The string musical instruments in Chinese opera include the high-pitch fiddle, low-pitch fiddle, moon guitar, three-string guitar, bamboo flute, and oboe etc. These instruments are mainly used to accompany singing but are also used for sound effects, for instance, to imitate the crowing of a rooster or the neighing of a horse.
Chinese bowed stringed instruments use a bamboo bow, whose horse tail hair passes between the strings. Most of the Chinese bowed stringed instruments belong to the huchin family.
Huchin was already in use in the Tang Dynasty, and appears in some literature, called "jichin" at that time. In Northern Sueng Dynasty, it was widely used by the His tribe in the north, and called "hsichin". It was written in the "Yue Shu" (Book of Music) by Chen Yang of the Sueng Dynasty, volume 128, "Hsichin was originally the musical instrument of Hu tribe, derived from hsiantao (stringed drum) with a similar shape. It is a favorite musical instrument of the His people. It is played by a piece of bamboo between two strings. Up to now, people still use this musical instruments." According to its description in the book, hsicin resembles closely today's huchin, only the way of playing was different.
During the past millennium huchin has been very popular among the Chinese people, and has made remarkable progress both in the instrument itself and its repertory. In the course of time, many related instruments evolved from its prototype huchin, such as chinghu, erhu, banhu, sihu etc. After the modern influx of Western music, more new instruments have been created, such as chunghu, dihu, gehu etc. to meet the needs of the Chinese orchestra, and enrich this family of instruments.
At present, there are more than a score of huqin family instruments in use for various stages and different localities. They not only have elegant sounds and clear local color, but also possess ample capacity for expression and high technical effects. Especially the erhu has grown up in the past decades to be an excellent solo instrument and an important instrument in the Chinese orchestra.
Huchin was already in use in the Tang Dynasty, and appears in some literature, called "jichin" at that time. In Northern Sueng Dynasty, it was widely used by the His tribe in the north, and called "hsichin". It was written in the "Yue Shu" (Book of Music) by Chen Yang of the Sueng Dynasty, volume 128, "Hsichin was originally the musical instrument of Hu tribe, derived from hsiantao (stringed drum) with a similar shape. It is a favorite musical instrument of the His people. It is played by a piece of bamboo between two strings. Up to now, people still use this musical instruments." According to its description in the book, hsicin resembles closely today's huchin, only the way of playing was different.
During the past millennium huchin has been very popular among the Chinese people, and has made remarkable progress both in the instrument itself and its repertory. In the course of time, many related instruments evolved from its prototype huchin, such as chinghu, erhu, banhu, sihu etc. After the modern influx of Western music, more new instruments have been created, such as chunghu, dihu, gehu etc. to meet the needs of the Chinese orchestra, and enrich this family of instruments.
At present, there are more than a score of huqin family instruments in use for various stages and different localities. They not only have elegant sounds and clear local color, but also possess ample capacity for expression and high technical effects. Especially the erhu has grown up in the past decades to be an excellent solo instrument and an important instrument in the Chinese orchestra.
