Dihu


The dihu 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's name derives from "dī," meaning "low," and "hú".

Sizes

The instrument comes in three sizes:
  • The xiaodihu, pitched one octave below the erhu. It is the tenor member of the erhu family.
  • The zhongdihu. It is the bass member of the erhu family.
  • The dadihu. It is the contrabass member of the erhu family.

    Overview

The dihu family was developed for orchestral use in the 1930s as lower members of the erhu family to increase the pitch range of the instruments used in a Chinese orchestra and allow music with harmony to be played. However, by the late 20th century it had largely fallen into disuse, part of the reason being that it is unwieldy to play. Also, the fact that the bow passes between the instrument's two strings means that playing pizzicato is difficult; thus, the larger four-string gehu and diyingehu are generally used in Chinese orchestras for the lower bowed string voices instead.