Traditional Erhu Music

The Erhu is a Chinese two-string fiddle and is a profoundly delicate and poignant instrument that is difficult to learn how to play. In the hands of a beginner, the Ehru's rueful lament fractures the nerves.

The permanently inserted bow that is in between the two silk strings yields a three and a half octave range with the inside string tuned to D4 and the outside string at A4. The bow hair is in constant contact in between the two strings, which are very close to each other. In modern Erhus, the silk strings are now steel, and have to posses a State Forestry Administration certificate establishing that the soundbox is made from farm-raised pythons - not wild.

Play the music video below of a maestro playing the traditional classical bowed fiddle at the Chinese Cultural Plaza located in Chinatown Honolulu, Hawaii. The accomplished Erhu player holds the vertical two-stringed fiddle in between his knees while sitting down.

The Erhu is a exceedingly demanding instrument with an extensive span of eloquence, able to produce rich intrepid warmth. Although the erhu is a moving instrument, in the hands of an unschooled novice, its rueful groans are harrowing, as if scraping a dead cat's tail across an old rusty band saw.

The name Erhu is derived from 'er', meaning 'two' and 'hu', meaning 'huqin' or 'barbarian instrument.' The erhu consists of a long vertical stick-like neck that is sometimes made from the seasoned wood of old furniture.

White horse hair is used for the Erhu bamboo bow because black hair is unduly rough. The bow rosin used is the equivalent to the hard dry amber grade used for violin bows. A superior sound is produced with heavy bowing and therefore a dampened wooden bridge is necessary because the hard bowing is not only loud, peculiar inflections called a 'wolf tone.' The felt placed below the bridge is a wolf-eliminator, enhancing the tonal balance.

A wolf tone is a disconcerting warbling tone resulting from resonance peaks of the fundamental frequencies which 'breaks' up the intonation into a forlorn shuddering sound. If not enough dampening is used then sometimes a wolf eliminator creates two wolf tones that have split into two notes if a bigger resonant peak hid the secondary wolf. One large peak becomes two, with a huge hole in the middle and can be visualized with a Fast Fourier Transformation analyzer program. A frequency spectrogram is a three dimensional chart as time goes on. In Windows Media Player under the View drop down menu, the visualizations operate on a similar principle.