Xiao Lesson 2

Two Simple Songs

Here are two songs that demonstrate how anyone can make pretty music with a Chinese end-blown flute right away. Use the fingerings in Lesson 1 to find the notes in these songs.

The first song is a well-known Japanese folk melody. Click here for a recording of the piece performed on a xiao in G. For the recording, I repeated the melody four times, each with a different feeling, to represent the four seasons of the title.

Here is a modern song written by a Taiwanese composer. Click here for a recording of the piece performed on a xiao in G. This song and the Japanese one above can also be played on a flute in F: Finger the same as you would on the G flute, and the song will sound a whole step lower.

Hopefully, you find these two songs easy to play. They're pretty, yes? To start down a path of playing more songs, and using more flute techniques, see Lesson 3.