Вьетнамская цитра Đàn Tranh: История и особенности

Vietnamese string instrument

The đàn tranh (, ) or đàn thập lục is a plucked zither of Vietnam, based on the Chinese guzheng, from which are also derived the Japanese koto, the Korean gayageum and ajaeng, the Mongolian yatga, the Sundanese kacapi and the Kazakh jetigen. It has a long soundbox with the steel strings, movable bridges and tuning pegs positioned on its top. The đàn tranh can be used either as a solo instrument, as part of various instrumental ensembles or to accompany vocal performances.

The Vietnamese 's đàn tranh came from the Chinese Chaozhou zheng. In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the đàn tranh had 14 strings. Between the late 15th and the 18th centuries, the number of strings of the đàn tranh increased to fifteen and the instrument was called thập ngũ huyền cầm.

The body of the đàn tranh is between 104 and 120 cm in length. The soundbox consists of a curved top plate, a flat bottom plate, and six side pieces. The top and bottom plates are usually made of Paulownia wood. began to design and construct instruments with 17, 19 and 21 strings. By the late 1980s, the 17 stringed đàn tranh has become the standard version of the instrument used throughout Vietnam. Larger instruments with 22, 24 and 25 strings have also been made in the 1980s and 1990s.

Performers pluck the strings with the right hand and bend the strings with the left hand to create a wide range of microtonal and tonal ornaments. In traditional music, performers use 2 or 3 fingers (thumb and index, or thumb, index and middle fingers) to pluck the strings. In a number of new compositions, as many as four or five fingers may be used to pluck the strings. In these new works, the left hand may also be used to enable the performer to play two simultaneous parts. Sometimes, đàn tranh will play with bow, the player traditionally bowing the strings to the right of the bridges while the left hand varied pitch and vibrato by pressing the strings on the other side of the bridges.