The ''yunluo'' (simplified: 云锣; traditional: 雲鑼 pinyin: yúnluó, ; literally "cloud gongs" or "cloud of gongs"), is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It is made up of a set of gongs of varying sizes held within a frame. It was also called ''yún'áo'' ( 雲璈) in ancient times.

Traditional yunluo

The ''yunluo'' is a set of usually ten small tuned gongs mounted in a wooden frame, with each gong being about 9-12 cm in diameter, and the height of the frame being about 52 cm. The ''yunluos gongs are generally of equal diameter but different thicknesses; the thicker gongs produce a higher pitch. It is often used in wind and percussion ensembles in northern China. Old drawings also depict a smaller ''yunluo'' with just five gongs, which was held by a handle by one hand and played with the other. The traditional ''yunluo'' is sometimes referred to as the ''shimianluo'' ( 十面锣; literally "ten faced gongs") to distinguish it from the modern redesigned ''yunluo''.

Modern yunluo

A modernised ''yunluo'' has been developed from the traditional ''yunluo'' for use in the large modern

Chinese orchestra The term Chinese orchestra is most commonly used to refer to the modern Chinese orchestra that is found in China and various overseas Chinese communities. This modern Chinese orchestra first developed out of Jiangnan sizhu ensemble in the 1920s ...

. It is much larger with 29 or more gongs of different diameters. Its height may be over 2m including its two legs on which it stands on the floor (the frame itself is about half its height); its width is about 1.4 m or wider.

In other countries

A very similar instrument called the ''

ulla Ulla is a given name. It is short for Ursula in German-speaking countries and Ulrika/Ulrikke in Scandinavian countries. As of 31 December 2011, there were 61,043 females named Ulla in Sweden, with the name being most popular during the 1930s a ...

'' (hangul: 운라; hanja: 雲鑼 or 雲羅), which is derived from the ''yunluo'', is used in the music of Korea. ''Ulla'' was introduced from the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

in the late

Joseon Dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and r ...

and was presumed to be used in some of the ''haengak'' (

hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...

: 행악;

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: 行樂). Ten small round gongs made of copper are hung on a wooden frame and played by striking with a small wooden mallet. The ''

nhã nhạc ''Nhã nhạc'' (, , "elegant music") is a traditional music of Vietnam. Vietnamese court music is very diverse, but the term ''nhã nhạc'' refers specifically to the Vietnamese court music performed from the Trần dynasty of the 13th century ...

'' music of Vietnam uses a similar instrument with three gongs, called the '' tam âm la'' (Sino-Vietnamese: 三音鑼).

References

External links

Photo and description of ''yunluo''
(the picture is of a traditional ''yunluo'')

Video