The portamento mentioned today is the "expressive" portamento, which is the "glide" produced by the conscious sliding of a finger on a string. "Expressive" portamento is required by the melody of the piece, and is a portamento controlled by the performer.

Portamento in erhu performance is very rich in expressiveness of music. There are numerous descriptions of Erhu Glide, which are summarized on this page as follows:

Types of portamento: minor portamento (minor third), major portamento (major third and above), front portamento, back portamento, and reverse portamento, erasure, connected portamento (continuous portamento), string press portamento, tremolo portamento, Trill bow, trill, etc. Pre- and post-glide can be further divided into upper and lower front and back. Glide can be divided into up and down Glide. From the point of view of finger usage: there are the same-fingered portamento, the different-fingered portamento, the extended portamento of the same position, the portamento of changing hands, etc., and the portamento of different intervals. All portamentos are closely related to local dialects.

Portamento fingers move as the wrist moves up and down. If you simply move your finger up and down on the string, the portamento effect will not be colorful. The sliding method is different, the resulting portamento effect is also different. For example, in faster movements, a slight glissando should be brought out naturally to help the continuity of the melody.

The slide finger that expresses strong emotion should use the same finger or the adjacent finger (tail slide finger), and the slide finger that expresses less strong emotion is best to use the finger that is farther away (first slide finger). There are many specific sliding methods, the following excerpts are for reference:

When the glissando before the play, it is necessary to first glide from the appoggiance to the original sound, and emphasize the original sound during the glide, that is, the decorative sound is light, and the original sound is heavy.

When the portamento after playing, it is necessary to slide from the original note to the appoggiance, and also pay attention to the clear effect of the guest and the host.

When playing a reverse portamento, start from the original note to a lower note and then slide back to the original note.

When playing ligated portamento, use a certain finger to connect the tones in the connection with a balanced strength, so that the tones in the connection are tightly connected and integrated. "Slide finger switch" is similar to "Line Portamento".

When playing Pad Finger Glide, two or three fingers are used together to create a portamento effect.

When the portamento appears before the native note, whether it is an upward portamento or a downward portamento, the portamento starts from a low or high position and slides to the native note. Note that the starting point of the glide is uncertain, and the end point of the glide is the original sound.

When the portamento appears after the native note, whether it is an upward portamento or a portamento, the portamento starts from the base note. Note that the starting point of the glide is the vowel, and the end point of the glide has no specific location.

When playing on portamento, slide from the lower note to the original note (the starting point is uncertain), and the portamento process is light in the front and heavy in the back. Usually, the pitch of the portamento is shorter, and some melodies require the use of the same finger, while others do not. Because of the unique sweet mood produced by this glissando, it mostly appears in some lyrical and euphemistic works.

When playing glissando, slide from the higher note to the original note (the starting point is uncertain), and the time value is between the two notes.

The technique of sliding the fingers upward from the empty strings is very particular. The sliding fingers should gradually approach the strings in a "shallow" arc curve, and the strength should be from light to heavy. Never hit the strings in the middle. The softer and smoother the finger movement, the better.

It is generally not necessary to do a whole-tone slide backward with the same finger, because in most cases it will produce bad results.

In slower music, chromatic slides that do not meet the melody requirements are generally used with caution, and can only be used for the convenience of fingering without destroying the sense of music.

In the technical "finger shifting", unnecessary "slipping" should be avoided.

The performance of portamento must be just right, and it is not advisable to smear or overuse it, otherwise it will be like dressing up and smearing, seriously destroying the style of the music. In the technique, there should be different processing techniques such as "light, heavy, slow and urgent" to obtain the ideal portamento effect.

When playing portamento, pay attention to the coordination of the left and right hands. Among them, the left hand is responsible for the speed and width of the portamento, and the intensity of the tone; in the right hand, the pressure and speed of the bow should be changed with the change of the mood of the music. Generally, it is not allowed to change the bow during the glissando.

Erhu small second degree portamento practice

In erhu performance, the minor second degree of portamento is very common. Under normal circumstances, when the minor second portamento is used, the position of the tiger's mouth is fixed in the original position and cannot be moved up and down.

There is a difference between "minor second portamento", "minor second portamento" and "minor erasure". The interval of "minor second portamento" is "minor second", and the latter two are "minor second" in sliding. degrees" is not very clear. In addition, the two sounds before and after the "minor second portamento" (starting sound and ending sound) should be clearly explained, as shown in the following two examples.

guide slide to tonic

Glide from the leading tone to the tonic, this is a "minor second" portamento, as shown in the picture on the left is from "

"Slide to the "1" note, in F major, this is a slide from the leading note to the tonic, and it is often used in slow tempos to express strong emotions.

In the picture, the inner string in F key is gliding with the index finger.

Note:

1. The "leading tone" and "main tone" referred to here refer to the two tones in the scale or melody. The "guiding tone" mentioned in the handlebar is the "guiding tone" in the handlebar.

2. The arrow at the top of the score is a kind of "slurred slur", which is different from the "upturn slide" in that it is marked above two or more notes, while the "upturn slide" is above the individual notes.

3. The "minor second-degree portamento" in the picture on the left requires that the two tones "7." and "1" should be clearly explained, and the two tones should be uniform and coherent. As for which of the two tones is stronger and which is weaker, it is determined by the emotion of the music.

semitone glissando

The picture shows the "sliding back and forth" movement of the index finger on the third position of the outer string, from the first measure of the second paragraph of "Going to the Market". During practice, the thumb and tiger's mouth of the left hand are fixed and do not move (the position of the handle has not changed), only the movement of the fingers is the main movement, which is the movement of the fingers (here is the stretching movement of the index finger). Because the skating action is required to be slightly faster in the spectrum, in order to achieve a fast-paced and energetic artistic effect.

Note: When practicing on a real piano, both the front and rear tones should be clearly heard and should not be ambiguous, which is different from the minor second-degree revolving portamento. When practicing, you can also use the "finger shifting" technique to practice, and experience the different effects of "finger shifting" and "finger sliding" on the real piano.