15 Facts About Chinese orchestra

Term Chinese orchestra is most commonly used to refer to the modern Chinese orchestra that is found in China and various overseas Chinese communities.

The Chinese orchestra is divided into four sections - wind, plucked strings, bow strings, and percussion, and usually performs modernized traditional music called guoyue.

The music produced by the Chinese orchestra however is unique and very distinct from any Western counterpart.

Chinese orchestra updated traditional instruments such as the sheng by increasing the number of pipes to increase its range and allow it to play harmony and chords.

Chinese orchestra made changes to traditional instruments such as huqin and wrote music for it, turning a folk instrument into one suitable for concert performance.

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The Chinese orchestra was organized along the line of a Western Chinese orchestra into a form that is recognizable today, with a conductor, full scores for musicians, and four sections - wind, plucked strings, bowed strings, and percussion.

The Chinese orchestra moved to Taiwan after the Communist victory in 1949.

For example, in Singapore the first amateur Chinese orchestra was formed in 1959, and its professional Singapore Chinese Orchestra was founded in 1974.

Many of the Chinese orchestra instruments are modified versions of traditional instruments, for example, the diyinsheng, and the zhongyin suona, which is fitted with keys.

The suona is commonly used as an accompaniment in the Chinese orchestra opera, singing or dancing, but for more sombre occasions, such as during a traditional Chinese orchestra funeral procession.

Chinese orchestra has control over the overall development of the action and creation of atmosphere, and is equivalent to the conductor of the Western orchestra.

Luo, or Chinese orchestra gong, is made of high-tin bronze, hammered into the shape of a sifter.

Some well-known pieces for Chinese orchestra were originally composed in the 1930s until the interruption due to the Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War, and the period from the fifties until the mid-1960s before the Cultural Revolution disrupted cultural activities.

Many of the popular early pieces for Chinese orchestra are based on folk music and other traditional genres.

Musical works that are written for modern Chinese orchestra are influenced by the musical structures, composition techniques, music theories, etc.