Feng Yang Hua Gu (flower drum song) for ukulele

Feng Yang Hua Gu is a traditional Chinese folk song that I learned as a child. Only upon reading the lyrics today did I see that the words tell a different story, not a happy, cheerful one as painted by the music. Nonetheless, having arranged it for harp years ago, I am pleased to see how easily the notes transfer to the low G ukulele in the key of C major, in my quest to collect and transcribe them for ukulele, guitar, piano, and voice.

For the ukulele, this pentatonic song employs plenty of hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, and all those fun and whacky things you can do with your fretting or chording fingers. I represent these as slurs (arcs) in the score.

The first slur is a pull-off. Use your left ring finger, which is already pressing the E-string on the 3rd fret, to pluck the open E-string.

The second slur is a hammer-on. Use your left ring finger as a hammer to produce the G-note on the 3rd fret of the E-string. If this is your first time hammering, then you may accidentally mute it instead of creating a sound. Think of a real hammer, you can’t use the tool quietly, slowly, and softly. There has to be an angle, a sudden quick force. Don’t expect to make a sound if you use the flat of your finger rather than the tip.

The next two slurs are hammer-ons (in the second measure).

The fifth “arc” is not a slur but a tie (third measure). It looks just like a slur. How can you tell the difference between a slur and a tie? The latter connects two identical pitches. (I use the word pitch instead of note because a note refers to both pitch and duration. You can tie two notes of same pitch but different duration.)

The remaining slurs on that system (the entire line shown) are pull-offs.

There’s also a version where you can follow and play along to the audio file.

This song is based on the major pentatonic scale, that is, a major scale without the 4th and 7th degrees. A major scale has 7 degrees, corresponding to do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti.

The ukulele lends itself to percussive accompaniment, especially as this song is about flower drums. This is also an example of word painting, when using the percussive effects to illustrate the sound of flower drums. There are various possibilities for this, in the introduction and throughout the song.

With this transcription, you can sing and play along to the video below.

• Lyrics in Simplified Chinese and pin yin
• Video and options for Traditional Chinese lyrics

Notes:

While finishing my final year at Utrecht Conservatory in 2008, I started a project of arranging Chinese songs I knew well for the harp. Now that I’m teaching the ukulele, I am collecting songs to arrange for the ukulele in a series of workshops called “Chinese Songs for Ukulele.” If you’re interested in taking this online workshop or would like to support this project in arranging such well-known Chinese songs for the ukulele, please visit Music Classes page of this website for the latest registration form and schedule.