Marianne's Blog (^ ^): 17 September 2012 (Day 12):

I always thought that Beethoven’s famous melodies, such as the 5^th and 9^th symphony, were impressive. By knowing which piano keys to press, he could create such amazing tunes (even when he turned completely deaf).

However, today I found something equally musical but more amazing. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present… the erhu!

It is a string instrument with only 2 strings. However, when played with a bow and the skill of a professional, it can produce beautiful melodies, though of more oriental taste.

This was the instrument that was shown to us during today’s IS (Interdisciplinary Studies) lesson on Chinese Folk Music. The professional who came to teach the module for today even played some classic songs on the erhu. I’m afraid I don’t know what all the songs were but the only one that I recognized the tune to was “Yue liang dai biao wo de xin” (The moon represents my heart).

The professional playing the erhu

For someone as un-musically inclined as me, I was astounded to see the professional play the songs by ear (whereas I’d probably need a music sheet and about 20 years before I’d be able to play it right). At one point while he was playing another song, he promptly switched to strumming the erhu with his fingers so as to play the more staccato beats (in music lingo, that means short and separate notes).

After his demonstration was over, the professional allowed us to try and play the erhu.

The bow is connected to the erhu as the bow hair is placed in between the inner and outer string of the instrument. Different notes can be played by sliding the bow left and right (on either the inner or outer string) while changing the number and position of your fingers on the strings at the nut.

Parts of an erhu

When we watched the professional play, the bow seemed to glide as smooth as silk across the strings. However, when we tried, it wasn’t smooth at all. There is some friction between the strings and bow hair, and the music we produced didn’t sound like his (at all). Still, it was fun to take pictures with the instruments.