Saturday, September 6, 2008

Mangtong

The ''mangtong'' is a end-blown . It is used primarily by the and ethnic groups of the southern Chinese provinces of Guizhou and Guangxi, although it is sometimes used in contemporary Chinese compositions for traditional instrument orchestra.

The instrument consists of a bamboo free reed pipe without finger holes, which is fitted with a metal free reed; the instrument's playing pipe is placed inside a bamboo resonator of larger diameter. The ''mangtong'' is made in several different sizes, with the largest up to two meters in length. As the ''mangtong'' produces only a single pitch, several ''mangtong'' are normally played together in hocket. ''Mangtong'' are often played together with an ensemble of free reed mouth organs called ''lusheng'', serving as the instruments of that ensemble.

A modernized version of the ''mangtong'', called ''gǎigé mángtǒng'' , was developed in the 20th century.

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