Night of the Living Erhu
My son, whom I adore, answered almost too quickly when I asked him what he wanted for Valentine's Day. "An erhu" he said.
"Erhu? What in the name of Cain is an Erhu?" I asked. Whatever it was, I knew it had something to do with China, and I was hoping that it wasn't yet another kind of ink or paper for his calligraphy...
"It's a Chinese violin," he said. "Can I have one, please, please, oh, please?"
He is 14. I guess he could be wanting a hit of cocaine or something, so I said, "Can we order one from Amazon?"
Oh yes, of course we could! So, I looked them up on-line, and found one that seemed to be fairly decent, with a case for about $100. Normally more than what I would spend for a Valentine's Day gift, but at least he is interested in music... I ordered it last week, knowing it wouldn't get here in time for THE day, but he could wait a bit.
Before we go any further, allow me to make note of the fact that we lived through the moose calls of learning to play French Horn-- and yes, this is EXACTLY what it sounded like:
You don't have to listen very long to get the idea... But these sounds would emanate from our den, vibrating the windows of the house, and driving the cats up under the bed. No matter, he wants to play French horn, he's going to play French horn. I played French horn, my best friend plays French horn for the Baltimore Symphony, my mother played French horn, Uncle Louie played French horn, and on and on... So, I listened to moose blats, recalling my own blattiness, and on we went.
Then, he wanted a Chinese zither, which has some kind of complicated name... So I got him a cheap one, which unfortunately too cheap to be any good. After two months of listening to only the black keys on the piano, none of which were actually in tune, I was losing my mind-- I NEED A NATURAL NOTE, somewhere-- not a sharp or a flat!!! He decided this was going to be his next sojourn into music. It plays all the notes, not just the black ones... It has a long bow, made of horsehair sandwiched between the two stings, and the sounding "drum" is covered with snake skin... (ew -- but anyway)
Uncle Louie played, and played well, any instrument he picked up. I have all of them. I can't play the flute or the piccolo, but have played everything else we have here... and I thought of a young girl who once wanted to be a geologist and everyone said, "What do you want to do THAT for?". I gladly forked over the debit card.
Tonight, my ears have been split by the see-sawing of a string on a bow... dry scratchy, much like, (I am assuming), any beginning violin player would sound. This is what it is supposed to sound like:
Pray for me, please, that we get past the scratchy phase and into something musical, soon... 
Thanks for coming by!
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Every time I go to the big office at work, this kind of music is playing in my colleague's offices-- the private ones, anyway. I do love this music, and just hope that we get to this, somehow. At least my friends at work can translate the instruction book for us!
I love my boy. He wants to be a sinologist. He is teaching himself Chinese calligraphy, and doing well, learning the Chinese language, and trying to absorb the culture... I sure will miss him when he's off in China. He'd better bring me some rocks, when he comes home.
Update: We have graduated from screechy eeek eeeks to smooth notes! Now, if we can just get them to be in a NOTE form, success will be made!
Hope all of you have a great day!
Yayyyy! Progress!
And your moose call is broken, or at least not visible or not able to be listened to on my browser.
Any progress is progress!!! for which I'm grateful, too!
That's weird, the moose call is perfect here! Wonder what's going on?
Hope you're well!
Dowser, I think it is an absolute delight that your son takes such an avid interest in music. Especially with the family link to the talent. It sounds like he is getting the hang of the current instrument at hand.
Wow. Purely wonderful. Thank you for sharing, and keep us updated. Something tells me this may be the instrument that he will master.
Thanks so much, dear Kara-- it is REALLY good to see you!
He's a good kid-- he just has weird interests...
Thank you very much! I will pass on your praise!
Please do pass along my praise. I too enjoyed music at his age, and tried out a few instruments. And that's all I'll say about that..........LOL.
Funny thing; after attending a concert featuring these instruments
An hour later, I wanted to attend another one.
LOL!
After an hour of this, I want morphine.
Absolutely! If I find any, I'll share!
I'm not at all greedy when it comes to pain relief...
I understand completely! All I can play anymore is the radio.
He still practices, but, thankfully, we're out of the Moose Blat stage. With French horn, you get to the gorgeous tone stage, but no control. Then, you get control, but the tone isn't that great. You have to keep at it until you get control AND tone! I never really got there...
My best friend from 3rd grade plays for the Baltimore Symphony-- I love her so much! SHE is amazing!!!
Much love to you, dear Neetu!
I love you, dear Neetu! Very much!
I like it, too-- He'll get there...
I'm not fond of just about any kind of music, played endlessly... Variety is the spice of life! (I can't listen to more than 3-4 John Denver songs without getting a headache, but I like John Denver!)
He'll get there, and I'm proud of him that he even knew what it was!
I sure didn't.
We just dug out all of my old Far Side books- and are having a ball! What fun!
Did someone slam the cat's tail in the screen door? Poor kitty.
Arghhh!! That's what I've been wondering, some times...
LOL!
Dowser,
I am just amazed that your son finds these interesting instruments to play. I have never heard of an erhu and I come from a very musical family.
Which brings me to my daughters. Both Matt's and my families are musical and so are we. My sister played cello with the Long Island Symphony. Mydaughtersat the age of 3 went to see her play. The were amazed. "I want to play cheyo!" they proclaimed with their very obvious speech impediment. So we went and got them 1/4 cellos. They sounded like a woundedbuffalo... They played those damn things all the way through high school. Guess what we found out. Musical talent must skip a generation.
Good Luck with your son. I think that it's very cool that he is so adventurous with his music. Who knows? He make the instrument famous!
LOL, dear Perrie! He certainly has the enthusiasm!
I really like the sound of the one played well-- but I can't see playing "Oh Susannah" on it...
(That's my own personal guideline-- can I play "Oh Susannah" on it?)
Love to you!
I played oboe... until I got my embouchure I sounded like a duck fightinga goose for the best patch of pond... or so my dad would say.
LOL! I love the oboe! AND the Bassoon!
Great instruments, and your Dad was FUNNY!
NOTE: tonight, I played Oh Susannah on it-- yeah, it was scratchy, and yeah, it was in the pentagonic scale, ARGHH! Nor was it very recognizable... But, it was Oh Susannah!