Quick Answer: What Is a Leiqin?
The leiqin (擂琴, léiqín) is a two-string bowed instrument associated with the musician Wang Dianyu. He developed it from the zhuiqin (坠琴, zhuìqín), another Chinese fiddle. Leiqin soloists are known for imitating sung phrases and other sounds.[1][2][3]
- Body: The Chinese Music Archive describes a round metal resonator with a skin face.[1]
- Strings: Two strings run along a long wooden neck and are played with a horsehair bow.[1]
- Name: The archive also calls it dalei (大雷, dàléi).[1]
The broad metal cylinder is a visual clue even during a passage that sounds like a voice.[1][3]
A leiqin player can shape a phrase so that it recalls the way an opera singer holds a syllable and turns to the next one. The effect comes through the pitch and timing of the bowed notes.[3][4]
How to Recognize a Leiqin
Look near the player’s lap for a wide, shallow cylinder with a stretched membrane. The Chinese Music Archive describes an example about 110 centimeters long, with two wooden pegs and two strings tuned a fifth apart. On a seated player, the long neck rises well above the resonator, with the bridge close to the bottom of the instrument.[1]
The jinghu also has two strings and a round resonator. Its cylinder is much smaller and made of bamboo. The leiqin’s metal body is easy to spot when the instrument is shown from the side.[1]
How Wang Dianyu Developed Its Sound
Wang came from Yuncheng in Shandong. Accounts place the development of his performance style in the first decades of the twentieth century. He played regional songs and theatrical vocal lines on the zhuiqin. He went on to adapt the instrument and his playing techniques as he took this repertoire to other audiences.[2][3]
The imitation became part of the performance itself. An essay on how opera melodies circulate cites his leiqin renditions of pieces from Peking opera, including The Empty City Stratagem. The performance could bring to mind an operatic voice even on a stage without a singer.[3][4]
What to Listen for in a Leiqin Solo
The practice of bowing opera passages in this tradition is called laxi (拉戏, lāxì). In this setting, the player can take the vocal line as the material for a solo. Listen for the rhythm at the beginning of a line, then the way the bow sustains a longer note or lets it trail off. Those details can suggest the phrasing of the singer.[1][3][4]
The archive also describes imitations of speech, wind and percussion sounds, and animal calls. When a performance changes from a lyrical line to a short call, follow how the attack and length of each note change. Some performances use that change to move between different sound imitations.[1][3]
FAQs About the Leiqin
Is dalei another name for leiqin?
Yes. Dalei is one name used for the instrument associated with Wang Dianyu. Sources also use the spelling 雷琴 for leiqin.[1][3]
Can the leiqin imitate other instruments?
Yes. The Chinese Music Archive describes leiqin imitations of wind and percussion instruments as well as sung phrases, speech and animal calls.[1]
Sources
[1] Chinese Music Archive. Bowed Instruments: Leiqin
[2] Chinese Music Archive. Wang Dianyu
[3] Journal of the Japanese Society for the Study of Chinese Urban Performing Arts. Study of Wang Dianyu and Leiqin Performance
[4] Huain. How Qupai Melodies Circulate in Traditional Chinese Music