Dongxiao Flute Music
01 · Historical Records
The vertical flute had long been played in the Guanzhong area. During the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty, the Gaoling artisans Hu Xuezhong and Hu Daoman, father and son, opened a new path from the folk wind-instrument tradition by fusing the colour-aria of Qinqiang opera with the breath control of the xiao, and so a school of playing was formed. The descendants of the Hu family afterwards used the family line of transmission as a link to teach pupils continuously around Gengzhen Village in Gaoling, so that this technique has been carried on for more than a hundred years in the villages south of the Wei River.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Gaoling xiao art is a xiao playing technique originally created during the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty by two generations of artisans, Hu Xuezhong and Hu Daoman, through continual innovation on the foundation of the folk traditional wind-instrument playing technique, drawing on the finest elements of related arts such as Qinqiang opera, quzi and Guanzhong daoqing. The birthplace of the Gaoling xiao technique is Gengzhen Village, south of the Wei River in Gaoling County, which lies in the heart of the Guanzhong area. Gaoling xiao art takes “double-tone substitution singing, throat tone, palate tone, vibrato, glissando and tap” as its principal playing techniques. The “double-tone substitution singing” blowing method ingeniously fuses the sung colour-aria of the Qinqiang vocal style with the breath-and-fingering technique of xiao playing and then injects it into the xiao tube, so that the low sound of the xiao suddenly swells, sounding as full and resonant as a suona; it produces the rare effect of several xiao playing in ensemble and is as bold and rough as the sound of the bangdi flute and the banhu fiddle, with a strong penetrating power that shakes the listener. “Throat tone” means that the throat sounds at the same time as the xiao is being blown, “roaring” out a melody that forms a harmony with the xiao, giving the impression of singing and playing at once and sounding exceptionally full and powerful. Hu Daoman transformed xiao art from the traditional low, desolate and drawn-out manner into a loud, bright and joyful style of playing; his xiao tone is supple and extended, mellow and powerful, rounded and clear, beautiful and moving.
Confucius Mourns Yan Hui
A Gaoling xiao piece played by Hu Yonghan in collaboration with Hu Tianmin, whose recording was permanently acquired by the Audio-Visual Archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 2009.
Da Jin Qian Tao Liu Sheng Ya
A Gaoling xiao piece played by Hu Yonghan in collaboration with Hu Tianmin, whose recording was permanently acquired by the Audio-Visual Archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 2009.
Double-tone substitution singing
The blowing method ingeniously fuses the sung colour-aria of the Qinqiang vocal style with the breath-and-fingering technique of xiao playing and then injects it into the xiao tube, so that the low sound of the xiao suddenly swells, sounding as full and resonant as a suona; it produces the rare effect of several xiao playing in ensemble and is as bold and rough as the sound of the bangdi flute and the banhu fiddle, with a strong penetrating power that shakes the listener.
Throat tone
While the xiao is being blown the throat sounds at the same time, “roaring” out a melody that forms a harmony with the xiao, giving the impression of singing and playing at once and sounding exceptionally full and powerful.
Palate tone, vibrato, glissando and tap
Gaoling xiao art takes “double-tone substitution singing, throat tone, palate tone, vibrato, glissando and tap” as its principal playing techniques.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Gaoling xiao technique originated in Gengzhen Village, south of the Wei River in Gaoling County in the heart of the Guanzhong area, and was created by two generations of artisans, Hu Xuezhong and Hu Daoman, on the foundation of the folk traditional wind-instrument playing technique, drawing on the finest elements of related arts such as Qinqiang opera, quzi and Guanzhong daoqing. Hu Daoman transformed xiao art from the traditional low, desolate and drawn-out manner into a loud, bright and joyful style of playing; his xiao tone is supple and extended, mellow and powerful, rounded and clear, beautiful and moving. On this foundation the line of Hu Yonghan fully inherited exclusive techniques such as double-tone substitution singing, throat tone and palate tone.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Korean Dongxiao Flute Music · Korean Dongxiao Flute Music.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Hu Yonghan (official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in November 1943, a native of Gaoling County, Shaanxi Province. He received strict training from his uncle in circular breathing and breath control. In 1978 his uncle died of illness; in losing his good teacher, he felt the pressure and the responsibility of inheriting and carrying on xiao art, and after painstaking study he finally became skilled in exclusive xiao playing techniques such as double-tone substitution singing, throat tone and palate tone. In 2009 the Audio-Visual Archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences permanently acquired recordings of “Confucius Mourns Yan Hui”, “Da Jin Qian Tao Liu Sheng Ya” and other pieces played by him in collaboration with Hu Tianmin. Representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch intangible cultural heritage project Dongxiao Yinyue (Gaoling xiao).
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Hu Yonghan 05-2143
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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