The ''jinghu'' ( 京胡;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

: jīnghú) is a Chinese bowed

string instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the s ...

in the ''

huqin ''Huqin'' () is a family of bowed string instruments, more specifically, a spike fiddle popularly used in Chinese music. The instruments consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a neck attached that protrudes u ...

'' family, used primarily in

Beijing opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...

. It is the smallest and highest pitched instrument in the ''huqin'' family. The jinghu has a tone similar to a violin but raspier.

Construction

Like most of its relatives, the ''jinghu'' has 2 strings that are customarily tuned to the interval of a 5th which the hair of the non-detachable bow passes in between. The strings were formerly made of silk, but in modern times are increasingly made of steel or nylon. Unlike other ''

'' instruments (''

erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two- ...

'', '' gaohu'', '' zhonghu'', etc.) it is made of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

. Its cylindrical soundbox is covered with snakeskin on the front (playing) end, which forms a taut drum on which the bridge rests, sandwiched between the drum and the strings, which are connected to a peg at the bottom of the soundbox.

Use

In Beijing opera, the jinghu often doubles the singer's voice. ''Jinghu'' performers in Beijing opera rarely shift into higher positions, and instead choose to compress the

melody A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combina ...

into a single

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

. The ''jinghu'' was also featured prominently in the single " Shinjitsu no Uta" by the Japanese band

Do as Infinity Do As Infinity is a Japanese pop and rock band that formed in 1999 with three members: vocalist Tomiko Van, guitarist Ryo Owatari, and guitarist and composer Dai Nagao. The band's name is sometimes abbreviated as DAI, alluding to the fact that ...

References

External links

Current profile
of Wu Ru-Jun (Beijing opera musician who played the jinghu in '' Shinjitsu no Uta'') from his official website. Includes information about parts of a jinghu and Beijing opera.
Zongti Lin's blog
A blog of another Beijing opera musician, with videos on the Beijing opera and jinghu lessons. Chinese musical instruments Drumhead lutes Peking opera Huqin family instruments {{huqin-stub

Construction

Use

See also

References

External links