Prologue
Quiet frankly, Guzheng is believed to be one of the easiest instruments to learn. With a little patience, self-confidence and positive attitude, learning the basic guzheng skills can be as easy as Step 1 – 2 – 3.
In the past decade, more and more people have come to appreciate the soothing sound of a guzheng and also agreed that it has profound therapeutic effects. It relaxes the players as well as their audiences.
It is particularly rewarding for me to be able to share my culture and my passion in Guzheng with you.
Guzheng is one of the most ancient Chinese musical instruments that have been recorded in written documents. Evidence has shown that Guzheng dates back over 3000 years even before the Qin Dynasty (897-221 BC).
Some traditional guzhengs have 13 to 16 strings, 21 to 25 strings is now considered the standard. Guzhengs are built with a special wooden sound body with strings arched across movable bridges. It is traditionally tuned to a pentatonic scale, many modern scales range from combinations of different pentatonic scales, to diatonic and semi-chromatic scales. The performer wears plectrum on three fingers of the right hand to pluck the strings, with the left hand manipulates the strings on the left side of the bridge to produce vibrato, pitch alterations or slides. In contemporary practice, the left hand often joins the right hand to play a counter-melody.
Guzheng has played an important part of Chinese history as both a court and folk instrument, and many centuries old stylistic schools of playing the guzheng are still in existence today. Guzheng is considered to be the most dynamic solo instrument in Chinese traditional music.