Quick Answer: What Is a Lusheng?
The lusheng (芦笙, lúshēng) is a mouth organ with several bamboo pipes and a chamber that feeds air to them. Metal reeds vibrate inside the pipes. The instrument is played in Miao, Dong and other communities in southwestern China, where music can accompany dancing, festivals and ceremonies.[1][2][3]
- Build: Several pipes pass through a shared wind chamber.[1][2]
- Sound: The player can sound more than one pipe at a time.[2]
- Use: A player may perform alone or as part of a group of mouth organs.[2][4][5]
Pipe count and performance practice vary with the maker, instrument and local tradition.[1][2][3][4][5]
A high phrase on a lusheng can move over a lower note that keeps sounding. In a dancing group, you may hear a similar layering across instruments of different sizes.[2][4]
How the Pipes and Reeds Make Sound
Air enters through the mouthpiece and reaches the bamboo pipes through a common wind chamber. On the Guizhou instrument described by Academia Sinica, covering holes selects the pipes that sound. A metal tongue can vibrate freely in its opening, which is why it is called a free reed. Middle Tennessee State University’s gallery describes a traditional six-pipe arrangement with a brass reed in each pipe.[1][2]
Each sounding pipe has its own pitch. When a player selects more than one, a low note can continue underneath a tune, or several notes can sound together. The low continuous note is called a drone. The bawu also has a free reed, but uses a single main pipe. The guide to the sheng offers another example of reeds and pipes fed by a shared wind chamber.[1][2]
Lusheng Making in Guizhou
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival profiles the maker and performer Mo Ming from Leishan County, Guizhou. The profile describes bamboo pipes attached to a hardwood blowing tube and records Mo’s experiments combining bamboo with stainless steel. The instruments can vary in scale and pipe count. A compact mouth organ can move with a dancer, while large instruments can add lower voices to a group.[2][3][4]
The Guizhou example at Academia Sinica entered its collection in 1946. Looking at it alongside accounts of living makers shows the continued use of bamboo tubes and metal reeds while leaving room for changes in the materials of particular parts.[1][3]
Miao and Dong Performance Traditions
In Danzhai County, Guizhou, a national heritage listing describes Miao ensembles using lusheng alongside a long reed instrument called the mangtong (芒筒, mángtǒng). Lusheng players lead as the group plays and steps around a circle. The entry records separate tunes for ancestral rites and for different moments of a funeral.[5]
The Dong heritage entry from Tongdao County, Hunan, describes a high instrument leading a group of different sizes, including middle, bass and contrabass instruments. It also describes players who dance as they play. For a listener, the highest line is one place to start. Then listen for the longer low sounds underneath while watching how the players coordinate their steps.[4]
FAQs About the Lusheng
Does every lusheng have six pipes?
Six pipes are common on traditional examples. Museum and field accounts also document instruments with other counts, including modern models with many more pipes.[1][2][3]
Is the lusheng a kind of sheng?
Both are free-reed mouth organs. The lusheng usually has a bundle of long bamboo pipes and is associated with traditions in southwest China. The sheng has its own forms and performance settings.[1][2]
資料來源
[1] Museum of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. Miao Lusheng Wind Instrument
[2] Middle Tennessee State University, Center for Chinese Music and Culture. Instrument Gallery
[3] Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Musical Instruments: Lusheng, Guizhou Province
[4] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. Dong Lusheng Music, Tongdao County
[5] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. Miao Mangtong Lusheng Music, Danzhai County