Quick Answer: What Is a Gaohu?
The gaohu (高胡, gāohú) is a high two-string fiddle in the Chinese huqin family. Closely associated with Cantonese music, it has a small resonator that a player can hold between the knees. Its focused sound can carry a melody above other instruments.[1][2][3]
- Build: A thin neck supports two bowed strings above a small body.[1][3]
- Position: Holding the resonator between the knees can help control the sound.[1][2]
- Use: It can lead a Cantonese ensemble and play upper parts in a Chinese orchestra.[1][4]
The gaohu shares the basic layout of the erhu and generally sounds higher.[1]
A fiddle can stand out in a small Cantonese ensemble without playing loudly. A focused high note and the way a bow carries it into an ornament can help it stay distinct beside a plucked or hammered string sound.[1][4][5]
How the Small Body and Knee Position Shape the Tone
The gaohu retains the upright neck and two strings of an erhu-type fiddle. The bow works between the strings. Wesleyan University’s instrument museum describes a smaller body with an open back on its example. That example also has a small bamboo tube inside, a modification the catalogue associates with a brighter sound high on the strings.[1]
The player can hold the resonator between the knees, a position described as reducing unwanted noise. Wesleyan gives G–D and A–E as example tunings, both higher than a common erhu tuning. The neck alone can look like an erhu’s. Watch where the body sits when the player begins to bow.[1][2]
Lü Wencheng and the Cantonese Ensemble
The instrument’s development is closely associated with musician Lü Wencheng in the early twentieth century. Accounts describe changes to strings and playing position. A Guangzhou University study discusses more than one explanation for these changes, including different stories about the resonator and use of a steel string.[1][2]
The Chinese Music Archive records the name yuehu (粤胡, yuèhú) for the fiddle in Cantonese music. The gaohu also appears in other Guangdong performance contexts, including Cantonese opera. The lower dihu provides a comparison from the same broad family, with a different place in the bowed register.[1][3]
How to Hear the Gaohu in a Group
In a Hong Kong concert program for Autumn Moon over a Placid Lake, Chan Kai-him plays gaohu with yehu and yangqin. The yehu is another bowed fiddle, so a listener can compare how the two bowed lines move. The yangqin gives a separate struck-string attack.[4]
The Hong Kong Education Bureau compares two versions of the piece. Follow the main contour in each version first. Then listen for short turns around the longer notes, which are easier to hear once you know the shape of the phrase. Differences in the small turns can make the same melody feel more or less animated.[5]
FAQs About the Gaohu
Is the gaohu just a different name for the erhu?
The gaohu developed from the erhu type and has two strings. It is normally pitched higher and is associated with a distinct playing position and Cantonese repertory.[1][2][3]
Why is the gaohu held between the knees?
The position can help control the sound of the small resonator and reduce unwanted noise. The exact way the player holds it can vary.[1][2]
Sources
[1] Wesleyan University Virtual Instrument Museum. Gaohu
[2] Guangzhou University, Guangfu Culture Research Center. Cantonese Music in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s
[3] Chinese Music Archive. Gaohu and Other Bowed Instruments
[4] Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Autumn Moon over a Placid Lake Concert Program
[5] Hong Kong Education Bureau. Listening to Chinese Music