Vibrato is a natural expression of the player's inner musical sense. When playing, vibrato is a subconscious action. No one thinks about the action to vibrate, but thinks about the sound to vibrate. Next, I will discuss the basic method of vibrating strings. It is still required to be natural and changeable in application, and it must be turned into a subconscious action.

An important reason why erhu music is moving is that its pronunciation is round, sweet, and pleasant to the ear, similar to the human voice, and can fully express people's thoughts and feelings, which is closely related to the use of vibrato skills when playing. Vibrato is to use the action of the left hand to continuously change the length (one long, one short) or tension (one loose and one tight) of the string, so as to emit sound waves similar to the vibration of a human voice. Vibrato is one of the most important skills of the left hand, and it can even be said to be one of the most important skills in erhu performance. It is also the embodiment of a player's unique style.

The vibrato was called "yin" in the early stage of the development of erhu, and the vibrato with a larger amplitude was called "dayin". However, with the rapid development of the Erhu career, the changes in vibrato become more and more complicated, and it is difficult to summarize with a single symbol. It is impossible and unnecessary to mark all vibrato in the music with symbols. Therefore, the symbols of vibrato are gradually abandoned and left to the performer for artistic processing.

There are many types of kneading. Any method that uses the continuous change of the length or tension of the strings to generate sound waves can be called kneading.

String rolling is the most basic kneading technique. It swings the palm up and down to drive the first joint of the fingers to flex and extend, so that the fingertips roll evenly on the phoneme, so as to change the length of the string and generate sound waves. Rolling and kneading is composed of two action processes. The first process is: lift the palm up, straighten the first joint of the finger, and touch the string with the finger surface. At this time, the sound is slightly lower than the pitch baseline; the second process is: The process is: swing the palm down, bend the first joint of the fingers, and roll the touch point to the fingertips, at this time, a tone slightly higher than the pitch baseline is issued. These two processes are repeated, and the fingers are rolled evenly across the phoneme, resulting in a vibrato that fluctuates up and down around the pitch baseline.

When rolling, the active point of the action should be placed on the back of the hand, and the palm can only be moved up and down, but not instigated inside or outside. The wrist is an "axis" of movement, so the wrist must not be rigid. It is normal for the forearm to swing slightly up and down passively during exercise, but some performers use the forearm to drive the hand movement, which reverses the subordination of the rolling and kneading movements, resulting in unfavorable tendencies such as stiff movements and clumsy pronunciation. Another point to pay special attention to is that the tumbling sound waves must fluctuate evenly around the pitch baseline up and down.

The tumbling sound wave always fluctuates downward from the pitch baseline, then up through the pitch baseline, and so on. Therefore, its first action must be the palm up, not the other way around.

Tumble and kneading is derived from the rubbing technique of Western stringed instruments. It has a beautiful and smooth pronunciation, and the frequency and amplitude of tumbling are easy to adjust. It is the preferred rubbing method for singing melody. When using the tumbling technique purely, the fingers should not touch the strings too hard, and the wrists can be raised slightly to increase the flexibility of the fingers. Because the first and second fingers are more curved, it is easier and more comfortable to roll. The curvature of the three fingers is much smaller, especially when the second and third fingers are in a whole tone relationship, it is often felt that the fingers lack the necessary room for rolling. The four fingers are originally used to straighten the strings, and there is no room for bending at the first joint, so rolling and kneading is not suitable for the four fingers. In addition, although tumbler has many irreplaceable features, it often cannot meet the needs of all music in terms of the depth and strength of the sound wave of the tumbler, so how to make up for these shortcomings? This is about the second method of kneading—press kneading.

Press-kneading is a kind of kneading method that uses the up and down swing of the palm to drive the fingers to produce different pressures on the strings, so as to change the tension of the strings and emit sound waves. When pressing and kneading, the sound position of the fingers should be slightly lower than the pitch baseline. Its first action is opposite to rolling and kneading. To a slightly higher note; the second action is to restore the palm, the finger pressure on the string is reduced, so that the pronunciation falls back to a slightly lower note through the pitch baseline. When pressing and kneading, the action of the left hand is similar to that of rolling, the difference is that the first joint of the fingers does not flex and stretch, and the fingertips do not roll on the strings. string. Pure pressing and kneading is more tense, stronger, and has a certain depth, but it lacks the grace and smoothness of rolling and kneading. Therefore, in the actual performance, in addition to the special needs of the music, the combination of pressing and rolling is often used. In terms of playing methods, these two kinds of vibraphones use the palms to swing up and down to drive the movement of the fingers, so there is no contradiction in the movements. Let's take a vibrato with equal pressing and rolling components as an example: the fingers press the pitch baseline, the first movement, the palm is lifted, the first joint of the fingers is straightened, the touch point of the string is rolled to the finger surface, and the fingers are not pressed against the string. In the second action, the palm is lowered, the first joint of the fingers is bent, and the pressure on the string is increased while the touch point rolls to the fingertips, and the tone is slightly higher than the pitch baseline; Then remove the pressure on the strings as you return to the first movement, and so on. According to the different needs of the music, the components of pressing and rolling can be adjusted at will, just increase the pressure and reduce the rolling or increase the rolling and reduce the pressure when kneading the strings. The combination of these two different types of vibrato, coupled with the changes in intensity, frequency, amplitude, mood, etc., creates a colorful vibrato world for us.

Generally, there is no need to knead the strings for the sound of the open strings. If the music requires it, the following three methods can be used: ① Press the three fingers on the piano bar to perform the kneading action, so that the tension of the strings changes slightly to generate sound waves; ② Press one finger on the Roll and knead on the jins and press slightly at the same time to generate sound waves; ③ Press one finger on the parts above the jins, press the strings slightly, and change the tension of the strings to generate sound waves. However, the vibrato sound wave of an open string generally only has fluctuations above the pitch baseline, and is not easy to have fluctuations below the pitch baseline, so it is easy to cause high pitch. The solution is to tilt the piano bar slightly to the right, so that the sound of the open strings is slightly lower, so that with the vibrato action, the intonation is normal.

In addition to the two conventional kneading methods mentioned above: tumbling for changing the string length and pressing for changing the string tension, there are also two special kneading methods for changing the string length, sliding and kneading for changing the string tension. .

Sliding kneading is a unique method of stroking the strings. It is a technique of changing the length of the strings to generate sound waves by sliding the fingers up and down around the pitch baseline on the strings. The symbol is "﹋﹋". There are two kinds of slippery kneading: small slippery kneading and large slippery kneading. Small slip kneading has a lot in common with rolling kneading in the playing method. It also uses the up and down swing of the palm to drive the movement of the fingers. The difference from the rolling kneading is that the first joint of the fingers does not bend and stretch, but the fingers bend. Touch the strings with your fingertips, or even your fingernails. When the palm is raised, the fingers will slide upwards across the pitch baseline, making a slightly lower note; when the palm is down, the fingers will slide down at the same time, making a slightly higher note. , and so on. Sliding and kneading is a method of simply changing the length of the strings. Therefore, when playing, the fingers should touch the strings lightly, and try to keep the pressure on the strings balanced, without any changes, otherwise the unique flavor of sliding and kneading will be lost. The big slip rub is also called the hanging wrist slip rub. As the name suggests, the arm should be slightly raised, so that the wrist is suspended, the fingers are in a condescending state, touch the string with the fingertips, the tiger's mouth should be loosened, and the arm will swing up and down to drive the left hand. Make an overall sliding on the piano bar; the sliding range of the fingers on the strings is relatively large, generally more than two degrees above and below the pitch baseline. This kind of sliding and kneading is used more in Henan and Shandong style music.

Kneading is a kind of kneading method that uses the grasping force of the fingers to change the tension of the strings to generate sound waves. Its pronunciation is very tense, similar to the sound of crying, so it is mostly used in sad songs, such as "Jianghe Shui". When using kneading, the phoneme of the fingers should be slightly lower than the pitch baseline, the palm does not swing up and down, and the grip is purely used to grasp and release, and the cycle goes back and forth, so that the tension of the strings continuously changes to generate sound waves. In order to make the fingers grasp the strings more powerfully, you can slightly slump your left wrist and press the palm against the piano bar to form a reaction force opposite to the fingers, or several fingers are pressed on the strings, especially the third and fourth fingers. Due to its weak strength, the above method should be adopted to increase the grip strength. Kneading is a special effect of vibrato method, if used improperly, it will affect the normal performance of the music.

There is also a kind of pressing, rolling and kneading, which is formed by absorbing the performance characteristics of Banhu, and is often used in northern Shaanxi-style music, such as: "The Red Army is Back", "Northern Shaanxi Expressing Feelings" and so on. Press, roll, and knead the fingertips of three fingers (usually two, three, and four fingers) into a plane, the wrist is slightly collapsed, and the base of the palm is pressed against the piano bar. Under the driving force of the wrist, the three fingers are combined Movement, large-scale continuous rolling and pressing on the strings, so that the pitch fluctuates up and down within the range of the minor third interval, which is very rich in northern Shaanxi flavor. This is also a special effect of vibrato method, usually rarely used.

The vibrato should be changed according to the different needs of the music. This change has the following five aspects: ① The change of frequency, that is, the change of the number of times per unit of vibrato, can produce slow kneading, medium kneading and fast kneading, etc.; ② The change in amplitude, that is, the change in the size of the up and down vibration of the sound wave, can produce light rubbing, heavy rubbing and so on. Generally speaking, the vibrating frequency in the low-pitched area can be appropriately slowed down and the amplitude can be appropriately larger, the vibrating frequency in the high-pitched area should be appropriately accelerated, and the amplitude should be appropriately smaller; the vibrating frequency with short note duration can be slightly faster and the amplitude is slightly smaller. , the vibrating frequency of the long note duration can be slightly slower and the amplitude is slightly larger; the vibrating frequency of the fast music is also fast, and the vibrating frequency of the slow music is relatively slow; The frequency is fast, the amplitude is also large, the music is weak, the tone is light, and the passage is more lyrical, the frequency of the vibrato is relatively slow, and the amplitude is also small. This is only a general situation. Music is ever-changing. When using it, the performer needs to make specific processing according to his own understanding of the content of the music. ③The change of rolling ingredients, that is, the different proportions of rolling and pressing in kneading, can be compared in terms of the depth, emotion, and fluency of kneading; No kneading at the beginning of the note, and slowly adding to the vibrato later) and termination kneading (the opposite of late kneading, which starts with vibrating on a long note, then stops slowly, and does not vibrate at the end, mostly used in the beginning of a piece of music. ⑤ Changes in conventional vibrato and special vibrato (such as kneading, pressing, rolling, etc.).

In addition to making the erhu's performance more attractive, vibrato is also an important means for players to ensure intonation. It can be said that the intonation is used by the performer to correct the finger position error in time by the use of vibrato when others are not aware of it. However, beginners often have the inaccurate sound caused by vibrato. The important reason is that the sound wave of vibrato varies in amplitude, or fluctuates greatly upwards, and fluctuates little downwards, or vice versa, while the listener's hearing Always use the center line of the sound wave as the pitch baseline, which is equivalent to moving the pitch baseline, resulting in the inaccuracy of pitch.

Vibrato often has personal hobbies in erhu performance, such as: some people are used to vibrating more deeply; some are used to vibrating more beautifully; some people are more excited; some people are good at changing, and so on. Therefore, to a large extent, it reflects the unique style of the performer, so that people can hear who is playing at a glance. But no matter what style it embodies, the most important principle of vibrato is to use it properly and just right, so that the erhu performance can have irresistible artistic charm.

Erhu players are prone to the following deviations in vibrato:

1. When rolling and kneading, the movements are tense and stiff, and the coordination of various parts is not coordinated, which is mainly manifested in (1) the arm movement is too large, or even too active; (2) the wrist is not loose and does not play the role of "axis"; (3) the fingers are deadlocked, The first joint cannot freely perform flexion and extension movements; ④ incite the palm inside and outside, ⑤ pull the strings too much with finger force, and so on. When learning to knead strings for the first time, you can practice the "chicken pecking rice" movement on the table with your left hand, and then hold the piano after you are proficient. ", when counting "one", do the first action process of rolling; when counting "two", do the second action process, so repeat the practice until the action is correct and the operation is proficient, and then the action process is connected to practice. Until it is used freely, it can enter the practical application stage. In order to make the movement of the fingers more flexible during rolling and kneading, the reserved fingers can be used as little as possible to reduce the mutual restraint between the fingers.

2. The tiger's mouth moves when the strings are kneaded, which affects the stability of the pitch (except for the large slippery kneading). The tiger's mouth is the fulcrum of the vibrato movement and must be kept stable.

3. The relationship between the vibrato and the pitch is not well grasped, or the vibrato affects the pitch, or the vibrato cannot be used to correct the error of the finger position, and so on. In addition to mastering the correct method of vibrato, this problem can only be solved after long-term training under the guidance of keen pitch and hearing.

4. The movement is not loose during sliding and kneading, or the pitch baseline is not well mastered during the sliding, which affects the pitch; or the sliding amplitude is not appropriate; or the sliding process is fast and slow, the frequency is uneven, etc., so that the sliding and kneading cannot be exhibited. the desired effect.

5. There are too many strings in the pressing and kneading, which makes the pronunciation tense and affects the smoothness of the melody. Although pressing and kneading both generate sound waves by changing the tension of the strings, they are two different types of vibrating strings, and they are very different in method and pronunciation. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish them strictly and use them appropriately.

Sixth, the kneading technique is poor and lacks change. In the music, it is not necessary to knead every sound, it is the same. As a means of expressing the erhu, vibrato must serve the music content. The music is so rich, the vibrato must be ever-changing. Therefore, from learning how to play a skill to using it well, there is still a long process of honing in the middle.