Research On The Subject Matter Of Erhu's New Works In The Past Ten Years (2007-2017)

Music theme refers to the real-life materials used by composers to express their works.Composers choose different themes based on subjective and objective factors.Subjective factors include the background of the times,social background,and cultural background.Objective factors such as life experiences,aesthetic taste and world outlook can also greatly influence the composers’ selection.The past ten years have been prosperous for the new works of erhu.Beijing,Shanghai and other metropolitans in China have held multiple events such as new works competitions,the huqin art festivals,and gongxian art festivals.The China Music Golden Bell Award,the Shanghai Spring Erhu Invitational Tournament,and the Taipei International Ethnic Instrumental Competition have also followed the convention of launching one commissioned work in each event.A large number of outstanding new works have emerged in various competitions and events.It is estimated that there are 51 pieces of new works that have been published or premiered during this period.The themes of the works are more diverse than ever before.Besides the traditional themes,new themes have also been represented in the new works that showed contemporary problems during the rapid social development.This helped broaden the territory of the themes and enriched the content of the works.By studying the new works created in the past decade and focusing on the themes,the paper classifies the themes,compares them with the themes in the past,and analyzes the representative ones.Through the research on the themes of the new works,the paper summarizes the role of theme in promoting performers’ playing techniques and lists the innovative techniques and technical difficulties that have emerged in the new works of erhu created in the past decade.The author then puts forward her own learning experience based on the research findings.