MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS - online book

The History And Development Of Musical Instruments From The Earliest Times.

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	MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.	45
	bolical designs. A similar drum on which natural phenomena are depicted is called Iri-kou; and another of the kind, with figures of certain birds and beasts which are regarded as symbols of long life, is called ling-kou, and also lou-kou. The flutes, ty, ye, and tchi- were generally made of bamboo. The koan-tsce was a Pandean pipe containing twelve tubes of bamboo. The siao, likewise a Pandean pipe, contained sixteen tubes. The pai-siao differed from the siao inasmuch as the tubes were inserted into an oddly-shaped case highly ornamented with grotesque designs and silken appendages. The Chinese are known to have constructed at an early period a curious wind-instrument, called hiucn. It was made of baked clay and had five finger-holes, three of which were placed on one side and two on the opposite side, as in the cut. Its tones were in conformity with the pentatonic scale. The reader unacquainted with the pentatonic scale may ascertain its character by playing on the piano­forte the scale of C major with the omission of/and b (the fourth and sevattfi); or by striking the black keys in regular succession from /sharp to the next /-sharp above or below. Another curious wind-instrument of high antiquity, the cheng, (engraved, p. 46) is still in use. Formerly it had either 13, 19, or 24 tubes, placed in a calabash; and a long curved tube served as a mouth-piece. In olden time it was called yu. The ancient stringed instruments, the kin and die, were of the dulcimer kind : they are still in use, and specimens of them are in the South Kensington museum. The Buddhists introduced from Thibet into China their god of music, who is represented as a rather jovial-looking man with

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