Erhu advice for another beginner-left hand

[erhubeginner]

Hi Everyone from The Blue Mountains NSW Australia.

I am a Violinist (teach and perform) and have loved the beautiful melancholy sound of the Erhu for some time. I am very excited as my husband has just given me my first Erhu as an early Christmas present and after having a major rosinathon I managed to squeak out Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star and have gradually been improving- worked first on bowing and now don't squeak- well not as much- apart from the different hold the bowing technique is not so different to Violin.

I have got some great tips here eg.- have added a piece of felt as a dampener and just sawed a pencil in half to relieve string pressure when not playing. I've also watched Jiebing Chen's excellent video which was really helpful for basic technique.

I was wondering if someone could advise me about left hand technique. Being a Violinist I am used to holding the neck in a very particular way and this did not work at all on the Erhu especially when I tried to shift up into higher positions- Erhu wobbled around badly and then I over- compensated by gripping way too hard. Plus, what angle should the neck of the instrument be at? Any suggestions about these things would be greatly appreciated.

Also, with vibrato which direction do I move my finger? With Violin you move slightly towards your head and then away (ie. along the string and then back). I'm all confused cos with holding the Erhu on your lap, all the strings are going a different way to what I'm used to and I feel inclined to wobble across the strings rather than along. This probably sounds very garbled but if someone understands what I'm talking about could you help me please?

I am currently doing a lot of research trying to find a teacher in Sydney but haven't had any success yet.

Happy Erhu playing to you all.

[calden]

Erhubeginner:

You found the right place for advice. God, we're a wordy bunch. At least I am.

I also came from a violin background (well, fiddle..) and found the transition to left hand placement to be counterintuitive. The ehru neck rests in your hand - you don't hold it. I'll try and describe the correct position for a LEFT_handed player (I'm assuming your are from your post title:) Sit in a chair, holding the erhu on your lap with your LEFT hand. Drop your RIGHT (fingering) hand down by your side, relaxed. Your right hand fingers, in this relaxed position, are very slightly cupped. Now, keeping your hand in this relaxed position, and in relation to your wrist, raise your right forearm at the elbow so your hand is about even with your armpit. Your fingers will still be cupped, and your thumb will be pointing almost straight up. Now transfer the erhu so the neck is resting snugly in the crotch of your thumb/first finger, resting against the base of your thumb. You don't want to put your thumb behind the neck, as you would with a violin. You'll see that your fingers are in the correct arched position ready to go - and everything is still relaxed. As with violin, good upper body posture is important for support so you don't get tense with the arms and hands.

There are two kinds of vibrato. The first is just like yours - finger on the note, fingertip firmly "glued" to the note, and your hand and wrist will "push" it, not towards your head as you say, but down towards your lap because the instrument position is oriented differently. Second kind is pushing the string towards the neck. This is a much deeper and more intense vibrato as you'll see. Each has their own notational markings and are used in specific places. Both my teachers have told me to work on the first kind because it's harder to do. I've found this to be true - but as a bona fide real-life don't-just-play-one-on-tv violin player it will probably come very naturally to you.

As always, a short lesson with a teacher is worth a thousand internet posts.

Carlos

[song]

Welcome Erhu beginner,

Incidentally I started learning the violin first before player the Erhu as well.

Players with a violin background definitely have a big advantage over others. Your fingers are more conditioned to press fretless strings., you're more familiar with bowing etc.

Violin vibrato is v similar to Erhu. You can try this exercise to get a feel of it: put the resonator of the erhu on your neck and lay it out like a violin and try to do vibrato, taking note of carlos instructions of neck is 'resting snugly in the crotch of your thumb/first finger'. Don't grab the neck. That 'crotch' area should form an equal and opposite action with the fingers pressing the string, just like when playing the violin.

[calden]

I just remembered - I have a few pics on a website clearly demonstrating erhu hand position:

www.eaglelake1.org/erhu.html

Hope this helps.

Carlos

[erhubeginner]

Thank you so much for the wonderful tips. Actually I'm not a left handed player - sorry for the confusion- just meant that I needed help with left hand technique. I am so grateful that you replied so quickly.
I will go and put some of your wonderful advice into practise.
Thanks Again!

[calden]

erhubeginner said:

Thank you so much for the wonderful tips. Actually I'm not a left handed player

Whew! Good then - I was going to suggest looking at the hand position pictures using a mirror!

Carlos
just kidding