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,"Li Ji: Quli, second half . 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 Zhang Yushu et al. Kangxi Zidian . Folio 28. 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 was later added for clarification. Thus, the instrument is called today. It can also be called . 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.John Thompson on the Guqin Silk String Zither (2005) Qin: Lute or Zither? (http://www.silkqin.com/11misc/lute.htm, 29 July 2006)
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,Yin, Wei. Zhongguo Qinshi Yanyi . Pages 1-10. 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" (Liu Shui, as performed by Guan Pinghu, one of the best qin players of the 20th century) 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.United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2004) The Art of Guqin Music (http://www.unesco.org/culture/intangible-heritage/masterpiece.php?id=65&lg=en, 29 July 2006)
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
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 , 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 individuals through the ages have played the guqin, both occupationally and avocationally; however, it is often associated with literati or gentlemen in particular. Certain melodies are also associated with famous gentlemen like Confucius, Qu Yuan, Ouyang Xiu, and Su Shi, or with poems from the Classic of Poetry (shijing 詩經). 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 Yang, Xin et al. (1997). Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting. Page 122.
Historical Confucius: philosopher, 551–479 BCE, associated with the pieces and Bo Ya: Qin player of the Spring and Autumn period, associated with the pieces and Zhuang Zi: Daoist philosopher of the Warring States period, associated with the pieces and Qu Yuan (340–278 BCE): Poet of the Warring States period, associated with the piece Cai Yong: Han musician, traditionally attributed author of Cai Wenji: Cai Yong's daughter, associated with the piece etc. Sima Xiangru: Han poet, 179–117 BCE. Zhuge Liang (181–234): 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 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 in his palace. Guo Chuwang: Patriot at the end of the Song dynasty, composer of the piece
The classical collections such as Qin Shi, Qinshi Bu and Qinshi Xu include biographies of hundreds more players.Zhou, Zi'an. Wuzhi Zhai Qinpu . Volume 1, folio 1, leaf <gold> 18–28.
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 (not necessarily Chinese) 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 , 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 or overtone harmonics (the equivalent technique in Western music is the string harmonic or flageolet). Important scale notes, called , 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" (perfectly harmonic) overtones can only be evoked by tapping the strings precisely at these hui. The third type is , is a dated variant of which is sometimes also called or . 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. 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.Guo, Ping. Guqin Congtan . Page 112. 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.Zhang, He. Qinxue Rumen . Volume 1, leaves 39, 40, 43 and 47.
Tablature and notation
Written qin music did not directly tell what notes were played; instead, it was written in a tablature detailing tuning, finger positions, and stroke technique, thus comprising a step by step method and description of how to play a piece. Some tablatures do indicate notes using the gongche system, or indicate rhythm using dots. The earliest example of the modern shorthand tablature survives from around the twelfth century CE. An earlier form of music notation from the Tang era survives in just one manuscript, dated to the seventh century CE, called . It is written in a longhand form called , said to have been created by Yong Menzhou () during the Warring States period, which gives all the details using ordinary written Chinese characters. Later in the Tang dynasty, Cao Rou () and others simplified the notation, using only the important elements of the characters (like string number, plucking technique, hui number and which finger to stop the string) and combined them into one character notation. This meant that instead of having two lines of written text to describe a few notes, a single character could represent one note, or sometimes as many as nine. This notation form was called and it was a major advance in qin notation. It was so successful that from the Ming dynasty onwards, a great many appeared, the most famous and useful being "Shenqi Mipu" (The Mysterious and Marvellous Tablature) compiled by Zhu Quan, the 17th son of the founder of the Ming dynasty.Zhu, Quan. Shenqi Mipu . In the 1960s, Zha Fuxi discovered more than 130 qinpu that contain well over 3360 pieces of written music. However, many qinpu compiled before the Ming dynasty are now lost, and many pieces have remained unplayed for hundreds of years.Zha, Fuxi. Cunjian Guqin Qupu Jilan . Pages 3-44.
Repertoire