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Modern Chinese Orchestra or hua yue tuan in Malaysia is documented by Tan Sooi Beng (1983). As in China, this orchestra is made up of a blend of western and traditional Chinese musical instruments. The music itself combines western polyphony with Chinese melodies and scales. Although the bulk of its repertoire consists of music imported from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, many local Chinese orchestras also regularly perform Malay folk tunes with various local composers making a definite effort to absorb elements of surrounding musical cultures, especially Malay, into their compositions. In Malaysia, Chinese orchestras exist nationwide in urban areas which have large concentrations of Chinese Malaysians. Sponsored largely by various Chinese organisations including schools and Buddhist societies, a typical orchestra consists of between 12 to 50 members.
The orchestra itself is made up of 4 sections: bowed string instruments, plucked strings, wind and percussion. The bowed strings comprise the largest section and include the following instruments: er-hu with its range of 3 octaves which plays the same role as the western violin, pan-hu which can be thought of as a piccolo er-hu with only one per orchestra, usually played by the concert master, gao-hu which sounds a fourth higher than the er-hu, zhong-hu which is like a tenor er-hu similar in role to the western viola, ge-hu which plays the same notes as the western cello and indeed is sometimes replaced by that instrument, and bei-da-ge-hu which is a modern Chinese instrument modelled after the double bass and in the hua yue tuan often played alongside those instruments which occassionally replace them altogether. Plucked strings make up the second group of instruments in the Chinese orchestra. These comprise various sized lutes ranging from the highest pitched pipa through the liu-yue-qin, yue-qin, zhong-ruan, da-ruan and the san xian. Two other instruments are also included in this family of instruments, the gu-zheng or zither, and the yang-qin which is a dulcimer played using bamboo beaters. The wind section is smaller than is usual in western orchestras, consisting of variously sized di-zi or Chinese transverse flutes, xiao or vertical flutes, sheng which is a mouth organ and suona or Chinese reed aerophone. All these instruments possess a far more piercing and brilliant tone than their western counterparts. A large variety of instruments make up the percussion section of the orchestra, including the following: double headed Chinese drums (paigu and tagu), two-plate cymbals (dabo), a hand held tam-tam (luo), frame mounted tam-tams consisting of 10 small tam-tams mounted on a special stand (shi mian lo), a bell (ling), a bell tree consisting of 5 suspended bells (ma ling), and variously shaped wood blocks (shuang yin mu, bang zi and mu yu). There is no lack of virtuoso performers in the Chinese classical tradition in Malaysia. Advanced training is however not presently available with most Malaysian virtuoso musicians obtaining their advanced training either in China or Singapore. Various professional and semi-professional Chinese orchestras are in existence. Malaysian western trained classical conductors are employed full time. Two of the more prominent ones include Khor Seng Chew of the Dama Chinese Orchestra who received his training in London and Chew Hee Chiat of the Zhuan Yi Chinese Orchestra who received his training in the USA. Much of the music played is imported from China. There are however some accomplished Malaysian composers for this medium such as Saw Boon Kiat and Chew Hee Chiat. Further information on
Chinese Orchestra (External Sites)
Musical Instrument
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