ABSTRACT
Fifteenth or sixteenth-century paintings of musician/arhats playing wind instruments at Foguang si demonstrate that instrumentation of the shengguan ensemble has remained essentially unchanged since the practice's inception. The wind instruments of the shengguan ensemble have long histories in Chinese society. The sheng mouth organs used in Wutaishan's monasteries have 17 bamboo pipes, but the monks alter the instrument so that only nine pipes sound. The guanzi double-reed pipe is much simpler in construction than the sheng, but much more difficult to play. This instrument consists of a wooden pipe about seven and a half inches long with a diameter that tapers from five-eighths of an inch at mouthpiece end to half an inch at far end. Among shengguan ensembles throughout North China, a guanzi master usually leads group. At Wutaishan, however, shengguan ensembles in Chinese monasteries follow lead of one sheng player, who is responsible for choosing which piece to play when the repertoire is not dictated by ritual.
