Relaxation is not slack, and not all techniques require relaxation. In principle, erhu relaxation means not wasting energy. mainly reflects in:

1. Try to maintain a state of natural relaxation.

It's not a complete relaxation of the muscles, just as thrift is not the same as being stingy. Never use your strength where you shouldn't use it, and focus your strength on the necessary points. The tension necessary to play some techniques is not wrong.

2. Make full use of natural gravity.

For example, the force of the bow sticking to the string 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 an oblique pressure of the bow hair on the strings.

When playing with medium-strong force, the weight of the arm itself is enough to provide the bow hair to the string.

When playing with a strong force, the body is slightly leaned forward, and the weight of part of the body is added, which can fully meet the stringing degree required by the bow, and does not need to rely on the strength of muscle tension to push the bow.

For another example: when changing the handle, as long as the tiger's mouth is loosened, the arm will "fall" downward under the action of natural gravity, and there is no need for artificial force at all.

When playing stretching and singing melody, the bow is wider, and the body can swing slightly left and right with the bow. When the bow is drawn, the center of gravity of the body is biased to the right, and the bow will be easily pulled out under the action of natural gravity.

3. Make full use of natural inertia.

The movement of objects will inevitably bring inertia, and if it can be fully utilized, it will become an effective help. If you can't make full use of it and violate the inertia, it will in turn consume energy and hinder normal movement. For example, before changing the bow, the right hand should be relaxed as soon as possible, so that the last short section of the bow will run by inertia, and when the bow is changed, the inertia force should be exhausted, so that the next bow can be naturally connected with it. The buffering effect of the wrist in bowing is used to control inertial motion.

4, the left hand do not emphasize maintaining the hand shape.

If the other fingers are not in a reserved state and are not in a fast standby state, they should all be relaxed and bent, and the fingers should not be hung nervously on the phoneme. The left hand can be fully rested.

5. When playing a long tone, the bow hair should "grab" the strings at the moment of pronouncing to play the sound.

The right hand must hold the bow and give it a certain amount of strength. When the long tone is played, the right hand is relaxed immediately to keep the strings vibrating normally, without having to hold the bow tightly.

6. In a phrase, not every sound is important. Just like when we speak, important words should be spoken clearly and powerfully, and unnecessary words should be softly and gently passed by.

7. If there is an accompaniment, give the accompaniment the performance rights of the phrases or paragraphs mainly based on the accompaniment part, so that the soloist can relax and have a rest, and the erhu timbre will reappear to give people a fresh feeling.

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

9. Adjust the tension improvisationally. The performance of a piece of music is always in constant change. This change is not completely pre-processed, and a large part of it is the performer's improvisation during the performance. play. The better the performer, the richer and more wonderful this improvisation is. When playing, the tension needs to be adjusted improvisationally as the music unfolds. As the so-called "art has no fixed method", this is the truth.