Mouth string, also known as "mouth organ", "ringing bamboo", "blowing bamboo" or "playing bamboo", is quite popular among many ethnic minorities in southwest my country, especially among the Yi-speaking ethnic groups. As a Yi-speaking ethnic group, the Lisu people have a long history of making bamboo mouth strings. According to research, bamboo mouth strings were made in the "bamboo and wood age" before humans entered the pottery age and the bronze age. It is impossible to confirm when the Lisu people invented the bamboo mouth string because there is no reliable documentary record. [Distribution area] The mouth string playing and making skills of the Dechang Lisu people are mainly distributed in Jinsha Lisu Township and Nanshan Lisu Township in Dechang County, Sichuan Province, Tuanjie Village in Badong Township, Xinyu Village in Kuanyu Township, and Shaba Village in Leyue Township in Han District. 【Basic content】The Lisu people call it "Ma Ge". "Ma" means "bamboo" and "Ge" means "pull" or "pull". It is a small musical instrument about one centimeter wide and six or seven centimeters long. It is deeply loved by Lisu women and often worn on the body to express their feelings at any time. It has various shapes, one piece and three pieces, and three pieces are more common. It can be played solo or in unison, and the production process is complicated. The craft of making mouth strings seems simple on the surface, but the process of selecting materials, taking pieces, cutting pieces, shaping, tongue making, cutting and other processes is technically difficult, and non-professional makers cannot do it. The main procedures are: Selecting materials Bamboo mouth strings are generally made of hard yellow bamboo. Yellow bamboo is commonly known as "dragon pillar". It usually grows on the second and half mountains of Yinshan Mountain. It grows everywhere and can be cut at any time regardless of the season. It is best to use the middle section of bamboo about 2 feet above the ground to make mouth strings. After cutting, dry the bamboo tube to prevent the bamboo tube from deforming and bending. Production: It can be made into single-piece and three-piece mouth strings. When making a single-piece mouth string, a piece of bamboo about three inches long and five centimeters wide is cut from the yellow bamboo tube with a knife, and the tongue is hollowed out on three sides in the middle to make a reed tongue. Then the head of the string is sharpened to form a sword shape, and the tail is cut evenly to make the string handle. The tongue of the bamboo mouth string is large and thin at the head, narrow and thick in the middle, and the two sides of the tongue are cut into bevels and connected to the head of the bamboo piece. When plucking the head of the piece, the elasticity of the bamboo piece can make the tongue of the reed vibrate back and forth freely to make sound. Multi-piece mouth strings are made by stringing together single-piece mouth strings of different pitches with thin ropes to form multi-piece mouth strings. Multi-piece mouth strings are mostly composed of 2 to 5 mouth strings with different pitches. A very important production technique is that the Lisu people do not have tuning forks when making mouth strings, and their pitch and timbre depend entirely on the maker's understanding and experience. The mouth string is not only unique in shape and production method, but also in playing method. There are two ways to play the mouth string: plucking with fingers and stretching. When playing the mouth string by plucking, the player clamps the string handle with the thumb and index finger of the left hand, and the multi-piece string makes it fan-shaped. The reed tongue is placed between the two lips, and the tip of the mouth string is plucked back and forth with the thumb and index finger of the right hand, causing the reed tongue to vibrate, and then a bright ding-dong sound is emitted. The stretching method is more unique. The player ties a silk thread to the tip of each reed, puts the thread end on the right finger, and uses the finger to pull the thread to make the reed vibrate and produce sound. In order to increase resonance and expand the volume, the player uses the change of mouth shape and breathing control to play music with varied timbre when playing the mouth string. Skilled players can express more complex rhythms and more timbre, and can make each string emit its pure fifth harmonic. On a set of three strings, six different notes can often be played. [Basic characteristics] 1. Shape characteristics: The Lisu bamboo mouth string is made of high-quality yellow bamboo. It has exquisite craftsmanship, is small and refined, and is easy to carry. It is a musical instrument deeply loved by Lisu women. 2. Musical characteristics: A single piece can be "gong" (DO) or "shang" (Re), but it can be transposed, which is called "moving gong" or "moving shang" in musical terms; two pieces are in a major second relationship, one piece is gong and the other is shang. The plucked music has a low melody, varied overtones, and a moving chorus. 3. Social characteristics: It is ancient and primitive, independently developed, self-entertaining and widely popular. A bamboo mouth string can accompany a person throughout his life and is an indispensable accessory in the growth process of Lisu women. [Basic value] The first is historical and cultural value. The production of bamboo mouth string has a long history. As an important and ancient cultural carrier, it is a witness to the development history of Lisu folk art. It is of great value for studying the development history of musical instruments and the history of national music. The second is the value of humanities and social research. As a material carrier of music, bamboo mouth string carries the rich cultural content of many complex life emotions, values, imagination, etc. of the Lisu people, and plays a positive role in the inheritance and development of national music. The third is the craftsmanship value. The production of bamboo mouth string depends entirely on the experience and understanding of the maker to determine its pitch, timbre, and pitch. It contains rich scientific knowledge and is the condensation of the outstanding wisdom of the Lisu nationality's skilled craftsmen. It has a high craftsmanship value.