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SongsMo Li Hua · Jasmine Flower (茉莉花)
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Chinese traditional, Jiangsu region; the tune dates to the Qianlong era (1735–1796) and was first printed in the West in 1804. Public domain.

2 strings · D4–A4 open · A5 at the octave · G key · 1 = G · A perfect fifth, the same interval a violin uses between neighbours. Those two notes are the entire tuning; everything above them is your hand.

Tap a string, or slide along a string and the pitch follows your finger, under a bow that never leaves the strings. On a keyboard the letters on the strings are the ones to press — the inner string is the upper key — hold one and the note holds.

ErhuFree · printable · plays in your browser

Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) — Erhu Notes

Mo Li Hua · Jasmine Flower (茉莉花), written out for the erhu as every note with its string and how far up it, in G key. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the erhu waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes67, 8 pitches
  • RangeD4–G5
  • Key hereG major
  • Tempo84 bpm · about 40 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a erhu play Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower)?

↕ Plays, moved Not where the library writes it, but it fits in G key: G major, D4 to G5. That is the version loaded above and printed below. The check is made note by note against what the instrument can actually sound.

Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower): erhu notes

The large line is the note; the small line under it is the string, and how many semitones above its open note to stop it. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

Mo Li Hua · Jasmine Flower (茉莉花) — erhu notes · tonalics.com

The 8 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 8 and you can play the whole tune.

  • DD·0×2
  • ED·2×3
  • GD·5×8
  • AA·0×9
  • BA·2×14
  • DA·5×17
  • EA·7×9
  • GA·10×5

What to expect on a erhu

  • It runs from D4 to G5, an octave and a fourth, using 8 different notes. Its lowest note is the lowest this instrument has, and 2 semitones of range are left above it.
  • 62% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fourth, G5 to D5, at note 50.
  • It is played on 2 strings (D and A), crossing between strings 11 times.
  • 11 notes are an open string, and the highest stop is 10 semitones above the open string.

About the tune

A folk song from the Jiangsu region dating to the Qianlong era of the 18th century. It was the first Chinese melody to become widely known in Europe, printed in London in 1804 by John Barrow, and Puccini used it throughout his opera Turandot.

Chinese traditional, Jiangsu region; the tune dates to the Qianlong era (1735–1796) and was first printed in the West in 1804. Public domain. More about Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) →

Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the handpan or ocarina, which do not have the notes.

More songs for the erhu

All 35 erhu songs · Christmas songs for erhu · The online erhu on its own

Playing it on a real erhu?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The erhu tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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