Erhu's playing skills are relatively rich, mainly divided into two categories: fingering and bowing, among which portamento is the most distinctive among bowed string instruments.

Portamento is the sound produced by consciously sliding your finger on a string. The sliding method is different, the resulting portamento effect is also different.

In terms of the sliding range, there are alternate portamento and original position portamento;

In terms of the sliding range, there are big portamento (above a major third) and a small portamento (minor third);

minor third portamento

In terms of sliding direction, there are up-glide (slide from bass to treble) and glide (slide from treble to bass);

In terms of sliding time, there are first portamento (the portamento appears before the original) and post-glide (the portamento appears after the original);

In terms of sliding strength, there are appoggiato portamento and link portamento;

From the general nature of portamento, it can be divided into two categories: decorative portamento and connected portamento.

Open string minor third portamento

① Glide first

First portamento is a portamento that first glides from the appoggiator to the natural note, which emphasizes the natural note. There are two kinds of first glide and up and down glide.

② back portamento

The portamento that appears after the main note is called back portamento. The back portamento slides from the natural note to the appoggiance, and the whole sliding process is exactly the opposite of the first portamento. Post Glide also has up and down Glide points. Usually represented by arrow symbols.

③ Link portamento

Connected portamento, also known as connected portamento, is a common portamento whose symbol is to add an arrow to the right end of the concatenated bow symbol. In terms of playing method, a certain finger is used to connect the sounds in the connection with a balanced strength, which sounds compact and makes the music have a strong appeal. In fact, the "slip finger change bar" that is often used in the bar change is also similar to the connection portamento, but the characteristics are not as strong as the connection portamento.

④ turn portamento

Portamento is a decorative portamento with a prominent effect. Its symbol is "w", which is generally recorded above the note.

The transition portamento is a second step below the original note, so some people specifically call this portamento "down-turn portamento". In addition, there is a kind of "upturn glissando", which is more common in Mongolian folk songs. Its symbol is "￣", and its intensity, range and time are exactly the same except that the direction of "revolution" is opposite to that of downward spiral portamento.

What needs to be pointed out here is that no matter whether it is "up-turn portamento" or "down-turn portamento", the pitch interval of their "turn" is relatively regular. Generally speaking, the range of motion of turn portamento is two degrees above and below the original note, and rarely more than a minor third. of.

Glide

Notes on using portamento

In practical application, portamento is varied, and it is often mastered flexibly according to the emotional needs and stylistic characteristics of the music. The use of portamento can also reflect the characteristics of music in various places. For example, the portamento used in music genres such as Henan pendant, Guangdong music, Yunnan lantern, and Jiangnan Sizhu is one of the distinctive features of this music genre. Guizhou Miao folk songs and Hunan Miao folk songs are also very different in style of glissando.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when using portamento:

1) First of all, it is clear what kind of portamento is. If it is decorative, in order to grasp the distinct effect of the guest and host, the bow and finger movement should be light in decorative sound and heavy in primary sound.

The transition between the ornamental tone and the primary tone should be natural; if it is connected, it should be integrated and seamless. Portamento fingers move as the wrist moves up and down.

If you simply move up and down on the string with your fingers, this movement is not agile, the intensity is not easy to control, and the effect of portamento is more rigid.

2) Generally speaking, it is not allowed to change bows and strings when playing portamento.

3) The most important thing in playing portamento is that it must be used properly. If the style and emotional needs of the music are not met, and some unnecessary portamento is inserted, the whole tune will become greasy, distorting the content of the music, and destroying the style and characteristics of the music.