河南箏家曹東扶，一八九八年十一月八日出生於河南省鄧縣白落鄉曹營村一民間藝人之家，乳名小欽，學名殿猷，字東扶，一九七○年十一月辭世，享年七十有二。其父曹清懷善唱河南大調曲子，亦長於揚琴及墜胡演奏，以沿街賣唱為生，曹氏七歲入私塾，十一歲時因饑荒而輟學，即隨父習唱大調曲子。十三歲後，曹氏隨家人往縣城謀生，當時，在茶館、食肆彈唱大調曲子之風頗盛，曹為兜賣零食，出入其間，對其發生濃厚興趣，流連忘返。及後得拜黃文炳、趙錫山為師學大調曲子唱腔及揚琴、墜胡、三弦、古箏等伴奏樂器。一九四八年，創立「大調曲子研究社」，後易名「曲藝改進社」，一九五三年，參加首屆民間音樂舞蹈匯演，獨奏古箏及合奏板頭曲，一九五四年，又與王省吾等赴北京，為中央音樂學院音樂研究所錄製大調曲子及板頭曲，並在該院教授三弦的河南傳統曲目。
CAO Dong-fu
CAO Dong-fu was born on November 8, 1898 in Deng County, Henan province and passed away in November 1970 of 72 years old. His first name was Dian-you. His father was good at singing Henan Da Tiao and performing yangqin, zhuihu and other instruments. When CAO Dong-fu was seven, he studied in a private school, but left the school at eleven due to poverty. Then he learned the Henan Da Tiao from his father and sang these in tea houses and food yards for living. Later, he learned the Henan Da Tiao, yangqin, zhuihu, sanxian, zheng and other instruments under HUANG Wen-bing and ZHAO Xi-shan of the Henan school. In 1948, he founded the Research Unit of Henan Da Tiao. In 1953, he was invited to perform the zheng solo and also the ensemble in the 1st Traditional Music and Folk Dance Show in Beijing. In 1954, he was invited by the Central Conservatory together with WANG Sheng-wu to make recordings of Da Tiao Qu Zi and Ban Tou Qu and stayed in the conservatory to teach the sanxian of Henan school there.