Chinese Calligraphy post#1

Chinese calligraphy is closely related to Guqin, as it is part of the 4 arts (琴，棋，书，画 ) that ancient Chinese literati must learn.  

Calligraphy class (3rd semester) started last night in NAFA (Singapore's Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts). This is what I wrote last night with this fabulous full weasel hair brush (not wolf hair, as commonly mis-translated).

I bought this brush from Singapore's Vivocity shopping mall when the China manufacturer (Hu Yang) was here for exhibition during Chinese New Year. It is very difficult to find pure weasel hair brushes in Singapore's calligraphy shops. This brush is like the Mont Blanc of the Chinese Calligraphy world, but at a fraction of the price of a Mont Blanc. hahaha. This calligraphy brush costs me SGD110 (about USD86). The manufacturer told me the weasel hair was from Russia, as wild animals are getting fewer and fewer in China.

This is what I wrote last semester in NAFA in May 2012 after 5 months (20 lessons).

My 3 year old daughter Caryn on silk strings guqin

My 3 year old daughter on silk strings Guqin. She took over my guqin after my daily practice. I guess she may grow up to be the next generation of silk strings Guqin player, simply because there is no metal strings Guqin at home. hahaha. LOL

Video 10 梅梢月 MeiShaoYue p1-2 practice 5

10th video - autoethonography of guqin home practice to capture my lived experience and my lifeworld. helps me to reflect, and spot all my horrible mistakes.


[NOTE: Please use ear phones to listen to the sounds of this video recording if you really wish to hear what silk strings on Guqin really sound like. Most puny speakers on notebook computers are unable to play the low bass sounds of the Guqin. Thank you.]


I am just a beginner with 14 weeks of experience of playing the Guqin so far. This is my feeble attempt at learning to play pages 1 and 2 (out of 8 pages) of Mei Shao Yue 梅梢月. Click here to see and hear a really good exemplar when it is correctly played by a real Guqin Master with many years of experience.

Video 9 Just noodling around on Silk Strings Guqin

[NOTE: Please use ear phones to listen to the sounds of this video recording if you really wish to hear what silk strings on Guqin really sound like. Most puny speakers on notebook computers are unable to play the low bass sounds of the Guqin. Thank you.]

No particular tune. Just noodling around on my silk strings Guqin. Yes, many Guqin tunes tend to sound alike, because most of the Guqin songs are constructed from similar sounding riffs.

This is not a musical performance. It's just a video record of my lived experiences of enjoyment playing on my silk strings Guqin, and not hearing any metallic sounds at all. Aural fatigue sets in quickly for players who use metal strings on Guqin because the metallic "twang" noises sound very jarring after a while. That's probably why some metal strings Guqin learners quit the Guqin and wish to sell their Guqin away. They should probably first try changing their metal strings on their Guqin to silk strings.

If you want to find out how to buy Guqin silk strings from China and have them air-mailed to your location wherever you are in the world, click here to read my earlier post.

Video 8 梅梢月 MeiShaoYue pages 1-2 Practice #4

This is a video recording of my lived experiences of playing silk strings guqin. Despite the distracting background noises (laser printer) and my younger daughter interrupting my playing, I still try to continue.

I am just a beginner with 14 weeks of experience of playing the Guqin so far. This is my feeble attempt at learning to play pages 1 and 2 (out of 8 pages) of Mei Shao Yue 梅梢月. Click here to see and hear what it should sound like when it is correctly played by a real Master.

Headcam used: GoPro Hero 2, set to 1080p PAL. 5MP narrow. Medium wideness.

My daughter Cathleen on Guqin (17 June 2012)

I was practicing on my Guqin in the evening when my daughters came into the room and wanted to take turns to play on the Guqin. I didn't ask them if they want to play the Guqin. When they are older, I won't force them to play the Guqin. But if they do want to learn how to play, I'd impart to them what I have learned from my Guqin teacher, Master John Thompson. It's very difficult to find Guqin teachers in Singapore, especially a Guqin teacher who can teach using English.

My daughters with Guqin (June 2012)

Part of my lived experiences of playing silk strings Guqin is: sometimes my daughters (3 and 6 years old, circa June 2012) would also ask to touch and play whatever they want on the Guqin.

I'd impart whatever my Guqin teacher taught me to my daughters when they are older, and can read more Chinese characters.

Singapore Esplanade event: Introduction to Guqin by John Thompson

My Guqin teacher, Master John Thompson, would be giving a public talk in Singapore's Esplanade Theaters on the Bay.

Details here: (click here to access Esplanade's webpage with the event details)

DATE: 29 SEP 2012, SAT

TIME: 2pm

VENUE: Bay Room

PRICE: $15

Tickets on sale at SISTIC from 13 July 2012

Video 7 梅梢月 MeiShaoYue pages 1 and 2 (practise #3)

I am just a beginner with 14 weeks of experience of playing the Guqin so far. This is my feeble attempt at learning to play pages 1 and 2 (out of 8 pages) of Mei Shao Yue 梅梢月. Click here to see and hear what it should sound like when it is correctly played by a real Master.

My regular traditional Chinese clothing (with frog buttons) has been sent to the tailor in Singapore's Chinatown, Golden Scissor (yes, there is no 's' at the end) for cloning, so I just have to make do with my Yukata 浴衣. To get a glimpse of what Chinese clothing could be like during China's Han Dynasty, ironically or fortunately (depending on your personal perspectives), one can look to Japan, which was considerably influenced by Han Dynasty culture.

This video is not a musical performance. It serves to help me to recall my lived experiences of playing Guqin and feeling the sensation of silk strings under my fingers, my mental images evoked etc. It also helps me to ponder about the Warring States concept of Wu-wei 無為 as elucidated by Edward Slingerland.

7th string of new set of Guqin silk strings snapped in the hard case

Yesterday, I kept the Guqin overnight in its hard case with the silk strings all tuned to pitch (with the thickest 1st string tuned to B-flat). As you can see, the middle 4th string, and the 7th string on the right were stretched beyond the Guqin's bridge (Yue Shan).

When I opened the Guqin hard case today, the 7th string has already snapped. This is my 2nd time dealing with a broken 7th string. (You can read about my 1st experience dealing with a broken 7th string if you click here.) 

I took this opportunity to re-mount all the 7 Guqin silk strings.

After all the 7 guqin silk strings were re-mounted, they looked like this. Nice and tidy.

After the Guqin silk strings were tuned to pitch (with the thickest 1st string tuned to B-flat), the thinnest 7th silk string went slightly to the end of the bridge (Yue Shan).

After playing the Guqin, and doing many vibratos on the rough silk strings, this happened to my left hand fourth finger. But it's not painful at all. I guess part of "self-cultivation" using the Guqin is to develop thicker skin!!! Hahaha. LOL!!

Before putting the Guqin back into its soft bag and hard case for the night, I loosened all the silk strings, so that they would not be over-stretched. Good night, Guqin. See you tomorrow.

Dry Box for Guqin Silk Strings

I bought a small dry box to keep my Guqin silk strings. The humidity in Singapore is very high at around 80 percent. This is supposedly not good for silk strings (or any kind of musical instrument strings; whether metal or silk).

Picture of 4 packets of silk strings and 3 packets of desiccant. 

The 4 packets of Guqin silk strings are wrapped in a plastic bag with 2 packets of desiccant.

There is still lots of room in the dry box.

So I put my other packets of 7-string sets into the dry box. Ernie Ball Super Slinky for my other favorite 7 string musical instrument: Dean 7-string Razorback.

East meets West: all my Guqin 7-string sets, and my Ernie Ball 7-string sets being kept nice, snug and comfy inside the Dry Box.

I also put the old Guqin strings (虎丘 Hu Qiu light gauge) into the Dry Box, since they may come in handy again one day. The humidity level inside the Dry Box is only around 40 percent. Very nice for Guqin silk strings.

Mounting new set of Guqin silk strings

One of the packages (out of 5 purchased online) was opened. I am going to gift 2 of the packets of silk strings to my Guqin teacher, Master John Thompson, as a small token of my appreciation for teaching me how to play Guqin.

The sealed package was opened. The Guqin silk strings were tied into 3 separate bundles. From left: the bundle with the 1st (thickest) to 4th strings, the bundle (in the middle) with the 5th to 7th string (7th is the thinnest). The third bundle on the right is the spare 7th string.

After cutting the red ties of one of the bundles, I observed that the silk strings are still tied together by another red string. According to the instructions that came with the silk strings package, this is the end for tying into dragonfly knots. There is no label indicating which string is which. I had to compare the sizes of the strings myself to figure everything out.

This picture shows what all 7 guqin silk strings look like after the dragonfly knots have been tied. It's easy to tie the dragonfly knots on the thinner silk strings, but it's quite difficult to tie the dragonfly knots on the thicker silk strings. I used a pair of rounded pliers to shape the dragonfly knots on the thicker silk strings.

The end of each guqin silk string has been colored red by the manufacturer Master Pan Guo Hui to indicate that this is the end for tying into dragonfly knot. I really got lots of practice in tying dragonfly knots this time round. (Click here if you wanna read about my very first experience in trying to tie a dragonfly knot.)

The wild goose foot on my JunTianFang guqin has been pasted with some wrapped rougher white thread-like material to make it easier for the guqin strings to cling onto it.

Positioning the guqin in a vertically before mounting the new set of silk strings onto it.

Taking a short much needed break after exhausting all my energy pulling and mounting 4 of the 7 silk strings onto the Guqin.

After all the new silk strings have been mounted on the guqin, they are tuned to pitch (with the thickest 1st string tuned to B-flat), they are left to stretch overnight in its hard case. As you can see in this picture, 2 of the strings (no. 4 and no. 7) dragonfly knots have been tightened by me so much that their dragonfly knots have been moved far beyond the bridge (Yue Shan). I'd fix that the next time I remove and remount the silk strings, perhaps tomorrow.

Guqin Silk Strings bought via www.SGshop.com.sg arrived in Singapore

Here is the evidence! Now it is absolutely possible to purchase Guqin silk strings from Taobao from outside China via your favorite Taobao agent, and have them shipped to your location. No more excuses for not using silk strings on your Guqin anymore! 

Here's a picture of the Guqin silk strings with a Singapore newspaper (date: 8 June 2012)

Here's another picture of the Guqin silk strings next to the picture of Raffles (the official founder of Singapore).

Here's a picture of the Mandarin instructions that come with the silk strings. According to the instructions, there is even an extra 7th string included inside the sealed package.

 Picture of the Guqin silk strings in its sealed packaging.

Picture of 5 sets of Guqin silk strings purchased from Taobao.com via Taobao agent www.sgshop.com.sg (bought on 27 May 2012. Arrived in my hands in Singapore on 8 June 2012).

My other batch of 5 sets of silk strings purchased from China.alibaba.com via Vpost.com.sg was lost by Vpost in China after the China merchant successfully shipped the silk strings to Vpost's office in Shenzen. Very disappointed.

The exact Taobao webpage that I submitted to SGshop.com.sg so that they can purchase the silk strings on my behalf (using their China-registered address) is:
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=4997404662

Just use www.sgshop.com.sg if you need to buy Guqin silk strings from Taobao.com, because it has been tried and tested by me. It works!

Video 6: 梅梢月 Mei Shao Yue - Part 1, practice #2

The Guqin was used by literati since the ancient days for self-development, self-reflection and contemplation. It is not an ascetic religious tool (for example, like the Zen shakuhachi flute) that is used for meditation or enlightenment.

Question for you (the reader) and for me: Why do you want to learn to play the Guqin? (or any musical instrument for that matter). Is it for your career? Or for entertaining your friends? Or for impressing other people? Or for quiet private contemplation?

Video 5: 梅梢月 Mei Shao Yue section 1 - practice 1

Raw research video recording #1 of me trying to work through the score of Mei Shao Yue section 1, showing the mistakes and all. I was trying to get the pitch of the notes right first, before trying to practice some riffs a few times to try to build some memory of how to play them into my fingers.

I remember my daughter's (now retired) violin teacher, Mr Kang who said that the secret to playing a piece of music fast on a musical instrument is to play it 1000 times. My Guqin teacher, Mr John Thompson told me that I should play each Guqin tune 1000 times. Well, I would endeavor to play this tune many times (don't know if I can play 1000 times?!), but I would NOT conscientiously aim to speed up my playing. In fact, I would deliberately play each note slowly, and hopefully after many practice sessions, my fingers would gain more muscle memory and naturally play faster. (*smile*)

Video was recorded using Go Pro HD Hero 2 head cam.

Audio was recorded using Sony IC Recorder ICD-SX713 in Linear PCM recording mode.

Please feel free to use this video for your research paper. Just cite me in your References section. Thank you!