Sheng

sheng

(Chinese; “sage” or “saint”)

In Chinese belief, a mortal who attains extraordinary or supernatural powers by self-cultivation and serves as a model for others. Confucius used the term to refer to exemplary rulers of the past.

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Sheng 

a Chinese free-reed mouth organ with speaking pipes. The sheng is played not only in China but in Burma, Tibet, and Laos. It has a bowl-shaped wind-chest with holes in the bottom, a mouthpiece, and 13, 19, or 24 bamboo or reed pipes that are inserted into the wind-chest and arranged along its rim; the lower end of each pipe is fitted with a free copper reed. The player produces a sound by stopping with a finger the opening in the lower end of the appropriate pipe. The modern sheng has a tempered tuning of 12 tones of equal intervals. The instrument is used in ensembles and orchestras.

REFERENCES

Muzykal’nye instrumenty Kitaia. Moscow, 1958. (Translated from Chinese.)
Mirek, A. Spravochnik po garmonikam. Moscow 1968.

A. M. MIREK