By
Prof. Lydia Ayers
Bowed Strings (huqin)
• Erhu
• 2 strings with a snake-skin
sound box
• <3:16> Wong On Yuen, erhu,
performs Joshua Chan Kam
Biu's Eternal Love
Wong On Yuen
(gaohu)
Bowed Strings (huqin)
• Gaohu
• 2 strings with a snake-skin sound
box; higher than erhu
• Zhonghu
• lower than erhu
• The shape of the resonator
varies from circular to octagonal.
Pythagorean Tuning
• in common use in Greek Antiquity and the
Middle Ages in western music
• still used in Chinese music and some Indian
ragas today
• Pythagorean spiral of fifths
• based upon pure 3/2 fifths
fifth
3/2
Pythagorean Tuning
• first discovered by Ling Lun, a court musician of
Emperor Huang-Ti, possibly as early as the 27th
century B.C.
• used a length of bamboo called a "lu" — similar to
paixiao
Ling Lun's Tuning of the Lu
paixiao
by Edward Wong
[i:57] Zheng Tuning Example
1
1
3
2
9
8
27
16
81
64
Pythagorean Tuning
[i:58] Pentatonic (5-note) scale of Ling
Lun's Tuning of the Lu
.
Chinese:
1
2
3
5
6
1
Pythagorean Spiral of Fifths
16
9
Bb
32
27
1
1
3
2
C
G
4
3
F
D
A
Eb
Ab
128
81
9
8
,
Db Gb/F#
256
1024
243
729
Pythagorean
Comma
531441
524288
729
512
B
243
128
E
27
16
81
64
1 3
3 3 9 1 9
1 x 2 = 2 x2= 4 x 2 = 8
Pythagorean Tuning
[i:59] Pythagorean Major Scale
[i:60] Comparing Tuning
Systems for the Major Scale
Pythagorean Tuning
• major third is very sharp, so major chord
is out of tune
[i:61] Pythagorean Major Chord
[i:65] Just Natural Minor Scale
Interval Flow Chart
(major intervals on top)
9/8
15/8
/
/\
/ \
/ 10/9 5/4
5/3
\
/
/ / \
/
\
\
1 - - - - - -4/3 - 3/2 - - - - - 2
\
\ /
\
/ / /
\
6/5
8/5 9/5 /
\
/
\ / /
16/15
16/9
1
2
3 4
5
6
7
8
[i:66] Pythagorean Minor Scale
[i:67] Comparing Tuning Systems for the Minor Scale
Minor Chords
• Pythagorean minor third is very flat, so
chords are out of tune
[i:68] Just Minor Triad
[i:69] Pythagorean Minor Triad
[i:70] Sometimes I feel Like a Motherless Child
• A Natural Minor Scale
(Black American Spiritual)
Leading Tone
• "leads" up to the tonic by a half step
• seventh scale degree from the major scale
[i:71] Leading Tone in C Major Scale
[i:72] Harmonic Minor Scale
• natural minor scale pattern
with seventh scale degree
borrowed from major scale
to give a leading tone
• modified by accidental, not
by key signature
Harmonic Minor Scale - Key of C
[i:73] Melodic Minor Scale
• natural minor scale pattern
with raised tones going up
and lowered tones coming
down
• closes gap between sixth and raised seventh
scale degrees
Melodic Minor Scale - Key of C Minor