Hi Guys,
Not sure if this subject has been discussed before. Done a search with no success.
Anyway, I have just returned from a business trip to China with a couple of new toys, namely two Chinese flutes. The flutes are named Di-Zi, and called phonetically “Dee.” To cut a long story short, I played many diffent keys and types before purchase and left my choice to a combination of my ear and the reccomendation of two friends.
One of the flutes cost me 13 Yuan, which is just over 1 U.K. pound !!! The other cost 180 Yuan, (15 U.K. pounds) I believe the cheaper one has a sweeter sound. My only regret now is that I didn’t buy a complete set of 7 which was only 90 Yuan. (duahhhhhh !!)
I was pressed into a few tunes when I returned after lunch to the Lab, with a flute under my arm. I played Morrison’s Jig, Liverpool Hornpipe and Londonderry air, the tunes picked as much for me to test the characteristics of the flute as to please the listening Chinese audience.
I believe the flutes are tuned at “A” even though they have “D” stamped on them.
In addition, while visiting the Terra-Cotta soldiers in the city of Xi’an I came across Jade flutes in a market. I played a few of the jade flutes and found them all to be badly out of tune. Only good for ornaments !!!
Does anyone have any playing experience of the Chinese “Dee” and what do you think.
Hi Rab,sounds like you had a good time in China. I bought a DI-ZI about 25 years ago,from a great little shop in London,called Raymond Mann’s.the shop specialised in chinese instruments of all kinds, and it was fascinating to visit(i don’t know if it’s still open-it was on Shaftsbury avenue).The unusual thing about the Di-Zi is the vibrating membrane between the emb. hole and finger holes which gives a ‘buzzing’ sound to the tone.Also,on mine,all of the holes are of the same size and oval shaped,rether than round.I,ve just got it out of the loft after reading your post,so i think i’ll have a bit play now!
Hi Kevin,
I found that by putting a different material over the vibrating hole, it does not vibrate and sounds very much normal. The fist couple I tried with the vibrating material and did not like the sound. It was only when I got a mate to hold his finger over the hole that I reliased it was indeed how you covered the hole that produced the vibration. You are correct about the size and shape of the finger holes.
I had a good play with both this morning and think that they are o.k. I have covered the vibrating holes with standard sticky paper (Price tags).
Hi Rab
You may not know the key config of Chinese Flute (It should not be defined as toy, it has a long history),
A “G key” dizi means that when open the first three holes(right hand), it will give a pitch of G, and so on.
Thanks Kwanchan for the info. on the Chinese method of naming key notes.My di-zi now has a bit of sticky tape over the hole,but originally had the inner membrane from bamboo stretched over it to create quite a’ different’ sound- now it sounds like any old bamboo flute,- never tried an Olwell(!)
Hey Guys, I live in China and the word “dizi” just means flute in Chinese. I have tried dozens and dozens of them over the years, and to me they mostly suck. Not only variable in tune, but the buzz hole is not quite my sound. I can sell a bunch to any of you for a handsome personal profit, but they are just fun to buy (cause they’re cheap!), but not the kind of instrument that will satisfy most players of good flutes and whistles.
What the hell, they’re fun. And they’re completely different from our wooden flutes.
Actually, Chinese music with the dizi is a mostly dead and static history. I have a project around the corner to take Chinese classical music and innovate on modern, more interesting instruments. Don’t let the mystery of China or the allure of its pretty much non-existent “living” folk culture grab you. There’s not much there. Only regurgitated pop music sung in karaoke halls with sexy girls hanging out on your arm.
Thanks for the reply Greg.
I think I was quickly arriving at your assessment of the quality and was probably a little fortunate with my first pick. However, I did try lots of others and noticed the variation. I have been playing quite often the past couple of days - as with any new toy - and they sure do require a lot of air !!
I think you don’t know much about Chinese music. The dizi concerto of Chinese music is great. If you just use dizi to play Irish or something like that, you will of course find it too bad.
Moreover, the quality control of dizi in China is poor. To ensure quality, please buy the one costs at least USD30, and with box.
Some poor guys just use the bamboo handle of sweepers to make dizi and sell, how you can expect the quality?
I’d be happy to sell you a boxed dizi for USD30. Best quality.
Chinese flute concerto music is not alive, and the only people who would go to that concert are a) ancient, or b)parents of the players, or c) us foreigners looking for chinese culture. There is some good living music out of Taiwan, but not the mainland. But there are some very good flute players though, but not many good young people coming up out of the conservatories of music–but conservatories are not where the true Chinese folk culture develops. It is a pity.
Please understand that many of us use ‘toy’ in the sense of ‘something enjoyable but not really necessary’… ie, when I spent US$1700 on my laptop - which actually serves a number of useful purposes at work and home, not just browsing and gaming - I still called it my ‘new toy’; all of my flutes and whistles are ‘toys’ in this sense… even if/when I get an irish flute from a top maker, it’s still going to be a ‘toy’ (or maybe a ‘pretty’, in much the same sense ) I think it’s important to understand that the term is used with the idea of not taking oneself too seriously, regardless of the qualities inherent in the object being purchased.
(Possibly, to indulge in a bit more speculative armchair social-psychology, this is done to differentiate the buyer from the kind of person who takes his purchases -very- seriously and attempts to use ownership as a social lever, as if owning something was somehow of intrinsic worth to anybody other than the owner. Or maybe it’s just a defense mechanism to try to resist the urge to collect beyond one’s budget!)
I refuse, however, to comment directly on the growing debate on dizi music in China, being neither familiar with the land or the music, but I will note that China is a -huge- landmass of many provinces, where it is possible that social behaviour and musical tastes are very different in different areas. I’m not saying it is… just that it could be something to think about.
Hi all,i don’t know much about Chinese musical traditions,but i remember an album by the Gua brothers(sp?) being released on the Realworld label about 10 years ago.One of the bros. played di-zi,and i think the other played the ‘sheng’(chinese ‘mouth organ’).I got my di-zi after seeing an exciting English jazz/rock/whatever musician called Bob Downes who plays all sorts of flutes and various saxes.I haven’t heard anything about this guy for a log time-last i heard,he was living in Germany(anyone know anything about him?).
I know the future of Irish music was pretty bleak once, too. Let’s hope this tradition finds its feet again (I believe Kevin’s WorldTrad.org is linked to this site).
) I think it’s important to understand that the term is used with the idea of not taking oneself too seriously, regardless of the qualities inherent in the object being purchased.