Erhu Musical Notation

Below is an example of erhu music in both western and Chinese notation. This is the beginning of the famous piece "A Moon Image in Er-Spring". Chinese notation gives relative pitch compared to the tonic or key: numbers indicate the note pitch value. The number 1, for example, means the note 'G' if the piece is in the key of G. The number 6, which opens the piece below, means the note "E" which is a 6th above G, and so on. The timing of each note is indicated by the horizontal lines beneath the numbers. No line means a quarter note (with extensions to longer values indicated by a single quote mark), one line means an eighth note and so on. Rests are indicated by the number 0. A dot between note numbers indicates the equivalent of a dotted note in western music. The symbols above the numbers indicate fingering (via numbers in Chinese writing), bowing, various techniques and ornamentations and which string to play.