![]() The erhu is played by moving the bow horizontally over the two vertical strings, with the sound produced by the vibration of the strings. An erhu player usually sits with the instrument on his or her left upper thigh in front of the left hip. Traditionally the two strings are made of silk, but metallic strings are more popular now. The erhu bow is placed between its two strings called the inner and outer strings. This resonator, made of either wood or bamboo, is covered with a piece of stretched python skin. ![]() There is a vertical post with a fingerboard that crosses the sides of a resonator at its base. Hailed as a Chinese violin, the erhu is quite different from a western fiddle. Producing one of the most beautiful and haunting sounds in Chinese music, the erhu is one of the most popular Chinese bowed-string instruments with a history of more than 1,000 years. Like modern music instruments, traditional Chinese instruments are generally grouped according to the way they are played: bowed strings, plucked strings, woodwinds and percussion. Traditional Chinese musical instruments were classified into eight groups according to their materials: bronze, stone, silk and bamboo, gourd, earthenware, hide and wood, many of which have been lost or are obsolete today. However, it was during the Song Dynasty that Chinese music reached its maturity. The Tang dynasty saw the first wave of musical influence from Central Asia, which was a very important epoch in the evolution of Chinese music. It reached one of its greatest peaks during the Zhou Dynasty, featuring a great abundance of percussion instruments, and several wind instruments, but only a few zither-type string instruments.Īll the bowed string instruments and most of the plucked string instruments first came to China from Central Asia after the Han dynasty. During the Shang Dynasty, music had already been an important element in traditional ritualistic ceremonies, such as during a traditional Chinese funeral procession. According to recent archaeological findings, ancient Chinese music was much more developed and sophisticated than is generally believed.
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