Lusheng

The lusheng is a member of the free reeds and interruptive aerophones (Hornbostel–Sachs 412.132). Learn how it makes its sound and explore related instruments.

How the lusheng makes its sound

In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the lusheng belongs to the free reeds and interruptive aerophones: air is periodically interrupted by a vibrating reed or blade – the accordion, harmonica, sheng and bullroarer.

More broadly it is one of the aerophones (wind instruments), where sound comes from vibrating air.

Press play above and watch the spectrum: the evenly spaced peaks are harmonics, and their relative strength is what gives the instrument its character.

From Wikipedia

The lusheng is a Hmong musical instrument. It has a long history of 3000 years in China, traced back to the Tang Dynasty. It is a mouth organ with multiple bamboo pipes, each fitted with a free reed, which are fitted into a long blowing tube made of hardwood. It most often has five or six pipes of different pitches and is thus a polyphonic instrument. Its construction includes six parts (mouthpiece, air feed pipe, sheng dou (笙斗; "body"), sheng guan (笙管; "pipes"), reed, and resonator tube). It comes in sizes ranging from very small to several meters in length.