Banyan and Metre
Ban marks the strong beat and yan the weak, from one-beat metre to free sanban, cued by the drum.
Related
Time and place
Banyan is the Chinese way of marking musical time. Ban is the strong beat and yan the weak one. The system matured alongside opera, story-singing and ensemble rehearsal, and it remains the shared language of singers and drummers, a practical cue for tempo and pacing.
Musical features
One ban and one yan equals duple time; one ban and three yan equals quadruple time; ban without yan comes close to one beat per bar. Metres also include slow, original, flowing, duoju and free sanban. The bangu leads with strokes, the yan may be marked by a stick or clapper, and the speed can stretch with the voice. When the metre changes, ban positions may stay put while phrase length and speed are rearranged.
Repertoire
Peking opera's yuanban, Pingju's slow aria, the one-beat town tunes of Jiangnan sizhu and free-flowing songs such as xintianyou all serve as comparisons.
What to listen for
Find the ban first, then count the weak beats between ban and yan. Do not count in sanban; follow the breath of the sung line. In duoju, hear the syllables crowd together and the strokes thicken. The same passage may keep its ban positions while speed and ornament change from school to school.
Common misunderstandings
A common mistake is to equate banyan with Western bars. Banyan stretches elastically, and sanban is not rhythmless. One ban and three yan means four beats, not three.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- 《中国音乐词典》编辑部编，中国音乐词典（人民音乐出版社）— 板式术语核对，未引用
- The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "China" — framework checked, not quoted
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.