The Erhu

The Erhu is one of China's most important instruments. It has a history of over 4000 years. It is commonly referred to as the "Chinese Violin". While it is a stringed instrument, it and the western violin differ in many ways. It is not rested on the players' shoulders like a violin, but is played vertically, resting on the players' lap. There is no fingerboard; the musician's fingers must control the strings by only pressing on them. The bow is fixed between the two strings of the Erhu, and the hair of the bow must be pushed forwards or backwards to catch a string and make a sound. The Erhu has a wooden drum that sits in the musicians lap when played. This drum acts as a natural amplifier. Different positions and degrees of pressure on the strings drastically change the pitch, making intonation a major challenge for this instrument.

Here is a video with simple explanations of the Erhu.

Many people recognize the Erhu as being a "sad sounding" instrument, and while this can certainly be accurate in some cases...

...there is definitely more to this instrument than just the typical "whining" sound. The following video is a very famous Erhu solo song called "Horse Racing". It is based off of a Mongolian folk song, and has become one of the most famous pieces of the Erhu. The first video is a tutorial of how to play this certain song. The instructor, Nicole Li, wanted to make the video in celebration of the Chinese New Year for the year of the Horse. She plays at different tempos, and at the end she plays at the speed at which it would normally be preformed.

The next video is of the same song, but the Erhu player (Zhu Changyao) is playing with an ensemble. There are several Pipas, Guzhengs, and other Erhus as well. I just really love how expressive the Erhu players are with their bodies when they are playing. You can tell they're enjoying themselves and really trying to convey a message with their audience.

 My last video is something I just stumbled upon but I'm so glad I did So in my search for Erhu music I found the song "Oogway Ascends" coming up quite a lot, and I decided to listen to it after it popping up about 5 times. I don't know why it took me so long to figure out what it was, but it's a song from Kung Fu Panda. (!!!) I might be the only person in this class (school, county, state..) who cares about Kung Fu Panda (because it just brings back memories with my family), but I got really excited and I think it's super cool that I know what instrument is playing and how it's done and everything. It's apparently a pretty common piece to just play by yourself or in an orchestra with an Erhu, so here's a video of that. (The girl in the red dress on the left has the Erhu)

Sources:
http://www.shenyunperformingarts.org/learn/article/read/item/94I3V_FwFbM/chinese-music-instruments-erhu-violin.html
http://chinablog.cc/2009/03/horse-racing-on-the-two-strings-of-erhu/