Isle Formosa: "Beautiful Island"

When the Portuguese first saw Taiwan, they called it "Isle Formosa," or "Beautiful Island." It is also my parents' country, so this year abroad serves me two purposes: 1) to immerse myself academically in Taiwanese language and culture and 2) to connect with my Taiwanese roots and family. I am also doing an ethnomusicology-based research project in which I will study Taiwanese traditional, popular, and aborigine music. I will use this blog to share my adventures here on this Isle Formosa!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Musical Demonstrations of 二胡 (erhu) and 籥 (yue)

An instructor of traditional Chinese instruments came to our university (DungHai University in Taichung, Taiwan; I enrolled here for summer Chinese and Taiwanese language courses) and gave a few short demonstrations of playing two classical Chinese instruments: 二胡 (erhu) and 籥 (yue).

Video 1: Instructor playing the 二胡 (ㄦˋㄏㄨˊ) "er4 hu2":

"Erhu"

Video 2: Instructor playing the erhu

A closer look at the parts of the erhu:

(Image taken from this site)

Video 3: Instructor playing the 籥 (yue), which was described earlier in the follow-up report to the Confucious celebration: