Listen to the guan
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
How the guan makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the guan belongs to the double-reed instruments: two reeds beat against each other – oboes, bassoons, shawms and the duduk.
More broadly it is one of the aerophones (wind instruments), where sound comes from vibrating air.
Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.
From Wikipedia
The guan (Chinese: 管; pinyin: guǎn; lit. 'pipe', 'tube') is a Chinese double reed wind instrument. The northern Chinese version is called guanzi 管子 or bili (simplified Chinese: 筚篥; traditional Chinese: 篳篥) and the Cantonese version is called houguan (喉管). It is classified as a bamboo instrument in the Ba Yin (ancient Chinese instrument classification) system. Unlike other instruments in the double-reed family of woodwinds which mostly have conical bores, such as the Chinese suona or the Western oboe, the guan has a cylindrical bore, giving its distinctive mellow, yet piercing buzz-like timbre.
Other double-reed instruments
Frequently asked questions
What does a guan sound like?
Listen to 5 recordings on this page. As one of the double-reed instruments, its sound comes from the way two reeds beat against each other.
What type of instrument is the guan?
It is classified as double-reed instruments (Hornbostel–Sachs 422.111).
Sources & credits
- Penelope albipennis - White winged Guan 2 by Igor Lazo – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Penelope albipennis - White winged Guan by Igor Lazo – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Penelope barbata - Bearded Guan by Igor Lazo – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wing rattle · Pichincha: Tandayapa ridge 3 km SSW Tandayapa, Ecuador by Niels Krabbe – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Azuay: upper Yunguilla Valley, Ecuador by Niels Krabbe – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q675382 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Guan (instrument) – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image – CC BY-SA 3.0