The intonation of the erhu is a difficult problem for beginners. Under normal circumstances, as long as beginners have no problem with hearing and can follow the teacher's requirements when practicing the piano, the problem of intonation is not difficult to solve. I'm afraid that I'm not strict in practicing the piano, and I don't have to listen to it, and I'll develop some intonation problems that shouldn't appear. For example, the common finger spacing is inaccurate, one finger is easy to be high, the little finger is habitually low, the relationship between semitones is ambiguous, and when the handle is changed, it is suddenly high and low.

The essence of technical training is the training of hands on the control of musical instruments. This control ability alone actually refers to the control ability of the brain opponent. Therefore, technical training is not only training the hands, but also training the brain.

We will explain how to master the skills scientifically and understand the skills from the perspective of music, so that they can ultimately serve music better.

intonation problem

The problem of intonation is a common problem encountered by players of stringed instruments, and the biggest negative phase of the players often comes from this. Pitch as a technical difficulty. When solving this problem, we should first realize that it needs to rely on a scientific method, coupled with persistent practice, can be solved, not just through desperate practice, that is, the problem can be solved.

We often encounter such situations:

After a morning of practice, it seems that I have a certain grasp of the pitch, but in the afternoon or the next day, when I pick up the piano, I find that the pitch is not accurate again, or sometimes it is accurate, and sometimes it is not accurate for some unknown reason; Or, this song is accurate through practice, but, although it is the same type of song, it is still inaccurate, or I always feel unsure. I think these problems are caused by not finding the right way.

Any technical training is not just the training of finger function. Although the training of finger function is also very important, just like athletes need physical training, the key to mastering a skill lies in whether we are good at controlling our body and controlling our hand.

This is the ultimate goal of technical training.

So, how to get this ability?

How to achieve this purpose?

First, rely on the relaxation of the body and fingers. Because stiff muscles cannot be "obedient", correct posture and reasonable hand shape are very necessary.

In order to facilitate the mastery of intonation, we divide the playing range into many positions, and the control of the distance of these different positions is the first thing to pay attention to.

Usually when we talk about intonation, we always think that it belongs to the finger, and the accuracy of the handle of the tiger's mouth is the necessary premise to ensure that the fingers are relaxed and accurate, because a reasonable tiger's mouth position can greatly help the fingers find The feeling of relaxation, and only in a relaxed state can the fingers feel more sensitive and accurate to the distance of the sound.

In addition, the adjustment of the finger distance that the fingers can make is limited, and it can only play a more effective role under the premise of accurate positioning. At the same time, paying attention to the accurate position of the tiger's mouth will also make the hand shape more stable. Therefore, the training of the sense of distance is very important.

In addition to the accuracy of the position, the distance between the outermost two fingers of the four fingers we use to press the strings, that is, the frame of the first and fourth fingers is also very important. This four-degree frame has very different distances in different positions, so obtaining an accurate sense of distance for this frame with very different finger distances in different positions is also a very important part of the practice. Then, with this accurate frame, our second and third fingers can be based on and rely on, so that the finger distance is more accurate.

Hearing has always occupied a most important position in solving the problem of intonation, because in order to obtain intonation, you must first be able to hear whether the pitch is accurate, and then it is possible to adjust, if the ear cannot accurately hear whether the pitch is accurate or not. , the intonation is impossible to wither.

Hearing can be divided into subjective and objective.

Subjective hearing refers to inner hearing.

A player needs to have very good inner hearing, because our hands are only the practice of inner hearing, without the guidance of good inner hearing, we cannot have good practice. And the richer the inner hearing, the richer our practice. In addition, the more sensitive and careful the inner hearing is to distinguish various rhythms, the more meticulous the fingers may master different rhythms.

Objective intonation hearing refers to the judgment of the accuracy of each tone in the actual performance.

The cultivation of this objective hearing is equally important as the cultivation of subjective hearing, because even practice guided by inner hearing often has small deviations, and such deviations need to rely on keen objective hearing as a bridge This information is transmitted to the brain, so that the brain can quickly make judgments based on this information, so as to feed back to the fingers, so that the fingers can be adjusted quickly and accurately.

Therefore, I believe that the high degree of cooperation and automation between the various links formed on the basis of the relaxation of the body and fingers, the sensitivity of hearing, the sensitive "information processing" of the brain and the feedback ability of the fingers is the only way to achieve pitch. important method of accuracy and certainty. Then, the practice under this premise will enable the performer to acquire the ability to control intonation, and this ability has a wide range of continuity, reliability and stability, and the acquisition of this ability will make us no longer because of changing After a piece of music, or after a day, everything has to start all over again.

In this way, it will also provide a strong guarantee for the player to obtain a good psychological state of playing.

Common Factors Affecting Erhu Pitch

Positioning affects the intonation

The intonation of the erhu is related to the positioning of the erhu. In the teaching process, the player should adjust the positioning of the jin according to the size of the hand and the length of the fingers. Even the same erhu may have differences in the distance between the fingers. If you want to grasp the changes of various positions, the fingers must adjust the position of the sound at any time, and control the pitch by changing the finger distance. The position of a certain pitch on the strings cannot be kept absolutely fixed. The fixed jin directly affects the intonation. If the jin is loose and it is outside, the outer string is lower and the inner string is higher. String is low.

Improper finger pressure causes intonation problems

The difference in structure between the erhu and the violin is that the former has no fingerboard, while the latter has a fingerboard. This special structure increases the difficulty of erhu intonation. Since there is no fingerboard, the strength of the finger pressing can be changed. If the finger pressing force changes irregularly, it will be difficult to grasp the pitch. On the same phoneme, if the fingers are pressed too hard, the strings will be stretched tighter and the pronunciation will be higher. The correct pressing force is a kind of skill rather than clumsy force. When the finger falls on the string, there is power at the moment, and then the finger needs to relax quickly with the help of the elasticity of the string. Pressing the strings with force from start to finish is clumsy and undesirable, as it affects both the beauty of the pronunciation and the pitch deviation.

In addition, the pressing force of the fingers should be adjusted slightly with the change of the position during the performance. The pressing force of the upper position can be slightly heavier, and the middle and lower positions should be relatively lightened, so as to avoid high pronunciation.

When the volume of the music is required to be played strongly, the fingers need a large pressing force. At this time, pay attention to the adjustment of the phoneme. The finger position should be moved slightly upward. If the finger is still on the normal phoneme, the pronunciation must be inaccurate. In short, the pressing force of the fingers cannot be static, and the pure and beautiful sound can only be produced by adjusting accordingly with the changes of the position, volume, mood, etc.

Pitch problems caused by playing environment, playing psychology, etc.

When some performers perform in public, they may have intonation problems due to nervousness, resulting in unsatisfactory performances. They regard going on stage as a great mental burden. The strong stimulation of the stage, lighting, audience and the performance itself causes a high degree of emotional tension and timidity, which temporarily disrupts or interrupts normal psychological activities. This is the so-called stage fright. Tension is often manifested by the following physiological phenomena: muscle tension all over the body, increased activity (licking lips, wiping palms on trousers or chairs, etc.), sweating, restlessness, instant loss of memory, tremors, etc. The mind went blank, and intonation problems followed. For some people, playing is a very pleasant thing. When they perform in public, they are calm, enthusiastic, attentive, and perform exceptionally well, and finally achieve extremely satisfactory results; the famous Russian musician Gen Mo Qipin once said Guo: "Because the mood is too excited and nervous, there will be two results. Sometimes the best creative ideas may not be fully reproduced, but on the other hand, it is this kind of stage tension that helps actors achieve their creative goals. The pinnacle of the show, with all the energy, all the talent, all the intuition, and the tension that allows the actor to achieve success that would normally be difficult to achieve."

Ten basic methods of correcting the intonation of the erhu

How to correct pitch

Intonation is not only the basic requirement of erhu performance, but also the basic requirement of all musical instruments. Since the erhu does not have a fingerboard, the string tension is relatively large, and due to factors such as the expansion and contraction of the hand shape and finger spacing when changing the handle, it may affect the intonation.

In order to establish a solid concept of intonation at the beginning stage, some basic correction methods must be learned and mastered. Although these methods vary from person to person and have different characteristics, they generally have the following common points for reference:

1. Train the intonation through a combination of watching, listening, and correcting. "Looking" is to visually observe the position of the fingers and the change of the finger distance, so that each handle can form a relatively stable hand shape and finger distance. "Listening" is the precursor to seeing. Beginners can use the piano and other instruments to carefully judge the relationship between different intervals and finger distances. Adjust the pitch in time and develop good listening habits. "Calibration" is to constantly consolidate the correct pitch and hand shape by looking and listening, while correcting the wrong pitch and hand shape.

2. Practice intonation through sight-singing and tracing. Sight-singing refers to singing the score before practice; imitation refers to playing with empty hands, or imitating exercises with the help of other objects, to cultivate the ability of psychological sound.

3. Pitch training by retaining fingers.

4. Use the homophonic conversion between the open string and the four fingers for correction.

5. Correction through the conversion of open strings and overtones.

6. Pitch correction through the finger spacing of fifths and octaves.

7. Perform pitch training through scales and arpeggio training methods.

8. Auxiliary training is carried out by changing the medium sound (over sound) in the process of changing the handle.

9. Train the intonation by the method of "fixed handle and slide finger" (that is, in a fixed position, by sliding finger pressing instead of changing the handle).

10. Use the open strings to temporarily make jump-type connections to obtain intonation.

Through the above ten principles of erhu calibration, you Hu friends can gain a lot, and beginners friends, you will no longer worry about the inaccuracy of erhu old school! Here we tell erhu beginners that this is a learning skill for you to solve puzzles, and it is also a "good medicine" for erhu improvement!