The guzheng can have 18 to 21 strings and has movable bridges on the instrument. The guzheng is second on my list of Chinese instruments to learn. I just love how the pipa is played and would love to learn it someday. It’s unique sound creates the mood of thousands of sounds being combined together. Pipa Performance- “Ambush from All Sides” When played, the pipa creates a complicated sound like in this performance: The pipa is one of the oldest Chinese instruments with more than 2000 years of history. Unlike the guitar, it is played with all the fingers on the right hand with some fingers on different strings at different times. The pipa is an four-stringed instrument that is played upright with one hand while the other hand is used to press down the strings. If I could ever learn a Chinese instrument, it would be the pipa. Keeping the bow close to the bottom while pulling it across was not as easy as it seems. I tried playing my grandfather’s erhu once and even though I thought it would be quite easy with my background knowledge of violin, it turned out to be pretty tricky. Erhu is one of the most traditional Chinese interments with a history dating back to the Tang dynasty when the first bowed instrument was invented. Due to the unique sound quality of the erhu, it really does sound like horses neighing at the end of the performance. It features Lang Lang, a world famous Chinese pianist, and his father performing a duet. This is one of my all time favorite performances. “Erhu” in Chinese literally means “instrument with two strings.” Both sides of the bow is used to play this instrument which I found to be very interesting. Unlike the violin in western music where the bow sits on top of the string, the erhu’s bow is between the two strings. I still remember the first time I saw my grandfather playing the “erhu”, a two stringed instrument that is played with a bow. However, I love listening to performances that feature traditional Chinese instruments. For me, I never had the opportunity to learn a Chinese instrument but to this day, it is still an item on my bucket list. Music is an important element in many cultures and in many cases, it is what defines a culture.

Every culture in the world has its own language, style of dress, and more importantly style of music.

Chinese two stringed instrument