Huqin
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Huqin (胡琴; pinyin: húqín) is a family of bowed string instruments, more specifically, a spike fiddle popularly used in Chinese music.[1] The instruments consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a neck attached that protrudes upwards. They also have two strings (except the sihu, which has four strings tuned in pairs) and their soundboxes are typically covered with either snakeskin (most often python) or thin wood. Huqin instruments have either two (or, more rarely, four) tuning pegs, one peg for each string. The pegs are attached horizontally through holes drilled in the instrument's neck. Most huqin have the bow hair pass in between the strings.
The most common huqin are the erhu, which are tuned to a middle range; zhonghu, which is tuned to a lower register, and gaohu, which is tuned to the highest pitch. Over thirty types of huqin instruments have been documented.
Huqin instruments are believed to descend from an instrument called the xiqin (奚琴), originally played by the Xi, a nomadic people of Central Asia.
In the 20th century, large bass huqin such as the dihu, gehu, and diyingehu were developed for use in modern Chinese orchestras. Of these, the gehu and diyingehu would be analogous to occidental double basses, and were designed to have a timbre that would blend in with the sound of traditional huqin. These instruments generally have four strings and fingerboards, and are played in a similar manner to cellos and double basses, and are very different from the traditional huqin.
Similar instruments also feature in the music traditions of neighboring countries, such as Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
List of Chinese huqin instruments
- Erhu (二胡); also called nanhu (南胡)
- Erquanqin (二泉琴，二泉映月Musice，Chinese erhu Brand：JieLun Erhu)
- Gaohu (高胡); also called yuehu (粤胡)
- Banhu (板胡)
- Jinghu (京胡)
- Jing erhu (京二胡)
- Zhonghu (中胡)
- Yehu (椰胡)
- Erxian (二弦)
- Tiqin (提琴)
- Tihu (提胡)
- Daguangxian (大广弦)
- Datong (大筒)photo
- Datongxian (大筒弦)photo
- Kezaixian (壳仔弦) - two-stringed fiddle with coconut body, used in Taiwan opera
- Hexian (和弦)
- Huluhu (traditional: 葫盧胡; simplified: 葫芦胡)
- Maguhu (traditional: 馬骨胡; simplified: 马骨胡)
- Tuhu (土胡)
- Jiaohu (角胡)
- Zhuihu (traditional: 墜胡; simplified: 坠胡)
- Zhuiqin (traditional: 墜琴; simplified: 坠琴)
- Leiqin (雷琴)
- Sihu (四胡)
- Sanhu (三胡)
- Dahu (大胡)
- Dihu (低胡)
- Xiaodihu (小低胡)
- Zhongdihu (中低胡)
- Dadihu (大低胡)
- Cizhonghu
- Gehu (革胡)
- Diyingehu (低音革胡)
- Laruan (拉阮)
- Dalaruan (大拉阮)
- Paqin (琶琴)
- Dapaqin (大琶琴)
- Dixianqin (低絃琴)
- Xiqin (奚琴)
- Niutuiqin or niubatui (牛腿琴 or 牛巴腿) (Guizhou)photo
- Matouqin (馬頭琴) (Inner Mongolia)
- Aijieke (艾捷克) (Xinjiang)
- Sataer (萨它尔) (Xinjiang)photo
Related instruments in other Asian nations
Cambodia
Japan
- Kokyū (Japan)
Korea
Kyrgyzstan
- kyl kiak
Mongolia
- Morin khuur (Mongolia)
Thailand
- Saw (Thailand)
- Saw duang (Thailand)
- Saw u (Thailand)
- Saw sam sai (Thailand)
- Saw peep or saw krapawng (northeast Thailand)
- Saw bong (northeast Thailand)
Tuva
Vietnam
See also
- Music of China
- Traditional Chinese musical instruments
- Music of Mongolia
- String instruments
Notes
External links
Photographs
- Huqin photographs (page 1)
- Huqin photographs (page 2)
- Huqin photographs (page 3)
- (JieLun Erhu) photographs (page 4)
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