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| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner |
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| Hello all ! | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Tue Jul 3rd, 2007 04:37 pm |
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1st Post |
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nico9394 Approved
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Hello all. I stumbled on this erhu forum today while I was looking for solutions to fix my cracked erhu. I was out late the night before  and I forgot to get it out of my trunk. Went to work Monday, car left in outdoor parking lot....... I guess I can try some crazy glue  I am an erhu student, learning from a teacher from China. (now we are in Los Angeles) I am not a master, no where near that. Since I can read Chinese, I learned a lot from online resources, along with some music theory I went thru while I was playing the piano, so I probably have all the answers to any erhu questions from a newbie. Erhu to me is the most expressive instrument, you have full contorl of the tones. While some said the Erhu is most similiar to the violin, erhu offers 2 less strings, and a few more way to vibrato. Compare to the violin, you don't need to move the arm up and down to play on a different string, selecting strings to play on erhu is a little easier and this allows you to concentrate more on producing the right tone/mood/feeling you are looking for. Vibrato : most string instruments, whether is a violin, cello or a guitar, comes with a black wooden board below the strings. To play a note you hold your finger down until the string touches this wooden board. Vibrato is done thru moving the finger tip back and forth while holding down the string. In simple physics, you are varying the LENGTH of the string for the vibrato effect. For the Erhu, not only you can apply the same technique, there's one more way to vibrato. Since there is no backing wooden board behind the strings, vibrato can also be achieved by varying the pressure applied thru your finger tip. In simple physics, you are varying the TENSION on the string for the vibrato effect. The 2 ways of vibrato on a erhu provides different tones. If you are lucky enough to have an erhu sitting around and haven't experience the differences yet, try it now. Oh wait, we are not done yet. Now you know you have the LENGTH and TENSION to play with, how about a combination of them ? press hard while cycling your finger fast, press light while cycling you finger slow, or ANY combination thereof in between. Just my 2 cents. Have a great time playing ! Last edited on Tue Jul 3rd, 2007 04:48 pm by nico9394 |
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| Posted: Tue Jul 3rd, 2007 06:17 pm |
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2nd Post |
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banjo brad Super Moderator 
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Nico- Welcome to ezFolk! You will find several knowledgable players, and a few beginners, here. I don't play urdu, but I do play fiddle, so I will ask a question that I hope isn't taken the wrong way. How do you play a "chunk" on the urdu? Or can you? (A "chunk" is the sound obtained by bouncing the bow quickly on one or two strings of the fiddle along with a very short bow-pull. It is used extensively as a rythmn device in Blue Grass music.) Brad There's no vibrato in Old Time fiddle! Last edited on Tue Jul 3rd, 2007 06:18 pm by banjo brad ____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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| Posted: Tue Jul 3rd, 2007 07:36 pm |
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3rd Post |
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nico9394 Approved
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I don't know what a urdu is. But if you were referring to the Erhu, here it goes : The hair of the bow goes between the 2 strings so obviously the bow cannot bounce perpendicularly up or away from the string like a violin. A similiar effect on erhu can be achieved by lifting the bow higher up. Sometimes the "hand end" is lifted, or the "tip end" can be tilted up as well. You can see this in action from this youtube video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjU-ig95TGs Pay attention to the bow's position around 37 - 40 second into the clip. I also forgot to mention to weakness of the erhu when compared to violin. You cannot play the 2 strings together. (A more politically correct way should read : No one has ever discoverd how to properly play the 2 strings together and make it sound good, yet, even after 2,000 years + of use by millions of people). Another point taken off from erhu on this match comes from the left hand movement. Since there are only 2 stings on the erhu, the left hand needs to move up and down into different playing positions a lot. On a violin you can reach 2+ octaves with your left hand remaining at the root position. Now imagine how much your hand needs to travel if you play a violin with the G and E string taken away. (assuming your are playing a piece that doesn't get below your D string)
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| Posted: Tue Jul 3rd, 2007 08:54 pm |
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4th Post |
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Clyde Approved 
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God Bless Attachment: Gaohu and Erhu sound box III.jpg (Downloaded 44 times) Last edited on Thu Jul 10th, 2008 07:25 am by Clyde |
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| Posted: Tue Jul 3rd, 2007 10:13 pm |
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5th Post |
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nico9394 Approved
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Thanks Clyde for the clarification. For every violin, there are 3 erhus. Clyde mentioned GaoHu, which typicaly is tuned to the same pitch as the right 2 strings of a violin (A/E). The ErHu tunes to the middle 2 strings of a violin (D/A). There is a ChongHu, and a special edition of ErHu called the "2 springs ErHu" which are tuned to the left 2 strings of a violin (G/D). If someone ask me which one is a better all-around instrument, my answer would be the violin. Which one do I like better ? The ErHu.
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| Posted: Wed Jul 4th, 2007 12:09 am |
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6th Post |
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nico9394 Approved
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Just an added note. For the GaoHu, since the notes are so high pitched people actually put the sound box of GaoHu in between their thighs to cut down some noise.
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| Posted: Wed Jul 4th, 2007 01:36 am |
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7th Post |
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banjo brad Super Moderator
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"I don't know what a urdu is. But if you were referring to the Erhu," That's what I get for doing crossword puzzles and not double-checking posts I'm replying to!  Urdu is a language, I think, spoken by Hindi (but, since I haven't double-checked, I may be wrong). I didn't think you could get a good Bluegrass chunk on the erdu (there! Did I atone for my gaff?). There was a clip on youtube somewhere with a band of 12 girls playing a bunch of different asian instruments. It was very interesting. I think it was refered to as chinese instruments, but it looked like at least 2 Japanese instruments were included. Any rate, very interesting, but not what I expect to hear when I listen to these instruments. Thanks for the info. Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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| Posted: Fri Aug 10th, 2007 10:00 pm |
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8th Post |
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kenichi Approved 
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Brad, The Band is called Twelve Girls Band. They are very amazing. 5 of the twelve play erhu. then you have 3 pipa (Chinese mandolin) players, 2 dizi (chinese flute)\ hulusi (im thinking its somewhat like a Chinese clarinet), two yangqin players (something like a Chinese xylophone except with strings instead of strips of metal) and a guzheng [Koto in Japanese] which is a Chinese harp. They are very talented and there music is highly addictive. They give you a great example of what traditional Chinese music is like. I picked up the erhu because of them to  -Just though you or any one else might be interested
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