Do You Are Who?

I have had problems getting motivated to study Chinese since we returned from summer break. Tim and I speak a level of Chinese that definitely makes things easier - getting around, taxi directions, ordering food (ESPECIALLY ordering food, very important), friendly chit chat. But we have become lazy and haven't tried to learn much of anything new this year. It doesn't help that we know we are leaving China in June.

So this school year I decided to purchase and learn how to play the Chinese 2-stringed violin called the èrhú 二胡 (pronounced "are who"). It is still relevant to being in China, I will practice my Chinese by meeting with a teacher every week, and if I am going to have this instrument hanging on my wall I should at least learn how to play a few songs.

It took a few weeks of asking in the nearby music store and talking to Chinese friends before I was finally introduced to an èrhú teacher who is willing to work with this strange American student (that's me). I am almost certain that I am her only adult student, and definitely her only non-Chinese student. She is a 30-something, hip, friendly, very patient music teacher at a nearby high school and teaches èrhú on the weekends. One of her students was the Provincial èrhú champion recently. He is 8 or 9 years old. Here is a video of him playing in October last year. Is it just me, or does he channel Jimmy Hendrix at the end of the song?!? Awesome!

And then there is me. First my teacher helped me buy my instrument. I have had 4 or 5 lessons since then. The first lesson just about killed me as I tried to learn how to hold the bow. The hair of the bow runs in-between the two strings, so you need to push or pull the hair to play each string.

Playing on the A string

Playing on the D string

Once I got comfortable with the bow my brain exploded trying to learn how to read the music. Chinese music is written in numeric musical notation, which is to say they use numbers to represent do-re-mi to write the music.

Warning: musician-speak follows, skip this part if you aren't interested in music theory
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Here is one of my beginner èrhú exercises:


See where is says 1=D (1 5)? 1=D means D is "do", so the piece is the key of D Major. The (1 5) tells you that the lower string on the instrument (D) is do and the high string (A) is sol or 5 in the scale. This is pretty easy on the violin/èrhú - D major, F# and C#, easy. I played in this key for the first couple months and got my brain used to reading this music.

Then I had to learn "sol-re" or the key of G Major, and my head exploded again.

Now 1=G, so G is "do". The (5 2) tells you that the open D string is sol (the dot below it means it is the octave below) and open A string is re or 2. Play F# and C natural to make it a Major scale. Thank goodness I remember my music theory. It has been easier than I thought to switch between reading D Major and G Major. Don't even ask me how they do minor keys because I haven't gotten there yet. I have resisted the temptation to try playing staff music with the èrhú or playing èrhú music on the violin. For now I am keeping the two separate in my brain and it works.

As for rhythm, it is similar to using notes on a staff. A number without any lines under it is a quarter note. A number with a line under it is a eighth note. Two lines make it a sixteenth note. A number with a dash next to it is a half note. A zero is a rest. Characters directly above the numbers are fingerings written in Chinese. Measures are separated by vertical lines.

(End of Chinese Music Theory Lesson)
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Learning a new instrument has changed the way I am teaching violin to my two students. I found myself doing the same things they do - not practicing the long repetitive boring exercises, complaining about sore fingers and tired arms, I hate playing fourth finger and prefer to play on the A string. Ha ha! I am learning how to do vibrato on the èrhú while I am teaching my older student vibrato on the violin. It has made me a much more sympathetic violin teacher, and I am trying to make their lessons more fun and interesting.

I can almost play one nice song now and I am building some serious callouses on my fingertips. Progress.