Getting To Know Chinese Musical Instruments

Click on the numbers below to enjoy Chinese Traditional tunes in MIDI format.	The Chinese orchestra is extremely rich in percussion. Like the western symphony orchestra, the percussion family is being divided into 2 categories, the pitched and unpitched.
	Percussion Instruments
20 21 22	Gu (Drum), the Chinese drums, comes in different sizes and different tone. In the early days, this instrument is used in the war field to provide moral boosts to the soldiers. It is played with a set of drumsticks. Various playing techniques has been developed nowadays. These includes beating the surface of the drum, running of the drumsticks along the sides, beating the sides muting the drum while beating and so on.			.
	Paigu, one of the pitched instruments, is a set of seven, small, tuned drums. It is very much favoured by contemporary composers nowadays due to its ability to provide joy and excitement to the ears.
	The Chinese Gongs are percussion instruments made of brass. They are round in shape with diameter varies from 4 inches to 4 feet. Big gongs are usually stroked with a hammer wrapped in cloth, whereas small gongs are stroked with wooden sticks. These instruments are often used to depict liveliness and festive spirit. .
TOP	BLOWN	BOWED	PLUCKED		STROKED

Some of the images and MIDI music in this page are collected from the following sites:

The Music of China
If you enjoy beautiful traditional Chinese music and Chinese comedy, this is your site.