Chinese fiddle

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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.

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.

A typical erhu measures 81 cm 32 in from top to bottom, the length of the bow also being 81 cm. The fingers of the right hand are used to push chinese fiddle hairs away from the stick in order to create tension in the hairs, chinese fiddle.

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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.

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.

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Perhaps because of its supposed barbarian origins, the erhu has traditionally been seen as an instrument of the lower classes with a lower status than, for example the Qin a type of zither - the traditional instrument of intellectuals. It has commonly been added to ensembles accompanying regional vocal genres since around the s, but remains subsidiary see also Song of suffering. The use of the erhu as a solo instrument began in the early 20th century along with the development of guoyue literally 'national music' , a modernized form of Chinese traditional music written or adapted for the professional concert stage. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. On a journey south, passing the tiqin of Kunqu and Daoist groups of south Jiangsu, regional traditions along the southeast coast have several types. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 21 April See also: List of erhu players. Liu Tian Hua. The erhu has some unusual features:. One major change was the use of steel strings instead of silk.

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Musical groups for wedding celebrations in Cambodia often use the Tro , a similar instrument to the erhu. South China Morning Post. Pingback: New tag: fiddles! In addition to the solo repertoire, the erhu is one of the main instruments in regional music ensembles such as Jiangnan sizhu , Chinese opera ensembles, and the modern large Chinese orchestra. Gao is also known for incorporating the erhu into jazz, new age and pop compositions. With the founding of the People's Republic of China and the expansion of the conservatory system, the solo erhu tradition continued to develop. Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument. He returned to the Central Conservatory of Music in as head of the Chinese music department. What most of these fiddles have in common is a gritty timbre, quite far from the suave polished ideal of the conservatoire erhu. In the collectivist period after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, these factories were formed by merging what had been previously private workshops. This article needs additional citations for verification. Not to mention all the diverse fiddles among the ethnic minorities— Mongolian morin khuur , Uyghur satar and ghijak , and so on.