Erhu Sheet Music

[3inOne]

Hey, everyone! I'm new here and I hope to get along with everyone!
I've been interested in learning to play the erhu for a while now, but I have noticed that sheet music for songs other than traditional Chinese music are hard to come by (at least for the songs I would eventually like to play). So, I've got a couple of questions! 

• Can you use violin sheet music to play or does it have to be transposed into a numbered score? 
• If not, does anyone know how/ where I can learn to transpose the scores? I'm rather new to music theory even though I've been in choir my whole life XD

Thanks a bunch!!!

[yuhongmei123]

Hi, 3inOne, and welcome to the forum!
It's awesome that you are interested in erhu, you'll find that its a fun instrument to play

You can definitely use violin music to play on erhu, but you may not be able to play all violin pieces you like because the erhu only has two strings: the inside (D string) and outside (A string).

However, if you are serious about learning it, I highly suggest you learn the jianpu (numbered) notation because most chinese music scores are written in that notation.

For me, a violinist, it was actually much easier to learn the numbered notation than the western staff notation. As for transposing, you might find that a bit difficult because the numbers change as the key changes (if that makes sense).
If you have any erhu teachers in your area, they can assist you in transposing or learning jianpu. I remember when I first started learning jianpu, there would be numbers swimming around in my head for a while after playing when I closed my eyes. Lol!!

I hope you'll decide to learn the erhu!

[yuhongmei123]

Also, here is a link to some fingering charts that might help you in transposing:
www.flickr.com/photos/dsouthwood/sets/72157606409381365/

[3inOne]

Thank you so much!!!! That helped a ton! I hope to be able to learn soon, the erhu is definitely one of my favorite instruments

[yuhongmei123]

No prob! Btw, if you're looking to buy an erhu, try this site:

www.easonmusicstore.com/categories/Erhu/4

Eason music is known to be pretty reliable, plus their erhus are sent with CITES certificates, which makes traveling with an erhus much easier (to my knowledge, in some countries erhus with wild snakeskin are illegal).

[davidmdahl]

Welcome to the forum, 3inOne. I agree with Yuhongmei that you can use whatever notation you want for playing tunes on the erhu. If you want to play Chinese tunes, jianpu notation is worth learning. However, if you primarily want to play non-Chinese tunes, then use what is convenient. You might look for flute settings though, since violin music is often set lower than what is possible on erhu using the standard tuning (D/A).

By the way, the term transpose means to change the key. I use the term transcribe for describing the rewriting of a tune in a different notation. I don't normally find it necessary to transcribe a tune from jianpu to staff notation or vice versa. Chinese tunes are usually available in jianpu, and you can play from that notation. Western tunes are usually available in staff notation, and sometimes in jianpu. It is often possible to find the tunes on Chinese websites using the appropriate Chinese language characters.

Best wishes,

David

[davidmdahl]

Jul 30, 2017 2:01:37 GMT yuhongmei123 said:

<snip>

Eason music is known to be pretty reliable, plus their erhus are sent with CITES certificates, which makes traveling with an erhus much easier (to my knowledge, in some countries erhus with wild snakeskin are illegal).

I will quibble with the last part a bit. The CITES is useful only for getting an erhu imported into a destination country, such as the USA. The CITES cannot be used for traveling with the erhu after that. Some countries are stricter about that than others. The Canadian erhu master George Gao has developed his own model of erhu which uses a synthetic snake skin, to avoid getting snagged on his country's importation policies. Probably lots of musicians successfully haul around their erhus from country to country without problems, but I don't know that I would take the chance with my best erhu.

As for buying an erhu with a CITES, yes that is a good idea, and Eason Music is experienced with the process.

Best wishes,

David

[yuhongmei123]

Wow, I didn't know that about the CITES certificate. So after bringing your erhu to America for example, you wouldn't be able to safely bring your erhu to other countries?

[dawei]

Jul 31, 2017 0:18:51 GMT davidmdahl said:

.....if you primarily want to play non-Chinese tunes, then use what is convenient. You might look for flute settings though, since violin music is often set lower than what is possible on erhu using the standard tuning (D/A).

By the way, the term transpose means to change the key. I use the term transcribe for describing the rewriting of a tune in a different notation. I don't normally find it necessary to transcribe a tune from jianpu to staff notation or vice versa. Chinese tunes are usually available in jianpu, and you can play from that notation. Western tunes are usually available in staff notation, and sometimes in jianpu. It is often possible to find the tunes on Chinese websites using the appropriate Chinese language characters.

Best wishes,

David

Several Chinese music websites offer tunes in both jianpu and "5 line staff" notation.

The suggestion to look for flute scores is an interesting idea, since the concert flute only goes to low C or B, where the violin scores can go ( and do) down to G.

[3inOne]

Thank you all so much for the advice! And oops, wrong term! I've still got a lot to learn It'll probably be a while before I get to purchase an erhu and learn to play since I am so busy with my studies, but hopefully one day!