The History and Playing Skills of Erhu

1. A Brief History of Erhu Development

Erhu is one of the ancient national stringed instruments in China. The earliest record of erhu was in Song Dynasty, and it was called Huqin or Nanhu Lake. Shen Kuo's "Meng Qian Bi Tan" said that "the ponytail huqin follows the Chinese car." This is the earliest written record about Hu Qin. According to historical records, the predecessor of Erhu may be "Western Qin" (Ji Qin). In the northern part of Xi in the Tang Dynasty, people used bamboo pieces rubbed between two strings to pronounce. 1 1 century, Le Shu, a music theory work in the Song Dynasty, recorded a story about Xiqin: Xiqin was originally a musical instrument, but it was similar in shape because of its strings. Xibu's favorite music is well-made and made of bamboo, which has been used by the people so far. There is a passage about Hu Qin in the Book of Rites of Yuanqu, which says, "If you don't think, you have a bow, and the bowstring has a ponytail." In the Ming Dynasty, You Qiuzi's "Autumn Banquet in Tanglin" painted a huqin, which is very similar to the current erhu, that is, the dragon head curled its neck, the second string tied with a ponytail, and there were thousands of pounds tied together.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, all plucked instruments from the north or northwest were called Qin. Furthermore, many musical instruments in the Spring and Autumn Period have no specific names, and they are collectively called Qin. Then why did you add the word "Hu" to the Qin Dynasty? According to legend, people south of the Yellow River call northerners conference semifinals. This stringed instrument comes from the north and is considered to be made by the Hu people, so it is called the Huqin. Why is it also called erhu? Because it is played with two strings, it is also called erhu.

Erhu was widely circulated among the people in Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the past hundred years, many folk artists in China (such as blind A Bing) have been constantly improving and innovating in their performances (bag making), which is not what it used to be, and has made a big step forward. In particular, the master Mr. Liu Tianhua's bold improvement and innovation on erhu raised the playing level of erhu to a new level. Liu Tianhua's top ten famous songs are still playing for a long time, which is a compulsory teaching material for erhu in art colleges.

At present, erhu is mostly made in a half-moon shape without "winding the tap", and the * * * sound box has various forms such as hexagon and octagon. The barrel is covered with python skin, and the barrel is equipped with a piano rod. There are two wooden stilts at the top of the pole. Pull the strings out from the bottom of the piano, draw the bow with bamboo and put the ponytail between the two strings. When playing, the left hand presses the string and the right hand pulls the bow. Sometimes it is useful to set the tune at four degrees in order to show local characteristics. Since 1950s, many people have improved the erhu, such as changing the silk string into steel string, using mechanical shaft, and changing the two strings into three strings called Sanhu (not widely used). Four strings are used to call Hu Si. Professor Yang Yusen, the former "Northeast Music Expert", improved the "Hu Da" used by the national orchestra as a bass instrument accompaniment in the national music ensemble. There is also a alto erhu (five degrees lower than erhu) specially made for playing "Er Quan", which is beautifully made and rich in timbre, and is very popular in erhu circles.

At present, many middle and higher art colleges have erhu majors to train professional performers. Many composers didn't write a solo for erhu, but became enduring songs in various concerts, such as Horse Racing, Rivers and Lakes, Mountain Village Changed, Newly Married, New Pastoral and Random Thoughts on the Great Wall. Erhu is not only famous in China, but also very popular abroad. Erhu is indispensable to all kinds of literary and art groups, troupes, performance teams of enterprises and institutions, especially the bands of Chinese troupes. It is really a situation that "without this delicacy, you can't make eight bowls".

Erhu, a national bowstring instrument, is a beautiful, vigorous, cheerful and melancholy sound made by erhu players' fingers with the joint efforts of colleagues and people. This wonderful sound will haunt people's minds forever, and the erhu will be handed down from generation to generation.

2. Basic playing methods of erhu

The basic playing methods of erhu can be roughly divided into left-handed method and right-handed method, namely fingering and bow method. The correct playing method of erhu usually conforms to the following two principles: to conform to the laws of human physiological movement to the greatest extent and to improve the energy conversion rate as much as possible (that is, to play the best effect with the least energy consumption). Now I will briefly introduce the basic playing methods of erhu as follows:

First, sitting posture

The height of the chair depends on the height of the legs and the landing of the feet. When sitting in a chair, you can only sit on two-thirds of the chair surface. Don't sit on the chair surface or lean back. Legs should be shoulder width; Your feet should be flat on the ground, and the distance between your left and right feet should be half a foot. Generally, the left foot is in front and the right foot is in the back. To stand upright, you must keep your upper body upright naturally and relax your shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles naturally. Don't develop bad habits such as hunchback, sloping shoulders, leaning over and bowing your head.

Second, hold the bow.

The right hand is relaxed and bent into a semi-clenched fist shape, the arch root is placed at the third joint of the index finger, and the index finger is naturally bent and lightly supported on the arch bar. Press the thumb with the finger surface slightly to the left above the arch near the third joint of the index finger. The middle finger and the ring finger extend between the arch shaft and the arch hair. When playing the outer string, the bow rod is controlled by three stress points: the third joint of the index finger is upward, the thumb is downward, and the first joint of the middle finger is outward later, so that the bow hair rubs against the outer string to make a sound. When playing the inner string, the third joint of the index finger is upward, the thumb is downward as the support point to control the bow rod, and the finger surfaces of the middle finger and the ring finger hook the bow hair inward as the force point, so that the bow hair rubs against the inner string to make a sound.

Third, hold the piano and press the strings.

The barrel of erhu should be placed on the left leg near the lower abdomen, with the stem upright and slightly leaning forward; The left arm is naturally bent, and the elbow should not be excessively raised; The wrist protrudes slightly, the piano rod is put into the tiger's mouth, and the fingers naturally bend into a semi-clenched fist shape, touching the strings at the intersection of the fingertip and the finger surface. When playing grip, the left hand should be close to the handle, and the root of the index finger should be in contact with the handle, which is of great benefit to cultivating the concept of grip. When fingers press strings, all joints should bend naturally, and no finger joints are allowed to bend backwards, but excessive forward bending is also unscientific. Finger bending must be based on the principles of nature and relaxation. When playing, the thumb should be relaxed, flat or slightly tilted, and it is not allowed to bend over to hook the piano bar. Finger movements should be based on the movements of the metacarpophalangeal joints of the left hand, supplemented by the movements of the palm. In particular, the rapid shiatsu action needs to rely on the flexibility and agility of metacarpophalangeal joints. Finger touching strings should be elastic "striking" strings, not rigid "pressing" strings.

Fourth, longbow

When pulling the bow, the right wrist should protrude slightly outward, showing an "extended state", and pull it to the right with the wrist as the starting point. It should be noted that the big arm should not be stretched out too early, so that the elbow is excessively raised, resulting in a bad tendency of "raising the big arm". In addition, when pulling the bow, don't move your right arm to the rear right, so that the bow is drawn into an arc. When pushing the bow, take the recovery of the big arm as the starting point to drive the small arm to the left. At this point, the wrist should be in a "flexion state". When the big arm is finished, the small arm continues to push to the left; After the forearm is closed, the hand should push the bow a few centimeters, so that the wrist can be converted to the "intermediate state" again, so as to start the next bow pulling action.

Fifth, change strings

String changing is divided into slow (including medium speed) and fast string changing. Fast string changing is divided into forward string changing and reverse string changing, and their actions are different. When changing strings slowly, generally speaking, we should try to give priority to the movements of the middle finger and ring finger of the right hand, supplemented by the movements of the arms. In the process of changing strings, bow hair is usually required to "lean" on the strings instead of "bump" on them. In addition, attention should be paid to maintaining the balance of the running speed of the bow, and the bow speed should not be changed suddenly because of changing strings. Because of the high speed, if the strings are changed by the active movement of the middle finger and the ring finger, the fingers will not be very long and will not be even because of the heavy burden. Therefore, the finger movement of changing strings quickly is actually driven by other parts of the right hand. There are two kinds of fast string changing: forward and backward. Pulling the inner string first and then pushing the outer string is called positive string change. In the fast string changing forward, the finger movement is driven by the wrist. Therefore, the wrist movements should be relatively active and flexible. The rapid string change of pulling the outer string first and then pushing the inner string is called reverse string change. In the reverse fast string changing, the bow changing action is driven by the arm.

Sixth, divide the bow

Split bow usually refers to a bow method in which each bow plays a quarter note or an eighth note at a medium speed, usually with a middle bow. Because the performance of one tone and one bow brings frequent bow changing, the bow changing technology plays an important role in the bow dividing. The combination of splitting bows is ever-changing. The duration of bow pulling and pushing is often different, and the length of bow lifting is bound to be different, but the pronunciation is required to be the same. This requires adjusting the "pressing speed ratio" between bows and chords to do this.

Seven, even the bow

The bow method of playing two or more notes with one bow is called Lian Gong. The combination of Lian Gong is ever-changing, the duration of each note in Lian Gong is often different, and the change of strength makes the performance of Lian Gong very complicated. However, there are several principles that can help us make a good connection bow: 1, and the distribution of bow segments is reasonable. 2. The connecting bow with many notes in one bow and one longbow, like the longbow, is also restricted by the lever function of the bow, so this factor should also be taken into account when playing this connecting bow to achieve the balance of sound quality. 3. The bow should be gentle and even, and the right hand should act independently, and it should not be bound by the finger-changing action of the left hand, especially it should not be used to beat the time on the distribution unit. Generally speaking, when changing the bow, try to reduce the traces.

Eight, quick bow

When pulling the fast bow, the hands and elbows should swing evenly in opposite directions at the same time, that is, when pulling the bow, the hands are right and the elbows are left; When pushing the bow, the hand moves to the left, but the elbow moves to the right. The axis of their movement is in the middle of the forearm. Its arm action is similar to "fan to door leaf". If you change your right hand to a fish head and your elbow to a fish tail, it is more appropriate to describe the quick bow with "shaking your head and wagging your tail". In sports, the wrist only plays the role of adjusting strength, so that the action of fast bow will not be stiff. So, don't be nervous and don't be too relaxed. The strictness of fast bow is much greater than that of long bow and open bow, which needs to be maintained all the time. In other words, when changing bows, the bow hair should also be close to the strings, and each bow should have a "honk" sound head, so that the fast bow can have particles.

Nine, quiver bow

Thriller bow is essentially similar to fast bow in playing style, which also puts the "axis" of action in the middle of forearm, so that elbow and wrist become balanced ends; With the slight tension and trembling of the big arm, the elbow is shaken, and the wrist and fingers naturally drive the bow to move quickly left and right through the action of the "axis". It is very important to play the quiver bow well, that is, the big arm should be slightly nervous to support the small arm; But we must pay attention to control the appropriate tension of the boom. Being too nervous will make the pronunciation stiff and not last long. Too loose will make the trill difficult to control and the pronunciation vague. The parts below the forearm should be relatively relaxed, so as to tighten (referring to the forearm) and relax (referring to the forearm, wrist and fingers).

Ten, bow

When pulling the bow with the outer string, the right hand turns slightly and agilely to the left (the direction of loosening the screw), so that the thumb exerts force on the bow rod, and at the same time, the middle point pushes the bow rod outward, so that the bow hair sticks to the outer string and makes a sound in coordination with the short pulling and short pushing of the bow; When making a sound, the bow should stop moving immediately, and the right hand should be relaxed, so that the bow hair floats on the string (does not leave the string), and the sound stops abruptly, completing a bow bending action of the outer string. When pulling the bow with the inner string, use the middle finger and ring finger of the right hand to elastically "hook" the bow hair inward to make it stick to the inner string, and at the same time, make a sound with the short pull and short push of the bow; At the moment of making a sound, the bow immediately stops, the middle finger and the ring finger relax, so that the bow hair floats on the string, and the sound stops abruptly, thus completing a bow-pulling action of the inner string. When pulling the bow and changing strings, the bow should always run straight, relying entirely on the agile movements of fingers to change the direction of the bow hair, rather than shaking the bow back and forth or pointing the bow head up and down to help change strings.