Guqin

Guqin is an amazing music instrument. In ancient times, guqin was used as a means to communicate with deities. Eventually, guqin has been used in rituals.

Ritual does not necessary mean connecting with religions but rather guqin is used for other purposes such as a form of entertainment for small group of audience for relaxation, guqin courses, promote the general well-being and the like. Initially, guqin is closely associated with Taoism. Taoism promotes the interaction between human and Gods/deities. I am not sure how these are linked, but I am very sure someday I will have the chance to discover it.

I love guqin so much is because I learned lots of interesting facts, histories, and music pieces from various dynasties. In other words, from the history itself, the guqin songs would vary from one dynasty to another in terms of the melody and emotions of the songs.

I look forward to practising "春曉吟" (Spring Dawn Intonation) and to me, this particular song has not much prominent melody and it is quite challenging for me to memorise the song. I think I have to listen frequently to capture the essence of the song. The beauty of it lies in its harmonics section. To make your day, I had a guest to join me for tonight's practice. Her name is Sun Shang Xiang. Just in case you have no idea who she is, her name is actually from the Three Kingdoms Period where her brother is Sun Quan. The photo shown was actually the robot kits that I bought ten years ago during my college days! I thought it would be a great addition to take a photo showing her playing the guqin. I hope you like it! 

ALSH