hi, im liwen.t, . Im an ordinary person that you might have met and have forgotten. There is nothing cool about me until you talk to me. I make mistakes but im not giving up. :Girlfriends, CCHYCO , GWPS 6C'08 , Famous Amos pecan cookies , Kinder Bueno , hello kitty & this list goes on & on.
Was pretty bored. Uhm no, was very bored. So went to discover more about Chinese Orchestra history & watched videos of pros :D Reallyreally damn pro okay ! *envious* . LOL .
Plucked String Instrument - Ruan The term ruan refers to one of China’s ancient but extinct plucked stringed instruments. During the evolution of the Chinese orchestra in the 1970s, it was found that there was no equivalent lower-pitched instrument among the plucked string family. As such, the ruan, a once obsolete instrument, was recreated to fill the gap of sound. Variations of the ruan, like the gaoyin ruan (soprano ruan), xiaoruan (alto ruan), zhongruan (tenor ruan), daruan (bass ruan) and diyin ruan (Contrabass ruan), were created based on specifications of the original.
According to records, during the time of Han Wu Di (140 BC – 87 BC), plucked stringed instruments like the qin, zheng, zhu and konghou were already in use. A pipa (generic term for instruments that were plucked in ancient times), which had a round body, straight neck, 12 frets and four strings, was played. This shape, akin to the modern day ruan, is believed to be the form of the earliest ruan. It is argued that the ruan was invented during this era.
During the Jin dynasty, the poet and musician Ruan Xian, who was one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, was renowned for his virtuosity in this particular plucked stringed instrument. Due to his contributions to literature and his distain for politics, the common folk at that time, out of respect, named the ‘pipa’ instrument after him. The instrument became known as the ‘ruanxian’ and was later shortened to ‘ruan’.
Some argue that the Tang dynasty, considered the golden age of China, was also the golden age of the ruan. After the Tang dynasty, the development of the ruan slowly deteriorated together with historical materials that had records of ruan scores.
It was only after the liberation of China that the ancient instrument was resurrected. The Central People’s Broadcast Chinese Orchestra, one of the first few prominent Chinese orchestras, began the reformation of the ruan, envisaging it as the ideal instrument to fill the gap of sound. It was the successful assimilation of the different ruans in the 1970s within the Broadcast Orchestra that prompted other Chinese orchestras to follow suit.
The zhongruan is the most frequently used ruan today, both in orchestras and in solos.
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