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 chinese fiddle 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 herechinese fiddle, making a useful introduction. One guide, mainly useful for historical sources on early fiddles huqinxiqinand so onis the book. For illustrated introductions, see e.

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.

Chinese fiddle

Return to Homepage. One of the most beautiful and haunting sounds in Chinese music comes from a type 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. 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 are now usually steel. The small 6-sided body has a wooden resonator and a belly of python skin; the hardwood neck is long and narrow, and the hairs of the bow pass horizontally between the two strings, which are usually tuned to D and A. The horsehair bow rests on the body of the instrument and points inwards, at right angles to the normal angle of a violin bow. Because both sides of the bow are used, both sides must be rosined. The erhu features regularly in silk and bamboo ensembles; an elaborate but quite accessible form of Chinese folk music, alongside various bamboo wind instruments, and plucked strings such as the Pipa lute and Yang Qin dulcimer. Such music is played at village ceremonies and at informal "jam sessions" in tea houses.

Some erhu are made of recycled products, chinese fiddle. Authority control databases. The two strings are chinese fiddle 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.

.

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. Qian jin is made of a tight loop of soft silk string which encircles the shaft and strings. Together with the bridge, qian jin sets the appropriate vibrating length of the strings 38 or 39 to 41 cm.

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.

Istanbul rize uçak bileti

After a classical music education in the early part of the 20th Century he started to learn the erhu from monks and folk musicians; this was at a time when anyone seen playing an erhu in the Beijing conservatoire would probably have been ejected forthwith! The pipa and xiao are focal to the group, but the erxian is also amazing, demanding extraordinary bow control, full of inflection. Even fusion progressive rock groups like The Hsu-nami have incorporated the erhu into their music and it is their lead instrument. 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. Pingback: Berlioz and the not-so-mystic East Stephen Jones: a blog. With the founding of the People's Republic of China and the expansion of the conservatory system, the solo erhu tradition continued to develop. Pingback: Organology Stephen Jones: a blog. Tan Dun learned from his grandmother whilst his white-collar family laboured among the rice; he rapidly developed from playing in village ceremonies to working in the local opera, and finally to orchestral composition using contemporary western techniques. The strings were originally of silk but are now usually steel. 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. Pingback: New tag: fiddles! Various dense and heavy hardwoods are used in making the erhu.

.

Zooming out, see here for an introduction to the sidebar tag fiddles. Bianzhong Fangxiang Gong Luo Yunluo. The horsehair bow rests on the body of the instrument and points inwards, at right angles to the normal angle of a violin bow. Guangdong province has several other fiddle types, such as the yehu , and the Cantonese gaohu. Article Talk. Because both sides of the bow are used, both sides must be rosined. He came back with a Chinese wife! It is also heard as an accompanying instrument in Chinese Opera, an ancient form of highly stylised musical drama, and in composed classical music. The Morin Khuur is Mongolia's national instrument, and much of the music played on it relates to horse riding in some way, particlarly in the galloping rhythms and the whinnying sound that can be produced from the strings. This one is a great deal- it comes with a soft case, a bamboo and horsehair bow, string, a bridge, rosin and an instructional DVD. The reflective and descriptive nature of these titles is typical of much of Chinese music, which has deep and ancient bonds with poetry, art, and the timeless landscape of China. For illustrated introductions, see e. What most of these fiddles have in common is a gritty timbre, quite far from the suave polished ideal of the conservatoire erhu. Germany Japan. On the left hand the nails of the first and second finger press down from above, while the third and fourth press up from underneath.