Chinese Orchestra Instruments
Hi there!
As a soprano suona player, I would like to point out an issue about the shawm instruments and a suggestion to MuseScore company.
The word "shawm" is generally confused with the another instrument "suona". According to Grinnell College Musical Instruments Collection, there is an instrument called "suona", which is a renowed Chinese instrument, which also has the name "shawm". However, there is also an European instrument called "shawm" as well. Despite the fact that they are in the same woodwind family tree and they almost look the same, they actually sound differently. Hence. I would like to ask whether the shawm instrument in MuseScore refers to suona, the Chinese traditional instrument or refers to the European instrument?
I would also like to suggest Musecore to add Chinese traditional instruments. It is because there is NO apps that can produce music notation for Chinese traditional instruments. Adding them will attract more customers to use MuseScore as the main music notation editing application.
Thank you very much and I hope that those mentioned above can be fixed and improved in future updates.
Sincerely,
The soprano suona player.
Comments
Interestingly enough, my experience has been different. I spent some time playing Renaissance music on reproduction instruments in The US. A Shawm was definitely the European instrument with a pirouette over the reed. My guess is that this is the MuseScore instrument. My guess is that The sound used is actually an oboe or English horn.
In reply to Interestingly enough, my… by bobjp
Hmm... I am learning suona for quite a while now, if that case, maybe the shawm in MuseScore is actually refering to the European instrument. However, suona is actually a direct descendant of shawm due to the Silk Road.
In reply to Hmm... I am learning suona… by xuehaiwuya122
sorry my mistake, suona is not a descendant of shawm, they are just related
I second your request for Chinese traditional instruments. I LOVE the colors and timbres of China's musical palette, and it'd be really cool to access some of those flavors in MS.
I wrote a piece back in 2018 but haven't uploaded it yet. Despite writing mostly classical/celtic music, this piece is distinctly Chinese and really wants to be played on Chinese instruments. Having listened to quite a bit of Chinese orchestral music, I am deeply impressed by their subtlety an beauty. I agree with everyone else here that Chinese traditional instruments would be a great resource to add to Musescore.