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How qin music has become part of my life
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EDITOR’S note:
A way to understand China’s idea of harmony is through its traditional qin (also known as guqin) music, which was favored by Confucius as a tool to calm one’s mind. Can Westerners appreciate this seven-string zither-like instrument that defines the traditional Chinese character?
Julian Joseph, secretary of London Youlan Qin Society, tells us how he discovered the qin and overcame difficulties in learning to play it. He also talks of the need to prevent it from becoming a “living fossil.”
I first became aware of the qin in September 1989, when I bought a cassette tape of Chinese music in Hong Kong. One piece, Gufeng Cao (“Melody in the Ancient Style”), played by qin master Gong Yi, stood out from the rest.
Over the next few years, I ended up collecting a considerable number of tapes and CDs, all of which contained not more than about 30 different titles. I developed a strong desire to hear more pieces, and decided that the only way I would do so would be to learn to play the instrument myself.
In 1995, a friend told me about a shop in London that sold Asian musical instruments. I was excited to see that they had qins for sale. This was the first time I had ever seen one, other than in pictures. Over the next several months I managed to get hold of a few articles and books in English on qin, and some scores. I even found an LP record with demonstrations of the commonest fingering techniques.
I had some knowledge of written Chinese, and could read the archaic titles of qin pieces, and some of the notes on recordings. I had also listened to the best-known qin melodies played by famous qin masters. However, I had little experience of learning to play any musical instrument. Nevertheless in November 1995 I bought my first qin in that music shop in London.
The first piece of music I tried to play was a simple Western tune, “Auld Lang Syne,” which uses a pentatonic scale. I picked it out on the open strings and in harmonics at various positions, and wrote it down in qin tablature form. It helped me to learn to navigate the strings, and to familiarize myself with qin tablature.
I then broke a string and a tuning cord, and had considerable difficulty getting replacements, fitting them and retuning the instrument.
When I had done that, I tried the first four sections of Meihua San Nong (“Three Variations on the Plum Blossom,” which praises the resilient spirit of the flowers in the face of winter cold) because I thought they looked relatively simple and I knew the piece quite well from listening. I spent a month preparing instructions in English on what to do with each tablature symbol.
I then did the same thing with Guan Shan Yue (“Moon Over the Mountain Pass”), but I found it extremely difficult to play smoothly. This was because I had not learned the correct fingering at an early stage, although I did not realize it at the time; I needed a teacher.
Around this time, I found a website belonging to someone in America who had been studying the qin for about 8 months with a teacher. I emailed her questions, which she answered, and was in frequent contact with her in this way for several years. We exchanged recordings of our efforts at regular intervals.
A year after I started studying the qin I met Dr Cheng Yu, who teaches qin in London. I live a long way from London, so I only had lessons once every 2 or 3 months; I had to unlearn much of what I had learned on my own.
Eventually I did start trying to play pieces I had not heard on recordings, indeed, that are not played at all nowadays. But the more I tried to dapu (meaning “making musical sense of ancient notations written in special Chinese characters”) these “lost” pieces, the more I realized how much I had yet to learn, so I decided to concentrate on learning the core repertoire.
Among my favorite pieces has to be Gufeng Cao, which first sparked my interest in the qin, followed by Liu Shui (“Flowing Water”), with its graphic depiction of a flowing river and its message of friendship. I particularly enjoy playing Ping Sha Luo Yan (“Wild Geese Descending on the Sandy Beach,” which reflects the beauty of a detached way of life).
It is unfortunate that there are not many new compositions for the qin — most of its repertoire is well over 200 years old. Indeed, the great antiquity of much qin music is one of its attractions. But Chang’an You (“Roaming in Chang’an”), composed by Liang Mingyue in 1978, is a piece I particularly like. A steady flow of new compositions is needed if the qin is not to become a “living fossil”. However, there are few composers and qin players, and the number of people who can do both is very small.
The qin is an important part of my daily life. I practise every day, even if I can only manage a few minutes. If I can’t find the time, I feel the day is incomplete. When I am stuck in traffic, I listen to qin music and forget the frustration. When I am doing repetitive tasks, or waiting in a queue, I can hear the music in my head. It is very calming.
Qin’s future in London
Unique in Europe, The London Youlan Qin Society, with Cheng Yu as president, was established in 2003, and co-organized the first of its annual qin summer schools in London in that year. Influential masters Gong Yi, Li Xiangting, Dai Xiaolian and Zeng Chengwei have all come to teach at these summer schools. This has been tremendously beneficial in bringing the qin to a wider audience, and people attend our summer schools from the UK, continental Europe and beyond.
The Society has provided a platform for qin aficionados to play, listen and exchange ideas, raising interest and building the confidence and skill of members to play in concerts. Membership has been increasing slowly but steadily every year. The qin has a bright future in the UK.
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