Course:PHYS341/2018/project/

The Guqin Instrument

Introduction

The guqin is an ancient Chinese instrument, which is belonging to the zither family. It is often called “guqin” by Chinese people; the prefix “gu” gives its literal meaning as “ancient”, indicating its great antiquity. The year the guqin was first created is hard to confirm, however, evidence found in ancient literature proves that it has probably existed for more than three thousand years, and this instrument became a lifestyle of many literati.

The structure of a guqin

The first impression of the appearance of the guqin is that the instrument looks simple, that only seven strings are neatly attached to the body. However, its physical construct is much complex than anyone would expect. According to Nathanson, the basic construction of the guqin has not been widely changed since the Shang period. The size of modern day guqins is typically 120 cm long in length, 20 cm in width, and approximately 5cm in depth. The thickness of each piece of wood is at least 1 cm, and the weight of the guqin is about 2 kg to 3 kg depending on which kind of trees is adopted.

The body of the guqin is actually combined by two pieces of wood. The designer particularly chooses Wutong Mu (paulownia) for the top layer because first of all, the Chinese people have always regarded the paulownia as a symbol of good fortune and secondly, its softness can hold sound the time there is no deterioration with the strings pressure, as being constant whenever the surface is pressed. For the bottom layer, Zi Mu (Chinese Catalpa) is the kind used and it is harder compared to Wutong and finally, the interior is a bit roundly shaped and mirror the top layer. Lacquering comes the next, which usually takes 5 steps to do so; applying the first lacquer followed by four coatings of clear lacquer. Apparently, the design of the guqin is considered thoughtfully, it therefoe enables the experience of unique stylishness of playing and sound.

Fig. 1 and 2 are labeled parts of a guqin. The names are unique; waist, shoulder, and forehead for example, as it was originally designed to resemble human figures. The white inlays on the surface are the Hui, counting from right to left. They are divided into thirteen by ratios thus to gain clear harmonic sounds.

Fig. 1. The front of a guqin with labels (own work).

In records, guqin makers from the beginning in ancient times to the Cultural Revolution usually applied silk strings to the instrument. On the contrary, metal strings are commonly used nowadays due to the reason that they provide louder sound, thus it is considered a better choice for one’s performance. Nonetheless, most guqin players prefer silk strings because of their strong rich overtones. The thickness of the seven strings are different; the 1st string is the thickest and strings, from far to near, gradually decrease with thickness.

The bottom of the guqin has two sound holes. The longer one, which is near the center, is called Dragon Pool, and the smaller hole located on the left side is known as Phoenix Pond. Through the sound holes, one can see the wood from the upper board. Each guqin would be given a name by the creator, thus every single guqin is exclusive; the one in the picture is named as Qiu Lai, meaning the sound of autumn.

Fig.2. The back of a guqin with labels (own work).

Fig. 3 presents an interior view of the guqin. As explained earlier, the guqin consists of two separate wood piece, which would leave a hollow space inside creating the soundbox. String instruments often have soundpost, so does the guqin. The guqin in Fig. 3 has two soundposts, they are Pillar of Heaven, a circular shape near the bridge, and Pillar of Earth, a square shape on the right side of Feet Pool. To note, soundpost is not a must for guqins, most of them created in the modern era do not have any soundpost within the body. However, it is not the case for Nayin; two Nayin (sound absorbers) are located in the Pool and Dragon, as designed to keep the sound resonating and reinforcing the fundamental of note for as long as possible.

[[File:Guqin interior.jpg|thumb|Fig. 3. Inside of a guqin with labels.]]

Fig. 3. Inside of a guqin with labels.

Tuning techniques of a guqin

Before playing the guqin, each string is needed to be tuned to the right frequency by carefully tightening or loosening the tuning pegs. The string fundamentals for guqins are all below 200 Hz; 147 Hz is the highest fundamental note for open tuning technique, therefore guqins often produce low but rich tones.

As indicated in Abiding with Antiquity, the 1st through 7th strings are usually tuned to F scale by modern players: C₂ D₂ F₂ G₂ A₂ C₃ D₃, as in absolute term. However, the normal tuning in relative terms, or players are used to sing, is sol la do re mi sol la (5 6 1 2 3 5 6), which confuses western instrument players who often sing the same notes as they hear. The pitch range for seven open strings is from 65 Hz to 147 Hz, as recorded in Fig. 4.

[[File:7 strings.png|thumb|Fig. 4. The spectrum of the seven strings and frequencies (own work).]]

Fig. 4. The spectrum of seven strings and frequencies (own work).

According to Nathanson, standard tuning is not the F scale, they are B C^＃ E F^＃ G^＃ B C^＃ instead. He also claims that other tunings only differ slightly from the standard, and thus providing a subtly different feel to their tunes. Importantly, no matter which scale is chosen for tuning, the 1st and 6th strings always share the same note as the 2nd and 7th strings, but 6th and 7th are one octave higher.

There are three ways to tune the guqin: pressing strings, harmonics, and open strings. For beginners, the tuning chart is provided as in Fig.5. For those who have absolute pitch, open strings technique is the easiest by just plunking all the strings to see if they match the scale notes. The pressing and harmonics tunings require memorizing some rules, for instance, the note at 7th hui of the 7th string should match the tone at 9th hui on the 4th string. By looking at the tuning chart, the note is A (6; la).

The chart is complex thus it is crucial for one to be familiar with the Hui. The Hui is designed to mark the harmonic nodes of the guqin and indicate the positions of the first to the fifth and the seventh overtone. Professionals press strings exactly on the hui so the most distinguished sounds would be radiated.

[[File:Guqin tunning chart.gif|thumb|Fig. 5. A typical F-scale tuning chart for guqin players. Translated by own.]]

Fig. 5. A typical F-scale tuning chart for guqin players. Translated by own.

Fingering techniques

The guqin player is normally sitting on a chair and placing the instrument on the table. Only the Goose Feet of the guqin stand on the table, neither the tuning pegs nor the peg protectors do; they should hang over the edge, as shown in Fig. 6.

[[File:Guqin position.jpg|thumb|Fig. 6. Playing position.]]

Fig. 6. Playing position.

The guqin is played by plucking the strings with the right hand between the first mark and the bridge. For the left hand, fingers are set to press the strings appropriately against the guqin ’s top plate.

There are various fingering techniques and each provides distinct timbres. For instance, when the left hand touches against the string and lift while the right finger plunks the same string, the sound is soft and a bit faint; it is usually called Fan Yin (floating sounds). Professor Waltham and I adopted this specific technique on the C₂ string and recorded its sounds. Fig. 7 shows only the ones in the red circle were produced floating sounds successfully.

[[File:Fanyin.png|thumb|Fig. 7. A specific fingering technique and sound wavelengths (own work).]]

Fig. 7. A specific fingering technique and its sound (own work).

It may seem unbelievable to all, there are actually more than a thousand fingering techniques invented for guqin players to practice. Therefore, guqin performers could easily evoke various emotions just by using different techniques.