Ave Maria for Erhu

[paulv]

Found this score while "googling" around. Has an interesting chord structure if someone with a piano wants to play with you. I'm going to learn this to play for my mother -- she's 85 and loves this song!


www.omnisterra.com/scgi-bin/view.pl/Main/ErhuAveMaria


Regards,
paul....

[calden]

Paul:

If you like Irish music, there's a GREAT well-done version of Danny Boy on erhu. I downloaded it as a joke, but it's donoe very well actually.

Carlos

[paulv]

Carlos,
I do like Irish music, but the stuff I like (jigs) is way beyond my current erhu playing capabilities!

Regards,
Paul Valente

[damien]

Carlos i would love to get hold of Danny Boy.
Im British but my family is Irish so if i learn that i would make alot of people proud ;D

[davidmdahl]

"Danny Boy" is also known as "Londonderry Air" or some of us with a peculiar sense of humor as "London Derriere". It might be a challenge to find in Jianpu, but it must be in many staff notation music books.

There are a multitude of options for playing such popular tunes on erhu. For tunes that I already know by heart I prefer to simply play them by ear. This is a very handy skill to develop.

Another option is to find the score on the Internet. If you get on Google and the "right" search phrase, there is no telling what you will find. I would not be surprised if there is a jpg or the like for Danny Boy. A more likely format is ABC. This is a text-based format for notating melodies. Google on ABC notation for a wealth of information on this format. There are thousands of tunes available in ABC, so it is worthwhile checking out.

Pick up a fake book at a music store. A fake book usually has hundreds of tunes with chords. Only the bare melody is provided, so it is up to you to embellish it with your own expression and variations. The chords can be used by an accompanying instrument such as guitar or keyboard.

Best wishes,

David

[damien]

Thanks David always a big help. You know im probably better understanding erhu written music than western style, I never did listen in music class at school but loved playing random sounds haha.

Still not found it but im still looking and your right, there is alsorts to stumble upon in the world wide web so i will continue to look.

[damien]

Gosh! Ave Maria is not easy by far. I mean i know im still learning but there is alot of long bowing going on. It's just you know when you bow slow you don't get a nice sound but i guess bow very lightly? And you really do need to bow quick for those high notes.

Im also trying to play the braveheart theme hahaa good luck to anyone that can play that.

Chinese written music is easy enough to learn but you still need to hear the music really and i been trying to play music by ear which does actually help, maybe bad practise but helps.

[davidmdahl]

When you need to play long notes, vibrato really helps. You can get a good strong tone even when drawing the bow relatively slowly. It does take good vibrato and bowing technique, but that comes with practice.

I personally value the ability to play slowly, expressively, and in-tune over the ability to play lots of notes very quickly. In general, the first takes more skill. Of course, we want to do both. <g>

Best wishes,

David

[maaltan]

Arg. I feel like a total dunce for some reason.

I can't read that music above.

I mean i see the page and read the handwriting but the jianpu doesnt make sense to me.

It is in standard G right?

I cant make it sound like any versions of ave maria ive ever heard.

Would someone mind explicitly translating the fingering for the first line for me. I THOUGHT i was almost to the point of being able to get the gist of a song ive heard before by reading the music.

It has a lot of octave changes i just do not hear in the song.

thanks

[davidmdahl]

Google on ave maria gounod mp3 and you will find something to listen to. The Michele Milano version that comes up first is fine. Once you are reminded of the tune, the jianpu should make better sense.

Sometimes I just go to a keyboard and work out a tune there. Of course it doesn't really matter what key you want to use unless you want the correct tonality in your head.

Best wishes,

David

[song]

Ask and you will be rewarded. I added the fingerings together with the hand positions. (See legend at top right corner.)

Here's the updated score: www.eason.com.sg/images/Misc/avemaria.jpg

Thanks,
Sung Wah

[maaltan]

I understand now. Its not the song i though it was . now i have to find the song i thought i knew as ave maria.

Maybe the one i know is an interpretation of it.

edit:
hmm .. its ave maria but apparently by shubert.

ave maria shubert mp3 will give you a decent copy. its very embelished harp and hard to pick out the melody but its the melody i know. Significantly different than this one. Unless im just tone deaf which is a possibily.

[davidmdahl]

That should be Schubert. Yes, that is another popular setting. If you search on ave maria schubert pdf you can find a staff score. I don't know of a jianpu score downloadable from the Internet, but it should not be too bad to do yourself. I would suggest transposing it to a key friendly to the erhu.

Best wishes,

David

[damien]

Being that i was brought up catholic (not anymore) did you know that there is many different versions of Ave Maria? Not sure which one this is in the forum but it seems to be the one i know after trying to follow the score.

[sanmenxia]

Has anyone heard this: www.archive.org/details/AlessandroMoreschi
it's the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria sung by Alessandro Moreschi.

Seems like the Bach/Gounod and Schubert are the most well known versions of Ave Maria.

[damien]

Wow that sounds old and i really don't like her voice haha

My mother sings this at weddings amazingly and this is the same version, so i agree this probably is the most well known version.

I think listening to the beginning it is a different version from the scores provided in this forum.

Thanks for checking it out sanmexia :0)

[davidmdahl]

damien said:

Wow that sounds old and i really don't like her voice haha
<snip>

That's not a she! Alessandro Moreschi was one of the last castrato (castrated) and I think the only one who recorded. Unfortunately, by the time of the recordings, his voice was already well past its prime. Interesting voice though.

Best wishes,

David

[maaltan]

interesting. The version I know is also the song "the devil" plays when contemplating his plan in movies "needful things".

its good that the "dance remix" fad isn't unique. or even a fad for that matter.