Sheng

Sheng, mouth blown free reed instrument. The reed chamber is has a mouthpipe extending from the side. Its end face is tear-drop shaped and is angled slightly downwards, with a round mouth hole. Seventeen bamboo pipes, four of them silent, are arranged in an incomplete circle. The pipes have been shaped at the sides to accommodate each other. The upper rims of the two longest pipes are surmounted by ivory ferrules. A prominent node is visible on each bamboo pipe, and these are aligned to form a ring around the instrument. The pipes are secured by a lateral strip of bamboo above the nodes. Counting clockwise from the gap, pipes 3, 4, 9, 10, 16 and 17 have no fingerhole on the outside of the ring. Pipes 3 and 4 have a fingerhole in the corresponding position on the inside, for the right forefinger. Each of the others has a small fingerhole between the node and the top of the reed chamber. Pipes 3,4,5,6, 11,12,13,14 and 15 have a vent hole on the inside defining their sounding lengths. All the pipes are mounted on wooden cones which are cut in half around a third of the way down their length, and are slotted into holes in the reed chamber. Inside the reed chamber, a metal free reed is attached with wax at the base of each speaking pipe.