Sheng
A Chinese mouth organ with several bamboo or metal pipes and metal reeds.
What it means
The sheng is a Chinese mouth organ, that is, an instrument in which several pipes open into a common wind chamber that the player blows into. Each pipe carries a free metal reed and has a finger hole that must be covered for it to sound.
It is among the oldest instruments of Chinese music and an ancestor of the European harmonica and related free-reed instruments.
Musical use
The sheng can sound several notes at once, making it suited both to melody and to chordal accompaniment. Since it sounds on both exhaling and inhaling, long, uninterrupted tones are possible.
In traditional Chinese music it is used solo, in ensembles, and in orchestras; modern Chinese orchestras also include instruments with keys and a wider range.
The sheng should be distinguished from the organ, which likewise uses pipes and wind but operates with bellows and keyboard, and from the accordion and the harmonica, which also use metal reeds but are built differently.
Performance practice
First practice steady inhaling and exhaling so the sound doesn't break off when the breath direction changes. Make sure the pipes you are not playing stay reliably uncovered, so no unwanted notes sound along.