Liu Tianhua (; 1895âÂÂ1932) was a Chinese musician and composer best known for his innovative work for the erhu. Liu's students, such as Jiang Fengzhi and Chen Zhenduo, continued to contribute to the development of the erhu.
He was the younger brother of the poet Liu Bannong. He died in 1932 at the age of 37.
Liu was a noted erhu and pipa player, and an early pioneer in the modernisation of traditional Chinese music. He joined Cai Yuanpei's Peking University Music Society as an instrumental instructor in 1922. He promoted Chinese music while he was at Peking University, founded the Society for the Improvement of Chinese Music (Ã¥ÂÂæ¨Âæ¹é²社, Guóyuè GÃÂijìnshè) in 1927 and its periodical, the Music Magazine (é³æ¨ÂéÂÂèªÂ, Yënyuè Zázhì). The society organised classes and formed a musical ensemble to play Chinese music, a forerunner of the modern Chinese orchestra. He made improvements to the traditional fiddle huqin, in particular the erhu, so that it can become an instrument suitable for a modern stage performance, and wrote music for the instrument. He also made changes to the pipa, increasing the number of frets and used an equal-tempered tuning.
Titles in pinyin, Chinese characters and English translation.