~EVGRuanRuanFamilyRox~

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Instruments of the week

From today onwards..there will be "instrument(s) of the week"
for e week 24/6~30-6..this week instrument is :Ruan 阮

Introduction
阮是中国的一种弹拨乐器，阮在古代一直被叫做“秦琵琶”。大约在公元前二三世纪的秦国时期，人们给一种有柄的小摇鼓加弦制成弹拨乐器，叫作“弦鼗（tao）”。后来人们又参考筝和筑等乐器，创制了一种比“弦鼗”更为先进的乐器，称为“秦琵琶”，它就是“阮”的前身。
在公元三世纪左右，有一位叫阮咸的音乐家，非常善于弹奏这种有圆形音箱的“秦琵琶”,由于他的演奏技艺非常高超，深受老百姓的喜爱，人们就渐渐用他的名字“阮咸”来称呼这种乐器了。不过，阮咸简称为阮是从一千年前的宋代才开始的。
Appearances
阮的外形很简单，由琴头、琴杆和琴身三个部分组成。琴头一般装饰有中国传统的龙或如意等骨雕艺术品，两侧装有四个弦轴。阮的琴身是一个扁圆形的共鸣箱，由面板、背板和框板胶合而成。阮的结构原理、制作材料以及演奏技法和琵琶都有很多相同之处。音箱圆形，十二个音柱，四弦，用假指甲或拨片弹，可用于独奏、重奏和歌舞半奏或参加民族乐队演奏，有丰富的艺术表现力。
Others
近年来随着中国对民族乐器的重视，音乐家们还对阮进行了改革，研制出高音阮、中音阮、次中音阮和低音阮。
高音阮是高音乐器，发音清脆明亮，在乐队中常担任主旋律的演奏。
中阮为中音乐器，音色恬静柔和，富有诗意；在合奏中常担任演奏旋律和插曲，具有动人的效果。担任伴奏时，丰富的节奏变化能突出乐曲的特点，在乐队中采用两个以上中阮分部演奏和声，会使弹拨乐器组的中音部更为丰满。
大阮比中阮低五度，与西洋乐器中的大提琴比较相似，在乐队演奏旋律时，它常与中阮作八度结合，以加强中阮效果，最适宜映衬抒情的旋律，演奏单音或和弦时，能加强节奏，烘托出乐曲热烈奔放的效果。低音阮发音深沉而低侯，犹如西洋乐器中的低音提琴。

The ruan, a round four-stringed lute, was originally considered a form of pipa and called the Qin Pipa 秦琵琶. First played during the reign of Emperor Wu (140 - 88 BC) of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 25 AD), it owes its popularisation and its name to Ruan Xian 阮咸, one of the eccentric Western Jin (265 - 317 AD) intellectuals known as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. Ruan was a master at this instrument, and a famous wall mural of the Seven Sages from a contemporary tomb shows him playing it. Hence the instrument came to be known as the ruanxian, or simply as the ruan.

The ruan has a straight stem, a round sound box and 24 frets. It is played with a plectrum, like a guitar. Five sizes of ruan are now produced - the soprano (gaoyinruan 高音阮), alto (xiaoruan 小阮 ) tenor (zhongruan 中阮), bass (daruan 大阮) and double bass (diyinruan 低音阮). This has widened the tonal range of the ruan family, although the zhongruan and daruan are used most often for their dulcet and mellow quality. It is usually played in orchestras or ensembles, but has also been used for solos in recent years. A similar version, called a yueqin 月琴 ("moon-shaped stringed instrument") , has a much shorter stem and no sound-holes.

Post by ShuYan =D

EVGRuanRuanFamily 5:29 AM