江南丝竹 (Jiāngnán sīzhú) - silk and bamboo
Our ensemble perform many pieces written in the Jiāngnán sīzhú style, including some of the Eight Great Pieces, listed below.
Sīzhú (‘Silk and Bamboo’) refers to a traditional Chinese ensemble made up of string and wind instruments, with Jiāngnán sīzhú referring to the music tradition of the region known as Jiāngnán — the area along the south bank of the lower Yangzi River that includes parts of the provinces of Zhèjiāng, Jiāngsū and Ānhuī.
Jiāngnán sīzhú pieces feature rolling melodies, with each section of instruments taking turns as the lead and adding their individual flavour to the tune, while being supported by the rest of the ensemble.
Ensembles playing in this style tend to be reasonably small, and flexible in terms of instrumentation. This style of music lends itself to an ensemble such as ours, which relies heavily on student and local community participation, and in which instrumentation may change year-to-year.
Above you can watch our ensemble performing 云庆 (Yún Qìng) in the recording studio of the ANU School of Music.
The core repertoire for Jiāngnán sīzhú are the Eight Great Pieces (Bādà qū, 八大曲), also known as the Eight Great Famous Pieces (Bādà míngqǔ, 八大名曲). These were formulated from older melodies, and are:
Hua San Liu 花三六 (Huā Sān Liù, "Ornamented 'Three Six'")
Huan Le Ge 欢乐歌 (Huān Lè Gē, "Song of Joy")
Man Liu Ban 慢六板 (Màn Liù Bǎn, "Slow 'Six Beats'")
San Liu 三六 (Sān Liù, "Three Six")
Si He Ru Yi 四合如意 (Sì Hé Rú Yì, "Four Together as You Wish")
Xing Jie 行街 (Xíng Jiē, "Walking in the Street", "Wedding Procession," or "Street Procession")
Yun Qing 云庆 (Yún Qìng; "Cloud Celebration")
Zhong Hua Liu Ban 中花六板 (Zhōng Huā Liù Bǎn, "Moderately Ornamented 'Six Beats'"; also called 薰风曲 Xūn Fēng Qǔ, "Warm Breeze Tune") (Witzleben p. 61)
performance examples
云庆 (Yún Qìng)
三六 (Sān Liù)
欢乐歌 (Huān Lè Gē)