The Sheng (China), the Sho (Japan) and the Khaen (Laos/Thailand) (11)
Sheng
Sheng, a multi-reed mouth organ, is one of the oldest Chinese reed wind instruments. It uses the
vibration of bronze reeds attached to bamboo pipes to create sound.
Sheng has many different types in different areas, with different numbers of reed pipes,
Tuning:
Technique and tonal color:
Unlike the other instruments, Sheng’s tonal color is very much dependent on the instrument itself.
The quality of materials and craftsmanship of the instrument will determine how the instrument
will sound. Sheng’s pitches are usually split into three regions ---- high, notes a2 and above,
middle, notes between a1 to a2, and how, notes a1 and below. The high regions have been
described as well defined, the middle regions are rich and strong, and the lower regions as soft and
delicate.
Breathing
The breathing techniques used to play Sheng are unique due to the make-up of the reeds. As such,
Sheng can be played through sucking or blowing. When blowing on Sheng with the aim of
playing on just one bamboo pipe, it is inevitable that air will escape through the other pipes of the
instrument. For this reason, a lot of air is required, and an amateur player might find it tiring to
play the instrument.
Recent improvements in Sheng claim to allow air to escape only from the reed pipe that is being
played, consequently reducing the loss of air and prolonging the span of time one can play a note.
However such improvements haven’t yet to be fully ascertained. It is known facts that the better
the instrument, the fewer gaps that allow air to escape.
Sheng playing requires a certain amount of blowing force from the player to be able to vibrate its
reeds. It is noted that the higher the note, the greater the amount of force required.
Due to its construction, Sheng’s volume is imbalanced, with the volume of the middle to lower
notes usually sounding louder than those of the higher notes.
In recent years, Sheng’s higher registers have been fixed with amplification pipes, to moderate the
instrument’s volume.
Advancements in both the instrument-making and its playing techniques have allowed changes in
volume (generally p-f), as well as crescendos or diminuendos to be played on chords.
Techniques employed by Sheng can be split in finger techniques and mouth techniques. Both of
them are not mutually exclusive.
Finger techniques
Finger techniques encompass the pressing of levers, covering of holes and the use of different
fingerings to produce different sound effects.
1. chords and polyphony
Chords have always been an important and integral part of Sheng playing as they are associated
with Sheng’s character. The arrangement of reed pipes in the traditional Sheng is perfectly suited
to play traditional harmonies. Traditional chords mainly are thirds, fourths or fifths lower or higher
from root notes.
Due to emphasis on chord training among Sheng players, some traditional players may feel that
it’s easier to play chords than to single notes.
Previously, Sheng work possessed only a skeletal melody and players would often embellish in the
form of chords, harmonizing the skeletal melody according to their personal habit. Recently,
non-traditional chords have been introduced to Sheng and the practice of writing out all notes in a
chord began.
Chords usually comprise three or four notes on Sheng. Recently, it’s able to play chords of up to
sic notes. On the traditional Sheng, it’s difficult to make a clear definition of what chords can be
played due to the non-uniform nature of the reed pipe arrangement.
Among Chinese wind instruments, polyphony is native only to Sheng, and the instrument’s nature
renders it capable of being a powerful solo and accompanying instrument.
Composers often like to use ornamental trills like acciaccatura and mordent to be played alongside
harmonies.
Counterpoint is becoming more common among Sheng’s recent repertoires, and it has become
common for main melodies to be played among the lower registers and for accompaniments to be
played on the higher registers of the instrument.
2. Single note
It’s rare for single note to be used in folk music as the traditional Sheng has always been a
chord-centered instrument. Afterward, it was discovered and improved that different single notes
can be joined together to form Sheng’s first arpeggios.
3. portamento
For Sheng, gliding is the gradual closing up or opening of a playing hole while blowing the
instrument. Coupled with the control of breathing and fingering techniques, a Sheng player can
play a upward glide and a downward glide as well. Notes are usually glided a third higher or lower.
The higher the note, the easier it is to glide. Notes above a2 exhibit a clear portamento. However,
although the lower registers are able to utilize gliding techniques, there is usually little or no sound
emitted.
Mouth techniques
Mouth techniques have two aims—to create different sound textures using breath and to beautify a
sound.
To achieve the former aim, Sheng creates different sound textures through different variations of
breath. Sheng’s most common breath techniques include plain playing, light breaths and heavy
breaths. The different breath techniques are usually left to the discretion of the player according to
the piece being played.
Tonguing is also utilized on Sheng, including single tonguing, double tonguing and triple tonguing.
It’s acknowledged that tonguing on Sheng requires a greater force that other wind instruments and
it’s easier to tongue repeatedly on Sheng than to tongue running notes. Tonguing on Sheng is used
to mimic the sound of drums, footsteps, cymbals and even plucked stringed instruments.
1. flutter tonguing (huashe, 花舌)
Like flute, flutter tonguing (huashe, 花舌) on Sheng uses the vibration of the tip of the tongue and
the throat to induce continuous columns of air to produce rapid spurts of breath.
2. Hushe(呼舌)
Hushe(呼舌), loosely translated means “to and fro air”, is a difficult and very unique technique on
Sheng. As the nose breathes, the back of the tongue will move back and forth, creating a constant
air column between the reed and the mouth that will make the reed vibrate, hence producing a
gentle tidal sound. The sound produced in this manner is usually not loud. This technique is scored
with the words “hushe” above the note.
3. houshe(喉舌)
Houshe(喉舌) utilizes the columns of air that is forced out by the vibrations caused by the throat.
This technique is scored with the word “houshe” above the note.
4. vibrato
There are various sub-techniques to vibrato that use the diaphragm, throat ad tongue to vibrate a
played note to different extents.
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