Solo Instruments (Continued)
Qin and its elite philosophy
The qin (zither, also called guqin-gu means ancient, Figure 13) has received much scholarly and cultural attention nationally and globally. Its literary record started in The Book of Songs and The Book of History, and the instrument's modern format of seven strings and thirteen inlaid studs has been set since the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD).
The history of qin music has also been very well preserved, giving us knowledge of leading players of different eras, and of the repertory itself.
As early as the Spring Autumn and Warring periods, there were famous works named 'Towering Mountains', 'Flowing Waters', 'Sunny Spring', and 'White Snow'. As the titles of these pieces suggests, many qin pieces centered on historical or programmatic scenes. Some works aimed to express a subtle emotional world. Sometimes the musicians drew on poems, as for example in 'Three Variations on Yang Pass', where the musician is seeing a friend off who is leaving to take up a post in a place far away; considering the travel conditions in ancient times, it seems there is little chance for them to meet again.
'Flowing Waters' was first mentioned in the article 'Liezi, tang wen' about two men (Bo Ya and Zi Qi) who became close friends through playing and listening to this music. The notation was first collected in Miraculous Notation written in 1425, where it appears together with the piece 'Towering Mountains' as a single composition. Over forty different versions of this piece are known, resulting in the popularity of 'Flowing Waters' and the emergence of various schools of performance over time. Indeed, many qin players develop their own interpretations of the piece, which may actually vary at different life stages. Nevertheless, most share a nine-part form, as explained in the Listening Guide below (Yuan 2000: 324-325). The piece, which is very lyrical in character, describes a pictorial scene involving big, fast-running waves that contrast with a peaceful waterfront.
|
Listening Guide
|
||
| Example 16: Qin solo, 'Flowing Waters'. Performed by Guan Pinghu (1897-1967) | ||
| 0:00 | Introduction | The melody stops and starts. Some notes were played at a very low volume and need to be listened to carefully to catch the tones. |
| 0:36 | Second part | These two parts (according to notation) sound like one section. The melody is presented in harmonics, produced by stopping a string lightly rather than fully pressed down to the instrument's body. The feeling is lively and fluent. |
| 1:18 | Third part | |
| 1:42 | Fourth part | Again, the two parts are tightly connected with each other. The melody is performed on stopped strings (the performer presses the strings firmly onto the wood soundboard) creating a thick, powerful sound. In contrast to the previous parts, it indicates that big waves are to come |
| 2:23 | Fifth part | |
| 2:56 | Sixth part | The longest part of the piece. The right hand plays glissando, gliding rapidly across the strings, in alternation with a left-hand melody played on the stopped strings, leading to the climax of the piece. The expressive and vigorous sound indicates the great waves |
| 5:02 | Seventh part | A short interlude |
| 5:22 | Eighth part | The ending. A passage of glissandi on and off, that then turns into a clear melody on stopped strings. |
| 6:30 | Ninth part | |
| 7:08 | Coda | Short coda. The timbre gets brighter again with the melody appearing in harmonics |
Since the Tang dynasty, music for qin has been written down in jianzipu-abbreviated-character notation. Like Chinese classical writing, jianzipu is structured in columns (Fig. 14). Each column consists of a series of symbols largely derived from Chinese characters, that instruct the player which string to pluck and how, where to stop the string and the technique to employ, and what ornamentation to add, if any (Stock 2017: 422). Some scholars argue that qin notation 'lacks' indication of rhythmic duration compared with Western staff notation.In fact, rhythmic durations are important in qin music, but they are deliberately left unfixed in writing.
After learning from a senior musician and studying the literature about the piece, the learner starts to generate their own realization of a composition. Jianzipu helps them remember which techniques to use while playing but leaves them space to shape their own rhythmic interpretation.
A century ago, there were very few qin players. Most students chose the zheng, which sounds comparatively louder and is more suited to public-performance. The restrained, sensitive, reflective sound of qin, and its literary background, didn't seem to fit Chinese people's mood or emotional demands. Yet qin players can still be found in China, especially among the well-educated classes. Kuang Rongping, one such figure (Figure 15), started learning the zheng, but later felt more affinity towards the qin. As a professor of agriculture and an administrator in the governmental sector, the qin helps Kuang relax and fill up his off-work time. When talking about his special interest in the qin, Kuang mentions the instrument's close connection with Chinese cultural psychology which he hears in its timbre and sound (personal communication, 2018).
Chinese historical sources treat music as just one component of a unified art of performance.
