The dahu (大胡, pinyin: dàhú) is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with snakeskin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vertically. The instrument is generally pitched one octave below the erhu, and is approximately twice the size of the erhu. Pinyin (Chinese: 拼音, pÄ«nyÄ«n) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard... A string instrument (also stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... Huqin are a family of instruments used in Chinese music. ... The erhu (二胡, Pinyin èrhú), commonly known in the West as the Chinese violin, is a two-stringed bowed instrument, capable of producing sad, mysterious, joyful or voice-like melodies. ...

The dahu was developed for orchestral use in the 1930s as the tenor member of the erhu family (the erhu being the soprano member and the zhonghu being the alto member), but by the late 20th century it had largely fallen into disuse. Part of the reason for this is that it is unwieldy to play. Also, the fact that (like other instruments in the huqin family) the bow passes between the instrument's two strings means that playing pizzicato is difficult; thus, the larger gehu and diyingehu (or cello or double bass) are generally used in Chinese orchestras for the lower bowed string voices instead. The Zhonghu is a low-pitched Chinese string instrument. ... Pizzicato is a method of playing an orchestral string instrument. ... The Gehu is a Chinese instrument developed by Yang Yusen in the 20th century. ... Diyingehu is a bowed Chinese huqin family string instrument. ... A cello The violoncello, or as it is more commonly to refered to as the cello or cello (pronounced Cheh-loh), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ...

The dahu is sometimes also called cizhonghu. Cizhonghu is the tenor member of the Chinese huqin family of stringed instruments. ...

External links

• Dahu page from Paul and Bernice Noll site