Guqin, also known as lyre, Qin Yu and lyre, is one of the oldest plucked instruments in China. Guqin has been popular since Confucius' time and has a history of at least 3000 years. At the beginning of this century, it was called "Guqin". The creators of Qin include Fuxi Playing the Piano, Shennong Playing the Piano, Shun Playing the Banjo and Singing the South Wind, etc. As a legend, you may not believe it, but you can see that Qin has a long history in China. "My Fair Lady, Friends of Rabbit and Rabbit" is recorded in The Book of Songs Guanluo, and "Rabbit and Rabbit beat drums to rule Tianzu" is also recorded in The Book of Songs Xiaoya.
Guqin structure
Guqin is a flat and long speaker, with a length of about 130 cm, a width of about 20 cm and a thickness of about 5 cm. The panel, also known as the piano face, is a long wooden board with an arched surface. The head of the piano has chord holes, the tail of the piano is oval, and there are crescent-shaped or square-folded people on both sides of the neck and waist. The bottom plate, also known as the piano bottom, has the same shape as the panel, but it is not arched. The belly of the piano is dug in the lower half of the whole piece of wood. There are two sound holes in the bottom plate, called Longchi and Fengman respectively. There are two foot holes near the waist in the middle, and two feet are installed on them to praise the feet. The piano face and the bottom plate are bonded to form the piano body, and the tongue-shaped wooden board is attached to the inside of the piano head to form a space separated from the belly of the piano, which is called the tongue hole. There is a sound beam on the back of the panel, also called Shi Xiang. There are two pillars in the belly of the piano, called Tianzhu and Judy. Chords, also called Qin Zhen, are mostly round or melon-shaped, hollow (for threading), and the strings are tied with velvet ropes and tied around the harp. The strings are wrapped in silk. Yueshan is embedded in the head of the panel and also has a chord hole. There are four feet on the floor. The first two feet are called palms and the last two feet are called tail stickers, which play the role of flattening the body. 13 signs made of mother-of-pearl or jade are embedded in the panel to mark phonemes.
Guqin modeling
Guqin has beautiful shapes, including Fuxi style, Zhong Ni style, Julian style, sunset style, brainwave style, banana leaf style, Shennong style and so on. Mainly according to the different neck and waist shapes of the piano body. Lacquer has broken lines, which is the symbol of the ancient piano. Due to the vibration of long-term performance and the difference of wood and paint base, various broken lines can be formed, such as plum blossom break, cow hair break, snake belly break, ice breaking, turtle pattern and so on. A broken piano is more valuable because of its clear sound and beautiful appearance. The ancient famous pianos include Luqi, Jiaowei, Chunlei, pure and pure, the legacy of the Great Sage, and Pei Huan of Xiao Jiu.
Guqin evolution
Qin Tang, especially the Guzheng in the Tang Dynasty, is plump and round in appearance. In most existing Qin Tang, two pieces of paulownia wood are often stuck on Longchi and plump panels, which are used as counterfeit banknotes. Until the early Ming dynasty, there were still piano makers using this method. Qin Tang's broken sentences are mostly snake belly broken, as well as ice broken and running water broken. Its surface paint ash has two colors: ink and chestnut shell, and cinnabar paint was added when future generations repaired it. The grey tire is pure antler ash, and both sides of the back of the piano are wrapped with linen from bottom to top until the edge of the panel to prevent the upper and lower plates from opening glue. The sides of these pianos are all between 120 and 125 cm.
Guqinbian in Song Dynasty, with a total length of1.28cm and a shoulder width of 25cm. Its body is flat and big, and its size is larger than that handed down by Qin Tang, which is one of the main styles in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, besides the antique works, the shape gradually became flat and narrow, especially the Zhong Ni-style guqin, which was the main style of making the piano in the Southern Song Dynasty. The main material for making the piano in Song Dynasty is the bottom of tung-faced catalpa or pine-faced bottom. Broken lines include snake belly, ice lines, running water and little cow hair. The gray tires are mainly antler ash, and some people use flax as the base, but rarely. Babel ash was also used in the late Northern Song Dynasty (that is, gold, silver, pearls and emerald corals were crushed and mixed with antler ash). The Song Dynasty is an important stage in the history of piano-making after the Tang Dynasty. The government even set up a special bureau to make piano, which is called "official piano".
Qin-making in Yuan Dynasty was the product of the transition period of Song and Ming Dynasties. Because of the short duration, there are few existing objects. In the Ming Dynasty, the number of pianos was unprecedented. Whether it is the prince of the emperor or the family of officials, there are many people who are good at piano. There are four famous piano makers in the imperial clan: Wang Ning, Hengwang, wangyi and Lu Wang. Among the four kings, Qin was the most famous, which began in Chongzhen. It is reported that there are as many as four or five hundred pieces with the same style and size, all of which are numbered in chronological order and engraved on the abdomen; The name "Zhonghe" is engraved on the back of the piano, and Jing Yi's poem "The Water of the Yangtze River" and the seal of "Lu Chuan" are all painted with eight treasures.
Playing method
When playing, put the piano on the table, pluck the strings with your right hand, press the strings with your left hand and pick up the sound. Guqin has a range of four octaves and two tones. There are 7 scattered tones, 9 1 overtone and 147 technical tones. There are many ways to play, such as supporting, breaking, rubbing, picking, hooking, picking, hitting, picking, turning, poking, pinching, rolling and so on. There are songs, songs, notes, bumps, forward, backward, rising and so on in the left hand.
Qinpai
Since the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, with the development of Guqin performance art, due to the differences in performance style, inheritance and recorded music, many Qin schools have been formed, each with outstanding musicians and music. The famous Qin schools are Zhejiang School, Yushan School and Guangling School. There are Pucheng School, Panchuan School, September 1st School, Zhucheng School and Lingnan School in modern times.
Ancient Qin-making Masters and Their Style Characteristics
There were many piano master in the Tang Dynasty. In addition to the Lei family (,,,Lei Jue, Lei), other famous masters are recorded in the literature: Zhang Yue, Guo Gao and. Unfortunately, except for Lei's piano, no works have been handed down. There were many famous musicians in the Song Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were Zhu, Ma Xiliang, Ma Xiren and Monk Renzhi; in the Southern Song Dynasty, there were Jinzhou, Jin Highway and Chen Hengdao; at the end, there were Yan Zun, Ma Dafu and Mei Siyan. In Song Dynasty, few people carved the year of the piano, and many imitated the Tang Dynasty. The famous piano players in Yuan Dynasty are Yan, Shi and Shi Gu Yun, among which the most famous is Yan. There are many imitations of Zhu Qin, some of which are engraved with "Zhu Zhiyuan" or "Zhu Zhiyuan". I hope collectors will pay attention. There were also many piano master in the Ming Dynasty, such as Tu and Yuan, the most famous of which were Zhang's Respecting Teachers and Paying Attention to Taoism and Shun Xiu. Zhang Dai's Dream of Taoan refers to Zhang Zhiqin as one of Wuzhong's stunts, "being invincible for a hundred years".
Broken grain
Refers to all kinds of broken marks left on the surface of the piano due to the weathering and vibration of the years during the performance. There are many kinds of broken wires, mainly plum blossom, ox hair, snake belly, ice, running water and Longlin. Generally speaking, a piano is not broken for a hundred years, and the broken line varies with the age, which is one of the main bases for collecting guqin.
Essentials of guqin collection
It is very important to identify guqin that the broken lines of guqin will not appear after a hundred years. False broken wires have existed since ancient times, and there are many methods, such as baking with strong fire and then exciting with ice and snow to make them crack; Or paint with protein infiltrated into the ash, steam it after making it, and then air dry it; Or bake with gypsum on the ash bottom. In fact, careful observation shows that the authenticity of the disconnection is still very different. The real broken line is smooth, the end of the line disappears naturally, and the peaks are like swords. However, after the process of cold and hot catalysis or knife engraving, the false broken line is inevitably unnatural and flawed. The inscription of guqin is also an important basis for identifying the authenticity of guqin. The back of the piano is engraved, while the belly of the piano has two kinds of engraving and writing, which is easy for the knife engraver to preserve, but it is difficult to identify when the ink is written for a long time. The carvings on the abdomen of guqin, such as the adhesion of the upper and lower plates on both sides of the body, are mostly original. If there are traces of reconstruction, it needs to be carefully studied. The most difficult to identify are those who cut open the old piano and carved it with fake money, and those who carved it with fake money when using the ancient wooden piano. Regardless of the back, senior appraisers can also identify it from the customary titles, taboo words of emperors in previous dynasties, and the calligraphy style of a dynasty or a calligrapher. Collectors whose main purpose is playing will definitely regard the timbre of the piano as one of the main standards. When we listen to the sound of an guqin, we know that it is a good guqin with rich and bright timbre, even timbre, bright overtone and response. Some guqin is broken, but playing by the sound will have a "stop", which will affect listening. At this time, we should weigh the gains and losses carefully and don't give up easily. The collection of guqin is generally hung on the dry wall, which should not be laid flat for a long time; If it is laid flat for a long time, it is easy to cause "collapse". Guqin, as a musical instrument, should be played frequently, otherwise it will make the timbre black and astringent, and it will also be eaten by insects.
Guqin mingqu
Three Lane of Plum Blossom, Ping Sha Yan, Guangling San, Xiaoxiang Yunshui, Yu Qiao Q&A, Dressing, Running Water, Drunken, etc.
guzheng
The Crystallization of National Music —— Guzheng