Quick Answer: What Are Bianqing Stone Chimes?
A bianqing (编磬, biānqìng) is a Chinese set of tuned stone chimes. The stones hang from a rack in one or more rows. A player strikes individual plates with a mallet to sound different pitches. The set from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Hubei had 32 stones on its rack.[1][2][3]
- Material: The Marquis Yi chimes are limestone or marble.[1]
- Sound: The stone itself vibrates when struck.[2][3]
- Use: Stone chimes and bronze bells could be played in the same ritual ensemble.[1][2]
The number of stones and the form of the rack depend on the set.[1][2]
Suspended on a stand, the stone plates resemble angled blades. A row can look evenly spaced even when its pieces differ in length and thickness. Those physical details help give each plate its own note.[2][3]
How a Stone Plate Makes a Note
An individual stone chime is called a qing (磬, qìng). It is suspended so that it can vibrate after being struck. A mallet sets the plate itself in motion. In acoustic classifications, an instrument of this kind is an idiophone. That puts it in a different group from a drum, where a stretched head is the vibrating surface.[2][3]
Thickness and outline both matter when tuning stone. Fang’s study of excavated chimes describes grinding along the curved bottom of some Eastern Zhou examples, as well as differences in thickness from one plate to the next. Two stones with similar outlines may therefore sound at different pitches. The Brussels Musical Instruments Museum describes a set in which thickness varies across the row.[2][3]
The 32 Chimes of Marquis Yi of Zeng
Marquis Yi’s tomb at Suizhou in Hubei dates to the early Warring States period. When the tomb was excavated in 1978, the stone chimes were found among the instruments in the central chamber. Sixteen stones hung in each of two rows. The Hubei Provincial Museum describes their tone as bright and crisp and gives the set a span of about three octaves. Excavators also found three inscribed boxes for chime stones. Fang reads the inscriptions as listing 41 stones in the boxes, more than the 32 on the rack. He suggests that some may have served as supplementary chimes.[1][3]
The tomb also contained the much larger set of bronze bianzhong bells. A visitor can distinguish the two at a glance. The chimes are solid angled plates. The bells have cast hollow bodies. The museum describes their combination as metal-and-stone music. These two materials also belong to the traditional bayin instrument classification.[1][2]
Ritual Sets and Decorative Chimes
The Brussels museum documents a 16-stone instrument arranged in two rows. Its account links this kind of ensemble to imperial and Confucian temple music. The 16-stone layout illustrates how makers could organize pitches across two rows on a smaller rack.[2]
A stone chime’s outline also became a decorative form. The Metropolitan Museum of Art identifies a jade example from the Qianlong period with a design of treasured objects. Its form recalls ritual musical stones. A museum label can tell you whether a piece was catalogued as a working instrument or a decorative object modeled on one.[4]
FAQs About Bianqing
What is the difference between qing and bianqing?
A qing can be a single stone chime. A bianqing is a set of chimes arranged to give different notes.[1][2]
Did every bianqing have 32 stones?
Sets varied. Marquis Yi’s rack held 32 stones. The Brussels Musical Instruments Museum describes a two-row set with 16 stones.[1][2][3]
Источники
[1] Hubei Provincial Museum. Introduction to the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng
[2] Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels. Bianqing
[3] University of Huddersfield Repository. Fang’s Study of Chime Stones
[4] The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Musical Stone with the Theme of the Hundred Antiques