Asian mouth organs
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NB: The mutual proportions of the illustrations reproduced here, bear no relation whatsoever to the actual difference in size of the depicted instruments...
There are 4 main types, all of which consist of a so-called wind chest and several pipes with free vibrating reeds, but only 3 types are traditional:
- With a gourd as wind chest, and pipes made of bamboo. The natural "handle" of the gourd serves as a mouthpiece.
- With a rectangular or tubular wooden wind chest, with 2 rows of bamboo pipes (2 types). The Khên (ແຄນ) shown in the third picture is originally a Laotian instrument, but it can also be found in neighbouring countries, which have their "local" instruments (of type 1), as well.
- With a wind chest having the shape of a cup (or bowl). This classical development of type 1 is at home in China (where it is called Shēng (笙 [IPA: ʂəŋ])), Japan (In Japanese its name is Shō, which is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese (kanji) character), and in Korea (where it is called Saenghwang (생황 [IPA: sʰɛŋβwa̠ŋ]. NB: Its Chinese (hanja) spelling, which is quite commonly used in Korea, is 笙簧 (Pīnyīn transcription: shēnghuáng). NB: huáng translates as "reed").
In all types with bamboo pipes, each of those is closed at the top with a natural node, and it has an open fingerhole (or thumbhole), which is closed to activate its reed and, accordingly, produces the required tone. In a few cases the lower (open) end of a pipe can be stopped with the right thumb, thus producing a different tone.
- Chinese reformed types are fully chromatic, and have up to even 37 pipes, placed in a rectangular wind chest that is provided with a keyboard. Their shape reminds us of Mediaeval and Renaissance portable organs (Portative; ➺ ill. 6).