On The Similarities, Differences And Practice Applications Of Performing Skills Between Bamboo Flute And Modern Flute

Chinese Bamboo flute has more and more influence on the world wide artistic stage and people around the world are curious and expectant about this special and original musical instrument. The Bamboo flute also has been in the process of turning itself from the traditional style to the modern style by keeping the positive attributes while removing the negative ones. The style of its compositions, the method of practice, the way of playing it and the form of performing are more and more similar to those of Modern flute. The way of studying the traditional musical instruments of one culture without learning those of the other cultures’ is not able to meet the demands of modern people’s curiosity. Comparing the artistic expressive force between Bamboo flute and Modern flute is the study trend of the professional flute field. Since the skills and their applications are the most direct ways to show the beauty of flute, the writer chooses those two aspects as the entry point of making the comparison between Bamboo flute and Modern flute, trying to figure out the similarities and the differences of those two instruments.The writer studies the playing skills of both two instruments, listing almost every basic playing skill of them, and then makes the comparison of the involved skills as well as the ways of perform them between those two instruments. The writer verifies the applications of the involved skills in the compositions and has eventually made a conclusion that both Bamboo flute and Modern flute are wind instruments with opening pipes and aerophones, which makes their playing skills very similar. The difference is that it is more convenient and more various for Bamboo flute when it comes to the application of the finger-skills since the players make contact with Bamboo flute directly by theirs fingers while they make contact with Modern flute by the buttons. Meanwhile, it is more convenient of Modern flute players to play both the Modulation-Scale and the Altered-Scale with its scientific system of buttons. The writer also discovers that the comprehensive and scientific educational system forming in the process of the reform and the development of Modern flute could be used as a reference to improve the playing skills of Bamboo flute, which is worth learning and studying more about.The writer compares the playing skills between Bamboo flute and Modern flute in a theoretical and academic way, helping the amateurs as well as the professionalsto have a basic understanding about those two instruments, in order to encourage them to be more hard-working and interested when learning the flute art. The writer also hopes that this thesis could help the composers to learn the features of the musical languages of the two instruments so that they could compose the music that are more suitable for the instruments. Using the scientific western training skills as a reference helps improve the development of Bamboo flute by keeping the positive attributes while removing the negative ones. Discovering the similarities along with the differences of Bamboo flute and Modern flute has enhanced communication between the two instruments that share the same root on a certain level. Meanwhile, hopefully the comparison and the communication of the two instruments could enhance the communication of two different cultures and could make the special, national and original Chinese Bamboo flute and the traditional Bamboo flute culture more and more familiar and popular with larger groups of people all around the world.