How to relax while playing erhu?

68 views · Organized by 山霁 on 2022-04-01

The scientific method of playing should be relaxed and natural in movement. To do this, the player must first make the movements conform to the natural laws of physical movement as much as possible. Secondly, the transmission of power should be smooth, and there should be no obstruction or offset in the elbows and wrists. The third is that a piece of music needs one point of strength, and never two points. You must learn to "be busy while you're busy" while playing, take active rest, and use your strength where necessary.

The scientific method of playing should be round, smooth and elastic in pronunciation. To do this, the main thing is to master the optimal pressure-speed ratio between the bow and the string and the proper force of the left hand fingers on the string. The "best" and "appropriate" are subject to change at any time according to the specific requirements of the music. The scientific performance method gives the player the greatest possibility of change. If the performance method is not standardized enough, it will bring obstacles to the performance of music.

How to relax while playing erhu?

Whether in the classroom or in textbooks, "relaxation" seems to be synonymous with the scientific method. But relaxation is just a concept, and it is a very complicated issue in specific performances. Relaxation is not slack, and not all techniques require relaxation. In principle, relaxation means not wasting energy. It is mainly reflected in the following aspects in performance:

1. Try to keep as natural as possible. Relaxation in erhu performance is taken from nature. The relaxation we are talking about is not the complete relaxation of the muscles. For example, when sitting, hunched over and hunched, it seems to be more relaxed than sitting upright, but it is not natural, and it is not conducive to performance, so it does not conform to the principles of scientific relaxation. The scientific relaxation principle means that you should never exert your strength where it should not be used, but concentrate your strength on the necessary points. For example, when playing, keep your legs flat and your feet on the ground is in line with the natural sitting posture. Yes, but some performers raise their left leg high and point their toes on the ground. This part of the strength does not help the performance, but they get an unsightly playing posture. For another example, when playing, the shoulders should hang down naturally, which is not only relaxed, beautiful, but also easy to make full use of the weight of the arms. However, some players lift the shoulders, which wastes this part of the strength, and also offsets the sinking of the arms. weight and poor posture. Another example: when holding the piano in the upper position, the left arm should maintain a 45-degree angle with the side of the body. This is an optimal angle, which is both natural and conducive to performance. At a 90-degree angle, the power of this arm lift is wasted. When the handlebars are changed to the middle and lower handlebars, the big arm should descend accordingly, and the angle with the body side should become smaller. This is natural and correct, but if the big arm does not descend with the body side, it will still keep 45 degrees from the body side. Angle, this is a tension. On the other hand, if it is in the top position, the big arm will sag, and the angle to the side of the body is too small, which seems to be slack, but it is not conducive to performance, and it is not natural. This is also incorrect. The human hand is the most natural and relaxed in the shape of a half-clenched fist. It is in line with the principle of scientific relaxation to maintain the hand shape that is closest to the half-clenched fist when pressing the fingers. Pressing the strings in many places at the junction of the face will inevitably lead to excessive bending of the fingers, which can only cause the fingers to be tense, inflexible, and weak in pronunciation. When the bow is drawn, the right upper arm is lifted too early, or the upper arm cannot be retracted in time when the bow is pushed, so that the upper arm is raised, which not only wastes the strength of lifting the upper arm, but also offsets the weight of the arm sinking, and also makes the right arm rise. The pronunciation of the half bow is difficult to control, so it is not in line with the principle of scientific relaxation, but some erhu skills cannot be played without arm tension, such as: stretching the fingers, flying bow, bending the column method, etc., which are necessary for performance. It's not wrong to be nervous. In short, in the performance state, including sitting posture, hand shape, dynamics, etc., when it comes to relaxation, we must grasp the two preconditions of nature and necessity.

2. Make full use of natural gravity, such as: the force of the bow sticking to the strings in the erhu performance mainly comes from the gravity of the arm sinking, and then changes the direction of the force through the movements of the middle finger and the ring finger, thus forming the bow hair to the strings. kind of oblique pressure. When playing at medium strength or below, the weight of the arm itself is enough to provide the bow hair to stick to the string. When playing with a strong strength, you can take the body slightly forward and add part of the weight of the body, so that It can fully meet the stringing degree required by the bow, and it needs to rely on the strength of muscle tension to push the bow. Another example: when the left hand is changed from a low handle to a high handle, as long as the tiger's mouth is loosened, the arm will "drop" downward under the action of natural gravity, and there is no need to artificially add any force. Another example: when playing the stretched and singing swaying jin, the bow is generally wider, and the player's body can swing slightly left and right with the bow, so that the center of gravity of the body is biased to the right when the bow is drawn, and the bow will also be in the position. It can be easily pulled out under the action of natural gravity; similarly, if the center of gravity of the body is biased to the left when pushing the bow, the bow will also easily move to the left under the action of natural gravity, and so on. In short, making full use of natural gravity during performance is also an important relaxation technique.

3. Make full use of natural inertia. The movement of the object will inevitably bring inertia, and if it can be fully utilized, it will become a force that has been supplied until the bow is changed, and then the bow suddenly moves in the opposite direction, just like a car moving forward at full speed and reversing its inertia. Not only can it not become a booster, but on the contrary, it will offset the effective kinetic energy of the same amount. The cushioning effect of the wrist in bowing. It is used to control the habitual movement, and there are also some bowing skills, such as: throwing the bow, jumping the bow naturally, hitting the bow in the same direction, etc., which are played by using the inertia of the bow movement. If you can't master its laws , it is difficult to use these techniques well. In the music, there are many places where you can make full use of inertia to play easily, it just depends on whether the performer can use it skillfully.

4. Do not stress the left hand to keep the hand shape. If we call the finger that is pressing the string as the "work" finger, and the finger that is temporarily off the string as the "off-duty" finger; then, when one finger is pressed on the string, if the other fingers are not in a reserved state. When not on quick standby, they should all be relaxed into their natural bends, without the fingers dangling tensely over the phoneme. In this way, the left hand can be fully rested.

5. When playing a long note, the bow hair should "grab" the strings at the moment of pronouncing to play the sound. At this time, of course, the right hand must hold the bow and give it a certain amount of strength. But when the long note is played, the right hand should be relaxed immediately to keep the strings vibrating normally, without having to hold the bow tightly all the time. At this time, it is best to make the right hand become a subconscious state, that is: let the right hand temporarily disappear from consciousness, and before the next sound is played, the right hand will be re-energized to prepare for pronunciation. In this way, the right hand can often be fully rested, which is also one of the ways to relax.

6. In a phrase, every note is important and needs to be played hard. Also as we usually talk. Important words need to be spoken clearly and powerfully, while unimportant words should be gently passed by. Then, when playing, it is also necessary to distinguish the tonic and consonant in the phrase. According to the needs of the mood of the music, the notes that should be emphasized are clearly played, and those that should not be emphasized are gently passed. In this way, the music can be made vivid and changeable, and the labor intensity when playing is greatly reduced.

7. If there is an accompaniment, the performance rights of the phrases or paragraphs mainly based on the accompaniment part should be given to the accompaniment instrument, and the soloist can relax and play lightly, not only to rest, but also to make the erhu timbre reappear. The freshness enriches the performance of the music, and it serves several purposes in one fell swoop.

8. Deliberately relax and play softly before the phrase that must be played with strength. On the one hand, it can preserve the strength, and on the other hand, it can form a strong contrast with the latter phrase, which increases the drama of the performance, and the effect is very good.

9. Improvise tension. The performance of a piece of music is always in constant change, and this transformation is not completely pre-processed, and a large part of it is the performer's improvisation during performance. The better the performer, the richer and more wonderful this improvisation is. When we play, the tension needs to be adjusted improvisationally as the music unfolds. This kind of tension includes both movement and psychology. When you feel a little tight, or a piece of tense music is over, you should relax in time; There are strong and weak, continuous and paused, long and short, and other changes and comparisons to complete the performance of a piece of music. This kind of impromptu change is a concrete manifestation of the player's sense of music and experience. There are not many rules to speak of. There is a famous saying: "Art has no fixed method", which is the truth.

Use force scientifically, and the use of force is "cherishing ink like gold", as the Russian composer Stravinsky (1882-197l) said "need to learn to save in music creation". To be economical without being stingy, it should not be used to care about every bit, but it should be used as much as possible. This is the principle of relaxation; and being able to do everything just right is the principle of art.

Reference materials and contributors
二胡演奏中的放松问题

Involving musical instruments

Erhu (Pinyin: Erhu) originated in the Tang Dynasty, called "Xiqin", and has a history of more than a thousand years. It is a traditional Chinese stringed instrument. Erhu, or Erxian Huqin, also known as "Nanhu" and "Omzi", is one of the main bowed and stringed instruments (wiping strings) in the Chinese national musical instrument family.

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