All About Chinese Flutes

by Howard Fosdick © FolkFluteWorld.com

China has one of the world's most ancient -- and innovative -- civilizations. Some of the oldest playable flutes in the world come from the region.

While most of us have heard of one or two kinds of Chinese flutes, few of us are aware of the great diversity of flutes the Chinese have invented.

This article introduces the most significant Chinese flutes.

We'll explain how each works, offer sound samples, and describe the different background and uses of each.

We'll also provide links to further information, and suggest stores that specialize in selling quality Chinese instruments.

Here are the flutes we'll cover...

Ancient Bone Flutes (Gǔdí)

Jiahu was a neolithic settlement near the Yellow River in north-central China. The site was first settled about 7,000 BC and was abandoned by 5,400 BC.

What makes it unique is the wide variety of sophisticated artifacts archaeologists discovered there.

Among them are the Jiahu bone flutes (or gǔdí). These flutes were carved from the wing bones of the common Red-crowned crane. This bird stands up to 5 feet tall with a 7 foot wingspan, and was common in the area at the time.

More than 30 flutes have been found. Their dating spans the entire time of neolithic human occupation, from 7,000 to 5,400 BC.

While some were damaged, others were found in such good condition that they could be played today!

The flutes vary between 7 and 10 inches in length. Each has between 5 to 8 fingering holes.

The spacing of the holes is obviously intentional, not accidental, for these flutes play a 5 note pentatonic scale. These weren't merely ceremonial or intended as simple whistles. These flutes played music!

The gǔdí evolved over time. Early flutes have 5 or 6 tone holes and played scales of 6 or 7 distinct notes. Middle phase flutes expanded to 7 tone holes and can play 8 whole notes. And late phase instruments have 8 fingering holes and play even more pitches.

At a time when many cultures were still experimenting with flutes as mere whistles, Jiahu culture created instruments with precisely measured tone holes that played pentatonic music.

Click the accompanying video to hear how music experts believe the gǔdí sounded.

For more about the evolution of bone flutes -- and where to obtain replicas you can play -- see my article The Ultimate Guide to Bone Flutes.

The Dizi

There are many varieties of transverse flutes in China. They vary in size, tuning, fingering, composition, and a host of other factors.

The transverse flute that you hear the most about is the dizi. More than a single type of flute, the dizi is truly an entire family of related flutes.

There are many regional and technical variations on the basic dizi. After all, it's been evolving for over two thousand years.

The defining characteristic of the dizi is its membrane. Also called the dimo, it sits on the tubing between the mouthpiece and the first fingering hole. It's a very thin shaving of reed that is glued taught over an open hole. The dimo gives the dizi its unique timbre. It's how you recognize the sound of this instrument when you hear it.

The dimo photo also shows a metal tuning joint. This connects two pieces of flute and allows for tuning the instrument. Some dizi have joints while others are single-piece construction. Only two-piece dizi can be tuned to play with others in ensembles or orchestras.

So many dizi are made from bamboo that many consider it a bamboo flute. But there are wood dizi, too, and occasionally even other materials are used including ivory, jade, and even stone.

Dizi have a range of about two octaves, plus a note or two. The range depends both on the instrument and the skill of the musician.

Click on the first Youtube video to hear a lovely dizi tune.

But note: the sound can differ significantly between instruments because there are so many dizi variations.

The kinds of dizi include:

Click on the "Qudi vs Bangdi" Youtube video to hear how these two kinds of dizi compare. The lower Quidi plays first, then the higher-pitched Bangdi plays second.

Quite different, aren't they?

It proves the point -- dizi are more a family of like instruments than a single kind of flute. Though they have many structural similarities, their voices can differ dramatically.

The Xiao (or Dòngxiāo)

Along with the dizi, the Chinese flute you hear the most about in the west is the xiao.

The xiao is an end-blown, vertically held flute. Its origins are shrouded in mystery, but it's certainly of ancient provenance.

In skilled hands, xiaos sound soft and graceful. They're sonorous and deep on the lower notes, yet can be sprightly and agile on the highest. Hear how a typical xiao sounds by clicking on the photo.

Xiaos are typically made of bamboo or sometimes of hollowed wood. On occasion other materials may be used.

They come in all different sizes and keys. Most commonly these flutes are about 30 to 35 inches long, which places their base notes in the keys of G or F.

Xiaos have several kinds of mouthpieces or blow holes. The photo shows one possibility. That's probably the most common sort of mouthpiece.

Other times the blow hole is shaped in a V or notched. And still other mouthpieces are very primitive and unshaped. Mouthpieces sometimes include inlays of ivory or bone.

Traditional xiao have 6 fingering holes. Modern ones typically have 8. This means that many G flutes have a range from D4 to C#6, while F flutes range from C4 to B5.

You can see modern xiao fingering charts here.

On lengthy xiao, the fingering holes often appear clustered toward the middle of the instrument. This is one easy way to recognize a xiao.

Like many Chinese flutes, xiaos often have venting holes for modulating the sound. These holes are never touched by the musician, so they're are not fingering holes of any sort.

By now it should be apparent that the xiao is not so much a single instrument as a family of closely related flutes. In fact, some of the more popular varieties are bei xiao, qin xiao, and nanxiao. Some varieties evolved regionally while others simply represent the innovative talents of Chinese musicians and instrument makers.

The Bawu and the Hulusi

The bawu and the hulusi look different from one another. Yet, they are two very closely related instruments.

The photo shows that bawus come in two different varieties. One is played vertically, like a recorder, while the other is played horizontally, like a concert flute. The hulusi is always played vertically.

If you dissemble these instruments, you'll see that their internals are all the same.

The hulusi is really just a bawu with a cone-shaped mouthpiece. In addition, one or two drone pipes are attached to the main fingering flute.

The defining feature of bawus and hulusis is that they are free reed instruments.

They have an internal reed that freely vibrates to create sound waves as the musician's breath presses against it.

This does not meet the technical definition of a flute, since sound is produced by a free reed rather than splitting the player's breath by means of a sharp edge. But we've included these instruments in this article as they "look like flutes" to most people, and many informally call them that.

This photo provides a close-up of the free reed. You can see the reed is separate from the mouthpiece into which the player blows. It's hidden inside and not visible when the instrument is assembled.

This internal reed freely vibrates to create sound waves as the musician's breath presses against it.

Unlike reeded instruments -- like the saxophone, clarinet, or the Chinese guan -- the musician never touches the reed. It vibrates solely from the player's breath as it passes through the instrument.

Bawus and hulusis have a range of only 8 whole notes. They're pretty easy to play and a lot of fun. The hulusi attracts a lot of attention due to its unusual looks.

What really intrigues, though, is their unique sound. You'll recognize it right away from its use in films.

Click here to hear a Bazi Mountain Song played in Chinese style on a bawu flute. Click here for a Hulusi solo.

This discussion on these two flutes is very brief because you can read my very complete treatment in the article The Ultimate Guide to the Bawu and Hulusi.

The Xun

Here's an entirely different kind of flute, yet it's also of ancient heritage.

The xun is a vessel flute that has an enclosed chamber. This differs from a "pipe" or "tube" flutes like the dizi and xiao.

Xun date back at least 7,000 years. They rank among the oldest known Chinese musical instruments.

The earliest Chinese encyclopedia, the Erya, describes two kinds of xun in the 3rd century BC:

   *  Larger, lower-pitched, six-holed xun
   *  Smaller, higher-pitched, chicken-egg xun

It's fascinating that even as early as that time, xun had sufficient fingering holes to play more pitches than the minimal required for the pentatonic scale. Xun were true musical instruments even in ancient times.

Traditionally, xun were made of baked clay. Today, of course, that means ceramics. Some were fashioned from other materials including ivory, stone, or bamboo.

You play a xun just like blowing across the lip of a pop bottle. You split your breath across the sharp edge of the lip to create sound waves. These then resonate within the enclosed volume of the egg-shaped sphere.

Playing requires proper embouchure. You have to adjust a bit to play different pitches. It takes some practice to learn.

Xun that have notched blow holes are usually much easier to play that those with symmetrical or round rims. Notches are a recent innovation in this century. Compare the xun in the two photos -- ancient and modern -- and you can see that the modern example features this improvement.

A xun's size determines its pitch. The bigger the xun, the lower its pitch. Modern xun come in all sizes and keys, though the keys of G, F, and C are probably most popular.

Most Xun today have either 8 and 10 holes. The number of fingering holes determine how many notes you can play. The more tone holes, the more whole notes in the xun's repertoire.

Oh, and one more thing... how do you pronounce "xun"? It's tricky for westerners. Here's how a native speaker says it. (Sound clip courtesy of ImperialCityOcarina.com).

Many English speakers simply say "shoon" (not "zuhn").

Click on the image to hear how a xun sounds.

You may wish to read my article on The History of the Ocarina to learn more about similar flutes from other cultures.

The Paixiao

The paixiao is the instrument westerners typically refer to as panpipes or a pan flute. It consists of a set of tubes of increasing length (and occasionally width).

Players point their breath at the rim of each pipe to produce sound. Each pipe sounds a particular pitch, and by moving between pipes, the musicians plays the scale. Sometimes the musician can overblow pipes to obtain notes other than the fundamental produced by that tube.

The paixiao is uniquely advanced in that the pipes are notched where the musician blows. This allows bending of the pitch into sharps and flats by proper embouchure. The result is that the normally diatonic pipes are improved into a chromatic instrument in the paixiao.

The earliest known paixiao dates to the Zhou dynasty some 3,000 years ago. It was composed of bones.

Click on the photo to hear a replica of it played. This 13-pipe paixiao was discovered with five others in Henan in the late 1990s. The tubes of this instrument vary in length from 4.65 to 12.87 inches.

The earliest known surviving bamboo specimens are about 2,400 years old. Of course, wood does not preserve well so the bamboo forms of the instrument may well date further back but such examples are not extant. Today, paixiao are almost invariably composed of bamboo.

You can purchase a modern paixiao from any store that carries Chinese instruments.

The instruments are so easy and fun to play with that even Walmart offers a very inexpensive but serviceable example, as shown in this advertisement:

Other Chinese Flutes

So far we've covered the most important Chinese flutes. But there are many variations on the instruments we've discussed, as well as lesser-known flutes. Let's address them now:

There are also instruments that don't technically meet the definition of "flute," because they don't produce sound by splitting the musician's breath against a sharp edge. But like the bawu and hulusi, most people would call these instruments flutes:

Where to Acquire Chinese Flutes

Many stores in the US and EU, and online sources such as Amazon, offer a item or two to represent each of the flute types we've discussed.

A better option is to go straight to Chinese sources. These sellers offer sweeping variety and greater choice. They will likely respond to an email inquiry if you need help in deciding what to buy. These are large sellers that are accustomed to dealing with international customers:

• Sound of Mountain (Jiangsu Province, China, with overseas warehouses in USA, EU, etc)
• Red Music Shop (Beijing)
• Eason Music Store (Singapore)

Final Words

Chinese flutes are a wonderfully diverse world of sounds, technologies, and possibilities. In this article, we've described the most sigificant kinds of flutes, but space limitations compel us to leave much out.

For more information on some of these topics, see my guides:

I hope to write similar detailed articles on some of the other flutes in this article soon.

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