{"id":4792,"date":"2025-11-05T21:06:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T05:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backbeatmusicacademy.com\/staging\/1687\/banjo-copy\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T01:22:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:22:35","slug":"musicalinstrumentmuseum-ehru","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.backbeatmusicacademy.com\/staging\/1687\/musicalinstrumentmuseum-ehru\/","title":{"rendered":"Ehru"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Ehru<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRegion<\/strong>: China \u00b7 Family<\/strong>: Lute \u00b7 Date<\/strong>: 10th century CE \u00b7 Strings<\/strong>: 2\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Overview<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe erhu<\/strong> (\u4e8c\u80e1) is a two-stringed bowed lute from China, often called the Chinese violin<\/em>. It belongs to the huqin<\/em> (\u80e1\u7434) family, a group of instruments brought to northern China by nomadic peoples around the 10th century CE (referred to in Chinese at the \u2018Hu\u2019). Known for its expressive, voice-like tone, the erhu is central to both traditional Chinese music and contemporary orchestral and film scores.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

History<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe erhu developed during the Song Dynasty (960\u20131279 CE)<\/strong> from earlier Central Asian spike fiddles. It was standardized in form during the Tang and Yuan Dynasties<\/strong>, when Mongol and Turkic influences introduced new materials like snakeskin and bamboo. By the 20th century, the erhu had become a solo instrument in Chinese classical and folk music, with prominent players such as Liu Tianhua<\/strong> composing concert works that defined modern technique.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Construction<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The erhu consists of a vertical neck<\/strong> (no fingerboard), a small cylindrical or hexagonal resonator<\/strong> covered with python skin<\/strong>, and two steel or silk strings<\/strong> tuned a fifth apart (D4\u2013A4). The bow<\/strong> is strung between the two strings rather than outside them, allowing continuous contact and subtle tone control. Sound is produced by pressing the strings with the fingertips (not against a fingerboard) and moving the bow horizontally.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t

Terminology Notes\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
  • Qin tong<\/em> (\u7434\u7b52): the resonator body.<\/li>
  • Qin gan<\/em> (\u7434\u6746): the neck or rod.<\/li>
  • Qin ma<\/em> (\u7434\u7801): the bridge.<\/li>
  • Qin pi<\/em> (\u7434\u76ae): snakeskin soundboard covering.<\/li>
  • Er<\/em> (\u4e8c): \u201ctwo,\u201d referring to its two strings.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Region: China \u00b7 Family: Lute \u00b7 Date: 10th century CE \u00b7 Strings: 2 Overview The erhu (\u4e8c\u80e1) is a two-stringed bowed lute from China, often called the Chinese violin. It belongs to the huqin (\u80e1\u7434) family, a group of instruments brought to northern China by nomadic peoples around the 10th century CE (referred to in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4792","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backbeatmusicacademy.com\/staging\/1687\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backbeatmusicacademy.com\/staging\/1687\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backbeatmusicacademy.com\/staging\/1687\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backbeatmusicacademy.com\/staging\/1687\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backbeatmusicacademy.com\/staging\/1687\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4792"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.backbeatmusicacademy.com\/staging\/1687\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7156,"href":"https:\/\/www.backbeatmusicacademy.com\/staging\/1687\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4792\/revisions\/7156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backbeatmusicacademy.com\/staging\/1687\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}