Research on History of Chinese
Cymbal and Its Forms
Shih, Te-hwa
Abstract
As China is a gigantic country rich in history, tradition and culture, the percussion instruments have been found in its people’s daily life from ancient until present times. Therefore, their types are various and extremely diffe rent. Among the percussion instruments, the most common category of Chinese percussion instrument includes the types of cymbal, which are divided in three forms categories: Nao, Ba and Cha. Chinese music featured a great abundance of these percussion instruments. This means cymbal occupies an important place in the Chinese percussion instruments.
This old music instrument is now well known worldwide. According to the historical data, this instrument made its early appearance about four thousand years ago in the West of Asia, spreading from the East to India, Central Asia and China. This article considers the history of the Chinese cymbal and its forms as the leading object of study. The content of historical part includes an explication of the historical tracing and development. The part relating to instrument shapes includes the shapes of Luo instruments and the manufacture. We hope this study will provide a more related research material and making further contribution s in the field of education and academic circles.
Keywords: Nao, Ba, Cha
