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htm

關於「笙」

Updated on Oct 2003

Foreword
Fingering Charts of 21-reed and 36-reed Sheng
Traditional chordal fingering, Modern chordal fingering and Hu Tianquan chordal fingering
Abbreviation
Photos of the Instruments

Foreword

Sheng is one of the oldest wind instruments in China. The instrument is made up with independent tubes and reeds (free
reeds) and thus double stops, harmonic chords and even tone clusters are possible for the instrument.

The number of tubes, reeds and their arrangements of Sheng are varied from different parts of China. During the last
few decades, there have been a lot of changes on the instrument due to the historical factors and the fingering system
of the instrument has not been standardized yet.

Some of the misunderstanding and confusion may thus be caused. Composers may have great ideas on the instrument
but sometimes; unfortunately, their ideas may not be possible on it. It is worth introducing two types of Sheng that
seems to be the most common instruments in the field. They are traditional Sheng (21-reed) and 36-reed Sheng.

The harmonic chordal function of the instrument seems also to be its hallmark in lots of composer’s mind. Nevertheless,
in the second half of the menu, I would like to introduce three types of fingerings, mainly on the traditional Sheng, that
people can have better understanding on its performance practice.

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Fingering Chart

Traditional Sheng (21-reed)

From the picture above, the range of the 21-reed traditional Sheng is as follows:

The arrows from the above diagram precisely indicate the position of the fingers that used to cover the tubes[1]. Each
finger can cover at most 2 consecutive holes in the Right Hand Area, double stops by one finger like tubes 10, 11 and
tubes 6,7[2]are also possible in the Left Hand Area.

[1] Not only fingertips, but also middle part and bottom part of the finger.
[2] Double stops of tubes 5,6 / tubes 7,8 / tubes 8,9 / tubes 9,10 are also possible but they are difficult due to the hand position.

36-reed Sheng

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Take on the left side from the 36-reed Sheng chart diagram as the other example, triple-stop like this is also
possible but, in that case, the performer will use different fingering to make it happen.[5]

Situation like this happens all the times especially in the newly composed works. The previous charts for 21-reed and
36-reed Shengs are just the general descriptions of the instrument, it would be fantastic if composer could have a better
communication with the performer because it is worth for both sides.

[4] The 4th fingers in both sizes are overlapped just because of the limitation of the drawing.

[5] In that case, middle and fourth fingers will be used for and respectively which is just the opposite of the general
fingering as indicated in the 36-reed Sheng chart.

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Traditional Chordal Fingering, Modern Chordal Fingering and

Hu Tianquan Chordal Fingering

Three types of chordal fingerings could be concluded for a better understanding of the performing practice of the
instrument.[6]

Traditional Chordal Fingering

The range of the 36-reed (Chromatic) Sheng is as follows: The traditional chordal fingering of traditional Sheng is constructed under a perfect 5th relationship while the lower note
within the fifth dominates the chord. Takes D as an example, D plus an A (fifth) forms the fundamental and, no matter
how many D and A in the chord, the outcome will only be D in the performer’s mind. There is no octave-concept in the
traditional Sheng playing (please see the first and last chord from diagram 3), performers might always play the chord
AD’A’D” for any octaves of D and so the others.

From the above diagram, the arrangement of the tubes could be divided into three rows – Row 1,2,3 and two halves –
Left and Right.

For Row 1 and 2, the keys[3] are mainly controlled by the fingertips except the two arrows indicated in row 2.

The traditional chordal fingering is not a rigid scheme for the performer; they may vary the number of note in the chord
according to the repertoire.
[3] Each tube of this instrument is manufactured by means of keys rather than holes in the 21-reed Sheng.

[6] The chordal fingerings are restricted for the 21-reed traditional Sheng only.

The row 3 is comparatively more complicated. Three fingers (middle, fourth and last) are being used to control this
row[4].
Modern Chordal Fingering
Each finger is large enough to press two consecutive keys. Since three fingers are used for row 3, more combinations
could be made there. The fingers in row 3 can press not only the consecutive keys but also double-stop (within one The development of Sheng from the past few decades was strongly influenced by the Western music culture and thus
row) or even triple-stop (within one row) with key(s) in between. the chordal fingering. One of the obvious changes is the adaptation of the octave-concept. Please see the following
diagram 4 for the actual-fingering of each note. We can see that there is a change from perfect 5th to perfect 4th on the
Double-stop note #f2. This is the performance practice of the Sheng performer due to the limitation of the instrument. (The second
row indicates the corresponding register of each fingering.)

Take on the right side from the 36-reed Sheng chart diagram as an example, the middle and fourth fingers are
able to able to press those keys to make the Major 7th.

Triple-stop

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However, the abbreviations for those techniques are, unfortunately, still not standardized. Confusion between
composer and performer may thus be unavoidably created.

It, hence, will be fantastic and useful if the composer could include a detail explanation of their intended effect in the
score so that the performer can have a better understanding of their intention on the instrument.

Nevertheless, some common techniques/effects of the instrument might have the similar abbreviations in our usual
practice. I would like to try my best here to compile a list for those common abbreviations. Please check the following
table or reference.

Nevertheless, performers are sometimes eager to unify either fifth or perfect fourth in particular melodic passage. The
above fingering chart is, needless to say, not able to satisfy the situation. There is flexibility in the fingering that the
performer can chose either perfect 5th or 4th from d2 to b2. Please see the following diagram 5.

Hu Tianquan Chordal Fingering

Hu Tianquan is one of the most famous Sheng master in the history. He himself established a fingering system that
influenced the followers. Simply look at the following diagram 6 for the effort he did, his changes concentrated mainly
on the high register. (Please note that there are two alternative choices for the note a3 and b3 as marked by * in the
following diagram.)

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Abbreviation

Special effects like flutter-tongue, rapid double tongue and glissando etc. characterize the uniqueness of the instrument.

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Abbreviation Explantation

Flutter tongue
[7] Chordal fingering / is the collective term for the technique, the three sub-divisions indicated above are the system I created
for a better understanding. Composer may just use all the way through and let the performer to decide which type of
fingerings to be applied. If the composer requests a specific chordal effect, he/she may either write out all the notes or include my
fingering system in the score.

Rapid double tongue

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Throat-tongue
Photos of the Instruments
By means of the throat movement to inhale and exhale
the air in the mouth cavity, a tremolo-like effect could
then be created.

Chordal fingering[7]

-Traditional chordal fingering

-Modern chordal fingering
-Hu Tianquan chordal fingering

(for traditional Sheng only)

Glissando

It is only possible on the notes of

the traditional Sheng. Each of these notes can slide up at
most a “minor 3rd” only.

(for traditional Sheng only)

Scale-wise grace notes (down and up)

This effect usually applies among the range

. A set of scale-wise notes will be

played before the main note and the note d3 usually
works as the pedal-note in the process.

21-reed Sheng 36-reed Sheng

Hitting accent
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This is a strong accent on the note by adding a set of 盧思泓個人網站
notes on it. The player will touch the finger holes other
than the notated one shortly to create the effect.

There is no standard rule for the player to select the

accented notes but it is quite a practice for them to
choose the notes from the traditional chordal fingering
among the pentatonic scale.

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