One of the long-term goals of The Project has been to create more resources for intercultural discussions about the pipe organ. Although this is not a bilingual site, for reasons given in the FAQs, we have now put together the first stage of a glossary of terms relating to pipe organs (and a few other organ-like instruments). This is a difficult thing to do. Even in Western languages, organ terms and terminology in, say, English and French are not the same, and not directly translatable. In English for example, we use coupler (n.)/to couple (v.) for all form of coupling organ divisions. In French, the verbs accoupler and tirer are used for manuals and pedals respectively. There are historical reasons for these distinctions which are no longer relevant to organ building practice today, and yet the traditional terms persist.
In China (and Asia generally) the pipe organ is a relatively new object in cultures which date back many millennia. There are only spotty traditions of local building in the work of some missionaries and converts prior to the 20th Century, and a growing record of importation of instruments built in Europe and North America from the mid-19th Century onward . With the first pipe organ in China documented as late as 1600 (MAC1600), terms for the parts of an organ, and of organists and organ culture, have been created haphazardly, and without too much standardization. Nevertheless, a glossary, even an imperfect one, will be a starting point for systematizing this.
At present we have completed a first stage of Chinese terms in traditional characters. Eventually we plan to add the terms in simplified Chinese characters, but this is not as easy as it might appear at first. The terms that are being used, or invented, in Mainland China, are not always the same as those used outside the PRC. This means we cannot just rewrite the traditional characters in simplified characters to arrive at the correct term in current usage. In this connection we would certainly be interested in suggestions and contributions from out readership, for which please use the Contact Us page.
This list is based on an initial list prepared by organ enthusiast Peter Cheung Pei-tak (張彼得) for his 1975 book, Pipe Organs, Electronic Organs, and Church Organists (Hong Kong: E.C.F. Sheng Tao Press, 1975). The Project would like to thank our friends, Erma Sandy Lee, Jessie Lau, CC See, Chan Yik Wai, and Lee Ping Yin, for their considerable contributions to this Glossary.
A Glossary of Pipe Organ Terminology in Chinese
(Version 2021.1.0)
English |
Chinese (traditional) |
Chinese (simplified) |
action |
作用 / 機械聯動裝置 |
作用 / 机械 |
air waves |
空氣浪 / 氣流 |
|
bellows |
調節風箱 |
|
blower (electric motor) |
風泵 / 電動鼓風機 |
风机 |
calcant (manual organ blower) |
手 / 腳鼓動風箱者 |
|
cancel (button) |
取消 / 重設 / 重置 |
复位 |
celeste (rank/stop) |
天上之聲(音管排 / 音栓名稱) |
|
Choir (organ division/manual) |
詩班風琴 / 鍵盤 (風琴其中一排鍵盤的名稱) |
|
console |
鍵盤臺 |
|
coupler |
聯軸栓 |
|
crescendo pedal |
漸強踏板 / 增音踏板 |
|
Diapason (Principal, Montre) |
開口基本音管 |
|
direct electric action |
直接電力機械 / 聯動裝置 |
|
electro-magnetic action |
電磁控制 / 電動磁力機械聯動裝置 |
磁电控制 |
(to) draw stops |
拉動音栓 |
|
electro-pneumatic action |
氣電聯動 / 電動空氣壓縮式管風琴 |
气电联动 |
electronic organ |
電風琴 / 電子管風琴 |
电风琴 |
ensemble |
音色組合 |
|
flue (pipe/stop) |
笛管 |
|
fundamental tone |
基礎音 |
|
Great (organ division/manual) |
主風琴 (風琴其中一排鍵盤的名稱) |
大风琴 |
Great to Pedal (coupler) |
主風琴與腳部風琴聯軸栓 |
|
harmonics/overtones |
泛音或附音 |
|
harmonium |
風琴 / 小風琴 |
|
hertz (Hz.) |
每秒鐘震盪次數 / 赫茲 [phonetic] |
|
improvisation |
即興演奏 |
即兴演奏 |
interval |
音程 |
|
key (of a keyboard) |
琴鍵 |
琴键 |
manual (keyboard) |
鍵盤 |
|
Middle C |
中音C |
中音C |
mixture (rank/stop) |
混合音栓 |
|
modulation |
轉調 |
移调 |
mutation (rank/stop) |
多音 / 泛音(音管排 / 音栓名稱) |
|
octave (interval) |
八度(音程) |
|
octave coupler |
八度音程聯軸栓 |
|
Offertory (musical work) |
奉獻禮 / 奉獻頌 |
奉献礼 |
overtone/harmonic |
附音或泛音或泛音列 |
|
pallet |
風塞 |
|
pedal board |
腳部鍵盤 |
|
Pedal (organ division) |
腳部風琴 |
|
pipe organ |
管風琴 |
管风琴 |
pitch |
音高 |
|
pneumatic action |
氣動模式 / 空氣壓縮式管風琴 |
气动模式 |
postlude (outgoing voluntary) |
殿樂 |
|
prelude (incoming voluntary) |
序樂 |
|
Prelude (musical genre) |
前奏曲 |
|
rank (of pipes) |
一套管 |
|
reed (pipe/stop) |
簧管 |
|
reservoir (wind) |
儲風箱 |
|
scale |
音階 |
|
slider |
滑板 |
|
Solo (organ division/manual) |
獨奏風琴(風琴其中一排鍵盤的名稱) |
|
soundboard |
聲板 |
|
sound wave |
聲波 |
声波 |
stop |
音栓 |
|
string (pipe/stop) |
弦音管 |
|
Swell (organ division/manual) |
漸增減風琴 (風琴其中一排鍵盤的名稱) |
|
Swell box |
音量調節箱 |
|
Swell pedal |
音量腳踏板 |
|
Swell to Great (coupler) |
漸增減風琴與主風琴聯軸栓 |
|
Swell to Pedal (coupler) |
漸增減風琴與腳部風琴聯軸栓 |
|
thumb piston |
拇指按鈕 |
|
toe piston |
腳趾按鈕 |
|
timbre/tone color |
音色 |
|
tracker action |
拉牽機械 / 聯動裝置 |
|
transpose, transposition |
移調 |
|
tuning |
調音 |
|
tuning fork |
音叉 |
|
twelfth (interval) |
十二度音程 |
|
unison |
齊奏 / 純一度音程 |
|
vibrato |
震動音色 |
|
volume |
音量 |
|
voluntary (U.K. term for work usually played before or after a service) |
(英國)在崇拜開始或結束時所彈奏的短曲 (cf. prelude, postlude, improvisation) |
|
windchest |
風箱 |
|
wind gauge |
風錶 |
|
wind pressure |
風壓 / 風壓 |
风压 |