Zero foundation, how to learn to play cucurbit silk?
Hulusi, also known as Huluxiao, is called Shannan Mudao in Dai language (Nanmu Daodao means Hulu). Popular in Dehong, Baoshan, Ruili and other Dai areas in western Yunnan, but also popular in Achang, Bulang and De 'ang.
Hulusi has a special structure, all the materials used are taken from nature, and the production process is completely done by hand. It consists of a gourd, a main pipe, a reed and an attached pipe. The main pipe has seven sound holes, and the range is bass 3, 5, 6, 7 and alto 1 2 3 5 6. Attached pipes, one long and one short, are installed on both sides of the main pipe, and the attached pipes constantly make sounds.
Hulusi has a beautiful, kind and slightly nasal pronunciation, and is good at expressing tender and delicate feelings, giving people a subtle and hazy aesthetic feeling. Because its voice is as elegant and soft as trembling silk, it is called cucurbit silk.
2. The appearance of cucurbit silk is shown below.
3. Pressing points with cucurbit silk gesture.
Press the first, second and third sound holes and the fourth, fifth and sixth sound holes respectively with the index finger, middle finger and ring finger of both hands, and press the seventh sound hole behind with the thumb. As for whether the left hand is on the floor or the right hand is on the floor, it depends on everyone's habits and does not affect the learning of playing skills.
Press the hole tightly. If you don't press any part, it will cause air leakage and lead to inaccurate or abnormal sound. However, the fingers pressing the points should not be stiff or clumsy, and the fingers should be relaxed. See the figure below.
4. Playing posture.
When playing the cucurbit silk, it is usually in a standing position, with a natural, relaxed and tall figure. See below.
5, the use of breath
The taste of playing cucurbit silk is quite different from that of playing bamboo flute and clarinet. When bamboo flute and clarinet play bass, the airflow should be gentle, while when cucurbit is played, the airflow should be strong (except for the "3" sound); Bamboo flute and clarinet have strong airflow when playing high notes, while cucurbit flute can only play high notes slowly. If the air is used too hard, it may lead to no music or damage the reed.
6. How to play the scale of cucurbit silk?
6- 1, the common fingering of cucurbit silk is barrel = bass 5. Unless otherwise specified, when it comes to scale, it refers to the scale of barrel = bass 5.
6-2. The pronunciation of cucurbit silk depends on a reed installed in the gourd, which only needs a little airflow to make a sound. When some beginners hear the voice of cucurbit flute, they begin to make it play melody. In fact, this is the "goo" sound of Hulusi, which is the lowest sound of Hulusi, and some Hulusi music needs to play this lowest sound. When the cucurbit silk makes a "goo" sound, no matter how you finger it, the cucurbit silk will only make such a sound, but it can't blow the melody. In most cases, this kind of "goo" sound is what beginners need to avoid deliberately, and it is the noise that beginners are most likely to make when taking a breath or ending music (how to avoid "goo" sound needs to be described in another article).
6-3. Hold down all the sound holes of the cucurbit silk, and slowly send the airflow into the cucurbit silk. After the sound of "goo" appears, continue to strengthen the airflow (pay attention to the use of breath mentioned in point 5 above, the lower the cucurbit silk, the stronger the airflow) until the sound of "goo" changes and becomes firm, which is the drum sound of cucurbit silk. At this point, release or hold the sound hole again.
6-4. The fingering of cucurbit silk is the same regardless of the key. Hulusi is the same as other wind instruments. When the tone changes, the fingering changes. If the fingering remains the same, it is necessary to replace the cucurbit silk with different heights.
The most commonly used fingering of cucurbit silk is barrel sound = bass 5. Take it as an example to illustrate how to play the scales of cucurbit silk. Press all the sound holes, the "goo" sound is bass 3 and the barrel sound is bass 5. Let go of the sound holes one by one from bottom to top, and finally let go of the hole held by the thumb at the back, so as to play the bass 6, 7, alto 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and other scales in turn. The fourth sound means to let go of the top hole in front of the main pipe and hold down the remaining holes. It should be noted that the volume and timbre of the four tones are much worse than other tones, which is normal. Never blow this sound violently because the timbre and volume are not satisfactory, otherwise it will be blown lightly, the reed will be blown badly, and the cucurbit silk will be scrapped.
Other common fingering methods of cucurbit silk are drum sound = 1, drum sound =2, drum sound =4 and so on. See the figure below for the hole pressing method. A solid circle indicates that the sound hole is pressed and a hollow circle including the sound hole is released.