笛子

The instrument

What sets the dizi apart from most simple flutes is that extra hole, the mo kong, set between the mouth hole and the finger holes. It is covered with dimo, an almost tissue-thin shaving from the inner skin of a reed, glued taut over the hole with fine wrinkles pressed into its centre. When the flute sounds, the dimo vibrates and makes the tone brighter and louder, with a buzzing, nasal edge. The range is about two and a quarter octaves.

There are several sizes. The short bangdi sits in the range of the Western piccolo. The qudi is pitched a fourth or fifth lower, with a mellower tone. Professional players often keep a set of seven dizi in different keys. On traditional dizi the finger holes are spaced roughly evenly, which gives a scale with some three-quarter-tone steps; in the mid-twentieth century makers moved the holes for equal temperament, though traditional instruments are still used for purposes such as accompanying kunqu opera.

How to listen

Conservatory playing recognises two broad schools. In the north, the bangdi accompanies kunqu and bangzi opera and local genres, and its music is fast and virtuosic, full of slides, tremolo, flutter-tonguing and rapid tonguing. In the south, the qudi leads the kunqu ensemble and plays in silk-and-bamboo music; there the pace is usually slower and the ornaments are short turns, trills and grace notes. Players also use circular breathing, harmonics and quick "flying finger" trills, and some imitate birdsong.

A short history

Flutes have a very long history in China. Bone flutes from the Neolithic site of Jiahu in Henan, dated to roughly 7000 to 5000 BC, may be among the earliest playable instruments ever found, though they lack the dizi's membrane hole. The dizi in something like its present form dates roughly to the fifth century BC, and bamboo examples survive from the second century BC.

In the twentieth century the instrument was reworked for concert use. In the 1920s Zheng Jinwen joined two shorter pieces of bamboo with a copper joint so the pitch could be adjusted to play with other instruments. Folk players became conservatory soloists: Feng Zicun of Hebei came to stand for the lively northern style, and Lu Chunling, a Shanghai trishaw driver and amateur silk-and-bamboo player before 1949, for the Jiangnan tradition.

Start with

Both recordings on this page were made in Sha Tin Central Park, Hong Kong, in 2007. Hear the dizi alongside the erhu in a dizi and erhu duet, then on its own in a dizi improvisation. More amateur and concert music is on the guoyue page.

Questions

What is a dizi?

The dizi is a Chinese transverse flute, usually made of bamboo. Besides the mouth hole and six finger holes it has a hole covered by a thin reed membrane, the dimo, which gives it a bright, buzzing tone.

What is the dimo on a dizi?

The dimo is a very thin shaving from the inner skin of a reed, glued with fine wrinkles over a hole between the mouth hole and the finger holes. Its vibration makes the dizi louder and brighter and adds a nasal buzz.

What is the difference between the bangdi and the qudi?

The bangdi is shorter and higher, with a bright tone, and is associated with northern Chinese music and opera. The qudi is longer and a fourth or fifth lower, with a mellower tone, and leads the ensemble in kunqu and southern styles.