Borrowed Silk strings Guqin audio CD from Singapore's Esplanade Library

Borrowed this CD from the public library at Singapore's Esplanade Theatres By The Bay. It sounded like the player had probably used silk strings.

You can find this CD inside this drawer in the Esplanade library (highlighted in red rectangle in the picture below).

You can also hear the contents of this CD online at http://www.xiami.com/album/461878?spm=a1z1s.3521865.23309997.3.s3Uehj

It's great to find audio recordings of guqin tunes that might have used silk strings. They sound more mellow and without any metallic buzz. haha *smile*

Enjoy! ^_^

憶故人 Yi Gu Ren played by me (Shawn How) for Mr. Thompson on 27 Oct 2013

I played this tune Yi Gu Ren for my guqin teacher, Mr. John Thompson in his Singapore home on Sunday 27th October 2013. He stayed in Singapore from 2011-2013, and will return to New York in November 2013. If you live in New York and wish to learn guqin with silk strings from him, please feel free to contact him. He is a very patient and excellent teacher. *smile*

I started lessons with Mr. Thompson in March 2012, and learned how to play guqin from scratch from him. It was one of the best decisions I had ever made in my life. No regrets. Playing guqin really helped to clear my mind so I could focus well on doing other things in my work. *smile*

This particular guqin which I played in Mr. Thompson's home was one of the best I had ever played in my life. It was made by Dr. Tong Kin Woon in Hong Kong. It was surprisingly very loud and clear. Its playability was excellent. Very easy to play. Because this Tong Kin-Woon guqin was so loud and clear, it was also very easy to expose one's weaknesses in playing (if the player is a beginner like silly me). You can hear many of my playing mistakes in this video. hahaha *smile*

For more information on silk strings guqin, please visit Mr. John Thompson's website at www.silkqin.com

Oct 27th, 2013 Farewell dinner for Mr. John Thompson in Singapore

People like me (a grad student) usually don't get invited to dinner parties, so this is a rare treat! On Oct 27th, 2013 Sunday evening at 5:00pm+, I went to Mr. John Thompson's Singapore home, where a few of the other guests were already gathered and we played guqin in Mr. Thompson's qin room (yes, he actually has a humidity-controlled guqin room!). At around 6:30pm, we made our way in 2 taxis to Peach Garden restaurant (located on level 33 of OCBC Centre in swanky Raffles Place).

Of course, after much fine-dining, we played (you guessed it!) even more tunes on guqin. A record was probably set for the highest location where any yaji took place in Singapore. hahaha *smile* This was one for the history books. ^_^ It was a very special treat for us, as Mr. Thompson played many rare guqin tunes for us that were usually not performed by other guqin maestros around the world.

Thanks to Mr. Kenny Leong for organizing this dinner. Coincidentally, it was also Kenny's birthday that night! Happy birthday, Kenny! ^_^

Fine dining in Peach Garden restaurant

This was the billion dollar view from inside our private VIP room where we dined. The Lion City is truly beautiful at night, especially when it was viewed from level 33 of a tall building.

This was item Zero of what they served (yes, geeks count from zero, not one!).... softshell crab on the left of the long plate and some... thingie on the right... it was very.... delicioius indeed. *smile*

Sharks fins and chicken soup, warmed by its little own candle at the bottom of the bowl.... I know, I know... but it was just a very tiny piece... ok, I promise, next time, I'd boycott the sharks fins.... maybe.... maybe... but they're delicious.... oh come on.... it's a Chinese restaurant... what did you expect..... of course, sharks fins are on the menu. hahaha

Mushroom and fish in soy sauce.

Mushroom and vegetable in rice soup.

Sichuan-style spicy noodles. I finished the noodles in one gulp. It was not a big portion. Bitesized.

Group photo of our happily fine-dined satisfied selves.

Mr. Kenny Leong (organizer of the dinner party, and also a student of Mr. Thompson) played guqin in our VIP room inside the restaurant. It was also Kenny's birthday! 

Mr. John Thompson played many rare ancient tunes for us on Kenny's banana-leaf shaped guqin.


I just messed around on Kenny's guqin when some of them went to refresh themselves up in the rest room. Not playing any particular tune... hahaha


Picture of Mr. John Thompson (left) and I (right). Picture was taken at the entrance of the restaurant.

Picture of Mr. Kenny Leong (right) and I (left). Picture was taken at the entrance of the restaurant.

Overall, it was a very bittersweet moment. I am really glad that I have learned how to play guqin from scratch from Mr. John Thompson, when he was staying in Singapore. Best decision I have ever made. Ever. *smile*

To find out more about silk strings guqin, please visit Mr. John Thompson's website at www.silkqin.com

Public software development project for Guqin notation digital input

According to Shelandy Ting, "a public project has been launched for targeting the digitally input, storing and generating classical notations of Qin and Pipa"
琵琶與古琴數位減字譜打譜公開計畫 
https://github.com/shelandy/ReducedRadicalNotation/wiki

Further, Shelandy Ting clarified that, "there are several goals of this project. One of them is to realize browser-based guqin notation input. Actually, the difficulty is mostly on visual output, not input, as we know that without the special font, we can still type something like "中七勾一" to describe a single 減字notation, but we still want to be able to generate the 減字notation with special font..... and exchange those notaions with other guqin lovers, and generate synthesized tones base on different time signatures, since I do not think the Guqin notation specify the time signature."

If anyone is good at programming software, and is willing to join this effort, please contact them directly. Thank you! (No, I am not part of their group effort. My software programming skills are already very rusty. haha)

神奇秘譜 Shen Qi Mi Pu - Guqin scores - files for download

[Special thanks to Miss Juni Yeung and Mr. Kenny Leong for sharing this info in the Guqin forum in Fb]

It seems that the compressed file (about 1.48GB) containing the files of the scores from 神奇秘譜 Shen Qi Mi Pu can be downloaded from https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8429455/Qinqu%20Jicheng.rar

Enjoy doing dapu with your guqin! *smile*

(Picture borrowed from www.SilkQin.com)

Guqin audio CDs available for loan at Singapore's National Library (Esplanade branch)

Today during lunch break, I took a little detour and popped by Singapore's National Library branch in Esplanade Theaters By The Bay. Borrowed 3 guqin music CDs (maximum allowed). No, it seems that no one was tripping over themselves rushing there to borrow them home. Yes, there's an entire 'drawer' of guqin music CDs waiting for you to borrow them. Yes, only the library@Esplanade has guqin audio CDs for loan. No, guqin audio CDs are not available for loan in other branches of Singapore's National Library. *smile*

The outside of the Library@Esplanade...

Look for this shelf drawer in the Esplanade library.

I borrowed these 3 CDs. There are many others.... as you can see.

There is a roof top garden just above the library.

This looked like a nice spot to play guqin. However, it was very warm and humid on the rooftop, and there was a humming machine noise at the rooftop, presumably from the aircon exhaust units. ^_^

中華民國慶祝建國一百零二年，雙十節快樂！

今年的十月十日、是中華民國慶祝建國一百零二年的大好日子。中華民國萬歲！祝您雙十節快樂！

 

 

source of graphic: http://miqlin66.pixnet.net/blog/post/28296257

Watched Tang Dynasty tv show after playing guqin

Watched a Tang Dynasty period tv show after playing guqin until 10:45pm. In Singapore, the govt mandated that all Cantonese tv shows and Cantonese movies in cinemas must be dubbed into Mandarin. Even after a few decades living in Singapore, it's pretty strange to watch a show like this where all the actor/actresses' mouth movements don't match the audio of the speech. Hahaha

Lego guqin made by my 4 year old daughter

Today, out of the blue, my 4 year old daughter showed me a guqin she made out of lego. Haha LOL Yes, in her imaginative world, when a person plays guqin, Mr. Ed the Horse and Miffy the rabbit would be at the yaji too. Haha

 

Vintage video: Professor Sun Yu Chin (National Living Treasure of Republic of China) playing guqin

Rare vintage video footages of Professor Sun Yu Chin (National Living Treasure of Republic of China) playing guqin. Enjoy!

Note: Professor Sun Yi Chin was Mr. John Thompson's guqin teacher in ROC. 

[very special thanks to Master guqin maker Chen Guo Xing for uploading this video]