104, speaker diameter 78 cm. Large, medium, and small ruan set the strings with a fifth-degree relationship. G, d1, a1, e2 for small Ruan, G, d, a, e1 for Middle Ruan, C, G, d, a1 for large Ruan, and E1, A1, D, G, for low Ruan fourths. The commonly used vocal range is: small ruan g-e3, middle ruan G-e2, large ruan C-a1, low ruan E1-a.

5 Editing of the role of strings

The strings and vocal range of the various ruans are different, and their roles in the band are also different.

The large, medium, and small ruans are set by the relationship of fifths, and the low ruans are set by the relationship of fourths.

According to the size of the ruan, it can be divided into three types: large ruan, medium ruan, and small ruan, and there is also a low ruan.

The Ruan, which is circulated among the people, is very unified. In the folk band, the big, medium and small ruan are all set by the relationship of fifths, they are: small ruan (C, g, d1, a1), medium ruan (G, d, a, e1), big ruan C, G, D, A, and bass ruan are set by the relationship of four degrees (E1, A1), D, G. The commonly used vocal range is: small ruan from C~a3, middle ruan from G~e3, large ruan from C~a2, and bass ruan from E1~e.

Among the musical instruments of this family, Xiao Ruan is a high musical instrument, with a crisp and bright pronunciation, and is often used as a melody in the orchestra.

In order to enhance the effect of the middle run, the smooth arpeggios are most suitable for the lyrical melody, and when playing a single note or chord, it can enhance the rhythm and bring out the warm and unrestrained effect of the music. Zhong Ruan and Da Ruan are suitable for solo performances, ensembles or accompaniments. In the national band, it is often used to compose various sound patterns such as two-note or three-note chords to enhance the performance of the whole band. It is often accompanied by instruments such as erhu, banhu, dizi and suona. In Peking Opera and other local operas, Zhong Ruan and Da Ruan are also commonly used.

Nguyen

Zhong Ruan used to have a variety of fixed strings, including G d a e1 and so on, but after the 1980s, some new works gradually adopted the fixed strings of G d g d1 to write chords, so G. D1 becomes the standard string.

C → 5.2.5.2

G → 1.5.1.5

F → 2.6.2.6

D → 4.1.4.1

bB → 6.3.6.3

A → b7.4.b7.4

bE → 3.7.3.7

E →b3.b7.b3.b7

bA → 7.#4.7.#4

B key→ #5.#2.#5.#2

#F调→ #1.#5.#1.#5

#C调→ #4.#1.#4.#1

Treble Nguyen (Liuqin) g.1.d2

Xiao Nguyen .1

Chung Nguyen G.. d1

Da Ruan .

6 Performance Editing

Ruan's playing skills turned out to be relatively simple. With the reform of musical instruments, they are now gradually enriched. Nguyen plays with a pick. Many conservatories in China have successively opened Ruan's professional undergraduates, and solo works by Da Ruan and Zhong Ruan have also emerged one after another. Through the inheritance, practice, transplantation and creation of the performers, there are more than 30 kinds of fingering techniques for the right hand, such as playing, picking, hooking, wiping, buckle, stroke, wheel, brush, division, shaking, sweeping, rolling, etc., and there are more than 10 kinds of fingering techniques on the left hand, such as pan, hitting, belting, sliding, pushing, pulling, groaning, and tattooing, which significantly improves Ruan's artistic expression.

Da Nguyen solo

Nguyen

Da Ruan solo "Silk Road Camel Bell"

The "Silk Road Camel Bell", played with Da Ruan, Bang Bell and snakeskin tambourine, depicts the scene of the Silk Road camel merchants, the empty and desolate Silk Road, and the crisp camel bells, from far and near. Then there is a light melody that shows the merchants dancing merrily. Then he set out on the journey full of hope and spirits, and the camel bell gradually faded away. The music is based on the Tang Dynasty Zhang's "Liangzhou Ci": "The border city is raining low in the twilight rain, and the asparagus is gradually growing." Countless bells passed far away, and Ying Bai practiced to Anxi. The water in Fenglin Pass flows eastward, and the white grass and yellow elm are sixty autumns. The border generals all inherit the blessing of the Lord, and no one understands the way to Liangzhou", which absorbs the tune of Xinjiang folk music. It also depicts the vastness of the desert, the swaying of red willows and the camel caravans on the ancient Silk Road that braved hardships and long journeys. It embodies bitter and heavy depressive feelings. The melody of this song is beautiful and light, the style is simple, and it has a strong artistic appeal.

Xiao Nguyen plays

Nguyen's playing

Nguyen's Performance(3)

The musical instrument now known as Xiao Ruan, also known as the high Nguyen. Xiao Nguyen was successfully developed in 1993 and is a high musical instrument of the "Nguyen Ham Series". As a series of musical instruments, the effect of the series of small Nguyen GDGD and alto Nguyen Ham (DADA) and tenor Nguyen Ham (GDGD) and Da Nguyen Ham (DADA) is certain.

Xiao Ruan's vocal range is no different from that of Liuqin, and his playing technique is slightly different. All the current Liuqin and Yueqin solo pieces can be replaced by Xiao Ruan, and the biggest difference between it and Liuqin is the sound quality and timbre, Xiao Ruan's timbre is between the original Liuqin and Yueqin. The reason for Xiao Ruan's reform was that the liuqin used for the orchestra had a thinner timbre, and the treble was bright but not strong enough, while the yueqin had a rich timbre but was inconvenient to play in the upper register. The purpose of Xiao Ruan's reform was to solve the problems that arose when the band used the liuqin for a long time. Therefore, Xiao Ruan's volume is larger than that of Liuqin, and the timbre is firm and full, especially in the high register.