#Chinese two stringed instrument skin#

A popular instrument in solo and ensemble music, erhu’s expressive sound resembles the human voice.

Since 1960s, the strings are made of steel, learning from the violin and replacing the silk strings from the ancient time. The bow is made of bamboo stick and horse hair. The folk versions vary in the shapes and materials of the sound boxes.

But most players still prefer the sound of the snakeskin.

#Chinese two stringed instrument skin#

In recent years, synthetic skin has been developed. The erhu is usually made of ebony, sandalwood or rosewood, with a snakeskin resonator. The player places the fingers on the strings without pressing them against the wood neck, giving the flexibility to apply different degrees of pressure on the strings to alter the tone. Its two strings are tuned to a fifth, with the bow placed between them. The erhu is played while held on the lap. Only in the last century, it started to be called erhu. The erhu known today was the version popular in southern China and used to be called nanhu (nan=south). At the same time, various variations of the instrument started to develop to accompany different styles of reginal operas: banhu 板胡 in Qin Qiang 秦腔 jinghu 京胡 in Beijing opera zhuihu 墜胡 in Henan opera gaohu 高胡 in Cantonese opera sihu 四胡（4-strings) in Mongolian narrative singing…etc. In Ming (1368-1644 A.D.) and Qing (1636-1911 A.D.) dynasties, huqin became the lead instrument in the orchestras of Chinese operas and a popular instrument in small ensembles. Therefore, Sheng played the entire song with only one string. One string suddenly broke before he even started. For example, Shenkuo 沈括 wrote in his book: Court musician Xuyan 徐衍 was ordered to play the xiqin to entertain the guests at the court. X iqin was also still a common name for bowed instruments. Huqin = musical instrument of the hu people, referring to the origin of the instrumentĮr = two, stating that the instrument has two strings Hu = people lived in the north and west of China

It is believed to be the precursor of the erhu. Xiqin 奚琴 was the first bowed instrument mentioned in Chinese literature in Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). Originated in Central Asia and introduced to China more than one thousand years ago, the erhu 二胡 belongs to the large family of stick fiddles that are found in many countries.