Related

PitchTimbreTangguBangu (Peking-opera drum)YunluoTimpaniBianqing

The paigu takes the move from the previous page and does it again in a different material.

The yunluo laid gongs out as a scale; the paigu lays drums out as a scale. But there is a decisive difference between them:

⚠️ The yunluo's pitches were fixed at the workshop. The paigu's pitches can be changed on the spot. | | Yunluo | Paigu | |---|---|---| | How many instruments | ten gongs | five drums | | How many notes | ten (one per gong) | ⭐ ten (two per drum) | | Can the pitch change? | ⭐ no — like the bianqing: written into the material | ⭐⭐ yes — like the timpani: tunable by a fourth or a fifth | | How | — | turn the shell over to select the other head; turn the tuning device to move that head | One goal — giving a single instrument several pitches — reached two ways: cast in, or screwed on. That is the central point of this page.

Structure: five drums, ten notes

Three points:

1. Five drums, graded from large to small, in one row — that is what "排" (a row) means. The shells are 29–33.3 cm tall, the top heads running from 16.7 to 37 cm across. They sit on a height-adjustable stand whose top is a U-shaped cradle. 2. ⭐ One drum carries two notes. The two heads share an outer diameter but differ in inner diameter — identical from outside, different in free vibrating area, and therefore different in pitch. Five drums × two heads = ten notes. 3. ⭐⭐ The shell can be turned over — and that is an act of *selecting a note*. Lying in the U-cradle, one turn brings the other head round to the playing side. So the instrument does not merely offer ten notes; it offers ten notes you can rearrange.

Two ways to "lay instruments out as a scale"

This figure is the heart of the page.

We have been circling one idea all along: laying instruments out in a row so that one instrument owns several pitches — the bianzhong, the bianqing, the yunluo. Now it is the drums' turn.

⭐ And the paigu gives a new answer: keep the pitch adjustable.

• Each head carries a tuning device, and the range of adjustment reaches a fourth or a fifth — the player tunes it to what the piece needs.
• The shell can be turned over — when you want that head, turn it round.
• So it is not "ten notes" but "ten notes under your control": the same set can be laid out as different scales for *Festival in the Mountain Village* and for *Dragon-Boat Gongs and Drums*.

⭐⭐ Rule ⑳: the next step after "laying an instrument out as a scale" is "making the scale adjustable".

• One road looks backwards: write the pitch into the material (grind it into a chime, forge it into a gong, cast it into a bell) — unchangeable once made, and in exchange: pure colour, stable pitch.
• The other road leaves it open: keep the pitch as a knob you can turn (the timpani, the paigu) — in exchange: one set of equipment serves many pieces.

And the paigu keeps a little of both: its shells are wood and hide — no precision mechanism — yet each drum has two notes and each of those can be tuned.

An "old" instrument that was invented

The paigu has an identity no other entry here has: it was developed.

• In the early 1960s, Cai Huiquan and Yang Jingming of the Central Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra built it on the basis of the mid-sized tanggu and the waist drum, borrowing specifically from how the two are combined in Zhejiang wind-and-percussion music. It was first called the "set drum". Later improvements: a thirteen-drum version by Yu Yanhe of the Jilin Song-and-Dance Theatre with the Suzhou No. 3 instrument factory (fibreglass shells, plug-in mounting); and a one-piece stand designed by Liu Hanlin and the Jinan Guyun workshop that comes apart for transport and quick changes of venue.
• It is now a core instrument in China's professional percussion teaching.

⭐ That is worth recording in itself. On the yunluo page we met the 29/36/38-gong sets developed in 1963 — the same thread: since the 1950s and 60s, "traditional instruments" has been a category that keeps producing new members.

"Traditional" does not mean "finished in the past"; it means "still being made." (Which echoes this site's very first thread: the bayin is closed, but instrument history is open — the bayin has no slot for a paigu, and yet there it is in the orchestra.)

Timbre, and how to hear it

Four cues:

1. Fierce, leaping. It is not the tanggu's job of painting a mood — it is fast movement. 2. Firm and solid at the top, broad and resonant below. Five drums cover the whole register, so it can run a melody across a set of drums — the solo passages in *Festival in the Mountain Village*, *Gongs and Drums on the Sea* and *Dragon-Boat Gongs and Drums* show exactly that. 3. The pitch is felt, not fixed. It has a clear sense of pitch, but because it is tuned on the spot, what key it sings is decided by the player's tuning that evening. 4. Turning the shell is turning the note. A single turn brings the other head to hand — which is where it outdoes the yunluo in flexibility.

Playing techniques

• Standing up, both hands running between two or three drums. The shells lie in U-cradles and the pitches are laid out along a line, so "running" becomes physical travelling back and forth.
• Two wooden sticks. Its logic differs from the tanggu and the bangu: it wants points and runs, not a boom.
• Tuning comes first. Before playing, each head is set to the pitch the piece needs (within a fourth or a fifth). This is the step that separates it from every other percussion entry here — others are tuned instruments; this one is a tuned scale.
• It is a soloist inside the ensemble. In the Chinese orchestra it often leads a percussion passage rather than accompanying one.

The family

This table opens up three directions on the "drum" line: the tanggu (a big skin, no pitch wanted), the bangu (a tiny skin, only a point wanted), and the paigu (five drums, pitch wanted — and wanted changeable).

History

⚠️ One homonym to sort out: the "paigu" on provincial intangible-heritage lists (Caotun paigu, Qingyuan paigu, Changxin paigu) refers to local folk drumming traditions, which are not the same thing as this 1960s Chinese-orchestra instrument. (The same kind of name collision as on the naobo page.)

Common misconceptions

• "A paigu is just several drums put in a row." The row is the result, not the principle. The principle is that each drum's two heads share an outer diameter and differ in inner diameter — one drum already carries two notes, and five drums make ten.
• "You can tell a drum's pitch from its size." On a paigu the outward size is deceptive: the two heads have exactly the same outer diameter, and the difference lies in the inner diameter (the area free to vibrate). ⚠️ And the sources say only that the inner diameters differ and so do the pitches — they never say which way — so this site does not supply a direction. What can be stated is: the inner diameter sets the pitch, not the outward size.
• "Percussion comes tuned and ready." The paigu is the opposite: it must be tuned before playing (each head, by a fourth or a fifth) — other instruments are tuned; this one is a scale that gets tuned.
• "The paigu is an ancient instrument." It dates from the early 1960s, built on folk tanggu and waist drums. "Traditional instruments" is not a closed list; it keeps gaining members.
• "It is much the same as a timpani." The principle is close (both are tuned), but the timpani is single-headed and uses a pedal or screws, while the paigu is double-headed, gives two notes per drum, and can be turned over — one turns tuning into a mechanism, the other turns note-selection into a gesture.

Next

Percussion now has ten entries, and the thread of laying instruments out as a scale is complete at both ends: the yunluo (pitches fixed) and the paigu (pitches left open).

The next entry takes a completely different road. It lays out no scale and seeks no volume; it does one thing only: inside the loudest band of all, it supplies the smallest, crispest point. It is the bangzi (wooden clapper).

And it asks a question this site has not met before: what does it take for one instrument to give its name to an entire genre? :::

Sources

• ⭐ 「排鼓是鼓类乐器的新品种，出现于 20 世纪 60 年代初，由中央广播民族乐团蔡惠泉 · 杨竞明等根据民间常用的中型堂鼓和腰鼓改革制作而成，以后又不断有所改进」依通行乐器资料
• 「另有资料说明它是根据浙江吹打乐中中型堂鼓和腰鼓的组合特点、在堂鼓基础上研制而成，称作「套鼓」，也叫排鼓」依通行乐器资料
• 「排鼓由五个大小不同 · 发音有别的鼓组成一套；鼓身高 29 至 33.3 厘米，上口面直径 16.7 至 37 厘米，下口面直径 11.7 至 37 厘米」（另有资料记作「一般由四至七只组成」）依通行乐器资料
• ⭐⭐ 「每个鼓的两面鼓框外径相同而内径不一，可发出音高不同的两个音来，故五个鼓有十个音」依通行乐器资料；⚠️ 来源只说明「内径不一 → 音高不同」，未说明方向，本页因此不补方向（见「常见误解」）
• ⭐⭐ 「每个鼓的两面都装有调音设备，调音幅度可达四或五度，可根据实际需要定音」依通行乐器资料
• ⭐⭐ 「鼓身固定在一个可以升降的特制鼓架上，鼓架上端为「U」形架，鼓身置于架中可以翻转进行音高选择」依通行乐器资料
• 「排鼓也是定音鼓，其两面都装有调音设备」依通行乐器资料
• 「排鼓发音激烈 · 跳荡；高音坚实有力，中 · 低音宽厚洪亮，尤擅于表现热烈欢腾的情绪」依通行乐器资料
• 「在乐曲《山寨的节日》《海上锣鼓》《龙船锣鼓》中，均有排鼓的独奏乐段」；独奏曲目另包括《鼓上飞舞》《赛龙舟》《散敲》等依通行乐器资料
• 「吉林省歌舞剧院于延河与苏州民族乐器三厂合作，研制成由十三面鼓组成的排鼓，鼓身用玻璃钢制作，鼓和架为插口式结合，已用于舞台演出」依通行乐器资料
• 「整体架五音排鼓由刘汉林与济南鼓韵打击乐器厂王令新共同设计制作，在原来分体架的基础上组合成整体架，演出前方便移动、适合赶场，可以拆装，也方便长途运输」依通行乐器资料
• 「排鼓用于民乐合奏 · 音乐会表演及专业教学，并被纳入中国打击乐专业教学体系作为核心乐器」依通行乐器资料
• ⚠️ 同名异物：「曹屯排鼓 · 庆源排鼓（相传起源于北宋）· 长信排鼓等被列入省级非物质文化遗产名录」——这些指的是各地的民间鼓乐，与上面这件 20 世纪 60 年代研制的民族乐队乐器不是同一件事
• 「排鼓属于八音中的革」依通行资料

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.