Listen to the banhu
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
How the banhu makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the banhu belongs to the lutes: strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck – the family of the guitar, violin, sitar and oud.
More broadly it is one of the chordophones (string instruments), where sound comes from vibrating strings, amplified by a resonating body.
Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.
From Wikipedia
The banhu (Chinese: 板胡; pinyin: bǎnhú) is a Chinese traditional bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. It is used primarily in northern China. Ban means a piece of wood and hu is short for huqin.
Like the more familiar erhu and gaohu, the banhu has two strings, is held vertically, and the bow hair passes in between the two strings. The banhu differs in construction from the erhu in that its soundbox is generally made from a coconut shell rather than wood, and instead of a snakeskin that is commonly used to cover the faces of huqin instruments, the banhu uses a thin wooden board.
Other lutes
Frequently asked questions
What does a banhu sound like?
Listen to 1 recording on this page. As one of the lutes, its sound comes from the way strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck.
What type of instrument is the banhu?
It is classified as lutes (Hornbostel–Sachs 321.321-71).
Sources & credits
- Banhu by Francesc Fort – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q60689 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Banhu – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by Claireislovely – Public domain