Tuning for the zheng

The following are examples of how the zheng has be tuned in the Orchid Ensemble’s repertoire. Except for the traditional tuning, the rest have been designed by the composers we have had the pleasure to work with. These examples are meant for people less familiar with the zheng to understand tuning possibilities. Composers often create new tuning as they make plans for new compositions because the zheng tuning is an important factor of how the music will sound like.

The examples below are for study purposes. They serve as inspiration, and they are not the only options for how to tune the zheng. Above each example, the compositions using the specific tuning are listed. Most of these can be found on the Orchid Ensemble’s Youtube channel.