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The Chinese talent for musical organization was by no means limited to pitches. Another important ancient system called the eight sounds (pa yin) was used to classify the many kinds of instruments used in Imperial orchestras. This system was based upon the material used in the construction of the instruments, the eight being stone, earth (pottery), bamboo, metal, skin, silk, wood, and...
...Chinese chamber music ensembles made up of stringed and wind instruments. Silk (strings) and bamboo (winds) were two of the materials of the bayin (“eight sounds”) classification system established during the Xi (Western) Zhou dynasty (1046–771 bc); the others were metal, stone, earth, skin, wood, and gourd.
The xun usually functioned as a member of the ritual orchestra; it represented the earth group in the bayin (“eight sounds”) classification. The instrument had fallen into disuse by the beginning of the 20th century but was revived in the last decades of the century. Modern ...
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