Chinese Musical Instruments

中国民乐器

How many Chinese musical instruments do you know? Do you know some famous music pieces that are played on these instruments? Make a list with your partner.

2a

These instruments are divided into four groups.

Wind or Blowing Instruments

吹奏乐器Bowed String Instrument

拉弦乐器Plucked String Instrument

弹拨乐器Percussion

打击乐器

Wind or Blowing Instruments 吹奏乐器

Dizi 笛子Xiao 萧Sheng 笙

Dizi 笛子 The Dizi , a popular traditional Chinese

flute ,is made of bamboo and is in the form of a pipe.

The famous songs played by Dizi

梁祝之化蝶梦里水乡分飞燕晚秋故乡原风景春江花月夜水乡吟枣园春色大悲咒······

The songs played by Sheng笙

微山湖船歌苗族歌曲 马蹄声婚誓芦笙恋歌

Plucked String Instrument 弹拨乐器

• Guqin 古琴• Zheng 筝• Pipa 琵琶

Guqin 古琴• The Guqin is the most classical of all

the Chinese music instruments with about 2000 years of history.

Ten famous songs played by Guqin 　十大古琴名曲 　 广陵散 高山流水 平沙落雁 酒狂 关山月 潇湘水云 阳关三叠 梅花三弄

胡笳十八拍 幽兰

忆故人

Zheng 筝 The Zheng is a plucked string instrument

that is part of the zither( 筝 ) family. It was developed from a small instrument made from bamboo.

Pipa 琵琶The original instrument of Pipa with 4 silk

strings has a history of over 2000 years .

4 丝弦琵琶与原来的仪器有 2000 多年的历史。

The famous songs played by Pipa

《塞上曲 》《夕阳箫鼓 》《十面埋伏》 　《霸王卸甲》《大浪淘沙 》《昭君出塞 》《阳春白雪 》《草原小姐妹 》《海青拿天鹅 》《彝族舞曲 》

Percussion 打击乐器• The history of percussion instruments

in China is longer than any other category of traditional instruments . The character of “drum” was first found in the inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty .

Percussion 打击乐器

Tanggu 堂鼓Lion Drum 狮鼓Muyu 木鱼Zhong 钟Bo 钹Luo 锣Yunluo 云锣

Muyu 木鱼

Muyu was a fish-shaped group, reservation head olive. 木鱼呈团鱼形，棰头橄榄形。

Zhong 钟

The Zhong is also named as Bianzhong( 编钟 ) meaning collected bronze bells. 编钟是我国古代的一种打击乐器，用青铜铸成，它由大小不同的扁圆钟按照音调高低的次序排列起来，悬挂在一个巨大的钟架上。

The famous Bianzhong was 曾侯乙编钟 .

Songs played by Bianzhong

竹枝词（编钟与编磬） 春江花月夜（古乐合奏） 屈原问渡（古乐合奏） 楚殇（古乐合奏） 幽兰（古琴与编钟） 国殇（古乐合奏）

Luo 锣 The Luo or Chinese gong is made of

high-tin bronze ,hammered into a sifter shape . Its central resonation area can be either flat or convex.( 中国锣是由高锡青铜，锤成一个筛子状。其核心的共振区域，可以是平或凸的。 )

Bowed String Instrument 拉弦乐器Erhu 二胡Gaohu 高胡Banhu 板胡

Famous songs played by Erhu

二泉映月红梅随想江南春色望星空江河水·····

1. Which musician does the reading passage mainly talk about?

2. What is the name of his most famous piece of music?

3. How does the writer feel about this piece of music?

Read the passage and answer the questions.2b

2c Read the passage again and use

suitable words to complete the

main idea of each paragraph.

Then list the supporting details in

each paragraph.

Paragraph Main idea

1 I was _______ by a piece of music named Erquan Yingyue.

2 Abing lived a very ______ life.

3 Abing’s musical skills made him very __________.

moved

hard

popular

Sad but Beautiful 凄美

1. Last night one of my Chinese friends took

me to a concert of Chinese folk music. The piece

which was played on the erhu especially moved

me. The music was strangely beautiful, but

under the beauty I sensed a strong sadness and

pain. The piece had a simple name, “Erquan

Yingyue” (Moon Reflected on Second Spring),

but was one of the most moving pieces of music

that I’ve ever heard.

The erhu sounded like it was crying, and I

almost cried along with it as I listened. Later I

looked up the history of “Erquan Yingyue”, and

I began to understand the sadness in the music.

Paragraph Supporting details

1 ◆ The music was strangely beautiful but under the beauty I sensed a strong sadness and pain.

◆ It was one of the most moving pieces of music that I’ve ever heard.

◆ I almost cried along with it as I listened.

2. The music was written by Abing, a folk

musician who was born in the city of Wuxi in

1893.His mother died when he was very young.

Abing’s father taught him to play many musical

instruments, such as the drums, dizi and erhu,

and by age 17, Abing was known for his musical

ability.

However, after his father died, Abing’s life grew

worse. He was very poor. not only that, he

developed a serious illness and became blind. For

several years, he had no home. He lived on the

streets and played music to make money. Even

after Abing got married and had a home again,

he continued to sing and play in the city streets.

He performed in this way for many years.

Paragraph Supporting details

2 ◆ His mother died when he was very young.

◆ His father died when he was a teenager.

He was poor and homeless. ◆ He developed an illness and became blind.

◆ He lived on the streets and played music to make money.

3. Abing’s amazing musical skills made him

very popular during his lifetime. By the end of

his life, he could play over 600 pieces of music,

many of these were written by Abing himself.

@ It is a pity that only six pieces of music

in total were recorded for the future world to

hear, but his popularity continues to this day.

Today, @Abing’s “Erquan Yingyue” is a

piece which all the great erhu masters play

and praise. It has become one of China’s

national treasures. @Its sad beauty not only

paints a picture of Abing’s own life but also

makes people recall their deepest wounds

from their own sad or painful experiences.

Paragraph Supporting details

3 ◆ He could play over 600 pieces, and he wrote many of them himself. ◆ His most famous piece is still played and praised by erhu master today. ◆ Erquan Yingyue has become one of China’s national treasures.

Language points

1) moved 作为及物动词，意为 “打动；使感动”可用于被动语态。

• What he said moved everyone present.• We were all moved by his story.move 还可以意为“移动；搬动” 常用

“ move to” 搬到某地。• That chair is in the way, please move it.• My family move to Beijing when I was

young.

2) sense (to become aware of sth. Even though

you cannot see it, hear it,ect.) 动词意为“感觉到意识到” 。

• The horses sensed danger and stopped.

• Lisa sensed that he did not believe her.

sense 作为名词 , 意为“感觉；意识”常见搭配有 make sense “ 有意义；有道理”

• I lost my sense of taste.

• The sentence doesn’t make sense.

3) pain 意为 “痛苦；疼痛；苦恼”• His leg was broken and he suffered great pain.

• His has a pain in his knee.

4) sadness 意为“悲痛；悲伤”，其反义词为happiness 。意为“幸福”。

• Tom loved his wife do much that he didn’t get

over the sadness of losing her last year.

5) perform 动词，意为“表演；演奏；执行”• He wants to perform in the show.

• He performed perfectly on the piano.

performance 为其名词，意为“表演；演出”• I hear there will be two performances

tomorrow.

performer 意为“表演者” • The performer act the play wonderfully.

6) by the end of 意为 “到…的末尾”，其后跟不同的时间，主句则对应不同的时态。

• By the end of this week, I have written two

books.

• By the end of next month, I will finishing

reading this book.

• By the end of last month, I had planted

thousands of trees.

7) It’s a pity that 从句，为保持句子平衡，常用 it 作形式主语， that 引导的从句后置才为真正的主语。

• It’s a pity that he has lost his watch.pity 在这里作可数名词，表示具体意义的

“可惜的事；遗憾的事”，相当于 shame 。• What a pity/shame you have to go to

another school!master 意为“能手；名家；大师；主人”• The painting is the work of a master.

8) Praise 及物动词，意为 “表扬；赞扬”，后面直接跟表示人或物的名词或者代词作宾语。常用结构 praise sb for sth; “因为某事而表扬某人” be praised for… 意为“因…而受到表扬”

• The guest praised the meal.

• Though he was wrong, his father praised him for telling the truth.

• He was praised for helping an old man.

Circle that or who and fill in the blanks with the words in the box.

Abing played music (that/who) could touch the hearts of people. When we listen to his music, we can _____ both the beauty and the sadness

in it. It makes us think about the_______ and _______(that/who) we have experienced in the past. For this reason, many people______ him as

the musician (that/who) has greatly influenced erhu music. So it is really a_____ that not many pieces of his music were recorded.

pain wounds sense pity praise

2d

sense

woundspain

praise

pity

Student A is a foreign visitor who is interested in Abing and his music. Student B is a Chinese student who knows about Abing. Use the information in the passageto make a conversation.

A: What kind of musical instruments

did Abing play?

B: He could play many instruments,

but he is best known for playing the

erhu.

2e