Quick Answer: What Is a Liuqin?
The liuqin (柳琴, liǔqín) is a small Chinese lute with a pear-shaped body and a fretted neck. The player strikes the strings with a pick. A modern concert liuqin usually has four strings and can carry bright high notes through an orchestra.[1][2][3]
- Shape: A compact body and short neck make it resemble a small pipa.[1][2]
- Sound: A pick gives each pluck a clear beginning. Rapid strokes can make a tremolo.[1]
- Use: The instrument has roots in regional opera and a later role in solo and ensemble music.[1][3][4]
Folk instruments and concert models can differ in string count and fret layout.[1][2][3]
When you hear a high pluck above a group of Chinese strings, look for a player holding a small pear-shaped lute. The pick is often a clearer clue than the outline of the body.[1][2]
A Pear-Shaped Body and a Small Pick
The Hartenberger collection includes a three-string example with a compact wooden body. The top of the body narrows toward the neck. A modern player’s left hand stops the strings at frets while the right hand holds the plectrum. On a pipa, players generally pluck with the fingers or attached nails. Both lutes can appear together, as they do in a Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra program.[1][2][5]
On a wide stage shot, compare the size of the lutes first. In a close-up, the pick and compact fretted neck are more useful clues.[1][2]
From Regional Opera to the Modern Orchestra
The liuqin accompanied liuqin opera (柳琴戏, liǔqín xì) and Anhui’s Sizhou opera (泗州戏, sìzhōu xì). The national heritage entry describes liuqin opera around the border areas of Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui and Henan. It records more than one account of the theater tradition’s beginnings. A theater program with a troupe or place name can make that regional context more specific.[1][3][4]
The musician Wang Huiran worked with makers at the Xuzhou instrument factory. He recalls a 1958 three-string treble model and a later four-string model. The design added stopping positions and extended the range available to composers. Wang’s early solo Yin Hu Jin Bo was written for the three-string version and is also played on four-string instruments.[1][3]
How to Hear the Liuqin in an Ensemble
Listen for the bright beginning of a pluck. In a tremolo, quick pick strokes follow one another closely enough to hold a high note in the listener’s ear. In a passage with short notes, the same pick can make each attack distinct.[1]
The lower daruan can be easy to distinguish by register and its round body. To compare two ways of shaping a longer plucked sound, listen for repeated pick strokes on the liuqin and a pitch bend on a paired-string konghou harp. One effect repeats the attack. The other changes the pitch of a string after it has been set ringing.
FAQs About the Liuqin
How can you tell a liuqin from a pipa?
The liuqin has a smaller body and is commonly played with a handheld pick. The pipa is larger and generally plucked with the fingers or attached nails.[1][2]
Has the liuqin always had four strings?
Wang Huiran describes a two-string folk instrument and a three-string treble model made in 1958. A four-string design followed and became common in concert settings.[1][3]
資料來源
[1] INTERMUSIC, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. An Instrumental Guide to the Chinese Orchestra
[2] Hartenberger World Musical Instrument Collection. China: Three-String Liuqin
[3] Wang Huiran, Huain. Wang Huiran on the Liuqin
[4] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. Liuqin Opera, Xuzhou
[5] Hong Kong Music Office. Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra Members