.jpg)
Growing up as a Chinese instrument player, my Chinese instrument has been an inseparable part to me as a musician. Hence, I have brought my erhu – a two-stringed bowed traditional Chinese instrument with me to start my training as a music therapist in the UK. After a year of training, the experience that I have received by using erhu is far beyond what I had expected.
As part of my placement and voluntary work, I have had the opportunities to provide music therapy for children from mainstream primary school and older people with dementia in the UK. With the aim of building rapport with clients, I was wondering if erhu is an effective instrument to use in music therapy, especially to the local people. Unsurprisingly, most of the clients found it very unusual but interesting in the meantime. Lots of people commented its timbre as ‘human voice’. Although its structure is similar to violin, the quality of sound is less bright and the vibration by the snake skin produces a less clear tonality. Its ‘imperfection’ became a useful tool in music-making. On the whole, lots of creative and playful musical conversation has been made with the use of erhu. I think it is important not to limit the instrument with its traditional way of playing but to utilize it flexibly in different cultural contexts. In terms of the intervention of Chinese music in music therapy, research regarding five-elements and yin-yang are available for further investigation.
I genuinely encourage people experimenting with their unique traditional musical instruments and music in different music therapy settings. There is always unexpected surprise!
Yu-Yan Tsang (UK studies, Hong Kong home country)
January 2018
