Wuhan Music

Wuhan had many opportunities for us to listen to traditional music. We heard music in the Daoist Temple mentioned in a previous post -- and we saw and heard two performances of traditional instruments from the Chu period/people, once at the Hubei Provincial Museum near East Lake park and at the 7 cranes park.

This image of the two headed Chu Phoenix sitting on tiger feet with a drum is repeated throughout the museum and the parks in Wuhan. This piece is in the 7 cranes park

And this one is in the Hubei Museum

The pictures were nice but the real drums were better.

We saw a performance at the museum that startled eyes and ears. Drums and bells, pipes, flutes and something that looked like an oboe.

This man played the big drum

And an oboe/bassoon kind of thing

And a tiny ancient pipe like an ocarina

He played a solo and a duet with the young lady in the next picture

This is the 'ancient instrument' kind of a zither-like instrument - very beautiful sound

Two other ladies played bamboo pipes

The hairstyles and costumes were also impressive

These are brass bells - they played several beautiful Chinese pieces and then "The Bells of St. Clemens" as a finale.

The bell players always seemed to be hiding behind the bells.

These are STONE bells. Several examples were in the Museum from ancient tombs around the state.
This example is really really old

The stone bells have a clear high sound

The bronze bells sound like church bells

This is a different ancient instrument (I think)




I love the designs on this instrument.

Keep the comments coming!