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Zhang Mengdan plays guqin last May in Beijing. Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Mengdan
Mastering the instrument of the sages changed the life of one graduate who is looking forward to the highlight of her young career - a performance at the Great Hall of the People.
Zhang Mengdan, will play a stringed-instrument player in Cosmos (Shifang), a theatrical performance about the four seasons and the origins of the world, in Beijing on June 10-11.
The 23-year-old Zhang is a member of the Beijing Dance LDTX, a modern dance league. She has performed Cosmos over 100 times since graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Beijing last year, with a major in guqin.
Confucius would approve
Learning the guqin, a seven-stringed plucked instrument from the zither family, was regarded as a must for any well-educated Chinese seeking to develop their cultural sensitivity as long as 3,000 years ago.
But when her parents encouraged Zhang to learn the guqin at the age of eight, they were simply hoping it would help change her behaviour.
"At that time, I was a very naughty girl. My parents wished I would become quieter through playing it, " Zhang said.
After 10 years' of practicing, Zhang was admitted in 2005 to CCM, the first university in China to offer a major in guqin since the 1950s.
Alongside her main study, Zhang learned basic knowledge including music theory, sight singing and chorus.
Playing guqin did change her character gradually.
"I'm not as blundering as I was. I've become more sedate and mature. It's also enriched my knowledge and cultural awareness," she said.
Dexterity required
The current standard guqin music score, or jianzipu, was invented by Cao Rou, a master of the instrument from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Jianzipu guides the position of the fingers and the tasks for the right and left hands.
It looks like the radicals of Chinese characters, and to many people, probably looks like double Dutch.
"Many friends often ask me whether the scores are carapace-bone-scripts. Just explaining it has taken up so much of my time," she said.
The sound of the guqin is slow, and so it suits a solo rather than an instrumental ensemble.
But for a guqin player, there are few chances to perform a solo.
"For a time, I envied students who played other instruments as they had more chances to participate in concerts. Their music sounds cheerful, but the sound of the guqin is always depressing and sad," she said.
Her thinking changed one day after a Western musician made a comment to her.
The musician listening to her playing told her the sound was like something coming from another universe and that other Chinese instruments sounded too noisy.
"His words gave me another perspective. Throughout history, the guqin is used to entertain the player himself, rather than others."
Cash bonuses
Having a rare musical talent like this can also pay, and even bring unexpected opportunities.
During college, she was invited to perform at art exhibitions and teahouses, receiving 500 to 600 yuan ($73-88) each time.
In June 2007, she performed in a news conference in Beijing for the Shanghai 12th Special Olympics World Games and was paid 2,000 yuan.
Almost every guqin student works as a tutor. The payment is 120-150 yuan per hour, according to Liu Xiaofan, 21, a guqin junior at CCM.
Both Zhang and Liu are part-time teachers at the Zhao Jiazhen Guqin Center, founded last June by their teacher at CCM, Zhao Jiazhen.
Sometimes, there are also chances to work with famous film stars.
In the summer of 2007, Liu stood in for actor Tony Leung (Leung Chiu Wai), who played Zhou Yu in the film Red Cliff (Chibi), a film about the battle in Hubei Province during the Three Kingdoms period (220- 280).
In one scene from the film, Zhou Yu played the guqin with Zhuge Liang. Liu performed the finger strokes, while his teacher Zhao produced the sound.
The film's director John Woo (Ng Yu-Sum) asked Liu to teach Leung guqin in his spare time.
"It's a happy memory. Leung was very keen to learn," Liu said. He received 10,000 yuan for his effort.
A passion to play
For Zhang, playing adjusts her moods, especially when she is tired or anxious.
"Playing guqin is like talking with a close friend. My distracting thoughts fade and any bad mood will disappear gradually," she said.
If she ever neglects her "friend", she feels guilty.
Last winter after an evening performance, Zhang left her guqin in the trunk of her car overnight.
"Next day when I took it out, I found it was as cold as ice. Suddenly I felt heartbroken," she said.
She says she is surprised by her students' love of playing guqin.
Many have downloaded the music of the instrument as their mobile phone ringtone, and keep pictures of themselves playing it.
"To them, guqin is a holy thing to worship," Zhang said. "Their passion to guqin gives me confidence to be a full-time guqin teacher in the future. "
Such passion could spread. Across the country, the number of guqin players is rapidly increasing. In the 1970s, there were no more than 200. Now, the number is near to 500,000, according to Zhao.
"Some graduates run their own guqin training centers, and some work as teachers in musical schools and players in bands," Zhao said. |
