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Subtle sounds of ancient guqin instrument attract more players
By Xu Wenwen |
October 13, 2009, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE guqin, literally ancient stringed instrument, is the modern name for a plucked seven-stringed Chinese musical instrument of the zither family.
A guqin forum and concert held recently in Hangzhou brought together professional players who presented an excellent show on the West Lake.
The guqin has been played since ancient times and has traditionally been favored by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement.
It is a very quiet instrument, with a range of about four octaves. Sounds are produced by plucking open strings and harmonics.
In 1977, a recording of "Flowing Water" was chosen to be included in the Voyager Golden Record, a gold-plated LP recording containing music from around the world which was sent into outer space by NASA on the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts.
In 2003, guqin music was proclaimed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Hangzhou, as the center and origin of the Zhejiang guqin sect, is attracting an increasing number of guqin students and fans.
The forum confirmed the trend, exemplified by the attendance of 80-year-old guqin master Xu Xiaoying and her daughter Zhang Yiwen.
"Ten years ago, only a dozen people in Hangzhou could play guqin, but now we have hundreds of learners and players," Xu says.
The wide age range of guqin students includes young people whose parents have rejected the options of learning other mainstream instruments that are mainly practised by children.
At Xu's Xiaying Qin Society, old people, the middle-aged, young students and children are taught the instrument together.
Legend has it that the guqin, the most revered of all Chinese musical instruments, enjoys a history of about 5,000 years.
"The guqin was invented for expressing thoughts and feelings. The literati play it alone or to a few friends in very quiet environments," says Su Sidi, president of the Hong Kong De'yin Qin Club.
Zheng Zuxiang, a professor of Hangzhou Normal University's Music College, agrees.
"People learn the guqin usually for its peacefulness as it contains more culture than any other instrument," says Zheng.
The melodies are slow and mild, which makes them too highbrow to be popular and understood, while the complexity doesn't depend immediately on quick and precise playing but on the use of sliding tones reminiscent of a pizzicato cello, fretless double bass or a slide guitar.
The pace doesn't match modern tempos, as Ding Chengyun, professor of Wuhan Conservatory of Music, explains.
"The pace is speeding up actually, although one ancient musical score says after playing the first sound, breathe three times and then play the second one. But now we only breathe once," Ding says.
However, Su insists that "everybody should have their own pace, but the guqin can't fit them all because it insists on its own."
Guqin is also going international.
Dai Xiaolian, associate professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music and also a descendant of the Guangling sect, recently played the guqin in a new composition for Western and Chinese instruments in France.
The Western group featured accordion, clarinet, percussion and a soprano.
The Chinese group consisted of guqin, erhu (two-stringed Chinese fiddle), sheng (a reed pipe wind instrument) and a bass.
"The French musicians understood the music very well and the audio equipment was awesome, much better than that in China," Dai says.
Dai was a judge for the guqin group in the recent CCTV Chinese Instruments Competition.
Guqin had its own category, the same as more popular Chinese instruments like the guzheng, another Chinese zither also without frets but with moveable bridges under each string, and the pipa, a four-stringed Chinese plucked instrument.
"Though the audio equipment was barely satisfactory, it's a big improvement and helps popularize the guqin," Dai says.
"In TV operas, you often see the guqin played in a totally wrong context or is played to sound like a guzheng," Zhang adds. "But such incidents are becoming fewer.
"That also shows that the guqin is being respected for its intangible cultural heritage, and the number of guqin learners has grown and their skill levels have greatly improved," Zhang concludes.
A guqin forum and concert held recently in Hangzhou brought together professional players who presented an excellent show on the West Lake.
The guqin has been played since ancient times and has traditionally been favored by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement.
It is a very quiet instrument, with a range of about four octaves. Sounds are produced by plucking open strings and harmonics.
In 1977, a recording of "Flowing Water" was chosen to be included in the Voyager Golden Record, a gold-plated LP recording containing music from around the world which was sent into outer space by NASA on the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts.
In 2003, guqin music was proclaimed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Hangzhou, as the center and origin of the Zhejiang guqin sect, is attracting an increasing number of guqin students and fans.
The forum confirmed the trend, exemplified by the attendance of 80-year-old guqin master Xu Xiaoying and her daughter Zhang Yiwen.
"Ten years ago, only a dozen people in Hangzhou could play guqin, but now we have hundreds of learners and players," Xu says.
The wide age range of guqin students includes young people whose parents have rejected the options of learning other mainstream instruments that are mainly practised by children.
At Xu's Xiaying Qin Society, old people, the middle-aged, young students and children are taught the instrument together.
Legend has it that the guqin, the most revered of all Chinese musical instruments, enjoys a history of about 5,000 years.
"The guqin was invented for expressing thoughts and feelings. The literati play it alone or to a few friends in very quiet environments," says Su Sidi, president of the Hong Kong De'yin Qin Club.
Zheng Zuxiang, a professor of Hangzhou Normal University's Music College, agrees.
"People learn the guqin usually for its peacefulness as it contains more culture than any other instrument," says Zheng.
The melodies are slow and mild, which makes them too highbrow to be popular and understood, while the complexity doesn't depend immediately on quick and precise playing but on the use of sliding tones reminiscent of a pizzicato cello, fretless double bass or a slide guitar.
The pace doesn't match modern tempos, as Ding Chengyun, professor of Wuhan Conservatory of Music, explains.
"The pace is speeding up actually, although one ancient musical score says after playing the first sound, breathe three times and then play the second one. But now we only breathe once," Ding says.
However, Su insists that "everybody should have their own pace, but the guqin can't fit them all because it insists on its own."
Guqin is also going international.
Dai Xiaolian, associate professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music and also a descendant of the Guangling sect, recently played the guqin in a new composition for Western and Chinese instruments in France.
The Western group featured accordion, clarinet, percussion and a soprano.
The Chinese group consisted of guqin, erhu (two-stringed Chinese fiddle), sheng (a reed pipe wind instrument) and a bass.
"The French musicians understood the music very well and the audio equipment was awesome, much better than that in China," Dai says.
Dai was a judge for the guqin group in the recent CCTV Chinese Instruments Competition.
Guqin had its own category, the same as more popular Chinese instruments like the guzheng, another Chinese zither also without frets but with moveable bridges under each string, and the pipa, a four-stringed Chinese plucked instrument.
"Though the audio equipment was barely satisfactory, it's a big improvement and helps popularize the guqin," Dai says.
"In TV operas, you often see the guqin played in a totally wrong context or is played to sound like a guzheng," Zhang adds. "But such incidents are becoming fewer.
"That also shows that the guqin is being respected for its intangible cultural heritage, and the number of guqin learners has grown and their skill levels have greatly improved," Zhang concludes.
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