One of simplest instruments of the whole plethora of Chinese Instruments, and yet, the most distinctly ” Chinese” sound. Made of bamboo, it has a history of over 7000 years and till today, it retains most of its characteristics from ancient times.

Ling Yun – Dong Xue Hua

Dizi Luthier Dong Xue Hua, arguably one of the most successful makers in China who has won the appreciation of many professional performers and conservatory faculty members. Dong himself is a succesful performer and based on his ability to think like a performer, he has made his dizis for the performers.

Since 2011, his dizis are in several models meant for different levels of requirements. Residing in Tong Ling Qiao, in Hangzhou, China, he has access to hilltops and groves of bamboo forests, and his dizis are often of a quality that meets all requirements.

Tong Ling Tian Yun – Bao Ya Nan

Our commissioned luthier, Master Bao Ya Nan, hails from Hangzhou, China. his abode is amongst lush bamboo forests and hills upon hills of bamboo plantations. Indeed, Tong Ling Qiao, as the area is known, is the home of 75% of all dizi makers in China. His family has been making dizis for generations and following in his footsteps, is his daughter, Bao Yin Yin.

Master Bao is a simple, unassuming luthier, and his relative obscurity comes from the fact that he had been making dizis on behalf of several “famous” makers for at least 20 years. His dizis, under tags of other makers or factories, are very well received in Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and China itself. It wasn’t until his daughter, a musician herself, started taking care of the retail side of his instrument business in 2010, that he could finally establish a name for his studio. He has two “secrets” of the trade: the first, is that every dizi is personally made, from preparing the materials to cutting the holes to tuning and varnishing. The second “secret” is that he genuinely weigh every stem of material, and in his material store, one can see all bamboo piles carefully labeled with the date of harvest, the approximate weight per stem and expected date of use.

The family owns several acres of bamboo plantation, where most of the quality materials are grown. Oddly enough, the best bamboos do not grow on fertile soil. In his plantations, he replaced fertile loam with sand. This reduces the water absorbtion and the nutrient intake of the bamboo, causing the bamboo to grow at half the rate of those grown with fertilizers. Due to this constraint, the bamboo grows slowly, but the stem would grow in a very compact fashion, and results in compact, dense materials.

He also ensures that bamboo materials are given at least 3 years to air dry in the shade. This grade of dizi material, in his studio, is considered to be lowly graded, for orchestra musicians.His 5 – 6 year bamboos are highly sought after and may require some waiting time.

Keys of Dizi

The Dizi is a modal instrument, and it functions on diatonic scales with Pythagorean Intervals. Throughout the performance, performers try to avoid, whenever possible, the use of accidentals and “half-holes” as they might interfere with the intonation of the performance. Hence, Dizis ,theoretically are made specifically for every key.

The collection we have available (in stock or within 7 days of order) are the standard keys, segregated by Bangdi (梆笛）and Qudi (曲笛）

Bangdi are the flutes of Piccolo range. The most common being the Bangdi in G, which is of the exact range as that of the Piccolo of classical western orchestra. A step below, the Bangdi in F and above it would be Bangdi in A. These are the 3 typical Bangdis available at anytime.

Qudis are the Dizis of usually a fifth interval below that of the Piccolo. Usual keys are Qudis in C (Lowest note is G Below middle C), Qudi in D (Lowest Note is a A below middle C), Qudi in E (Lowest note is B below Middle C)

Other keys available by special order are Bangdis in B, bB, F# , Xiaodi (小笛)-Tuned a fifth or fourth above that of a classical western piccolo in D or C, Qudi in bE, bB and Dadi（大笛）- Tuned to be almost the same ocatves as the classical western flute in E, F, G (exact same octave as classical flute, lowest note is D) and A.

All these Dizis are available by special order, and require at least 2 weeks to make. We also accept orders to make personalized engravings on the dizis. For any inquiries, please contact us at ask@orientalmusic.org