What are the playing techniques of dulcimer? The eight major playing techniques of dulcimer are summarized as follows:

1. The "playing" technique of dulcimer art

The technique of "playing" is the basic feature of dulcimer art. It starts from "holding bamboo", which is not only related to the player's feeling of carrying and playing the bamboo, but also affects the choice of playing method and the timbre presented. and sound effects, etc. Wang Yifu believes that the scientific "holding the qin bamboo" should be the hand in the shape of a half fist, the thumb is lightly pressed on the qin bamboo handle, and the index finger, middle finger, ring finger and little finger in their natural order, rely on the back of the handle of the qin bamboo handle. This way of holding the qin lays the foundation for the presentation of various performance techniques of dulcimer. After the method of holding the piano was established, the application of the method of playing also became logical. Playing not only requires the use of wrist and arm strength; it also requires coordinated movements of the wrist, hand, and elbow, purely through the natural physiological movements of people to drive the relevant playing activities. This natural and rational playing method makes the timbre and sound quality of the dulcimer seem real and not empty, especially with the help of the flexibility of human elbow movements, the external movement style of playing is free, easy and natural. , to give the audience a beautiful audio-visual experience, and to strengthen the emotional expression effect of specific dulcimer works.

2. "Bamboo" technique of dulcimer art

Dulcimer is a kind of point-like instrument, and like many other plucked instruments, it must form a specific long-tone effect through dense points. These dense points are a clear reflection of traditional Chinese thinking, thus forming the unique "round play" performance skills of Chinese dulcimer art, that is, the performance of singing melody by means of points promoting lines. Wang Yifu's "round play" technique is formed on the basis of "holding bamboo" and "playing" techniques, that is, through the wheel movement of the force point on the forearm, the wrist is driven by the forearm, and the wrist is kept slack. It is convenient for long-lasting acceleration and force, and it can also obtain uniform and fine-grained timbre and sound quality. Specifically, this "round bamboo" technique mainly includes three types: monophonic theory, double-tone wheel, and supporting hand wheel. The single tone wheel mainly refers to the player's hands quickly alternately playing a dense, continuous and even tone on the same tone. The double tone wheel refers to the player's hands on the differentiated tones (such as octaves, sixths, thirds and many other different intervals) to quickly play a harmonically dense and uniform sound quality effect. The hand wheel is the most effective technique to express the dulcimer as a polyphonic musical instrument. It requires the player to be able to play with one hand and one hand to accompany the dulcimer, so as to vividly display the polyphonic melody characteristics and timbre beauty of specific dulcimer works. .

3. "Single Bamboo" and "Qi Bamboo" Techniques of Dulcimer Art

The "single bamboo" performance technique of dulcimer art mainly refers to single-tone performance, including left bamboo, right bamboo, anti-bamboo, dull bamboo or strikes. No matter how different their sound quality effects are, they are all presented in the form of monophonic. Therefore, such performance techniques are collectively referred to as "single bamboo" techniques. Such performance skills are not only related to the performance speed, timbre, posture, stage image, etc. of dulcimer performers, but also affect whether other performance skills can be successfully completed. An important means for the maturity and perfection of dulcimer playing techniques. Secondly, Qizhu performance techniques mainly refer to harmonic Qizhu, octave Qizhu and two-tone bamboo. The technique of performing lies in that the hands of the performer rise and fall at the same time in different positions, that is to say, the hands are required to maintain synchronization in terms of strength, speed and timbre, and the two bamboos fall like a sound.

4. "Sliding bamboo" technique of dulcimer art

The "Sliding Bamboo" performance technique is developed on the basis of "Shaking Bamboo". It is also called "Sliding and Wiping". It is mainly used to imitate the pipa or the guzheng instrument to pull the strings through the "slippery finger cover" and the "steel plectrum". , the sound quality effect of pressing the strings, thus presenting a melodious sound like a song, for example, it can imitate many different special effects such as wind whistling, birdsong, and string strumming. Generally speaking, the "slipping bamboo" techniques in the dulcimer performance process can be mainly divided into three forms: sliding, sliding, and rubbing. This kind of performance needs to be done with the help of portamento fingertips, so the selection and application of fingertips is the key to learning this technique. Since the strings and glissando finger covers of the dulcimer instrument are all made of metal, the standard of "tight, flat and sticky" must be followed in the process of sliding and wiping.

5. The technique of "pointing strings" in the art of dulcimer

The technique of "pointing the strings" in the art of dulcimer is very diverse. According to the different positions of the string and the stay time, this kind of string can be mainly divided into many different forms such as imitation overtone, overtone, rubbing overtone, double overtone, wooden sound, drum sound, and pause sound. The common feature is that the strings are jogged with the right finger after the strings are struck. When performing "pointing the strings", the player must pay attention to the time and position of the point, as well as the application of virtual and real pressing, etc., so that the sound quality of the music presents a rich sense of color and enhances its emotional expression effect. For example, in the ancient song "General's Order" adapted by Wang Yifu, the drum sound is used just right, showing the passion and courage of the ancient battlefield soldiers.

6. The "kneading" technique of dulcimer art

There are mainly two kinds of "kneading" techniques during the performance of dulcimer: one is to use the middle and ring fingers of the other hand to continuously knead the strings at the other end of the piano code after playing the strings through a bamboo bamboo. This produces the sound effect of waves and tremors; another method is pressing and kneading, which is a dulcimer performance technique with the most Chinese characteristics. This technique is different from kneading the strings, but by pressing first and then kneading, the original note on the string can be changed to a certain height by a certain degree. Because the strings of the dulcimer instrument are more numerous and hard, the performer often completes specific pressing and kneading techniques at the bottom of the treble code.

7. The "plucking" technique of dulcimer art

The "plucking" technique in the performing arts of dulcimer can produce crisp and bright timbre effects, showing a special musical performance ability. Generally speaking, in the process of playing, the bamboo is turned over to maintain a 45° angle with the strings, and the strings are plucked through the end of the bamboo to produce a specific sound quality effect. This kind of pizzicato is a performance technique that pursues the effect of timbre and sound quality. In this process, the strings must be touched quickly to avoid various noises caused by the sliding of the strings, which will affect the sound quality of the overall music work, etc. . From the perspective of the current dulcimer performance, the performance skills of plucking can be mainly divided into several forms such as double plucking, single plucking, sliding plucking, and alternating plucking. According to whether the timbre is full, the plucking skills can be divided into two forms: selective plucking and full plucking. In this process, we must pay attention to the power mode and touch angle required by each plucking technique, so as to produce pure and beautiful timbre and long-lasting sound quality.

8. The "string-drawing" technique of dulcimer art

The so-called "string hooking" is mainly named after pulling the fingertips inward and the wrist upwards to produce a specific sound quality effect. It can be divided into two forms: hooking with a fingernail and hooking without a fingernail. Among them, without fingernail hooking, the strings are hooked through the belly of the finger, which produces a deep sound quality effect; the skills of hooking with fingernails are more diverse, including wiping, picking, splitting, holding, pinching, upper sliding hook, lower hook, Double slide hook and many other techniques. The sound quality is relatively crisp and bright. Therefore, the way of playing with the belly hook and the nail hook remains the same, but the timbre effect presents a relatively large difference.