How to choose erhu is a permanent topic for Hu friends. Over the years, there have been different opinions and long stories, and it is inevitable to give people a feeling of seeing flowers in the fog. I often encounter masters who have played piano for decades, and famous teachers who have made piano for decades. It seems that choosing a piano generally requires some knowledge of acoustics, materials science, mechanics, aesthetics, mathematics and mechanics, plus the basics of erhu playing, so that you can be more confident when choosing a piano. I would like to share my personal experience in piano selection over the years as follows:

1. Select the erhu and pay attention to the resonance focus area of the piano barrel

In the jargon, a good sound must be "tethered", which means that the resonance and resonance of the erhu drum must form a concentrated focus, otherwise the sound will be scattered and lackluster, the treble will be empty, and the bass will be thin. After the piano skin vibrates and sounds, it focuses backwards along the barrel mouth and the bell mouth into a pyramid-shaped area. The length of this area changes with the slope of the bell mouth, plus the reflection resonance effect of the sound groove (the oval piano has no sound groove) , is the key to adjust the balance of the erhu high and low. When the treble area (ie the lower handle) moves forward in the resonance focus area, the volume is large and the sound quality is real; when the resonance focus area is moved back, the volume is small and the sound quality is thin. Its bass range (that is, the top position) is just the opposite. In order to take into account the balance of high and low frequencies, the resonance focus area must be in a reasonable position. Experience has proved that the resonance focus is a little bit behind the center axis of the piano bar. The simple way to determine the resonance focus area is: when you try to play the piano, the left hand feels a kind of through vibration of the piano bar, headstock and piano support, which indicates that the focus of resonance is just on the central axis of the piano bar. Focus area is audible.

2. Pay attention to the "Penny Effect" when choosing Erhu

When a bamboo pole is intact, it will sound "dangdang" when knocked. Once there is a crack in a certain section or the head of the pole, the whole bamboo pole will break with a "hiss" sound. Quan Penny's "Penny Breaking Effect". Erhu's "penny effect" has been ignored and unnoticed so far. In the production process of erhu, there will inevitably be some natural and artificial gaps in the material and production structure. I have experienced a good piano, the material is excellent, the workmanship is excellent, and the sound quality is very good in general, but in the dead of night when there is no noise interference, I can vaguely hear a faint trace of the d tail of the outer strings. "Sizzle" noise. I couldn't find the reason for a long time. Later, I removed the support plate and used a magnifying glass to find a small air-drying crack on the edge of the piano barrel (the old material is easy to produce). Apply a little bit of high-permeability 502 glue to remove it immediately. The "penny effect" generally does not occur at the origin. It appears in the final sound of the erhu pronunciation after transferring with the guided vibration, and it does not appear in all sounds. Sometimes a certain audio frequency guided resonance of the erhu just excites the "penny effect". Selection method: 1. Put your ears on the piano bar to listen to the empty strings, and you can hear obvious noises; 2. Listen carefully to each sound and check the production of each point of the material. In this way, you can avoid the mistaken selection of erhu with the "penny effect".

3. When choosing Erhu, pay attention to the inaccuracy of pronunciation in a certain audio

This is a common and frequently-occurring disease, and it is more common on high-end pianos with thick and tight skins. When playing the piano, one note or several notes are often obviously untrue, giving off an overtone-like effect. Some people mistakenly think that the bow is slipping. This is mainly because the resonance of the barrel and the piano skin is on a certain audio frequency. Poor coordination and no resonance. Some pianos can be relieved and disappeared after being played for a period of time, while others are not.

Note the method: 1. The skin of the piano should be thin and even, 2. The inner wall of the piano should be smooth and symmetrical, and the radian should be smooth and coherent.

4.choose erhu to pay attention to its expressiveness

Expressiveness is the essence of erhu.

Generally speaking, the expressive power of the erhu is reflected in two aspects: one is the sensitivity and comfort of the erhu. It is required to be responsive, the bow will ring (sound) when the bow touches the strings, the sound quality is pure and full, not sluggish and tired; the piano feels comfortable, giving the player a kind of intimacy like a bird, and stimulating the excitement of playing. The second is the controllability and potential of the erhu. The qin can perform and play freely according to the player's wishes, without "burst" in strong play, without "boom" in weak play, without "whistling" in high notes, and "pharynx" in low notes. It can play freely in the sound range and large span, without feeling "difficult", with good controllable performance and large "reserve power". Just like a car with superior performance and powerful horsepower, it allows the driver to fully enjoy the driving pleasure... A good car can give the driver a feeling of the integration of the human and the car, and a good piano can also give people a feeling of the integration of the human and the piano. .

The expressive power is easy to master in making erhus, but it is difficult to make erhus. For example, the general erquan qin is prone to the problem of slow pronunciation and weak sound. It should be said that the expressive power of Erquanqin is the most difficult to grasp in Erhu production.

Expressiveness is a feeling that is not easy to describe but can only be felt, and has no standard and scale for measurement. It needs to be understood and grasped by erhu producers and performers.

5. choose Erhu to pay attention to its penetrating power

Another important indicator for evaluating the quality of erhu sound is "penetration". Penetration is the strength of the timbre, sound quality and volume, and is an important internal quality factor for whether the erhu is excellent or not.

My experience: Penetration should be the reflection of erhu pronunciation to resonance, harmony, unity and harmony. Vibration is the source of sound, no vibration and no sound - simple physical principle. After analyzing the structure and pronunciation principle of the erhu, it can be found that the sound of the strings is transmitted to the piano skin (vibrating membrane). At this time, the central amplitude of the piano skin is large and the frequency is low, and the amplitude becomes smaller and the frequency increases as it goes to the edge; Loudspeaker), at this time, the echo reflection vibration at the front of the skin has a small amplitude and a high frequency, and the amplitude increases and the frequency decreases toward the back. Through the resonance of the piano skin and the barrel and the resonance of the stem and support, the erhu makes a beautiful sound.

In my opinion, the vibration frequency range of a piano with good penetrating power should be wide, the main audio frequency should be prominent, and the secondary audio frequency should be harmonious and coordinated. Large volume does not mean good penetration, and good penetration does not necessarily mean high volume.

Good penetrating power is another important requirement for the craftsmanship and quality of erhu.

There are many ways to test the penetrating power of a piano with my own experience and feelings, mainly based on my own perception. Among them, there are two simplest methods: first, when you try to play the piano, the left hand of the piano can feel a strong sense of tremor on the stem and headstock of the piano, and the tone, sound quality and volume are coordinated; Listening from a distance, listening to its pronunciation has good far-reaching, long, plump and clear pronunciation, and has a strong appeal.

6.the selection of erhu should pay attention to the artistic beauty of its production

A good erhu should be the crystallization of the high-quality function of the musical instrument and the artistic beauty of high-quality production. That is to say, it is not only a musical instrument with perfect timbre, sound quality, and volume, but also a pleasing work of art with collection value and ornamental value.

A little personal experience on the artistic beauty of erhu production:

Specifications for production dimensions: the central axis of the piano bar and the central axis of the barrel and the central axis of the two pianos are three vertical; Concentric, so that the axis effect of the whole piano sound resonance resonance is highly uniform; the angle of the joints on the inner and outer walls of the piano barrel is accurate and symmetrical, the thickness of the plate wall is symmetrical and uniform, the length is accurate, and the radian is smooth, coherent, and smooth, so that the resonance resonance of the piano barrel is at the frequency , The transmission speed is balanced and symmetrical, which effectively improves the purity of the sound quality.

The production structure is strict: firstly, the rod and the hole of the piano barrel are precisely matched, and the tightness is just right; secondly, the hole of the rod and the hole and the rod of the piano are precisely matched, and it is neither difficult to twist nor run out of strings ( The joint surface of the hole and the trunnion has reached a full fit); thirdly, the mortise of the piano rod and the piano holder are closely in place, and the piano holder neither shifts back and forth nor shifts left and right. The holes, tenons and eyes of the whole piano structure have reached the high standard of strictness, solidity, accuracy and tightness.

Fine craftsmanship: from the processing of the barrel skin to the processing of the leather edge after the skin is clean and neat; the barrel mosaic and the production and polishing of the inner wall, the molding and polishing of the barrel shell, are in place; carving, The workmanship and shape of the mosaic are meticulously carved; the grooves, grooves, lines, arcs, bends, edges, corners, holes, tenons and eyes of the whole piano are processed meticulously. Shovel, cut, file, drill, inlay, inlay, engrave, engrave, engrave, stitch, stick, pull, grind, light, interlocking and neatly in place. See kung fu everywhere.

The production effect is beautiful: the production process should make the erhu reach a high artistic beauty. A good violin can see the god from a distance, see the shape close up, and listen to the sound with hands. The erhu's high-quality sound, sound, volume and effect complement each other with its smooth and elegant appearance. The effective string length between the qin shaft and the qin barrel must be designed reasonably, so that the tension of the string, the vibration frequency, and the comfort of hand feel are organically combined to achieve the best effect of sound quality and hand feel. The process of film treatment and skin pulling must be in place, so that the tension and elasticity of the film are just right, so that the sensitivity of the piano, the stability of the sound quality and volume, and the durability of the piano, the organic combination of the three will bring out the long-lasting and good sound quality of the piano. In general, a beautiful and good violin should look carefully at its delicateness, close at its atmosphere, and at a distance from afar. Erhu sound, shape, and spirit are both in order to achieve a harmonious and unified aesthetic effect.

7. Don't rush for success when choosing a custom erhu

The sound quality of erhu is closely related to stress and resonance. Why do old pianos sound better than new ones? Are old pianos better than new ones? The main reason is that in the process of adapting to the natural environment, the violin gradually eliminates the stress of the violin-making materials, and gradually forms a harmonious resonance in frequency and direction.

When it comes to stress, it's basically everywhere: manufacturing, construction, musical instruments, etc. Basically all materials have stress, but in different ways. The most intuitive phenomena of stress are: thermal expansion and cold contraction, wet expansion and dry contraction, etc. Generally speaking, the existence of stress is harmful: mechanical deformation, cracks in houses, cracking of musical instruments, etc. are all caused by stress. Take a daily example: when the new "Poussin" car is put into use, the chassis will always make a "pop" sound by itself. This is because of the generation and existence of steel stress in chassis manufacturing, and the stress is gradually eliminated during use.

Once the piano wood is cut, its critical surface changes, plus the difference between the dry and humidity of the environment, and the change of the tensile surface of the wood fiber, etc., its stress changes, the most obvious manifestation is warping deformation, etc., and then the old Once the material is cut, stress changes will occur, but there are differences in degree. Stress must be eliminated, and the best way to eliminate stress is to eliminate it naturally, the so-called "make it enough", and then make it.

There is a set of scientific and rigorous procedures in the process of making erhu. There is a long production cycle from material cutting to finished product. The intermittent production process is actually a process of scientifically eliminating material stress and adjusting material resonance. To make a good piano, the material must be fully "run-in" with the natural environment, so that the environment can accept its arrival, so as to achieve the best resonance and sound quality. In this way, the piano made after the test of time has fast sound, good sound quality, good quality stability in the future, and durability.

Therefore, it is said that if you want a good qin, you have to bear your temper, "I can't eat hot dumplings in a hurry."

8.choose erhu should pay attention to the "bucket board" effect

The water capacity of the bucket board is based on the lowest piece of bucket board. Erhu is a "bucket", and "sound, shape, spirit, skin, material, and workmanship" are pieces of bucket board. Under normal circumstances, luthiers always take into account the requirements of balancing all aspects of the index when making each grade of piano, just like making cars of different grades requires a balance of various configurations. Of course, it is inevitable that one item is better and one item is worse, and the luthiers make up for the shortcomings. Unless the buyer has special requirements, generally speaking, from the six aspects of "sound, shape, spirit, leather, material, and workmanship", it is better to balance it. Otherwise, a bad item drags down a good item, and the overall effect declines instead, forming a "bucket board" effect.

9. Select the key points of Erhu as "sound, shape, spirit, skin, material and workmanship"

"Tone" - the key to choose the piano. It is divided into three elements: tone, sound quality, and volume. The timbre is usually rich, soft, bright, sweet, high-pitched, vigorous, etc., but it is not absolute. A piano often has both, but there is no uniform. You can choose according to personal preference. Sound quality is often measured in terms of purity, roundness, and thickness. A violin can do both. The volume is often divided into loud, moderate, and small. In the case of the same thickness and tightness of the piano skin, the one with the larger volume is better. It is not advisable to have a loud volume but loose and lack of spirit. To analyze the trend of volume development, the volume of the tight-skinned and thick-skinned skin gradually increases with the playing, while the thin-skinned and loose skinned skin is not.

"Shape" - the physical beauty of the erhu. The design and layout are required to be reasonable, and the shape is beautiful and generous.

"God" - the artistic beauty of erhu. The connotation has high acoustic quality, which is manifested as excellent expressiveness and strong penetrating power; the extension is the air from a distance, the atmosphere from a close up, the delicate hands, and the aura, which is quite a combination of the bird and the human and the piano. a feeling of.

"Skin" - The skin is best taken from the tail of a young adult python. Especially those with good leather tension and good elasticity, uniform scales and neat texture, smooth and bright colors are preferred.

"Material" - usually high-end pianos are made of old mahogany, red sandalwood and ebony. There is basically no such thing as old red sandalwood for old furniture in the market. Selection of piano materials: The wood is cut by diameter and the texture is straight, no knots, no damage, no damage, high density and uniformity, consistent color, and coordination.

"Work" - fine craftsmanship, accurate size and tight structure. Different luthiers have different production process characteristics and different production forms. You can choose according to personal preference.

The above is a summary of the requirements for selecting a piano. The criteria for selecting a good piano are interpreted in terms of "sound, shape, spirit, skin, material, and workmanship".

10. Pay attention to the "mature sound of the new piano" and the dyed leather

There are often new pianos from manufacturers and merchants, and when you get started, "the new piano produces a familiar sound", usually due to two reasons: one is that the skin is loose, and the skin is loose, and the good times are not long. Downhill trend, this piano is not desirable. The second is to use artificial methods to promote sound production. One of the simplest methods is to rely on the "familiar sound" produced by pressing. Put an item on the skin of the piano, then cover it with a plate, and apply pressure on it. It only takes one day and one day. It is done. The tension and elasticity of the membrane fibers of the piano that relies on pressing out the mature sound are damaged to varying degrees, and the life span is short and the stamina is poor. Often the identification method shows that there is a sunken round pit under the chassis of the piano code, so be careful when choosing a piano.

Some new qin films are bright in color. Note that there are a lot of erhu skins on the market now dyed, which has become an open secret, or a public nuisance. There are many dyeing methods, usually using oily dyes or chemical potions. When choosing a piano, be careful not to be confused by color.