Chinese fiddle

Return to Homepage. One of the most beautiful and haunting sounds in Chinese music comes from a chinese fiddle of fiddle called the erhu pronounced are-who. The ancient ancestor of both violin and erhu is thought to have appeared in Persia some 3. A slow migration west lead to the first violins in Europe; the route east along the Silk Road gave rise to a family of instruments collectively called the Hu-Qin, chinese fiddle.

The great majority of instruments are played not solo but as part of ensembles, not on the concert platform but as part of social life. Bowed strings mainly accompany vocal music—the ritual genres that I study in north China are dominated by wind and percussion ensembles the playlist in the sidebar, with commentary here , making a useful introduction. One guide, mainly useful for historical sources on early fiddles huqin , xiqin , and so on , is the book. For illustrated introductions, see e. For folk practice in modern times one should look to field reports on local traditions, setting forth from the Anthology of folk music of the Chinese peoples for leads, see my book Folk music of China. On a journey south, passing the tiqin of Kunqu and Daoist groups of south Jiangsu, regional traditions along the southeast coast have several types.

Chinese fiddle

It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional bowed string instruments used by various ethnic groups of China. As a very versatile instrument, the erhu is used in both traditional and contemporary music arrangements, such as pop, rock and jazz. The erhu can be traced back to proto-Mongolic instruments which first appeared in China during the Tang dynasty. An alternate explanation states that it comes from the fact that it is the second-highest huqin in pitch to the gaohu in the modern Chinese orchestra. The name huqin literally means 'instrument of the Hu peoples ', suggesting that the instrument may have originated from regions to the north or west of China generally inhabited by nomadic people on the extremities of past Chinese kingdoms. For most of history, the erhu was mostly a folk instrument used in southern China, whereas the sihu was preferred among northern musicians. However, in the s, Liu Tianhua introduced the erhu to Beijing , and since, it has become the most popular of the huqin. Historic bowed zithers of China, including the xiqin , yazheng , and wenzhenqin , and also the Korean ajaeng , were originally played by bowing with a rosined stick, which created friction against the strings. As soon as the horsehair bow was invented, it spread very widely. The erhu consists of a long vertical stick-like neck , at the top of which are two big tuning pegs , and at the bottom is a small resonator body sound box which is covered with python skin on the front playing end. The erhu has some unusual features:. Various dense and heavy hardwoods are used in making the erhu.

This produces a dry, muted tone if either of the open strings chinese fiddle plucked, the sound is somewhat more resonant which is sometimes used in contemporary pieces such as Horse Race. Comment Reblog Subscribe Subscribed.

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Erhu is a medium-high ranged Chinese two-stringed fiddle. The structure of the modern erhu was regularized in the s by Liu Tianhua , the pioneering musician and composer in modern Chinese erhu and pipa music. Erhu consists of a body qin tong , a shaft qin gan , two tuning pegs xuan zhou , a tight loop of string qian jin , and a tiny bridge xuan ma. Its shape is usually hexagonal, with round or octagonal regional variations. Its front 8. The shaft 78 cm long is made of the same wood as the body. Two tuning pegs are set in the upper section of the shaft, while the lower end of the shaft is fixed onto the body.

Chinese fiddle

It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional bowed string instruments used by various ethnic groups of China. As a very versatile instrument, the erhu is used in both traditional and contemporary music arrangements, such as pop, rock and jazz. The erhu can be traced back to proto-Mongolic instruments which first appeared in China during the Tang dynasty. An alternate explanation states that it comes from the fact that it is the second-highest huqin in pitch to the gaohu in the modern Chinese orchestra. The name huqin literally means 'instrument of the Hu peoples ', suggesting that the instrument may have originated from regions to the north or west of China generally inhabited by nomadic people on the extremities of past Chinese kingdoms. For most of history, the erhu was mostly a folk instrument used in southern China, whereas the sihu was preferred among northern musicians. However, in the s, Liu Tianhua introduced the erhu to Beijing , and since, it has become the most popular of the huqin. Historic bowed zithers of China, including the xiqin , yazheng , and wenzhenqin , and also the Korean ajaeng , were originally played by bowing with a rosined stick, which created friction against the strings.

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The Last Emporer The idea of bringing western classical "party pieces" into the repertoire in order to bridge the cultural gap and attract the attention of a wider audience has been taken up by many other players. Outside China, manufacturers of erhu can issue their own CITES licenses with approval by governments of their respective countries. The morin khuur or Morin Khur , also from Mongolia, is a rectangular bodied fiddle with a carved horse's head and strings made of thick strands of silk or horse hair. She features heavily on the soundtrack to Bernado Bertolucci's film The Last Emporer, and is considered one of the world's leading players. The left hand alters the pitch of the strings by pressing on the string at the desired point. South China Morning Post. Most erhu are mass-produced in factories. The inside string nearest to player is generally tuned to D4 and the outside string to A4. Being a fretless instrument, the player has fine control over tuning. She was the undisputed master of erhu for 50 years. Individuals are allowed to take up to two erhu out of China when traveling; commercial buyers need additional export certificates.

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The morin khuur or Morin Khur , also from Mongolia, is a rectangular bodied fiddle with a carved horse's head and strings made of thick strands of silk or horse hair. Because both sides of the bow are used, both sides must be rosined. See also: List of erhu players. These are considerable feats of technique and ingenuity, considering the physical limitations of the instrument. Not to mention all the diverse fiddles among the ethnic minorities— Mongolian morin khuur , Uyghur satar and ghijak , and so on. One major change was the use of steel strings instead of silk. The erhu is played sitting down, with the sound box placed on the top of the left thigh and the neck held vertically, in the similar fashion as that of a cello or double bass player. The two strings are designated as the male made from hairs from a stallion's tail and the female made from hairs from a mare's tail ; the strings were traditionally tuned a fifth apart, but are now more often a fourth apart. Various dense and heavy hardwoods are used in making the erhu. The name huqin literally means 'instrument of the Hu peoples ', suggesting that the instrument may have originated from regions to the north or west of China generally inhabited by nomadic people on the extremities of past Chinese kingdoms.