河南筝家曹东扶，一八九八年十一月八日出生于河南省邓县白落乡曹营村一民间艺人之家，乳名小钦，学名殿猷，字东扶，一九七○年十一月辞世，享年七十有二。其父曹清怀善唱河南大调曲子，亦长于扬琴及坠胡演奏，以沿街卖唱为生，曹氏七岁入私塾，十一岁时因饥荒而辍学，即随父习唱大调曲子。十三岁后，曹氏随家人往县城谋生，当时，在茶馆、食肆弹唱大调曲子之风颇盛，曹为兜卖零食，出入其间，对其发生浓厚兴趣，流连忘返。及后得拜黄文炳、赵锡山为师学大调曲子唱腔及扬琴、坠胡、三弦、古筝等伴奏乐器。一九四八年，创立“大调曲子研究社”，后易名“曲艺改进社”，一九五三年，参加首届民间音乐舞蹈汇演，独奏古筝及合奏板头曲，一九五四年，又与王省吾等赴北京，为中央音乐学院音乐研究所录制大调曲子及板头曲，并在该院教授三弦的河南传统曲目。
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.