SHENG

Pinyin Sheng, a Chinese aerophone (musical wind instrument) consisting usually of 17 bamboo pipes set in a small wind-chest into which one blows through a mouthpiece. Each pipe has a free reed, made of metal, that vibrates to produce sound when a hole is closed on the pipe by a finger. The acoustical length of each pipe is set by a slot in the back of it, but the circular set of the pipes appears in five different lengths, arranged in two triangular shapes to symbolize the folded wings of a phoenix bird. Today some pipes have no reeds but are maintained for design purposes, although originally they may have produced other pitches in the Chinese tone system. The Japanese sho variation of the instrument has the same characteristics, although it is played differently. The Chinese instrument plays melodies with occasional fourth or fifth harmonies (e.g., F or G above C), whereas the Japanese sho normally plays 11-note chords, a tradition that may have emerged from a misinterpretation of ancient court notations. Similar instruments are found all over Southeast Asia in forms often called the khen, or khaen. A sheng taken to Russia in the 1770s was one factor stimulating the invention of European instruments using free reedsincluding the accordion, concertina, harmonium, and harmonica.