Playing
Due to its advanced overblowing technique the northern guanzi's range is about two and one-half octaves, while the Cantonese houguan (like the bamboo guan used in ancient China) does not overblow, giving it a range of just over one octave. The keyed "jiajian guan" with the addition of clarinet-like register and extension keys have nearly a 4 octave range, although the upper range is not commonly used. The guan has been used in a variety of musical contexts over the centuries, often as a solo instrument used to evoke a mood of sadness. This is largely due to the instrument's playing technique, which involves the use of expressive vibratos and wide pitch bends.
The guan is quite difficult to play, largely due to the difficulty of controlling the embouchure; a Chinese saying states that "the sheng (mouth organ) takes 100 days to learn, but the guan takes 1,000 days to learn."
Read more about this topic: Guan (instrument)
Famous quotes containing the word playing:
“We cannot set aside an hour for discussion with our children and hope that it will be a time of deep encounter. The special moments of intimacy are more likely to happen while baking a cake together, or playing hide and seek, or just sitting in the waiting room of the orthodontist.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“The greatest events occur without intention playing any part in them; chance makes good mistakes and undoes the most carefully planned undertaking. The world’s greatest events are not produced, they happen.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“Reason is a faculty far larger than mere objective force. When either the political or the scientific discourse announces itself as the voice of reason, it is playing God, and should be spanked and stood in the corner.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)