Scratching/ moaning sound at higher notes

[loky123]

Hey all!

Glad I found this forum. I've been playing Erhu about a month now, and have come to be ok with it. My erhu cost me about 20 bucks in China, and it is really cheap. However, my question is this, When I play higher notes, the notes are not solid. They instead fray and cry and moan, hurting my ears. Its ok on the D string, lower notes. The only way I've gotten to relieve this dilemma is by clipping a clothes clip on the bridge to act as a mute, as done for violin.

Is the scratchiness due to the quality of the erhu? I certainly hope so, I wanna buy a good erhu, but not sure which are good. Also, does adding the felt cloth under the bridge help? Oh yeah, one more thing, I've been tuning the strings to D and A, are these the right notes?

the main concern is the bad sound at higher notes. IS it the erhu?

Thanks!!

[YouLanFengChune]

YES!

high note problems are due to
1) poor wood density
2) thin, understrectched skin
3) imbalance in skin
4) imbalance in overall constructruction

[loky123]

Sweet. Yeah, I had my friend buy a simple one from China just to get me started. Now that I'm going there, Hk actually, I'll be able to try them for myself before I buy. Though, I fear that most of the carriers of erhu wont have the bridge on them for me to try. I guess I"ll have to look at the workmanship or something =(.

[davidmdahl]

It would be odd that a shop is selling erhus without bridges. Any musician would want to test the sound before buying. But if this is true, just take a few bridges along. You might even bring a bow in case a rosined-up bow is not available.

One consideration regarding sound quality on the erhu is the quality of the bow. If your erhu is very inexpensive, the bow is likely to not have real horse hair. Synthetic bow hair does not pick up rosin very well in my experience. A better quality erhu with good bow, strings, and bridge is probably your best bet, but you might upgrade your current erhu with a good bow, strings, and bridge for not much money.

Best wishes,

David

[song]

Well, a 20 bucks Erhu is after all, a 20 bucks Erhu. You can improve it a little bit with a good bow, strings and bridge, but that'll probably cost as much as your Erhu.

Anyway just tell the shop which Erhu you would like to try and I'm sure they will set up the bridge and bow nicely for you.

Sung Wah

[loky123]

Hey ALL!! I got a new erhu! It sounds decent, I can hit high notes no prob. Now, I've got to learn to read the fingerings in Cadenza. The number system is confusing, and theres not telling how long to hold thenotes! I've been playing violin, and the sheets are clear on the note length.. But here, I only see numbers. Any suggestion? David?

THanks

[maaltan]

its easy. the lines under the numbers act the same as the flags on the notes. no line = 1 quarter/beat 1 line = eights 2= 16th etc. a dash after a number repeats the timing so |4 - - - | would be a whole note in 4/4 time.

[davidmdahl]

Congratulations on your new erhu!

The numeric notation system commonly used in Chinese music is called jianpu. There is plenty on jianpu in the Wikipedia entry (www.wikipedia.org). That will tell you most of what you need to know. There are some instrument specific markings you could run across that might not be in the article. If you don't find a teacher to ask, let us know of any markings that confuse you.

Learning jianpu is not really that difficult. Just jump in and use it and you will see it get manageable pretty quickly. I admit that I still read staff notation a lot more quickly, but of course I have been using it for over 40 years. <g>

Good luck and have fun!

Best wishes,

David

[loky123]

Hey David,

Thanks a whole lot! Wow, wikipedia, so good for research, but hated by professors when students reference them. Dang. But yeah, it does explain some of the dots. The scales listed on the Stickies in the forum are helpful too. Its going to take practice.

By the way, I've read on other postings that you were working on Sai Ma. I downloaded a recording, and Oh my ohmy, that thing is FAST! Can you play at that caliber David? I don't doubt it though. And the plucking thats in it. I can't see how its possible to pluck like the recording does with the bow on the way!


Thanks! ;D

[davidmdahl]

I am afraid that my horse is very old and walks with a limp. With practice, I hope to transform the gait to a steady trot, and then we will see.

Sai Ma is often played too fast, in my opinion. A little bit slower and you can put in a lot more expression, and it is actually more effective. The plucking part is a lot easier than it sounds. The main trick is to put the bow down and pick it up again, in time.

Many tunes in F (or Dminor), like Sai Ma and some others, have fast passages that lay relatively easily under the fingers, with minimal position shifting. There are challenging bits, but don't let them intimidate you. Work on easier tunes at first, of course, but when you are ready, dive in!

Best wishes,

David