Open Strings of Huqin

Almost every huqin only 2 strings, one inner, one outer. And for Erhu(Terra), the inner string is D4 or d¹ and the outer string is A4 or a¹. For Gaohu(Terrin), the outer string is G4 or g¹ , the inner string is D5 or d². For Zhonghu(Terron), the open strings are one octave lower then Terrin’s, they are G3 or g(outer) and D4 or d¹(inner).

So, generally, the pairs of open strings of huqin are as follow:
Erhu       (Terra): DA - exactly the same D with Terron
Gaohu   (Terrin):GD
Zhonghu(Terron):GD - 1octave lower than Terrin.

Erhu(Terra)

 Gaohu(Terrin)

Zhonghu(Terron)

The Bridge

The bridge acts as a sound wave conductor on Erhu. It transmits the vibration from the string to the vibrating skin. The efficiency of wave transmitting plays an important role in determining the quality of the sound produced, whereas the types and structures of the bridge determine the tone colour of the sound.

Generally there are two types of bridge, that's the white one and the black one. The difference between them is that the black one is fried by using boiling oil but the white one isn't. The sounds produce by two of them are also different, black one's softer and more delicate, while the white one's louder and rougher.

Here's the pictures of the black and the white bridges.

Besides, there are still other types of bridges for Erhu which don't look similar to this, I will share them on this blog some other day. Cheers~

The Vibrating Skin

The vibrating skin plays a very important role in producing erhu sound. Its quality and the skill of the Erhu maker determine the quality and the characteristic of the sound.

Most of huqin's vibrating skin is made of Python skin. How to differentiate a good skin from a bad one? Despite of just using words to explain, I would like to show you 4 pictures of the snake skin.

This one looks tidy, smooth and the sizes of every piece of scale are almost even, and it shows certain degree of yellowness. Such properties shows that the skin is mature and quite good for Erhu making.

This one looks a bit messy, rough, slightly worn, the scales are uneven and small (from small snake), and its colour is dull. Such skin is bad.

This one.... well, just look at it, it has wrinkles and the colour is dark, this shows that it's from an old Python. Some players like it as the sound is much sadder or deeper(not in terms of pitch) than the young python skin. And most of them are more expensive. For me, I prefer mature but not old one.

This one looks ugly and almost distorted. So, bad skin it is.















Although the original vibrating skin of huqin is made of Python skin, but due to the protest of environmentalists and law enforcement, more and more artificial vibrating skins for Erhu begins to emerge on the market. The photo below shows the artificial vibrating skin, design and manufactured by Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra Research and Development Department.

Usually the skin is made of some kind of plastic. The advantage is that it's louder and eco-friendly....so called, I'm not sure, as it involves chemical process, which will normally leave some toxic residue. The disadvantage, is that the sound characteristic become so awkward that it's not Erhu sound anymore.











So... the arguments continue among the professionals. In my opinion, Erhu should stay what it is, because that's what makes it an Erhu. Otherwise, let's call the evolved Erhu as Terra! Haha!

Erhu Strings

Obviously, there're only two strings on Erhu. One thicker, one thinner, yes.....

D string's diameter is usually around 0.44mm and
A string's is usually around 0.26mm

Different brands of Erhu strings sound slightly different from each other, and of course the quality differs from each other.

The brand I like to use is Dun Huang's Ming Ren Erhu strings, they sound louder, smoother and easy to control, and the vibration is stable.

They look like this:

Players and soloist choose the strings according to their preference, some like big sound, some like clean sound, some like sharp sound, and etc. Therefore, there's no saying that which strings are the best, whichever strings are the best if the player can present the characteristic of the strings to the fullest.

Usually the lifespan of a set of Erhu strings lasts for about 2 months. Then someone will ask: How will they die, or, how do you know they are flawed? Well, when they are flawed, the interval of the strings, which is supposed to be Perfect 5th, will not be accurate anymore when going down the lower position. For professional performers, it's very annoying. But, if you're not a professional player and not feeling uneasy with that, then you might as well use them until they literally break. But for an Chinese orchestra, I really do urge the members to change the strings for every 2-3 months to ensure better quality of practising and listening.

To protect the strings from rusting, that's almost impossible, unless it's stainless steel. Therefore, every huqin player should prepare a multi-purpose cloth to clean the strings everyday and every once in a while when practising in order to preserve them.

I guess that's all what about Erhu strings I could think of to share with all the Erhu players, hope it's useful. Cheers~ :)

Get A Glimpse of Huqin

Huqin is a family of string instruments of Chinese traditional instrumental music. In a typical Chinese orchestra, string instruments usually are the Erhu(Terra), Gaohu(Terrin) and Zhonghu(Terron). Those three types of huqins serve 3 different ranges of pitches, like how violin and viola did in a symphony orchestra, but in huqin, they separate into three ranges.

To start knowing huqin, I would like to introduce Erhu(Terra) first before the other two.

Erhu(Terra) looks like this.

It has only two strings, inner and outer. The bow(horse tail) is placed between the strings. The Qianjin(waxed woolen thread) resembles the neck of violin, it acts as the starting point and limiter of the open string length. There's a small bridge on the vibrating skin (Python's skin) called..... bridge, it serves the same purpose as in violin. And the body of the Erhu, usually a hexagon one-end-closed tube, is the resonance box.

The process of making it sound is generally like this:
1. The bow(horse tail) with rosins on rubs the string.
2. String vibrates and the vibration is transmitted to the bridge.
3. The bridge vibrates, and the vibration spreads across the surface of the vibrating skin.
4. The skin vibrates, it resonates the air in the resonance box.
5. The resonance box concentrates and amplifies the sound, and then directs it out of the window,hence the sound is produced.

《步步惊心》片尾曲 《三寸天堂》 二胡清奏- 3-inch Heaven - Erhu Solo (unaccompanied)

Please enjoy~ and thank you for viewing, I'm still improving my skills. :)

A Home to Huqin Lovers~

Testing testing, ah haha~