Analysis of Research Subjects and Research Topics on ErHu in Korea: Focusing on Comparative Studies of Master’s and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to analyze a total of 17 papers from the first Erhu- related thesis published in 2001 to 2022 and to suggest future tasks to be solved. To this end, the research type, topic, and methodology of the theory were thoroughly analyzed in this study. As a result of the study, there are 7 comparative studies between Haegeum and Erhu, 3 studies on Erhu works in Korea and China, 2 studies on musical instruments or performance techniques, and 2 pieces of computer music. In addition, there was one study on the improvement of Haegeum, a joint study of Chinese folk music and vocal music and Erhu, and one study on Erhu's artistic management. In the beginning, a comparative study of Haegeum and Erhu was conducted mainly with Koreans, but the Chinese gradually started to participate. The subjects of the study were the composition of the instrument itself, the basic playing method, and the old related works. As a research methodology, the most used methods were the formal structural analysis and musical analysis of the work, and the comparative analysis of instruments. In this study, future challenges for Erhu in Korea were presented based on these results.