Zhonghu erhu is based on the restructuring of a musical instrument is alto erhu for short. All Erhu playing techniques are suitable on the HU play. It is still a weak instrument sensitivity. It is the most adept at playing some of the express exhibition, the vast singing melody, harmony, long tone and not very complex figurations, and less playing fast CLS of melodies.
Brief History
Zhonghu, “alto erhu” for short. Hu made by the reform of the erhu, piano bar longer than the erhu, erhu strings strings than crude. Zhonghu is important erhu folk bands in musical family in the erhu is made on the basis of reform. Qintong bigger than erhu, piano bar is slightly longer than the erhu, erhu strings strings than the thick, deep tone. Is an indispensable instrument of national orchestra, often bear playing alto voices, but also to participate in solo or trio.
As early as the 1930s, the famous Chinese folk music societies Shanghai Datong Club, they created a midrange pull strings – Bow Hu, it is the imitation of ancient Chinese musical instrument violin shape, with a kind of hanging like the erhu stringed bowed method, but failed to come down. At the same time, the famous Chinese folk instruments production division Zhou Rongting (1907 to 1975), Mr. Zhou Shaomei teacher genre he worshiped as a teacher, carefully studying the erhu and pipa, and participated in the study by the famous national musicians Xiang Chen, Jiangshou Liang organization was founded The Wu Pingguo orchestra. Here, in order to enhance the midrange musical expression, he developed on the basis of the erhu alto Bowed Instruments – Zhonghu today. Zhonghu form, structure and erhu same, but the parts are bigger than the erhu, is tuned four degrees lower than the erhu or five degrees, timbre nickname thick, commonly used in the ensemble, accompaniment or solo, is the national musical instrument in the band in order to compensate for the gap between high and low, so that the whole band sound fullness.
The reformed in a flat cylinder HU HU HU symmetrical flat Octagon barrel. Their ethnic band, with the same high cylindrical HU, erhu together. Previous Zhonghu only for the ensemble, accompaniment, over time, made of PA cylinder Hu, put a long Qintong and Qintong made flared rear mouth, only to become a capable Zhonghu solo instrument. Better known in Hu solo of “prairie”, “Su Wu” and so on.
Structural Features
Zhonghu
The same structure and the erhu, shape slightly. Piano bar length 86 cm, carved headstock multi-tap or crescent-shaped. Qintong larger, mostly oblong, 15, the former mouth diameter 10.5 cm, Mongolia python, set tone after opening the window, there are former Octagon barrel after barrel or amplified HU. Qintong larger piano bar is longer. It is a leader in color on the neck bending in HU and HU two kinds. Qintong mostly round, there is eight square before the mouth, the rear mouth is round, as well as PA Hu cylinder. Qintong the Mongolian diaphragm is python, should be used in scales, suitable thickness is appropriate, otherwise it will affect the sensitivity and audio pronunciation thickness. When using stringed strings, outboard used in strings, where strings with the old strings. More steel stringed.
Zhang steel strings. Bows length 75 cm. 1970s reforms made flat round, flat eight square Qintong Zhonghu. For the genre, Guangdong music and orchestra or opera instrumental accompaniment, but also for solo.
In the band, set off from the main role in the HU to adjust the tone and strengthen the volume. It is the combination of high, bass stringed and wind instruments as well as a bridge between the whole band’s sound plump, strong. In addition, genre, music, folk music, Guangdong species and opera music accompaniment, in Hu also essential instruments. In the case of ethnic musical band, the band sound full, honest. Has a good-natured, full of sound character.
Tune a stringed instrument range
Zhonghu tune a stringed instrument erhu lower than a perfect fourth or perfect fifth, two octaves above the range. There is tuned lower octave. Range over two octaves. Zhonghu tuned in g, a1, or a, e1, is five degrees tune a stringed instrument, the band commonly range of g to g2, there are two octaves. Where g to d2 is the best audio pronunciation area,
Zhonghu tune a stringed instrument erhu lower than a perfect fourth or perfect fifth, as g, d ‘or a, e’, also set into one octave lower than the erhu. Its effective sound area in more than two octaves. All erhu right hand playing techniques can be applied. Because the violin rod length, according to the sound of the place is relatively wide, playing as good as the erhu and flexible, it is not appropriate to play fast, and high strings to tune.
Pizzicato techniques
Zhonghu
Whether plucked, single dial or pull aside, there are a few exercises must be attention:
1) bow hair should avoid being struck Flanagan strings, or simply dial not crisp plucked sound.
2) Pizzicato use fingertip (thumb nail applications) lightweight agile pluck at the strings. If the strings with that belly sliding on the repression obtained twang, it is easy to touch the other strings, so that the effect becomes muddy and vague pizzicato.
3) The time when plucked to be accurate, which seems plucked and pull aside the still important.
4) must be used properly plucked, non-arbitrary abuse.
To make the pizzicato effect crisp, bright, in addition to action should be agile and accurate, but the quality of the instrument itself, structure, and some ancillary device quality is also very important. In general, low in pizzicato effect is not as good as Hu’s upscale Zhonghu ideal. Steel string stringed effect than good; was “S” shaped metal daughter than the direct use cloth, thong tailpiece good effect; Song Festival piano yards piano code than other material effect, the daughter of yards away from the piano than the almost The effect is good. Possible to replace these attachment means of pulling strings better results obtained.
Playing position
Zhonghu
Good posture is to play musical skills playing the first condition. Regardless of what is to learn musical instruments, playing position is the most fundamental lesson, posture may seem simple, generally not much attention beginners. However, if one did not start to develop good playing position, not only unsightly, but more importantly will affect the playing skills of the play, but also a serious occupational disease.
Playing Hu Youping leg, rack-leg, standing three. Generally use the flat leg that sits right height stool or chair without armrests, legs naturally flat, heels natural ground, basically perpendicular to the thigh and calf, thigh form a planar, Qintong placed on the left leg. Square-leg to make player’s body has remained stable, conducive instrument performance into full play. In the ensemble, ensemble, accompaniment and other occasions generally have adopted this posture. Stand leg is highly suitable performer sitting on a stool or chair after, then left leg to the right leg, left leg still inside Qintong roots. Since the Qintong legged frame with the body increases the contact surface, so it is conducive to the piano remained relatively stable, thereby reducing the burden of holding the guitar left-handed, easy playing skills into full play. More commonly used in the solo occasions this position.
Standing refers to the left foot resting on a slightly higher stools, chairs or stones and other things on the right foot is still upright in the ground. Standing from the environment can, seats and other conditions, but the standing room only occasionally used for practicing, the show is generally not used in this posture.
Whether flat leg, rack, or stand-legged, Qintong plane should be placed in the left leg near the abdomen where the skin front end slightly skewed to the right, the piano should remain basically stable. For ease of transport means, piano bar can be tilted slightly to the left front, but not too much, or crooked to keep on doing jolts.
Bowed upper body to naturally relax, left shoulder should maintain a basic balance, the head should be upright, have facial expressions, body feelings and play music according to need to make a slight rhythmic swing, but must not be exaggerated, too, to make kind Gongyao hump, head wagging gesture. Or looked too tight, causing shrugging grin, head skew is not a natural phenomenon.
Maintenance knowledge
Zhonghu
Should be taken to avoid direct sunlight to avoid deformation and cracking of wood; in the north should be avoided near heating equipment, Qin He put back inside after use; every year in June in the southern zone or elsewhere continuous wet rainy season should be within the Qinhe put some “camphor” so python and bows are moth-eaten; Hu, in order to achieve the longest life, we recommend using the strings to relax after that in Hu’s piano bar and python can often get a break, extended service life. Erhu pronunciation newly produced relatively noisy, and subject to a few months of use, in each of the bit repeatedly pull-outs, so that the tension Mangpi subjected to vibration gradually becomes uniform after the sound will mellow and soft, which is usually called the Hu run-in period, I often pull outs of the HU, the better the sound quality will be more pull, which is also the best maintenance methods.
Qin skin
Hu Qin skin is the one of the most important parts. Excellent piano leather medium thickness, uniformity; squamous cells arranged in neat rows, anyway lined, black block Nakai, the yellow block Yun points on both sides, clear boundaries; leather smooth, scaly edges do not tilt. But in Hu, piano very rare skin very unsatisfactory.
Leather toward the bright place, as viewed from Qintong, if the piano is very dark skin, almost impervious to light, the skin on the side of the piano so thick. Qin skin is too thick will affect the instrument sound vibration, the sound dark, made of wood, the volume is also smaller. At this point you can remove Qintong, stick with a flat head, the upper cladding layer of fine sandpaper, lightly moistened with water, into his Qintong in fiber from top to bottom along the python skin lightly sanding the back of the piano. Note edging candling, Wu Shi uniform thickness, moderate. After grinding to make wipe with a cloth dust, and then coated with a thin layer of vegetable oil swab can be.
Through optical inspection, if found piano skin is too thin, you can Qintong removed with a cotton swab dipped in hot wax onto the barrel piano into his skin back (pay attention to control the wax layer thickness). After coating and then the piano is facing a small fire to dry skin look flat moments, the wax layer divide evenly. During baking to keep moving Qintong, to avoid local over-heating and burn, such as wax layer is too thick, the available floor flat knife to gently scrape off, and then bake it; like wax layer thick enough, may be legally re- Tu.
New piano generally skin tight, so pronounce sharp and bright, like gaohu sound, this piano after a year or so of use, can make the skin gradually soft piano to an appropriate extent. To expedite this process, the available cotton swab into his barrel, back in the piano leather coat vegetable oil, and then the piano leather front pad a 3 cm square pieces of wood, and then in block 10-15 kg pressure applied by 12 hours after take off; if still tight, after one or two days and then pressed again, or you can not pull the complete piano after unloading Ma, given the string tall second degree, and so continue for one or two months. You can also put the piano flat on the table, with the thumbs dipped in vegetable oil, hard pressed wiping watery piano scales direction of skin cells, daily or twice until Qinpi Song moderately tight so far.
Long-term use, such as piano skin becomes too loose, so pronounce dull, can be moisture absorption agent (such as silica gel, fried salt, lime, etc.) plug in Qintong in, to a certain extent, restore skin elasticity piano. Usually lawin piano long bamboo sticks or pads to instantly remove Ma to put pressure on the skin to reduce the time the piano. If Qinpi Song playing soft to affect the degree of musical instrument or send it to a repair shop to re-skinning it.
Qintong, piano bar
Qin He appropriately adjusted according to the climate in the humidity, can be combined Qintong, piano bar without cracking or unglued, keeping erhu sound quality and stability. Humid weather, Qin He should put one in, two pack moisture absorption agent; weather is too dry, it can be an appropriate amount of water with a sponge wrapped in plastic film, and then the needle out some small holes, placed Qinhe in order to increase the humidity. In dry areas, can often Qintong and piano bar coated with a thin layer of vegetable oil to prevent cracks.
If the HU volume is small, the sound can be wire saw sawn middle part of the window, leaving only the width of 1.5 mm close Qintong a Sphere. This allows the volume has increased, without affecting the appearance.
In addition, each used in Hu finished, the application soft cloth Qintong and piano bar clean rosin powder, into Qin He or slipcover in (do not hang on the wall). In the cold winter, get the piano into the room from the outside, do not immediately open the Qin He, to wait 20-30 minutes before opening to prevent condensation on the piano body layer of small droplets.
Qin Ma
Markets are generally semi-finished piano horse, you need to be able to properly use the rear trim. Dressing according to the following steps:
1, the cutting height. The top and bottom of the bridge alternating with fine sandpaper, to make a small hole is always in the center position, grinding to a height suitable so far.
2, the entire hole. If the erhu to pronounce itself quite dull, small round file will be used to expand some of Macon. More pointed as the erhu to pronounce itself on, you should select Bottom macroporous small piano horse.
3, grinding bottom. In fine sandpaper dozen layers underneath cloth, and then put on the underside of the bridge on the ground into a convex shape sandpaper to make it better in close contact with the leather.
4, open string slot. The piano horse mounted on the erhu, and adjusted to the appropriate chord distance, and then hand press down on Ma steel strings, so the piano immediately leave two indentation, then remove with a knife to carve two “V” shaped chord slot.
5, location. Carefully view Chaqin Ma put the higher side as the inner string side, and a small dot point pen (marker). In the future use, there is always fixed at the side dots within chord side.
Control pad
The best selection of thick woolen coat, cut growth 6 cm wide and 3.5 centimeters long box, folded into two sub-pad at the bottom of the horse. If the bridge is high, the control is not the thickness of the pad, it can be cut one or two strip, sandwiched between two layers in the upper position, making the thickness of the thin shape. Can be moved up and down to adjust to that instrument does not affect the normal vibration, and can effectively control the wolf sound better. Such as the use foam, sponge and other objects for the control pad, can also play a role, but is less effective.
Jin
Jin is easily overlooked but very important parts of a lot of running erhu sound too simple reason is that extremely heavy. Beijing Folk Instruments developed using brass hooks fixed jin, can effectively prevent performance due to extremely heavy sound caused by the movement of the run, while having the flexibility to adjust the height and width. When used in extremely heavy strings hook cushion pad a little, such as small rubber etc., so that not only beautify the sound quality, but also to prevent worn leather strings. In the majority of the erhu enthusiasts still commonly used wound jin, when the first cut in a wound 0.5 cm wide sticky tape around the piano bar one week, and then the cable wound on the tape extremely heavy. Note first perimeter in the piano bar, and then go on the string around five laps, and finally in the piano bar perimeter and cut after I knotted cord. This winding method can avoid moving around jin arising out of tune.
Pegs
Hu pegs in the mechanical axis and the wooden shaft of two kinds. Mechanical axis was divided worm and screw-type two kinds, their own merits. For Worm pegs, when changing strings in each chord from around the wheel at the drops of oil, and turn the shank weeks, this can prevent the gear partially repeated stress and wear. If the screw-in pegs, should loosen the strings pulled for the amount of oil onto the screw on top. Do not pull every chord same tightness can be tight sometimes more, sometimes loose and let the screw on the screw buckle alternating force, to avoid localized wear. If you often loose wooden shaft, the shaft hole sprinkle some rosin powder, this will ensure the necessary friction; if too tight, some talcum powder to be thrown into the shaft holes can rotate freely.
Bows
If the bow rod bend discomfort, a prolapse of the bow hair, bow rod will rotate the top side in the absence of Yanyan baking, be sure to make the heat Yun uniform, and can not be burned. When soft bamboo qualitative change when the shape can be bent to fit. After bending immediately cooled with cold water to make stereotypes.
Found to have broken the bow hair when not hand Chequ, but rather use small scissors cut Siegen. Because the other hand pull the bow hair is easy to bring, so that tightness; if uprooted, but also make the knot loose, causing the bow hair gradually emerge. If a few bow Maotai Song, could not bear to cut, use a lighted cigarette smoked about it tightened. But be careful not to rely on the bow hair butts too close to avoid burnout.
“Octave” instruments
“Octave” National Instrument List
Chinese folk music culture has a long history in the long history, the development of a series of rich distinctive ethnic characteristics of the instruments, some material is formed in accordance with the classification of musical instrument, called the “octave” for the gold, stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, earth, leather, wood.
