(b Anping county, Hebei, 1894; d 1959). Chinese guanzi double-reed pipe player. A Daoist priest, Yang was one of many fine wind players in the ritual ensembles of the Hebei plain south of Beijing. After his temple was razed by the Japanese invaders in 1938, he supported himself by agricultural labour and petty trade. In the winters of 1945 and 1946 he was invited to teach the ‘songs-for-winds’ (chuige) ensemble of Ziwei village in nearby Dingxian county, itself later to make a national reputation. In 1950 Yang was invited to teach guanzi at the newly established Central Conservatory of Music, guiding many of the present generation of conservatory-style guanzi players, including Hu Zhihou.
While still a priest, he made many innovations in the repertory, using the flamboyant large guanzi which leads the songs-for-winds style rather than the smaller instrument of the more traditional music associations. Apart from traditional Daoist ceremonial pieces and classical ‘standards’ (qupai), he also played a more popular layer of folk and local opera pieces. He is also said to have popularized the ‘opera mimicry’ (kaxi) style.
See also China, §IV, 4(i).
Nie Xizhi: ‘Yang Yuanheng guanzi quji’ [Collected guanzi pieces of Yang Yuanheng] (Beijing, 1981) [mimeograph, Central Conservatory of Music]
Minzu yueqi chuantong duzouqu zhuanji: guanzi zhuanji [Anthology of traditional solo pieces for Chinese instruments: guanzi vol.], ed. Zhongyang yinyue xueyuan and Zhongguo yinyue xueyuan (Beijing, 1985), 23–71
Yuan Jingfang: Minzu qiyue xinshang shouce [Handbook for the appreciation of Chinese instrumental music] (Beijing, 1986), 151–2
Special Collection of Contemporary Chinese Musicians, Wind Records TCD 1018 (1996)
STEPHEN JONES