MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF DENSION COLLECTION 
35. 
holding more than two pipes in the mouth, a substitute reservoir 
was sought. In some sections a hollow lump of clay is used, 
into which the pipes are fastened. No. 22 shows a further 
advance. 
22. Sheng — China. Seventeen reeds of small bore are set in a 
lacquered cup of cherry-wood. The mouthpiece in primitive 
instruments was a long spout like that* of the Muhso flute 
above, but it is now a much shorter projection covered with 
an ivory plate. . Each of the pipes contains a very small free 
reed of copper, set level with the frame. The instrument is 
played by inspiration — i.e., by drawing in the breath — as other- 
wise moisture might settle on the reeds and affect the pitch. 
There are many interesting features connected with this 
instrument — the use of two mute pipes and the curious 
arrangement of pipes which gives it the Chinese name of ^^Bird- 
on-the-nest,’^ the fact that sounding length of the pipes is different 
from the apparent length, and the use of a free reed at such an 
early date. (The type is thought to be at least three thousand 
years old.) 
From the standpoint of the theory of scales there is the ques- 
tion of a mechanical origin of the sheng scale procured by the 
successive halving of differences, starting with the longest pipe, 
which is just the length of the Chinese foot. Further, the 
duplication of two notes of f ^ and g ^ by the use of four pipes, 
suggests an attempt at equal temperament — i.e., the production 
of true fourths with the upper and lower c sharps. The only 
difference in the scale of the Denison sheng from the normal type 
is that pipe no. 7 (counting from the left of the opening) gives 
c" and pipe no. 11 gives c/" while in the usual instrument these 
are reversed. 
