Guqin


The guqin is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted by the quote "a gentleman does not part with his qin or se without good reason," as well as being associated with the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius. It is sometimes referred to by the Chinese as "the father of Chinese music" or "the instrument of the sages". The guqin is not to be confused with the guzheng, another Chinese long stringed instrument also without frets, but with moveable bridges under each string.
Traditionally, the instrument was simply referred to as the "qin" but by the twentieth century the term had come to be applied to many other musical instruments as well: the yangqin hammered dulcimer, the huqin family of bowed string instruments, and the Western piano and violin are examples of this usage. The prefix "gu-" was later added for clarification. Thus, the instrument is called "guqin" today. It can also be called qixian-qin. Because Robert Hans van Gulik's book about the qin is called The Lore of the Chinese Lute, the guqin is sometimes inaccurately called a lute. Other incorrect classifications, mainly from music compact discs, include "harp" or "table-harp".
The guqin is a very quiet instrument, with a range of about four octaves, and its open strings are tuned in the bass register. Its lowest pitch is about two octaves below middle C, or the lowest note on the cello. Sounds are produced by plucking open strings, stopped strings, and harmonics. The use of glissando—sliding tones—gives it a sound reminiscent of a pizzicato cello, fretless double bass or a slide guitar. The qin has 13 "hui", which represent the different position in one string. Pressing different "hui" produces different sound keys. The qin is also capable of many harmonics, of which 91 are most commonly used and indicated by the dotted positions. By tradition, the qin originally had five strings, which represent gong, shang, jue, zhi, yu in the ancient Chinese music system, but ancient qin-like instruments with only one string or more strings have been found. The modern form has been stabilized to seven strings.
There are more than 3,360 known surviving pieces of guqin music from ancient and imperial periods. On 7 November 2003, UNESCO announced that the Chinese guqin was selected as an Intangible World Cultural Heritage. In 2006, guqin was listed in the List of National Non-material Cultural Heritage in China. In 2010, a Song period guqin was sold for $22 million, making it the most expensive musical instrument ever sold.

History

Legend has it that the qin, the most revered of all Chinese musical instruments, has a history of about 5,000 years, and that the legendary figures of China's pre-history – Fuxi, Shennong and Huang Di, the "Yellow Emperor" – were involved in its creation. Nearly all qin books and tablature collections published prior to the twentieth century state this as the actual origins of the qin, although this is now viewed as mythology. It is mentioned in Chinese writings dating back nearly 3,000 years, and examples have been found in tombs from about 2,500 years ago. The exact origins of the qin is still a very much continuing subject of debate over the past few decades.
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 spacecraft. It is the second-longest excerpt included on the disc. The reason to select a work played on this specific instrument is because the tonal structure of the instrument, its musical scale, is derived from fundamental physical laws related to vibration and overtones, representing the intellectual capacity of human beings on this subject. In 2003, guqin music was proclaimed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Schools, societies and players

As with any other musical tradition, there are differences in ideals and interaction between different people. Therefore, there exist different schools and societies which transmit these different ideas and artistic traditions.

Historical schools

Many qin schools known as qin pai developed over the centuries. Such schools generally formed around areas where qin activity was greatest.
Some schools have come and gone, and some have offshoots. Often, the school is originated from a single person, such as the Wu school which is named after the late Wu Zhaoji. The style can vary considerably between schools; some are very similar, yet others are very distinct. The differences are often in the interpretation of the music. Northern schools tend to be more vigorous in technique than Southern schools. But in modern terms, the distinction between schools and styles is often blurred because a single player may learn from many different players from different schools and absorb each of their styles. This is especially so for conservatory trained players. People from the same school trained under the same master may have different individual styles.

Guqin societies

There is a difference between qin schools and qin societies. The former concerns itself with transmission of a style, the latter concerns itself with performance. The qin society will encourage meetings with fellow qin players in order to play music and maybe discuss the nature of the qin. A gathering like this is called a yaji, and takes place once every month or two. Sometimes, societies may go on excursions to places of natural beauty to play qin, or attend conferences. They may also participate in competitions or research. Societies do not need strict structure to adhere to; they can operate on a leisurely basis. The main purpose of qin societies is to promote and play qin music. They create opportunities to network and learn to play the instrument, to ask questions and to receive answers.

Players

Many artists down through the ages have played the instrument, and the instrument was a favourite of scholars. Certain melodies are also associated with famous figures, such as Confucius and Qu Yuan. Some emperors of China also had a liking to the qin, including the Song dynasty emperor, Huizong, as clearly seen in his own painting of himself playing the qin in "Ting Qin Tu".

Historical

  • Confucius: Philosopher, 551–479 BCE, associated with the piece Kongzi Duyi, Weibian Sanjue and Youlan.
  • Bo Ya: Qin player of the Spring and Autumn period, associated with the piece Gao Shan. and Liu Shui
  • Zhuang Zi: Daoist philosopher of the Warring States period, associated with the piece Zhuang Zhou Mengdie and Shenhua Yin.
  • Qu Yuan : Poet of the Warring States period, associated with the piece Li Sao.
  • Cai Yong: Han musician, traditionally attributed author of Qin Cao.
  • Cai Wenji: Cai Yong's daughter, associated with the piece Hujia Shiba-pai, etc.
  • Sima Xiangru: Han poet, 179–117 BCE.
  • Zhuge Liang : Chinese military leader in the Three Kingdoms, one legend has him playing guqin calmly outside his fort while scaring off the enemy attackers.
  • Ji Kang: One of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, musician and poet, writer of Qin Fu.
  • Li Bai: Tang poet, 701–762.
  • Bai Juyi: Tang poet, 772–846.
  • Song Huizong: Song emperor famous for his patronage of the arts, had a Wanqin Tang in his palace.
  • Guo Chuwang: Patriot at the end of the Song dynasty, composer of the piece Xiaoxiang Shuiyun.
The classical collections such as Qin Shi, Qinshi Bu and Qinshi Xu include biographies of hundreds more players.

Contemporary

Contemporary qin players extend from the early twentieth century to the present. More so than in the past, such players tend to have many different pursuits and occupations other than qin playing. There are only a few players who are paid to exclusively play and research the guqin professionally and nothing else. Qin players can also be well-versed in other cultural pursuits, such as the arts. Or they can do independent research on music subjects. Often, players may play other instruments and give recitals or talks.

Performance

During the performance of qin, musicians may use a variety of techniques to reach the full expressing potential of the instrument. There are many special tablatures that had developed over the centuries specifically dedicated to qin for their reference and a repertoire of popular and ancient tunes for their choice.

Playing technique

The tones of qin can be categorized as three characteristic "sounds". The first type is san yin, which literally means "unfettered sound". It's the fundamental frequency produced by plucking a free string with the fingers of the right hand. The second type, made by plucking a string with the right hand and gently tapping specific note positions on the string with the left hand, will create a crisp sound named fan yin or overtone harmonics. Important scale notes, called hui, are marked by 13 glossy white dots made of mica or seashell inset in the front surface of the qin, occur at integer divisions of the string length. The "crystal concordant" overtones can only be evoked by tapping the strings precisely at these hui. The third type is an yin, which is sometimes also called shi yin or zou yin. These comprise the major cadences of most qin pieces. To play an yin, the musician stops a string at a specific pitch on the board surface with the left thumb, middle or ring finger, strikes the string with the right hand, then they may slide the left hand up and down to vary the note. This technique is similar to playing a slide guitar across the player's lap. However, the manipulation of qin is much more multifarious than that of a guitar, which has only around 3 or 4 main techniques.. According to the book Cunjian Guqin Zhifa Puzi Jilan, there are around 1,070 different finger techniques used for the qin. Thus the qin is possibly the instrument with the most playing techniques in both the Chinese and Western instrument families. Most of the qin's techniques are obsolete, but around 50 of them still appear in modern performance. Sometimes, guqin can be played with a violin bow. It has a tone similar to that of a cello, but raspier.
The above four figures are from an old handbook.