One of the most beautiful and haunting sound in Chinese music comes from a type of fiddle called the erhu.
The erhu itself was first described in the Tang Dynasty(618-907).It is a two-stringed instrument,played sitting down and held vertically,with the body resting on the knee.
The strings were originally of silk but now usually steel.the small body as a wooden resonator and a belly of python skin;the hard wood neck is long and narrow,and the hairs of the bow pass horizontally between the 2 strings,which are usually tuned to D and A,coz the erhu instruments is used to express the feelings people have and in some cases used to emulate people’s sound,while tune D is the lowest and A the highest in most people’s singing.
The sound body of the erhu is a drum-like little case usually made of ebony or sandalwood and snake skins. It usually has a hexagonal shape with the length of approximately 13 cm. The front opening is covered with skin of python (snake) and that of the back is left open. The functions of this case of resonance are to amplify the vibrations of the strings. The neck of the erhu is about 81 cm long and is manufactured with the same materials as the drum. The top of the stem is bent for decoration. The two strings of the erhu is usually tuned D and A. The two tuning handles (pegs) are found close to the end of the stem. There is no frets (as contrast to the lute) or touching board (as contrast to violin). The player creates different pitches by touching the strings at various positions along the neck of the instrument. The strings are usually made of silk or nylon. Nowadays, metal strings are commonly used. The bow is 76 cm long and is manufactured of reed which one curves during cooking, and arched with horse hair in the same way as the bow of violin.
The erhu itself was first described in the Tang Dynasty(618-907).It is a two-stringed instrument,played sitting down and held vertically,with the body resting on the knee.
The strings were originally of silk but now usually steel.the small body as a wooden resonator and a belly of python skin;the hard wood neck is long and narrow,and the hairs of the bow pass horizontally between the 2 strings,which are usually tuned to D and A,coz the erhu instruments is used to express the feelings people have and in some cases used to emulate people’s sound,while tune D is the lowest and A the highest in most people’s singing.
The sound body of the erhu is a drum-like little case usually made of ebony or sandalwood and snake skins. It usually has a hexagonal shape with the length of approximately 13 cm. The front opening is covered with skin of python (snake) and that of the back is left open. The functions of this case of resonance are to amplify the vibrations of the strings. The neck of the erhu is about 81 cm long and is manufactured with the same materials as the drum. The top of the stem is bent for decoration. The two strings of the erhu is usually tuned D and A. The two tuning handles (pegs) are found close to the end of the stem. There is no frets (as contrast to the lute) or touching board (as contrast to violin). The player creates different pitches by touching the strings at various positions along the neck of the instrument. The strings are usually made of silk or nylon. Nowadays, metal strings are commonly used. The bow is 76 cm long and is manufactured of reed which one curves during cooking, and arched with horse hair in the same way as the bow of violin.
However, in the case of erhu, the horse hair runs between the two strings. In another word, one cannot take off the bow from the instrument unless one of the two strings is taken off or broken.
The posture which the player must adopt to play the erhu is the same as that adopted for the other kinds of huqin: the left hand holding the fiddle and the right hand, the bow. The erhu is put on the lap vertically, the left hand moves vertically to touch the strings for the right pitch while the left hand (with the bow) move horizontally to make the sound. The Erhu is mainly a instrument for melody in a sense like voice. The left hand slides up and down the instrument while fingers pressing the strings to create desired pitch and “sliding” effects. The right hand pushes the horse hair against this or that string while moving horizontally, to create the sounds on either of the two strings. Occasionally some musicians hold the instrument with the help of a rope, in the same way as for saxophone, in order to play standing or walking. However it doesn’t look elegant with the sound body pressing against the belly of the performer and the stem of the instrument pointing up and outwards. Therefore, the musicians normally play sitted unless it’s absolutely necessary.
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