The jinghu is a Chinese

Music of China

Chinese Music has been made since the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty...

 bowed string instrument

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

 in the huqin

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 upwards...

family, used primarily in Beijing opera

Beijing opera

Peking opera or Beijing opera is a form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in the late 18th century and became fully developed and recognized by the mid-19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty court...

. It is the smallest and highest pitched instrument in the huqin family.

Construction

Like most of its relatives, the jinghu has two strings that are customarily tuned to the interval of a fifth 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 huqin

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 upwards...

instruments (erhu

Erhu

The erhu is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a "southern fiddle", and sometimes known in the Western world as the "Chinese violin" or a "Chinese two-stringed fiddle". It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles...

, gaohu

Gaohu

The gaohu is a Chinese bowed string instrument developed from the erhu in the 1920s by the musician and composer Lü Wencheng and used in Cantonese music and Cantonese opera...

, zhonghu

Zhonghu

The zhonghu is a low-pitched Chinese bowed string instrument. Together with the erhu and gaohu, it is a member of the huqin family, and was developed in the 20th century as the alto member of the huqin family .The zhonghu is analogous with the erhu, but is slightly larger and...

, etc.) it is made of bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

. 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

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

 into a single octave

Octave

In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

.

The jinghu was also featured prominently in the single "Shinjitsu no Uta

Shinjitsu no Uta

is the fourteenth single by Do As Infinity, released in 2002. It was used as the fifth ending to the anime InuYasha.-Track listing:# # "One or Eight"# # "One or Eight" -Chart positions:-External links:* at Avex Network...

" by the Japanese band Do as Infinity

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 D.A.I., alluding to the fact that Do As Infinity was named after Dai Nagao...

.

See also

• Huqin
  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 upwards...
  
  
• Music of China
  Music of China
  Chinese Music has been made since the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty...
  
  
• Traditional Chinese musical instruments
  Traditional Chinese musical instruments
  -The Eight Sounds or Eight Tones :The eight categories are: silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and hide. There are other instruments which may not fit these classifications. This is one of the first musical classifications ever.-Silk :...
  
  
• String instruments

External links

• Current profile of Wu Ru-Jun (Beijing opera musician who played the jinghu in Shinjitsu no Uta
  Shinjitsu no Uta
  is the fourteenth single by Do As Infinity, released in 2002. It was used as the fifth ending to the anime InuYasha.-Track listing:# # "One or Eight"# # "One or Eight" -Chart positions:-External links:* at Avex Network...
  
  ) 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.