The May Fourth Movement in the early twentieth century and the establishment of socialism in mainland China in 1949 brought unprecedented changes to the long tradition of guqin culture in the aspects of the design of the instrument, the timbre, the aesthetics and the performance practice. Despite the unfavourable political environment in mainland China, quite a number of guqin players devotedly continued to transmit the playing of guqin and to conduct research on guqin culture. Besides the above mentioned Jinyu Qin Society founded in Suzhou in the 1930s, Zha Fu-xi and other guqin players took the lead in conducting research on guqin music throughout the country in the 1950s by collecting guqin pieces and scores, making recordings, doing dapu (打譜) and cataloguing the pieces. The materials collected were finally published as
22 Tsar Teh-yun, Yinyinshi Qinpu, eds. Bell Yung and Lau Chor-wah (Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000). See also Bell Yung, The Last of China’s Literati: The Music, Poetry, and
publications and released as recordings. In this way, the tradition of guqin has continued. These materials formed the basis for further research and performance.
In a word, music plays an important role in the ever-changing culture of a society. Many people think that guqin music is a symbol of Chinese culture because it has a pure and soft timbre, a long history and a unique notational system, and thus has to be preserved. Other people think that guqin is a backward-looking instrument and does not fit the modern society. We are able to discern the change of culture and the significance of this change by studying the changing role of guqin music.
Table 4.2 Major Events in the History of the Guqin
c. 500s The earliest extant piece of guqin music, Elegant Orchid in Jieshi Mode (碣石調．幽蘭), was notated. This is the only extant piece notated in wenzipu.
1084 The earliest history of the guqin, A History of the Qin (琴史) by Zhu Chang-wen (朱長文), was written.
c. 1200 The earliest extant piece notated in jianzipu, Age-old Sorrow (古怨) found in Songs of the White Stone Taoist Monk (白石道人歌曲) by Jiang Bai-shi (姜白石), was written.
1425 The earliest extant guqin handbook, Shenqi Mipu (神奇秘譜), edited by Zhu Quan (朱權), was compiled.
1673 Dahuange Qinpu (大還閣琴譜), which contains the article Xishan Qinkuang (溪山琴況) by Xu Shang-ying (徐上瀛), was published.
1721 Wuzhizhai Qinpu (五知齋琴譜) was published and widely disseminated.
1876 Tianwenge Qinpu (天聞閣琴譜) was published. It contains the piece Flowing Water (流水) in which the passage of “Seventy-two Guns and Fus”
(七十二滾拂) by Zhang Kong-shan (張孔山) was added.
1934 The Jinyu Qin Society (今虞琴社) was founded by Zha Fu-xi (查阜西), Zhang Zi-qian (張子謙) and Wu Jing-lue (吳景略) in Suzhou (蘇州), and a national gathering of guqin players was held.
1956 A research on guqin music was conducted under the lead of Zha Fu-xi. Guqin pieces were collected throughout the country and interviews of guqin players were conducted.
1958 A Collection of the Extant Guqin Scores (存見古琴曲譜輯覽) edited by Zha Fu-xi was published. It contains some six hundred pieces.
1970s Steel strings covered by nylon began to be used by guqin players in mainland China.
2003 Guqin music was accepted as a “Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO).
Listening Guide
4.1 Tune for a Pleasant Evening (良宵引) (CD 2-12)
Listen to Tune for a Pleasant Evening (良宵引) and then write a passage in fifty to eighty words to introduce guqin (古琴) music and this piece to someone who has never listened to guqin music.
Information of the Recording Performer: Lau Chor-wah (劉楚華)
Score transmitted by Tsar Teh-yun (蔡德允)
Title of the Record: Water Immortal: Qin Solo: LAU Chor-wah (水仙操：劉楚華古琴獨奏) (ROI, 1996) Recorded in 1995
Qin used: “Moving Cloud” Qin (“移雲”琴) (Song Dynasty) with silk strings
Listening Guide
Yin (引), the third Chinese character in the title Liangxiao Yin (良宵引, Tune for a Pleasant Evening), means “an introduction,” and is generally referred to a short piece with simple structure. This piece originates from a folk melody in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 C.E.). In the Tianwenge Qinpu (天聞閣琴譜, 1876) compiled in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 C.E.), there is the following description of this piece, “When the weather is dry, the sky is clear and the moon is brightly shining, it is suitable to play the qin, to taste the wine and to write poems.”
Many Chinese literary works have the structure “exposition – continuation – change – conclusion” (起-承-轉-合), and this guqin piece follows such a structure.
When listening to this piece, note the beginning and ending notes of each section and the use of harmonics, open-string notes and stopped notes.
0:00 Begins with harmonics. The tempo is free at the beginning, and gradually the beats emerge.
0:19 The “exposition” section. Begins on the note do (宮音). The music is quiet and elegant.
0:51 The “continuation” section. Begins with several double stops. The tempo gets faster.
1:26 The “change” section. Begins with the unstable note re (商音), and the tempo gets faster.
1:44 The “conclusion” section. Begins with the unstable note la (羽音) and returns to the stable note do at the end.
2:09 Repetition of the “change” section.
2:25 Repetition of the “conclusion” section.
2:50 A coda with harmonics. The tempo gets slower.
4.2 The Differences of the Guqin and the Guzheng (琴箏之別) (CD 1-11, CD 2-12)
Listen to the guzheng piece An Evening Song from a Fishing Junk at Sunset (漁舟唱晚) (CD 1-11) and then to the guqin piece Tune for a Pleasant Evening (良宵引) (CD 2-12), and compare these two instruments in the following aspects:
1. Timbre;
2. Range;
3. Dynamics.
Guzheng Guqin Design The board is larger and
longer. The resonating chamber is thicker. The instrument is supported by a wooden stand at each end.
The board is smaller and shorter. The resonating chamber is thinner. The instrument is placed on a specially designed table in performance.
Material of the Strings Steel strings covered with nylon (the strings were made of other materials traditionally, and the materials differ in different regions)
Silk strings (in Hong Kong and Taiwan); steel strings covered with nylon (in mainland China from the 1970s on)
Number of Strings 21 (the most common one at present); 16 (traditional)
7 Use of Bridges Movable bridges are
placed between the strings and the board.
No bridges
Plucking Plectra Fingernails
4.3 Flowing Water (流水) (CD 2-13)
In the piece Flowing Water . . . Sections 2 and 3 depict the slowly flowing streams in the mountainous areas. In Sections 4 and 5, the streams have passed through the mountains, the wind is blowing and waves are emerging. The flowing water is wide and rapid. In the passage making use of gun (滾) and fu (拂), there is a surge of the river and a roaring of the flood dragon. If you listen attentively, you will feel like sailing in a boat, passing through the Wu Gorge (巫峽) and experiencing the danger of the running water. Different streams are merging into a river and you pass through the mountains rapidly. In Sections 7 and 8, the most dangerous passage is over, and the water flows more slowly, although occasionally there are splashes on the rocks, and circular eddies and bubbles are found in the water. Few ancient pieces can match the vivid depiction of this piece!
- The Epilogue of Qinxue Congshu (琴學叢書, 1911-31) The above quotation is a description of the guqin piece Flowing Water from Qinxue Congshu (1911-31) published in the early twentieth century. This short passage vividly describes the contents of this piece, both the steadiness and the surge of the flowing water.
Music is an abstract art and different performers and listeners may perceive a piece differently. Read the above passage again, and then listen to a recording of this piece, and relate the music to the following four passages:
1. The slowly flowing streams in the mountainous areas.
2. The streams have passed through the mountains, the wind is blowing and waves are emerging. The flowing water is wide and rapid.
3. There is a surge of the river, and a roaring of the flood dragon.
4. The most dangerous passage is over, and the water flows more slowly, although occasionally there are splashes on the rocks, and circular eddies and bubbles are found in the water.
Compare what you perceived with others.
Information of the Recording
Performer: Tse Chun-yan (謝俊仁, 1949- )
Handbook: Tianwenge Qinpu (天聞閣琴譜, 1876) from the Qing Dynasty
Title of the Record: The Oil-Lamp Flickered: Qin Solo by TSE Chun-yan (一閃燈花 墮：謝俊仁古琴獨奏) (ROI, 2001)
Recorded in 2001
Qin used: “Clear Sounding Spring” Qin (“玉澗鳴泉”琴) from the Ming Dynasty,
with steel strings covered with nylon Listening Guide
The oldest extant score of Flowing Water is found in the handbook Shenqi Mipu (神奇秘譜, 1425) from the Ming Dynasty. There are some forty versions of this piece in different handbooks, and the most widely transmitted version is the one found in Tianwenge Qinpu (天聞閣琴譜, 1876) from the Qing Dynasty and transmitted by Zhang Kong-shan (張孔山). The recording accompanying this book is based on this score.
This piece is divided into different sections, which are clearly marked in the score. Generally each section depicts a certain scene of the flowing water. It is commonly believed that this piece is originally made up of eight sections, and Zhang Kong-shan inserted the passage called “Seventy-two Guns and Fus”
(七十二滾拂) that depicts the surge of the water, and thus enlarging the piece to nine sections. Gun and fu are right-hand finger techniques. To play glissando from the inner strings to the outer strings by the ring finger is called gun, while playing the strings in the opposite direction by the index finger is called fu. The passage of
“Seventy-two Guns and Fus” depicts the surge of water by playing gun and fu seventy-two times.
The history of Flowing Water can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.E.). It is said that Bo Ya (伯牙) was good at playing the piece High Mountain and Flowing Water (高山流水) and Zhong Zi-qi (鍾子期) was good at discerning the depiction of high mountain and flowing water respectively.
Sometime in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 C.E.), this piece was split into two pieces, namely High Mountain (高山) and Flowing Water (流水), and the latter piece has developed further in more recent times. In the piece transmitted by Zhang Kong-shan of the Sichuan School and notated in Tianwenge Qinpu, there is a cadenza-like passage that fully used the finger techniques of gun, fu, chuo (綽) and zhu (注) and vividly depicts the surge and running of flowing water.
“[F]lowing water needs not be deafening. As described in a poem written by LI Bai [李白] of the Tang Dynasty, even the roar of water speeding through the gorges has never drowned out the call of the apes. In the murmuring brook upstream, or the vast river downstream, the river is even more quiet. Yet, behind
the seemingly quiet water lies a powerful force. . .”23 (Quoted from the liner notes of the CD The Oil-Lamp Flickered, p. 5)
0:00 Section 1. The introduction. Ad. libitum. Slow and soft.
The melody is presented in different registers: high, middle, and low.
0:40 Exposition (起)
Section 2. Begins with harmonics, and followed by stopped notes. The melody is lilting, depicting the clear flowing water.
1:27 Section 3. Similar to Section 2, but the melody is played an octave higher. The tempo is gradually getting faster. The stopped note passage of Section 2 is omitted and only the passage of harmonics is restated.
1:54 Continuation (承)
Section 4. The whole section is in stopped notes, with a beautiful melody.
2:39 Section 5. A continuation of Section 4. The melody is extended.
3:15 Change (轉) Section 6. This section was inserted by Zhang Kong-shan (張孔山) of the Sichuan School in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and is subdivided into two passages. The first passage extends the previous melody. The second passage uses gun and fu played by the right hand extensively. (Gun and fu are glissandi played by the ring and index fingers respectively.) At the same time, the left hand is playing chuo and zhu, i.e., upward and downward ornamental notes.
The roaring waves and the surge of flowing water are vividly depicted, and this passage forms the climax of the whole piece.
5:41 Section 7. Mainly harmonics. A quieting passage after the surge of the flowing water.
6:02 Conclusion (合)
Section 8. Mainly in stopped notes. A recurrence and further development of the melody in Section 4. There is a short reminiscence of the gun and fu passage which
reminds the listeners of the surge of the flowing water.
7:30 Section 9. The final passage. The tempo is getting slower, with glimpses of the melodies of Sections 1 and 4. The music resumes the tranquillity of the beginning, and the piece ends with a short passage of harmonics.
4.4 A Comparison of the Silk String and the Steel String (CD 2-12, CD 2-13)
Listen to the recordings of Tune for a Pleasant Evening (良宵引) and Flowing Water (流水) again. Silk strings were used in the former piece, while steel strings were used in the latter. Compare the timbre of these two kinds of strings.
The Silk String The Steel String
Material Silk Steel core covered by
nylon
History From the ancient time up
to the 1970s Began to be used in mainland China in the 1970s
Durability Subject to loosen by a change in humidity. Poor strings may be broken easily.
The tension is larger and the strings are more durable. Capable to play pieces with a bigger dynamic contrast.
Timbre The sliding of the left-hand fingers on the strings produces scratching sound.
Its timbre is delicate and pure, offering an ancient soundscape.
There are less scratching sound and the timbre is clear and sharp. When it is played loudly, there is a metallic sound.
Dynamics Soft Capable of playing pieces
with a comparatively bigger dynamic contrast.
Places Mainly in Hong Kong and
Taiwan Mainly in mainland China
4.5 Three Statements of Plum Blossom (梅花三弄) (CD 2-14)
Information of the Recording
Performer: Sou Si-tai (蘇思棣, 1949- )
Title of the Record: Le pêcheur et le bûcheron: Sou Si-tai (漁樵問答：蘇思棣) (AIMP & VDE-GALLO CD-1214, 2007)
Recorded in 2006
Score: Chuncaotang Qinpu (春草堂琴譜, 1744) from the Qing Dynasty
Qin used: “Free and Unfettered” Qin (“逍遙”琴) with silk strings, constructed by Sou Si-tai
Listening Guide
It is believed that Three Statements of Plum Blossom is originally a piece for the dizi (笛子) from the Jin Dynasty (265-420 C.E.), and was arranged for the guqin in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 C.E.). Its earliest extant score is found in the Shenqi Mipu (神奇祕譜, 1425) compiled by Zhu Quan (朱權) of the Ming Dynasty.
This piece is transmitted in some forty collections of guqin music.
There are two themes in this piece and the themes are stated alternately. One of the themes is stated three times, and thus the title has the words sannong (三弄, three statements). This theme of “Plum Blossom” is made up of harmonics and has a pure quality. It is played in different registers in the second, fourth and sixth sections. The contrasting second theme has a longer melody and more rises and falls, and appears in the seventh and ninth sections.
This piece exhibits strong contrast in the tone colours of the open-string notes, harmonics and stopped notes. It has been praised by guqin players throughout the centuries. This piece depicts the strong living power of the plum blossom. The qin used in this recording is constructed by Sou Si-tai and silk strings are used.
0:00 Section 1 The introduction. The beats begin to emerge. The notes are mainly open-string notes. The tempo is slow, and the mood is dark and sombre.
1:21 Section 2 The first statement of Theme 1. Harmonics in the middle register produce a pure and light tone colour.
2:03 Section 3 A short transition passage between the first and second statements of Theme 1, ending with a hewei (合尾, a repeated ending phrase).
2:28 Section 4 The second statement of Theme 1, with harmonics in the low register.
3:02 Section 5 Undulating phrases, with a melody longer than that of Section 3, ending with a hewei passage.
4:16 Section 6 The third statement of Theme 1, with harmonics in the high register.
4:44 Section 7 Theme 2, the melody is played in the high register.
The phrases are longer and with big leaps.
6:34 Section 8 A transition passage between Theme 2 of Sections 7 and 9, beginning with flowing glissandi.
7:06 Section 9 Theme 2, beginning with flowing glissandi. The melody is longer than that of Section 7, and a climax is created by the use of glissandi.
8:02 Section 10 The coda in ad. libitum, ending with a passage of harmonics.
Extended Knowledge
4.1 The Tunings of Guqin
Unlike some other Chinese instruments, the guqin does not have a fixed tuning. The tuning for different pieces may be different. The player has to tune the strings according to the prescribed tuning for the piece before playing it, though there is no change of tuning within a piece. The most common tuning is called zhengdiao (正調) or zhongluyun (中呂均).
The tuning of zhengdiao is equivalent to C-D-F-G-A-c-d in Western classical music,24 or sol, - la, - do – re – mi – sol – la in solmisation. The following table shows three common tunings of guqin music.
String 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th
Zhengdiao (正調) C D F G A c d
Ruibindiao (蕤賓調) C D F G Bb c d
Manjiaodiao (慢角調) C D E G A c d
Theoretically, there are some twenty tunings in guqin music, but a large number of pieces are tuned in zhengdiao. Note that the pitches in the above table do not represent absolute frequencies. As guqin is mainly a solo instrument, there is no need to match the pitches with other instruments. The notes in the above table represent the relative intervals of the strings. It does not matter, for example, whether the third string is tuned to F or E as long as the solmisation of the seven strings are in the order of sol, – la, – do – re – mi – sol – la.
Guqin players today who use silk string, which is more fragile, often tune the strings a little bit lower than the pitches represented in the above table to avoid excessive tension.
4.2 Harmonics (泛音)
The thirteen markers (徽) on the guqin mark the harmonics positions.
Harmonics are produced by vibration of a string. When an instrument or the human voice produces a note, there is the fundamental and a series of harmonics. This series is called the overtone series.
As the fundamental note has the greatest amplitude of vibration, we normally only hear this note when a string is vibrating. The amplitude of vibration of the overtones is smaller, so it is more difficult to hear them. However, if the player lightly touches the string at a marker position when the string is plucked, the harmonic note is clearly heard.
The thirteen markers are the positions that divide a string into a certain proportion (see the table below). For example, if an open string is tuned to C, we can get a harmonics of an octave above (c) by lightly touching the position exactly at one half of the string, that is, the seventh marker.
To get the harmonics a perfect fifth above the fundamental, that is, the note G, we have to position the finger at one third of the string, that is, either the ninth or the fifth marker. The table below lists the proportions of the string at the positions of the thirteen markers and the harmonics produced.
Altogether ninety-one harmonics can be produced on the guqin (thirteen markers times seven strings). Harmonics is a distinctive kind of notes on the guqin.
It is very common for pieces to begin and end with passages of harmonics. Other genres that make use of harmonics include throat-singing of Mongolia and Tuva, which produces multiphonic sounds by the use of harmonics, and the monochord music of Vietnam.
Marker Proportion of the String Harmonics Produced
13 7/8 c2
12 5/6 g1
11 4/5 e1
10 3/4 c1
9 2/3 g
8 3/5 e1
7 1/2 c
6 2/5 e1
5 1/3 g
4 1/4 c1
3 1/5 e1
2 1/6 g1
1 1/8 c2
4.3 A History of Guqin Notation
It is commonly believed that the jianzipu (減字譜, abbreviated character notation) was first used in the late Tang Dynasty (618-907 C.E.), although there is no general agreement on the exact year. Before the Tang Dynasty, a kind of notation called wenzipu (文字譜, full character notation) was used (see p. 87 of the hardcopy of this book).
It is believed that the jianzipu was invented by Cao Rou (曹柔) and Chen Zhuo (陳拙) of the Tang Dynasty. The earliest extant jianzipu is found in a collection of poems called Songs of the White Stone Taoist Monk (白石道人歌曲) written by Jiang Bai-shi (姜白石, 1155-1221), a poet of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In this collection, several lines of jianzipu are found in the piece Age-old Sorrow (古怨). The earliest existing collection of guqin music is the Shenqi Mipu (神奇秘譜, 1425) compiled by Zhu Quan (朱權) of the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1644 and 1644-1911 respectively), many scores of guqin music were published thanks to the improvement of printing. The guqin scores published in these periods number to some 150, and the guqin pieces found in them
number to over 3,000.
Before the invention of jianzipu, guqin music was notated in wenzipu. This kind of notation is more complicated. One or two lines of prose are required for notating a single note. Jianzipu is a simplified version of wenzipu.
The wenzipu may already have been in use in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 C.E.). The only extant score of wenzipu records a piece called Elegant Orchid in Jieshi Mode (碣石調．幽蘭) (c. the seventh century). The manuscript is now deposited in a library in Kyoto (京都) of Japan. It is believed that this score was transmitted by Qiu Ming (丘明, 494-590) of the late Southern Dynasty (420-589).
4.4 Dapu (打譜)
The guqin pieces notated in collections throughout the centuries number to some three thousand. However, some pieces are found in more than one collection.
The number of different pieces is around six hundred.25 One single piece may exist in different versions under different collections. As a result, it is important to specify the collection from which we are using when we talk about a piece, and sometimes the teacher who transmits the piece has to be specified as well.
Among the some six hundred guqin pieces, only about one hundred pieces are performable. Why are some pieces not performable? The reason is that the guqin score only notates the ways of playing the strings, not music elements like the rhythm, tempo, phrasing and dynamics. To learn these elements in a piece, one has to rely on the teaching by a teacher through oral transmission. This is the reason why some pieces are not performable.
To revive a piece that has not been transmitted, a guqin performer has to reconstruct it from the existing score. This process of recreation is called dapu (打譜).
In the process of dapu, the guqin player interprets the rhythm, tempo, phrasing, dynamics and mood of a piece in his or her own way. However, this does not mean that he or she has complete freedom in the recreation. He or she has to
25 A Compilation of Extant Guqin Pieces compiled by the guqin player Zha Fu-xi (查阜西虞虞虞) (Beijing: Central Conservatory of Music, 1958) records the information of a large number of extant pieces.
consider descriptions of the piece, compare different versions, and add, delete or amend certain notes to recreate an appropriate interpretation of it. Through this process of dapu, a non-transmitted piece could be recreated.26 For example, the famous piece A Piece from Guangling (廣陵散) was recreated by the guqin player Guan Ping-hu (管平湖, 1897-1967) in the 1950s, based on the score transmitted in Shenqi Mipu (神奇秘譜).
4.5 The Comprehensive Knowledge in Guqin Handbooks
The guqin handbooks are comprehensive documents, not just a notation of guqin pieces. Most guqin handbooks record the essence of a particular school, including what the editors have learned on guqin playing, explanations on the finger techniques, the guqin aesthetics, the procedures on constructing this instrument, the way of practicing, a history of the particular school and the notation in jianzipu (減字譜) of the transmitted pieces.
For example, the Dahuange Qinpu (大還閣琴譜, 1673), published in early Qing Dynasty, records the scores of some thirty pieces, as well as an article called Xishan Qinkuang (溪山琴況) written by the guqin player Xu Shang-ying (徐上瀛, 1582-1662) which discusses twenty-four features (況) that a guqin player has to pay attention to when performing the guqin:
harmonious (和), quiet (靜), clear (清), distant (遠), antique (古), plain (澹), subtle (恬), transcendent (逸), elegant (雅), beautiful (麗), bright (亮), colourful (采), clean (潔), moist (潤), round (圓), firm (堅), grand (宏), minute (細), smooth (溜), vigorous (健), light (輕), heavy (重), slow (遲), fast (速)27
The feature (況) can be understood as the mood, style and aesthetics. Xishan Qinkuang fully explains each of these features. For instance, “distant” (遠) refers
26 For the recreation of pieces through dapu, see Bell Yung, “Da Pu: The Recreative Process of the Music of the Seven-string Zither,” in Music and Context: Essays for John M. Ward, edited by Anne Dhu Shapiro (Cambridge, MA: Department of Music, Harvard University, 1985), pp. 370-384.