Breathe—by Changjing

Video of Lofty mountain-Yaobingyan—Chinese painting version

Top-ten classical music of Chinese—White Snow in Early Spring

White Snow in Early Spring is one of ten famous Qin tune in Ancient times. According to the fable, it is wrote by Jin country's musician ShiKuang or Qi country 's musician LiuJuanzi, lived in the Spring and Autumn Period. White Snow in Early Spring’s literary reference comes from "Songyu answer to Chu king" recorded in "Chu elegies". Chu Xiang king asked Songyu: "Do you have the personal character which you were hide? Why do not the people praise you?” Song Yu said that once a singer guested in Chu country, he recites "the Song of the Rustic Poor” at first, there are thousands of people chime in with him in the country. When the singer sings "the Yang AXie Lu", only several hundred people chime in with him. When the singer sings "White Snow in Early Spring", only dozens of people chime in with him. When the song increases some high difficulty skills, like "enjoys serious music, mixed flowing snow", only three people can chime in with him. Songyu’s conclusion is: "the more difficult the music is, the less people can chime in with." The songs, such as" White Snow in Early Spring ", the more loftier and complex the music is, the fewer people can sing it. Namely is too cultured to be appreciated by the masses.

"White Snow in Early Spring " shows that there is discrepancy between audience’s appreciation esthetic and esthetic ability. The higher the Music artistry is, the fewer people can appreciate. This kind of difference also has close relations with the appreciators subjective interest, sometimes it’s very difficult to obtain an objective appraisal. Although " White Snow in Early Spring " has been considered as the lofty art, many books refers "White Snow in Early Spring " are all commend it vividly displayed the picture that earth recovered in spring, the myriad things approached the glory, everything are vitality in early spring by the smooth melody and the lively rhythm .

Attached: White Snow in Early Spring

Top-ten classical music of Chinese—Autumn Moon Over The Palace

"Autumn Moon Over The Palace" is a Pipa tune originally and reorganizes to Erhu tune latter. Although "Autumn Moon Over The Palace" is one of the ten most famous ancient tunes, its history is not very long. The subject which the music wants to express is not very concrete. When regarding to the meaning of this tune, some related articles perplexed to reach a common understanding, some articles consider that the meaning of the tune is to display maid's sorrowful mood who has been oppressed in palace. Some articles stated that this tune portrayed the palace maid’s disconsolate and intense hope for love when they facing bright moonlight in a fall night.

Attached: Autumn Moon Over The Palace

Top-ten classical music of Chinese—Eighteen Airs for the Fife

Caiyan, another name is CaiWenji, lived in Chenliu, her Father’s name is Caiyi, who was a famous writer, calligrapher and musician, and lived in the last reign of Eastern Han Dynasty. Under her father's influence, Caiyan get interested in music since her childhood and had great attainments. Caiyan's life is extremely pitiful. Her father, Caiyi had been punished to exiled for submitted a written statement to attack the government. Because of Caiyi afraid of being framed by officials who still dominated the government, he did not dare to back to Luoyang after amnesty. Caiyan lead a vagrant life with her father for 12 years. Caiyan married with Weizhongdao when she was 16 years old. Unfortunately, her husband died early, so Caiyan has to return to her maternal hometown. After DongZhuo has been executed, Caiyi killed by SituWangyun because of feel pity for Dong Zhuo's destiny. In Xingping period (the A.D. 194 - 195 years), the society becoming Chaos. Cai yan has been seizes by Hsiungnu, become Hsiungnu Zuoxian king’s wife for nearly 12 years and they has two children. In Jianan 13 years (208 years), Caocao knew his good friend Caiyi’s daughter Caiyan had been in Hsiungnu for a long time, and then sent a lot of money to Hsiungnu to redeem with Caiyan, but her two sons had to stay in Hsiungnu. This section of historical evidence is so called "WenJi return to Han dynasty". After return to the Han dynasty, Caiyan was very sad, her children and her live apart for the lifetime. Under this situation, Caiyan wrote down the famous music:” Eighteen Airs for the Fife”.
Caiyan has lived in Hsiungnu for 12 years, thus she thoroughly understands both the music of Han dynasty and Hsiungnu. "Eighteen Airs for the Fife " is the music which CaiWenji created according to the characteristic of Hsiungnu’s musical instrument----Hujia. She perfectly fuses the music of Han dynasty and Hsiungnu together in this tune. Thus caused "Eighteen Airs for the Fife" becomes a classic music which integrates Chinese and foreign in ancient times.

Attached: Eighteen Airs for the Fife

Top-ten classical music of Chinese—Chat Between A Fisherman And A Woodcutter

Chat between a Fisherman and a Woodcutter is an ancient Guqin tune. The earliest spectrum record in the "Apricot Village Tai Sound To continue Spectrum" (in 1560), wrote by XiaoLuan in Ming Dynasty. Chat between a Fisherman and a Woodcutter attempts to make the fundamental philosophy explanation of the world through the succinct dialogue. Although this tune has the leisurely ideal condition and can cause the people to yearning for the life of catching fish and chops firewood, the profound meaning of this tune should be conclude as: "the ancient and modern matters, all passed in the joke", and "the success and failure, right and wrong, can be comment by anyone". “Prosperous and decline, success and failure”, this serious topic comprehended invisible by the dialogue between a fisherman and a woodcutter. This is the primary intention of the music.

Attached: Chat Between A Fisherman And A Woodcutter

Top-ten classical music of Chinese—The setting sun and the dreary drum

The setting sun and the dreary drum is a famous Pipa tune, the orchestral music reorganization from the setting sun and the dreary drum was appeared on the 20th century. Its name is "Spring River and flower in Moonlit night". The music has tactful melody, smooth rhythm, ingenious matching and excellent performance; it vividly described the enchanting scenery of the river and the Moonlit night, heartily extols the scenery of the Chiangnan region of rivers and lakes. The entire song looks like an exquisite volume, its color is gentle, it’s very fascinating.

Attached: The setting sun and the dreary drum

Top-ten classical music of Chinese—Laying An Ambush On All Sides

If there is a character who is like a war-god in Chinese history, Xiangyu must be the very candidate.

Xiangyu has unusual courage and wisdom. He is a hero and the terminator of Qin Dynasty. As the terminator of Qin Dynasty, Xiangyu has created many miracles. Such as the war of the Julu, the feudal lord all fears when they facing the Qin army force, only Xiangyu fight against the formidable Qin army with the Chu army. From November to next July, Xiangyu successively wipe out Wangli’ army, take surrendering troops of Zhanghan’ army, cause the destruction of the main force of Qin army, Made the condition for overthrew the Qin dynasty. Such as the war of the Peng city, advances a long distance in a short time, defeats hundreds of thousands of LiuBang’s 100000s army by 30000 soldiers.

However, after destroyed the old dynasty, Xiangyu actually can not establish a new dynasty, but LiuBang, a humble status background, with his common people followers together, has created a new universal empire. It can be considered as unprecedented at that time.

Before B.C. 202, the war between Liubang and Xiangyu came to the end, they battled at Gaixia, 300,000 Han army force has besieged 100,000 Chu army force. In order to destroy enemy’s confidence, the soldiers of Han began to sing the songs of Chu, the Chu soldier mostly left home already for a long time, they were already weary of successive expedition. Some soldiers of Chu armed force started to sing the songs too, morale of troop’s thorough vacillation. As soon as looked the hard situation, Xiangyu can do nothing except sang to YuJi(his wife) :"the strength to pull out the hill, the courage unparalleled, the situation can not be reverse . "YuJi sang to Xiangyu: "The Han’s soldier slightly, has been utterly isolated the sound, your courage is over, I don’t want to live." then draws a sword to suicide. When Xiangyu ran away to Wu River, facing the torrential river water, draw the sword to commit suicide.

The finally victory always belongs to these who have the political wisdom and the political strategy method.

The posterity acted two famous lute fighting tune “Laying An Ambush On All Sides” and "Overlord the suit of armor" according to war of Gaixia . Although they reflect the same historical theme, the meaning of them is completely different. The leading role of “Laying An Ambush On All Sides” is Liu Bang and Han army force , the key content is " Laying An Ambush On All Sides ", " the small war in Jiming mountain" ,"nine miles mountains wars" and so on, the music is much intense, and the leading role of " Overlord the suit of armor " is Xiangyu and Chu army force, the key paragraph is "the songs of Chu", "leave Yuji", the music is solemn and stirring, mostly described Xiangyu leave Yuji. The former is a song of praise, the latter is an elegy.

“Laying An Ambush On All Sides”, shows us not only the victor's cheerful bugle, but also the loser’s extraordinary spirit.

Attached: Laying An Ambush On All Sides

Top-ten classical music of Chinese—Plum-blossom in Three Movements

Plum-blossom in Three Movements is one of the most famous ancient Guqin tune, its melody is smooth and exquisite, and form is elegant and unique. It shows the writer’s noble character through description plum blossom’s manner, and has high artistic value.

The main subject of Plum-blossom in Three Movements is plum blossom. “Three Movements” actually is three variations, there has three variations in ancient times: Loud voice Movements, low voice Movements, swim Movements.

The historical literary of Plum-blossom in Three Movements is the story of Eastern Jin Dynasty’s senior general Huanyi performance Plum-blossom in Three Movements to Wanghuizhi. Wanghuizhi goes to the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty JianKang, his ship anchors in the blue brook wharf. Huanyi goes through the ashore by chance, they do not acquainted with each other. A guest on the ship says: "this is Huan Yewang." Wanghuizhi assigns his assistant to tell Huanyi. "I’ve heared that you are good at playing the Guqin, could you please play it for me?" Huanyi is a senior official, but he also known Wanghui’s reputation for a long time. Then he begin to perform Plum-blossom in Three Movements. Huanyi boarded to go after performance immediately. Guest and host both have not conversed. We can obviously see the people of Jin Dynasty are broad-minded through this matter.

Attached: Plum-blossom in Three Movements

Top-ten classical music of Chinese—Wild Geese over the Clam Sands

Wild Goose over the Clam Sands is the most widespread ancient Guqin tune in the last 300 years, the extant collection of music scores are more than 50 types. Wild Goose over the Clam Sands is different from other famous tunes, because it has no popularity story of historical records. The earliest version of Wild Goose over the Clam Sands was written in 1,634, contained in " Ancient music orthodox school" in the Ming Dynasty (the seventh year of Chongzhen). The meaning of this tune is to give encouragement to those unrecognized talent who wants to take academic honor, and gave consoles to those who have been punished.

Attached: Wild Geese over the Clam Sands

Top-ten classical music of Chinese — Guang ling Verse

Guang Ling verse refer to the story about Niezheng assassinates Xianglei, the king of the Han country. The melody of Guang Ling verse is very spirits & generous, it is the only extant ancient Guqin tune including the fight atmosphere in China. It directly expresses the against oppressor’s struggle spirit to tyrant's, its ideological nature and the artistry are very high.

Niezheng lived in Han country in Warring States times. His father was killed by the Han king because he made the sword for the Han king over the deadline. For revenge, he assassinate the Han king but defeat. When he knew Han king was interested in music, he disfigured his face, entered in the mountain, studied the Guqin skill for more than 10 years.

When he returned Han, nobody could recognize him. He found a opportunity to enter the palace to play Guqin for the Han king and extracted the dagger from the abdomen of Guqin to assassinate the Han king, he was died either.

The main rhythm of Guang Ling verse appears indignantly and spiritedly. The first section seems to be free and calmly, can be seen as opening words of the entire tune. The small and the big part in a steady atmosphere, has arranged the main tuning embryonic form of sound and the chaotic sound. The sound section is the main part of the music, it prominently described Niezheng’s sentiment developing process, from hate to indignation. It’s strength on portraying his unyielding spirit and the hard character. It has further developed the main tuning melody after main tune of the sound demonstration. On this time, the music displays one kind of mood like hates and miserable. Slowly and steady melody which expresses cherishes, simultaneously contains the tumult and restless. As the music enters the rapid bass, it develops aggressively, the soul-stirring scene, it helps the tune to the high tide. And then, the music displays grand heroic atmosphere. Chaotic sound and latter foreword are quite short, mainly manifests jubilant and the happy sentiment. Thus, the entire tune finished.

Attached: Guang Ling verse

Top-ten classical music of Chinese — Lofty mountains and flowing water

Lofty mountains and flowing water is a famous Guqin solo music in the ancient times, in the Spring and Autumn Period Warring States times(B.c. 770-221), there already has the story of Lofty mountains and flowing water, so someone considered that Lofty mountains and flowing water has been made by Yuboya. In the last 2000 years, 《Lofty mountains》, 《flowing water》 these two ancient Guqin songs and the story of Yuboya met bosom friend, has been spreading extensively in society. It was said that Yuboya was a famous heptachord executant in the Spring and Autumn Period Warring States times, he has superbly musical performance technique, 《Xunzi ·Advise to learn》 had recorded that the fish jumped out of water and the horse stopped eating to hear when Yuboya played the Guqin. The musical sound of Yuboya could mimical a lot of voices in the natures, and express various emotion. But few of people could understand his Guqin sound and comprehend his idea. So, he usually felt depression about no one could understand him ……

Yuboya live in the Chu Country, but he was a goverment official in the Jin Country. One day, the king of the Jin sent him to go abroad as a ambassador to Chu, and he was happy to return to his hometown. In the night of Mid-Autumn when the ship went to the Hanyang estuary, the rains and winds came by chance so that the boats had to tie up under the mountain precipice. Soon, the rains and winds stopped, Yuboya wanted to play a music suddenly when he get out and saw the landscape in the bright moon. When he played the Guqin ecstatically, one of the Guqin strings breaked suddenly. He affirmed there was someone eavesdropping. (In China, people consider there is a bosom friend when some one’s string break suddenly while he is playing the Guqin.) He asked his servitor to go ashore to search. At that time, someone said on the ashore to him: Monsignor, please don’t doubt, my name is Zhongziqi and not crafty thief, but a woodcutter. I am going to home after cut wood, but encounter strong wind and rain, I hide under the rock side to shelter the rain while I you’re your elegancy song.

Yuboya invited Zhongziqi to get on the boat, then began to play the segment of 《LvShiChunQiu》called “Lofty mountains and flowing water.” Yuboya contemplates for a few time, his idea was about the high mountain, so he played a song about mountain. Zhongziqi understood its meaning and said that the song was very grandiose, the meaning of the song was concerning about the high mountain. Yuboya concentrated and played again, Zhongziqi said that the meaning of the song was concerning about flowing water. After that, no matter what song Yuboya played, Zhongziqi could understand its meaning immediately. So Yuboya was very excited and said to Zhongziqi that there’s no one except you could understand my intention, you’re my bosom friend!

Yuboya felt that although Zhongziqi was a woodcutter, his knowledge and music theory was very profound, and his sentiment was very lofty, so they became sworn brothers. Next day, they wept to leave each other at Hangjiang estuary. They made an appointment to meet here next year.

Zhongziqi used the money which been presented by Yuboya buy many books to read. However, because he cut the wood during the day and studied assiduously in the night, and it was very tired, he infected serious illness and died in few months. Before his death, he said that I was unable to live to welcome Yuboya, I will stay here to welcome him, I must abide my promise. According to Zhongziqi’s wish, his parents buried him near the shore.

Soon the promise day came, Yuboya take the boat coming. He saw a tombstone at the shore and found that it was written Grave of the Zhongziqi on the tombstone. He bursted into tears and said that, "The god should not extinguish my intimate friend! Cannot bury my intimate friend! What a pity! I have only one intimate friend for my lifetime but he died before me, it’s unfair!”

After that, he took out the precious Guqin, played again the music of Lofty mountains and flowing water to mourn over Zhongziqi’s death. The sound was very sad, incurred people to surround, they heard the sound and applaused loudly. Yuboya became much sadder, he said to the sky, "it is easy to seek a friend, but it is hard to seek the intimate friend ". Yuboya took out the knife and cut off the string, fell the Guqin on to the terra. From then on, he no longer performed Guqin for his lifetime. For this reason, “the intimate friend meets at Lofty mountains and flowing water” became a famous story, the literary reference called the bosom friend was come from this story.

Attached: Lofty mountains and flowing water

Chinese ancient instrument-Pipa

The pipa is a four-stringed Lute, one of the oldest Chinese musical instruments which appeared in Chinese written texts of the second century BC. Xi Liu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) described in his book, The definition of Terms -- On Musical Instruments, that the name of the instrument pipa originally refers to two finger techniques. The two Chinese characters pi and pa stands originally for the two finger techniques, i.e. plucking at the strings forwards and backwards, respectively. In the Qin Dynasty (222-207 BC), there had been a kind of pluck-instrument, known as xiantao, with straight neck and a round sound-body played horizontally. In the preface to his verse Ode to Pipa, Xuan Fu of the Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD) wrote: "...the pipa appeared in the late Qin period. When the people suffered from being forced to build the Great Wall, they played the instrument to express their resentment". By Han Dynasty (206 BC -- 220 AD), the instrument developed into a form of four strings and twelve frets, plucked with fingernails and known as pipa or qin-pipa. In the Western Jin Dynasty (256-316), the qin-pipa was named after the famous scholar, Ruan Xian, who was a virtuoso in such an instrument. The instrument is still called ruan till present day.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasty (420-589 AD), a similar instrument, called oud with a crooked neck and four or five strings was introduced through the Silk Road from little Asia, known as the Hu Pipa (Hu stands for "foreign" in Chinese), which was played horizontally with a wooden plectrum (see the picture below for Tang Dynasty pipa player). By combining the original Chinese lute and the Hu pipa the making of the instrument gradually became what the present pipa looks like. Meanwhile the playing method has been developed and repertoire increased. One of the greatest developments was that the left hand became totally free by holding the instrument vertically, i.e. the pipa rests on the thigh of the instrumentalists in an upright position, and was played vertically with five fingers of the right hand instead of horizontally with a plectrum (see the above photo of Liu Fang). By the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), the pipa was one of the most popular instruments, and has maintained its appeal in solo as well as chamber genres ever since.

The Tang pipa was larger than the modern instrument. It usually has four or five strings and fewer frets (compared to the present day pipa). Probably influenced by the hu pipa, the Tang pipa was often played with a wooden plectrum, a technique still used by its Japanese descendent, the biwa. Since the mid Tang Dynasty, and particularly since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the instrument has been gradually developed into the present form of a lute played with fingernails while the techniques with the plectrum were totally abandoned. The strings of the instrument were made of silk. Musicians used their real nails of the right hand to pluck the strings. Exception to this is the Nanguan pipa which is popular in Fujian Province (South-East China) and Taiwan in a particular kind of traditional music called Nanguan music which can be traced back to at least the Song Dynasty. Pipa players in the Nanguan music playing the pipa horizontally and using one piece plectrum just like the Tang pipa.

The modern instrument is half-pear-shaped, with a short, bent neck, and has 30 frets which extend down the neck and onto the soundboard, giving a wide range and a complete chromatic scale. The usual tuning is A - E - D - A (La - Mi - Re - La). Since early last century, steel strings began to be used by some musicians while most still kept using silk string. Since the 50s, the making of the pipa was standardized in measure and the strings are made of steel rapped with nylon. Thus the real nail becomes almost impossible, instead, a little plectrum (or faked nail) is attached to each finger of the right hand. The plectrums is usually made of turtle shell or special plastics.

Notation for pipa combines symbols for pitch (Kung-ch'e system) with abbreviated characters for special finger techniques. Today, the simplified version of music scores are commonly used in which numbers representing pitch and symbols representing finger techniques are used. Today the standard western music score has been used increasingly because it shows advantage in ensemble pieces and in particular pieces for pipa concertos.

There were huge repertoires of pipa music in Chinese history, particularly during the Tang Dynasty. But most of them were lost. Fortunately, there are precious pipa pieces handed down from one generation to another by individual artists and scholars. Some pieces have been preserved in Japan and some more pieces of musical scores were discovered along the Silk Road in Gansu Province, China, around 1900. These musical notes, known as the Dunhuang scores, triggered great concern and interest in China as well in abroad. However, they remained a mystery until the early 80s, when the scholar, Prof. Ye Dong from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music successfully "decoded" 25 pieces of them. The beauty and elegance of these pieces have thus first been revealed to the public after having slept for a thousand years.

The pipa music has been loved by Chinese people through the centuries. During the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1645-1911) Dynasties, various pipa schools with different styles were flourishing in the South, centered in Wuxi, Suzhou and Shanghai, and the North, centered in Beijing. The development of finger techniques for both hands achieved a high standard by the masters from each school. The present day pipa techniques are mostly the fusion of those different schools. Now the pipa is one of most popular instruments in China. Many of the compositions that make up the traditional repertoire, which were handed down from generation to generation through individual artists and scholars, date back hundreds of years, while others are part of a body of compositions that are dynamic and growing. In the recent decades, composers have explored the possibilities for pipa and other Chinese and western instruments and even with orchestra. Nowadays, there are also celebrated pieces for pipa concerti with orchestras.

The playing techniques consists of the right hand fingers plucking the strings and the left hand fingers touch the strings in a varieties of ways to create melodies and ornaments and special effects. The fingers that pluck the strings move outwards, just opposite to guitar techniques. The frets are pretty high, which allows to string to be pushed, twisted, and pressed. There are over 60 different techniques that have been developed through the centuries.

Pipa's technique is characterized by spectacular finger dexterity and virtuosi programmatic effects. Rolls, slaps, pizzicato, harmonics, noises are often combined into extensive tone-poems vividly describing famous battles or other exciting scenes, such as the Ambush which describes the decisive battle field fought in the second century BC between Chu (Xiang Yu) and Han (Liu Bang). The instrument is also capable of more lyric effects, as the tune Sai Shang qu (Songs from the other side of the border). This tune is said to represent the sorrowful song of a Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) noblewoman, who was compelled for political reasons to marry a barbarian prince. This story appears in several versions connected with the origin of the pipa. There are also a lot of written texts and famous poems about the pipa music played by virtuoso performers in history. For instance, the following comments can be found in the texts from the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) describing the intensity of the Ambush played by artists of that time : "... as if thousands of warriors and horses are roaring on the battle field, as if the earth is torn and the sky is falling". In his poem, the Pipa Song, Bai Juyi, one of the leading poets in the Tang Dynasty, described vividly the pipa music performed by an artist: "... The thicker strings rattled like splatters of sudden rain, the thinner ones hummed like a hushed whisper. Together they shaped strands of melody, like larger and smaller pearls falling on a jade plate."

Famous Pipa music list:

Laying An Ambush On All Sides
Lotus On Water
Pipa Xing
The Overlord Get off Armature
Wave Washes The Sand
Wild Dance Of The Golden Snake
Moonlight Of Spring River

Chinese ancient instrument-GuZheng

The Zheng, commonly known as Guzheng, (pronounced "Goo-Zheng"), is a plucked string instrument that is part of the zither family. It is one of the most ancient Chinese musical instruments according to the documents written in the Qin dynasty (before 206 BC).

Zheng is the forerunner of Japanese koto, Korean kayagum, Mongolian yatag, and Vietnamese dan tranh. Due to its long history, the zheng has been called guzheng or Gu-Zheng where "Gu" stands for "ancient" in Chinese. The guzheng has been a popular instrument since ancient times and is considered as one of the main chamber as well as solo instruments of Chinese traditional music. Since the mid-19th century, guzheng solo repertoire has been growing and evolving towards an increasing technical complexity.

In the early times the zheng had 5 string; later on developed into 12 to 13 strings in the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907AD) and 16 strings in the Song and Ming dynasty (from the 10th to 15th century). The present day zheng usually has 21-25 strings.

Tuning: The pitch of a given string is determined by the position of the bridge, therefore, Guzheng can in principle be tuned to any desired scales. Traditionally, pentatonic scale is used. The instrumentalist plucks the strings with the right hand and touches the strings with the left hand to produce the desired pitch and create subtle tones and ornaments (see the pictures with Liu Fang playing the Guzheng). Full scale can also be obtained by skilfully applying press on certain strings from the other side of the bridge with the left hand.
techniques: Guzheng player attaches a little plectrum on each finger using a special tape. For traditional repertoires, the instrumentalist mostly uses three fingers of the right hand for plucking whereas the left hand pressing the string from the other side of the bridge to create special tonalities and ornaments. For some contemporary repertoires, both hands are needed to produce complicated harmonies using four fingers of each, which means that even the fingers of the left hand need to ware plectrums. In some cases, one can use cello bow to play on the Guzheng to produce sustained sounds and special effects. One can also use sticks to hit on the strings in the way like a percussion instrument.

There are some famous music of Zheng as follows,

Autumn Moon Over The Palace
Lotus On Water
Melodys From The Night Fisherman
Sorrow Of Princess ZhaoJun
Spring Ravine Flowing Spring
The Autumn Moon Over The Calm Lake
The Jackdaws Playing With Water
The Moon Is High

Chinese ancient instrument-Guqin

Guqin, seven-stringed zither without bridges, the most classical Chinese instrument with over 3000 years of history. It is literally called qin yet commonly known as "guqin" where "gu" stands for ancient. Confucius (around 600 BC) was a master of this instrument. To learn to play qin used to be regarded as a very important element for education for the purpose of enriching the heart and elevating human spirit. In Imperial China, a scholars and ladies of the high society were expected to master the four arts, namely, the qin (guqin), qi (I-go), shu (Calligraphy), and hua (painting). The guqin has historically been regarded as the symbol of Chinese high culture.

【The configuration of Qin】

The whole figure of Qin is prolate, long about 130cm , breadth about 20cm, thick about 5cm. The front-panel of Qin is a piece of long form wooden board, the surface presents an arch form, the Qin head is bored some holes to pass the string, the tail is oval, it present crescent or square at both the waist or neck. The back plate which is the bottom of Qin shape is like the front-panel except arch form. There are two audio holes at back plate, called dragon pond and phoenix natural pond, and two foots bores are about put at waist, named praise foot. The front-panel and back plate are glued together to form the body(resonating body) of Qin. The glue tongue form wooden board in the Qin’s head makes a space with Qin’s stomach is called tongue cave. The sound bar is added at back of front-panel and there are two sound posts at the stomach which are called sky post and earth post. Tuning peg most is circular or angular form and hollow of its is empty for wearing string. There is a bar on the top of Qin for underpining the string and are four feet on the back plate for keeping the Qin’s balance. Thirteen carved mother-of-pearl or the badge of jade are embeded on the front-panel in order to marking the place of sound.

【The tessitura and tone color】

The Guqin totally has three kinds of tone color. The first is open string sound, namely the sound playing the empty string, its voice is sonore and clear. The second is pressure sound, namely right hand play the string, left hang presses the string at the same time, the voice thick and con fuoco at bass area, con vigore and smooth at medium sound area, sharp at high sound area. The third is overtone, namely the sound when left hand light bit the string, right hand plays the string at the same time. The voice clear and ringing at its high sound area, like a wind-bell in wind, at medium sound area, its voice is bright and clangor.

【Music of Qin】

There are over 3000 opern of Qin in China and most of them are lyric, some famous songs are as follows,

Anchor lake bank at autumnal night-Chengwujia

Ao Ai-Guanpinghu

Autumnal frontier fortress-Wujinglue

Chang men yuan-Chafuxi

Chu ge-Yaobingyan

Dragon howl on the sea-Yueying

Eighteen Airs for the Fife-Guanpinghu

Flowing Water-Gumeigeng

Hua xu yin-Yaobingyan

Jie shi diao youlan-Guanpinghu

Liezi stands in the wind-Yueying

Lisao-Guanpinghu

Listening fountain-Zhanchengqiu

Lofty mountain-Yaobingyan

Long Xing Cao-Zhangziqian

Mozi's sorrowful thought-Wujinglue

Pestling Clothes-Xulisun

Plum-blossom in Three Movements-Zhangziqian

Pu an zhou-Fuxuezhai

Quiet view-Xiayifeng

Spring-Wujinglue

The leaves of phoenix tree are dancing in the autumnal wind-Wujinglue

The misty Xiao Xiang river-Wujinglue

Thought beside autumnal Dongting lake-Chafuxi

Wei bian san jue-Yueying

Wine Revels-Yaobingyan

Woodchopper song-Liujingzhao

Sao shou wen tian-Wuzhaoji

Flowing fountain on the stone-Zhanchengqiu