The ''dihu'' ( 低胡,

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 ...

: dīhú) is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with snakeskin. Like most other members of 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 ...

family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vertically. The instrument's name derives from "dī," meaning "low," and "hú" (short for ''huqin'').

Sizes

The instrument comes in three sizes: *The ''xiaodihu'' (小低胡, also called

dahu The dahu is a legendary creature that resembles a mountain goat and is well known in France and francophone regions of Switzerland and Italy, including the Aosta Valley. The dahu, a quadrupedal mammal, may have been inspired by the chamois, a sm ...

cizhonghu The dahu ( 大胡, pinyin: ''dàhú'') is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with python skin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vert ...

), pitched one octave below the ''

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- ...

'' (tuned D-A, with its lowest D one whole step above the

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

's lowest C). It is the tenor member of the erhu family (the ''erhu'' being the soprano member and the '' zhonghu'' being the alto member). *The ''zhongdihu'' (中低胡, pitched one octave below the zhonghu, (tuned G-D, as the middle strings of the cello). It is the bass member of the erhu family. *The ''dadihu'' (大低胡, pitched one octave below the ''xiaodihu'' and two octaves below the erhu (tuned D-A, with its lowest D one whole step above the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

's lowest C). It is the contrabass member of the erhu family.

Overview

The ''dihu'' family was developed for orchestral use in the 1930s as lower members of the ''erhu'' family (the ''erhu'' being the soprano member and the '' zhonghu'' being the alto member) to increase the pitch range of the instruments used in a

Chinese orchestra The term Chinese orchestra is most commonly used to refer to the modern Chinese orchestra that is found in China and various overseas Chinese communities. This modern Chinese orchestra first developed out of Jiangnan sizhu ensemble in the 1920s ...

and allow music with harmony to be played. However, by the late 20th century it had largely fallen into disuse, part of the reason being that it is unwieldy to play. Also, the fact that (like other instruments in the ''huqin'' family) the bow passes between the instrument's two strings means that playing

pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument : * On bowe ...

is difficult; thus, the larger four-string gehu and diyingehu (or

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

) are generally used in Chinese orchestras for the lower bowed string voices instead.

References

External links

Dihu page
(Chinese)
Xiaodihu photo
(xiaodihu on left; erhu on right for comparison)
Zhongdihu photo
(zhongdihu on left; erhu on right for comparison)
Dadihu photo
(dadihu on left; erhu on right for comparison) Bowed instruments Chinese musical instruments Drumhead lutes Huqin family instruments {{huqin-stub

Sizes

Overview

See also

References

External links