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A
fish-shaped tapping
bell at Phung Hung
Templenbsp;(Ba Vi-Ha
Tay)
The 5-tapping bell set
of artisan Ta Tham.
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The tapping bell represents a musical
instrument of idiophone, belonging in the tapping category. All Vietnamese
are believed to know of the tapping bells. The bell comes in a variety of
forms and shapes, long, round, oval... Some look like a fish (from the
popular saying 'the fish beholding the moon'), others like a toad, big or
small (from the folk tale 'the toad filing a suit against heaven'). Some
are as big as a ball, others as small as an egg. Some are made from
buffalo-horn, others of the nod of an old bamboo. In spite of its form a
tapping bell always has a good resonance box, empty enough to produce
necessary timbre and sonority.
Over time, the tapping bell has
entered into people's everyday life, as an instrument used by a village
herald, a Buddhist bonze, a musician, etc. As a result, it has been
perfected, with diversified forms and shapes, and of different materials,
to have different volumes, timbres and sonorities.
The tapping bell
constitutes an indispensable musical instrument in the artistic
performance of the community. In the famous concert composition in the
Vietnamese traditional operetta theatre entitled " Dang dan thi nhip "
(tapping the rhythm), the tapping bell is the sole sound that is in a
position to conduct the entire musical band in creating melody. On the
stage of the classical drama or the reformed theatre, the "song loan" (a
type of tapping piece) plays all the more important role: it is always
with the most prestigious musician of the band that he may use to conduct
and bring the concert to success. Similarly, the Hue singing or "ho bai
choi" (singing of folk tales), from its tempo to its rhythm, are largely
dependent on the tapping sounds.nbsp;nbsp;
nbsp;Story: Thao
Giang -Photos: Tran
Dinh |
