Chapter 122 Strings

Before the Tang Dynasty, there were only two kinds of traditional stringed instruments in our country: plucked and struck, and there were no drawn strings. In the Tang Dynasty, two of the earliest stringed instruments appeared—Xiqin and Guzheng. To roll the zither, the strings of the zither are rubbed with moistened bamboo to produce sound.Chen Yang's "Book of Music" said: "There was a zither in Tang Dynasty, and the end was rolled with bamboo slices, so it was named Yan." Tang Shijiaoran wrote a poem "Watching the Song of Li Zhongcheng and Hong Erbeauties Singing the Zheng Zheng": "The two beauties of the Jun family, those who are good at singing and crafting the zither, don't know it. I use Shu bamboo to string the Chusi, and the clear and melodious sound follows."

Bamboo slices are used as "bows" instead of horsetails; in order to increase friction, bamboo slices are moistened with water instead of rosin. The phrase "following the voice" is very important. The biggest problem with traditional stringed instruments, such as qin, se, zither, pipa, or percussion instruments, such as zhu and dulcimer, is that they cannot play long tones. Such musical tones do not match well with the long tones of singing.The stringed instruments can control the speed of bowing and play a smooth long tone, which can match the human voice very well.That is to say in Jiaoran's poem, "Qing Wah and Wan Zhuan sound follow each other".

Guzheng was still used after the Song Dynasty, and it was called "?" in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. "Yuan Shi · Ritual Records" contains: "It is made like a zither, seven strings, with pillars, and rolled with bamboo." The records in "Shi Lin Guang Ji" are similar.In the Qing Dynasty, it was also called Guzheng. Xiqin, also known as "Jiqin", is another stringed instrument that appeared at least in the Tang Dynasty.Meng Haoran, a Tang poet, has a saying in "Poems of Pool Pavilion": "Bamboos lead Xiqin in, and flowers invite guests to pass." It can be seen that Xiqin existed in Tang Dynasty.According to the "Book of Music" by Song Chenyang, it is Hu Yue itself, which is "the music that Xi Bu likes", and it was later introduced to China.Why is it also called "Ji Qin"?One theory is that because the name "Xi Qin" is not elegant and tame, in other words, because it shows that it is a musical instrument used by ethnic minorities, it was renamed "Ji Qin".Another way of saying is that it is said that it was created by Ji Kang, a great musician in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, so it is called "Ji Qin". "Shi Lin Guang Ji" says: "Ji Qin was originally made by Ji Kang, so it is called Ji Qin. The second string is rolled with bamboo, and its sound is clear." But this statement is obviously attached.The shape of Xiqin is very similar to today's Huqin, which also has two strings. The difference is that bamboo pieces are played between the two strings.Probably after the introduction of the ponytail huqin, bows made of ponytails were also used. "Shi Lin Guang Ji" was written by Yuan people, and "Le Xue Gui Fan" written by Ming people said that Xiqin "use sandalwood, or black bamboo and sea bamboo to bow and horsetail strings, and roll them with rosin."

There are many stringed instruments in my country, such as Erhu, Banhu, Gaohu, Zhonghu, Jinghu, Zhuihu, Leiqin, Datong, etc., which can be called a huge family.However, they all appeared late.Huqin, the first stringed instrument with a horsetail as a bow, appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty.It is originally a minority musical instrument, so it is called "Huqin". "Yuan History Liyue Zhi" records: "Huqin is made like a fire without thinking (a stringed instrument), with a neck-rolling dragon head and two strings. The string of the bow has a horsetail." After the Yuan Dynasty, stringed instruments were widely used.

For unknown reasons, Huqin's status in history has not been high, and it is far from being compared with stringed instruments such as pipa and guzheng. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the prosperity of drama, stringed instruments with better accompaniment effects than plucked stringed instruments were valued and developed unprecedentedly. Among the many stringed instruments, Erhu is the most popular. The timbre of the erhu is soft, quiet and expressive.At the beginning of this century, due to the efforts of the famous national musicians Mr. Liu Tianhua and Hua Yanjun (the blind A Bing), the erhu has changed from an accompaniment instrument to a solo instrument.More than ten erhu tunes, including "Good Night", "Singing in Sickness", "Bright Journey", "Birds Singing in the Empty Mountains", "Shaking Red in the Candle Shadow" composed by Liu Tianhua, and "Erquan Reflecting the Moon" and "Listening to the Pine" composed by A Bing, can be said to be It is the first batch of erhu solo pieces in history.Especially the famous "Two Springs Reflecting the Moon", with its beautiful lyrical melody and profound and lofty artistic conception, has captivated countless Chinese and foreign audiences for decades, and has become a precious asset in my country's music treasure house.

The structure of the erhu is relatively simple, with a round or hexagonal qin tube (elliptical qin tube appeared in modern times), one side is covered with snake skin or python skin, and the other side is a carved window pane.One end of the qin rod is inserted into the qin tube, the other end is carved with dragon head and other decorations, and there are two qin shafts for tuning.There is a piano code on the python skin, and a thousand pieces of gold on the piano bar.The bow is made of bamboo, and the horsetail is sandwiched between the two strings, and the sound is played when it is pulled.

In the big family of stringed instruments, there is an instrument that is most similar to the Erhu, and it is almost indistinguishable at first glance. It is the Gaohu. Gaohu is the abbreviation of treble erhu, because it is one of the most important characteristic instruments in Guangdong music, so it is also called "Yuehu" or "Nanhu".Its appearance, there is a very dramatic episode. Cantonese music is an important genre of folk music in my country, which appeared in the early 20th century.Early Cantonese music mainly used five instruments: Erxian (a stringed instrument with a wooden pole and bamboo tube), violin (slightly similar to Banhu, but made of bamboo), Sanxian, Yueqin and flute. Hard, so this combination of bands is called "hard bow band".

In 1926, Lu Wencheng, a famous Cantonese musician who lived in Shanghai, returned to Guangzhou to perform. Due to the humid weather in the south, the erhu python skin used by Lu Wencheng became loose and collapsed, making it almost unusable.So he covered a piece of python skin again, fearing that the timbre would be affected by moisture again, so he covered the python skin very tightly.At the same time, he changed the outer strings to steel strings, and the tuning was raised by four or five degrees.In this way, the sound is crisp and bright, but the sound is slightly sandy.Anyone who has played the erhu knows that if the sound is a little rusty, put a little cloth or foam between the strings behind the bridge and the python skin, and the sandy sound will disappear, and the tone will become more mellow.At that time, Lu Wencheng considered playing the piano tube between his legs, and the effect was very good. Not only did the rustling sound disappear, but the tone was bright and sweet.With the cooperation of Yangqin, Qinqin, Dongxiao and other instruments, the performance was very successful, causing a sensation in the whole city of Guangzhou.Musicians in Guangdong imitated Lu Wencheng to make this kind of erhu, which soon occupied the most important position in Guangdong music.As a result, the band system of Guangdong music has been improved, with Gaohu accompanied by Yangqin, Qinqin, Dongxiao, and Houguan.Because Gaohu uses erhu bows, this kind of band is called "soft bow band", and this system has been used to this day.

In addition to being used in Guangdong music, Gaohu is also widely used as a high-pitched stringed instrument in ordinary national orchestras. Most Chinese operas are based on pitch, especially early Peking opera (you only need to sing along to the singing of Peking opera actors on TV or records to understand), and the traditional huqin cannot match it well.Around the 50th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1785), it was transformed into Jinghu on the basis of Huqin.Both the qin pole and the qin tube of Jinghu are made of bamboo, the qin bar is shorter, the qin tube is smaller, and the qin tube is covered with snakeskin.There is a thousand pieces of gold on the piano bar, which is made of copper wire or lead wire to make an S-shaped small hook. The front hook hooks the strings, and the back hook is tied to the piano bar with thin wires.The earliest qin bows were soft bows, the bow shafts were made of bamboo skin, and the bow hairs were loose. Later, they were changed to hard bows. The bow shafts were made of Jiangwei bamboo, with good elasticity and tight bow hairs.Because the piano bar is short, the piano tube is small, and the strings that vibrate effectively are not long, the pronunciation of Jinghu is crisp and clear, which is very distinctive.By the first half of the 20th century, people's aesthetic tastes had changed, and the high-pitched high notes were no longer regarded as beautiful. Larger, with a more rounded and fuller pronunciation.After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the strings were changed to steel strings to make the timbre more bright and pure.

The timbre of the Jinghu is very special, unlike other stringed instruments. Its timbre has been integrated with the tunes and singing styles of Peking Opera, and has become an inseparable part of Peking Opera music.It can be said that no matter you use the traditional three pieces (Jinghu, Jingerhu, Yueqin) or national bands, or even Western orchestras or even pianos to accompany or play Peking Opera tunes, as long as you add a Jinghu to it, it is Peking Opera.Or you don’t need any musical instruments, just use a Jinghu (many actors practice their voices or sing a cappella, and many fanciers entertain themselves like this), that is also Peking Opera.Conversely, no matter what form you use to accompany Peking Opera, as long as there is no Jinghu in it, it is not Peking Opera, at least not quite like it.

In recent years, Jinghu has also been used as a solo instrument to play Peking Opera tunes, such as etc., and the effect is very good. Banhu is also called Banghu, Qinhu, Huhu, Daxian and Piao. It is remade on the basis of Huqin.Its qin tube is called "scoop", which is semicircular in shape. Instead of skin, the qin tube is made of thin wood, which is also the origin of its name Banhu. The pronunciation of banhu is high-pitched, bright, crisp and melodious. It is popular in the northeast, northwest and north China. There are four main forms, namely: treble Banhu, alto Banhu, Qinqiang Banhu and Shanxi Banhu. The high-pitched Banhu is mainly popular in Hebei, and it is the main accompaniment instrument for Hebei Bangzi and Pingju, so it is also called Hebei Bangzi Banhu or Pingju Banhu. It has a small shape and high-pitched and sharp pronunciation; Accompaniment, so it is also called Henan Bangzi Banhu. The qin tube is slightly larger than the soundboard, the strings are thicker, and the pronunciation is thick and soft; Banhu, also known as Jinzhong Banhu, has a bigger qin tube than Qinqiang Banhu, thicker strings, and bamboo boards instead of bamboo poles for the bow. The pronunciation is thick and deep, and it is the main accompaniment instrument of Shanxi Bangzi. In addition to the Banhu used in various local operas, there is also the Banhu used in national orchestras and soloists. It has a large qin tube and panel, uses steel strings, and has a high-pitched and soft tone with a wide range.After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the production and performance of Banhu have been greatly developed, making Banhu a popular national stringed instrument. The Matouqin is a unique musical instrument of the Mongolian people. In the Mongolian grasslands, no matter where you go, you can hear the melodious and moving sound of the Matouqin.It can even be said that without Matouqin, there is no Mongolian nation. Speaking of matouqin, there is a beautiful legend. A long time ago, there lived a family on the Mongolian grasslands. There was a little boy in this family. When he was very young, a mare in their family became pregnant, and soon gave birth to a foal. .The little pony was so cute and white that it was lively and lively, and the little boy's father gave it to his son.The little boy is with the little pony every day, and the little pony likes the little boy very much, and never leaves him.Later, the little boy grew up and became a handsome and brave young man, and the little pony grew into an extraordinary horse.Young shepherds rode it to hunt and graze, and they became inseparable companions.Year after year, the horse is getting old, and it can no longer carry the shepherd to gallop on the prairie.Finally one day, it died.The shepherd was very sad. He didn't want to bury the horse for a long time. In order to remember his close friend forever, he thought for a long time. Finally, he decided to use the bones of the horse to make a harp.He used a horse's skull as a qin tube, a leg bone as a qin shaft, and a horse's tail as a bow to make a two-stringed harp.To forever commemorate his faithful friend, he carved a pony's head on top of the bar.The timbre of this qin is very beautiful, thick and a bit desolate. The shepherd often plays the qin on the vast grasslands where the moonlight shines like water, remembering his dead friend. The beautiful sound of the qin flutters in the wind, and the shepherds all come to him. , quietly listening to him tell the story of the pony's life, his friendship with the pony, and his longing for the pony with the sound of the piano. People call his qin the Matouqin. Later, people imitated its appearance and made Matouqin out of wood. A horse head was carved on the top of each piano pole, and Matouqin became the favorite musical instrument of the Mongolian people. Matouqin has a long history, and it is said that it appeared in Genghis Khan in Yuan Dynasty.The eastern part of Inner Mongolia is called "Chaoer" (one is "Chaoer"), and the western part is called "Molinhuer".Its speakers are made of black pine or maple, in the shape of a trapezoid with a small top and a large bottom or a small top and a small bottom. The two sides of the box are covered with horse hide or sheepskin, and the leather is painted with exquisite patterns.The bow is made of elm or rosewood.The matouqin used by the people uses two strands of horsetail as strings.The reformed Matouqin, the resonance box is covered with python skin, and nylon strings are used. The tuning is also four degrees higher than the traditional tuning, which expands the range and increases the volume. Power is greatly enriched.It is not only used for the accompaniment of folk songs and rap music, but also for solo. Matouqin is played in a special way. Its bow is not sandwiched between the two strings, but is played on the outside like a cello, but the bow is held in the same way as the erhu.There are two fingering methods for its left hand. One is similar to other stringed instruments, but uses the second and third joints to press the strings; The cover tops the strings from the inside to the outside. Playing in this way, the volume is louder, and the pronunciation is clearer and stronger.