Yu (percussion instrument)

The yu (Chinese: 敔; pinyin: yǔ) was a wooden percussion instrument carved in the shape of a tiger[1] with a serrated back comprising 27 "teeth", used since ancient times in China for Confucian court ritual music. It was played by striking its head three times with a bamboo whisk made from approximately 15 stalks of bamboo, and then scraping it across the serrated back once to mark the end of a piece of music or Confucian service.

For the ancient Chinese mouth organ, see Yu (wind instrument).
Yu (Chinese: 敔),
a collection of Taiwan Confucian Temple

The yu is mentioned along with another percussion instrument called zhu (柷) in pre-Qin Dynasty annals; it also appears in the Classic of History.

As used in Korean ceremonial music, this instrument is called eo (hangul: 어; hanja: 敔), and as formerly used in Vietnamese ceremonial music, it was called ngữ (Hán tự: 敔).

The yu was also used in Shao music.

See also

References
  1. Diagram Group. (1976). Musical instruments of the world. Published for Unicef by Facts On File. p. 131. ISBN 0871963205. OCLC 223164947.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.