Dongbula is also transliterated as Dongbula or Dombrat, which means playing a stringed instrument or an object with strings on a hollow wooden box. Dongbula is the most commonly used traditional stringed instrument of Kazak nationality. Dong is mainly composed of a piano rod, a sound box and strings. Speakers come in various shapes. Generally, there are two strings, the strings are set at four or five degrees, and the range is above two octaves.
The fixed-playing range is wide, the timbre is sweet, the volume is grand and the craft is fine. The sound is sonorous, the rhythm changes rapidly and the melody is pleasant. There are many artistic forms such as solo, ensemble and ensemble. , and the content is also rich and varied. It is the main instrument of folk dance music and national bands.
The playing methods and skills of dongbula;
The most common way to play Dongbula is to sing while playing, with the piano tilted in your arms, the left hand pressing the strings and the right hand plucking the strings. Usually, the left hand presses strings with middle finger, index finger and ring finger, and the right hand plays with thumb, middle finger and index finger. Generally, you seldom press the strings with your little finger. The right hand also mainly uses the index finger and thumb, and the other three fingers are used less. According to the rhythm, different tracks will use different rhythms. In the process of playing, string breaking, string sweeping and other playing techniques will be interspersed, and sometimes a pick will be used to play.
In the melody of the outer string, the inner string serves as a foil to the chord, and sometimes the other way around. East and west in Kazakhstan also have different ways of playing. In the east, the index finger and thumb of the right hand are used to pluck the strings, while in the west, all fingers pluck the strings at the same time and jump up and down on the piano. The way the left hand touches the string is basically the same. The thumb touches the bass string to produce a continuous sound effect, and the index finger touches the treble melody string.