The ''mangtong'' () is a Chinese end-blown
free reed wind instrument. It is used primarily by the
Miao Miao may refer to:
* Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China
* Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages
* Miao (Unicode ...
and
Dong ethnic groups of the southern Chinese provinces of
Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to the ...
and
Guangxi, although it is sometimes used in contemporary Chinese compositions for the
traditional instrument
A folk instrument is a musical instrument that developed among common people and usually does not have a known inventor. It can be made from wood, metal or other material. Such an instrument is played in performances of folk music.
Overview
The ...
orchestra.
The instrument consists of a
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...
-free reed pipe without finger holes, which is fitted with a metal free reed; the instrument's playing pipe is placed inside a bamboo resonator of larger diameter. The ''mangtong'' is made in several different sizes, with the largest up to two meters in length. As the ''mangtong'' produces only a single pitch, several ''mangtong'' are normally played together in
hocket
In music, hocket is the rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of notes, pitches, or chords. In medieval practice of hocket, a single melody is shared between two (or occasionally more) voices such that alternately one voice sounds wh ...
. ''Mangtong'' are often played together with an ensemble of free reed mouth organs called ''
lusheng
The ''lusheng'' (, ; Vietnamese: ''Khèn Mông''; also spelled ''lu sheng''; spelled ''ghengx'' in standard Hmong and ''qeej'' in Laotian RPA Hmong) is a Hmong musical instrument. It has a long history of 3000 years in China, traced back to the T ...
'', serving as the
bass instruments of that ensemble.
A modernized version of the ''mangtong'', called ''gǎigé mángtǒng'' (), was developed in the 20th centur
See also
*
Lusheng
The ''lusheng'' (, ; Vietnamese: ''Khèn Mông''; also spelled ''lu sheng''; spelled ''ghengx'' in standard Hmong and ''qeej'' in Laotian RPA Hmong) is a Hmong musical instrument. It has a long history of 3000 years in China, traced back to the T ...
*
Yu (wind instrument)
The ''Yu'' (; pinyin: yú) is a free reed wind instrument used in ancient China. It is similar to the sheng, with multiple bamboo pipes fixed in a wind chest which may be made out of bamboo, wood, or a gourd. Each pipe contains a free reed, w ...
*
Sheng (instrument)
The ( zh, c=笙) is a Chinese mouth-blown polyphonic free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes.
It is one of the oldest Chinese instruments, with images depicting its kind dating back to 1100 BCE, and there are original instruments ...
*
Traditional Chinese musical instruments
Chinese musical instruments are traditionally grouped into eight categories known as (). The eight categories are silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and skin; other instruments considered traditional exist that may not fit these group ...
*
Music of China
Music of China refers to the music of the Chinese people, which may be the music of the Han Chinese in the course of Chinese history as well as ethnic minorities in today's China. It also includes music produced by people of Chinese origin in som ...
External links
Mangtong photoMangtong article
(Chinese)
(Chinese)
Photo of mangtong ensemble
Chinese musical instruments
Free reed aerophones
Mouth organs
{{china-music-stub