Guqin Playing Now: Re-inventing the Past as a Creative Way of Sustaining an Instrumental Practice

Abstract

Guqin (古琴) music, a cultural practice of the Classical Chinese literati which survived and had seen a surge of interest globally in the early 21st century, can be understood as an interactive whole consisting of the instrument and the performer. The musical interface, its music notation focuses heavily on the instrumental spatial-motor relationship with the performer, with sound as product of this psychosomatic interaction. This paper will examine the various layers of this interaction between: a) notation and movement and sound; b) topography of instrument body and physicality of performers’ hand on it; c) physicality and psychology of performance, leading to questions of musicality, authenticity in expression, and intentions or functions of guqin music. By comparing particular works (such as 山居吟 and 潇湘水云) across score collections from different periods (such as 神奇秘谱 1425, 大还阁琴谱 1673, 五知斋琴谱1722), and highlighting certain peculiar fingering position and combinations in earlier music against recent transcriptions of popular music, I will raise questions on possible musical purposes and expressions in relation to the proposed performer-instrument interaction perspective, so as to further understand the evolving nature of this music making over time. This creative interaction in sonic terms as sound and as music, performance practice and musical expression as culture and aesthetics, are some aspects of what I wish to present on an ongoing reinvention of guqin as instrument and music.