Mei Shao Yue 梅梢月 - Token of appreciation to my supervisor

My lowly, worthless token of appreciation to my dissertation supervisor, a professor from Australia who is visiting me in Singapore. No, it's not a bribe(!) as what I drew is just lousy trash and it's worth nothing. Lol! Hahaha! The picture of plum blossoms symbolizes 'strength in adversity' because plum blossoms (the national flower of Republic of China) tend to blossom in harsh cold of winter, just before the beginning of spring (symbolized by the bird returning from the warmer south).

Mei Shao Yue 梅梢月 is the name of a guqin tune that Mr. Thompson (www.SilkQin.com) had taught me. haha

Sound Of Mountain - guqin online store

Thanks to James He in Facebook's forum https://www.facebook.com/groups/guqinguqin/ I now know that there is another online store called Sound of Mountain that sells guqin and is willing to ship it to anywhere in the world, besides Sound of Asia and ChineseCulture.net.

Happy Double 10 National Day to Republic of China

今年的十月十日、是中華民國慶祝建國一百零三年的大好日子。中華民國萬歲！祝您雙十節快樂！Happy 10th October National Day to Republic of China. Long live freedom and democracy.

Guqin Playing in UniSIM Wed 8th Oct 2014

Video of me playing guqin in an undergraduate class which I have been teaching part-time on Wednesday nights since 2008. It was just an informal sharing session about the use of "ethnic" musical instruments in music composition in multi-cultural Singapore. hahaha... Please pardon my horrid playing... The mic was the built-in mic on my Sony Handycam which was mounted on a tripod. I had moved the video camera closer to me just before I started playing this piece on the guqin. Video footages of me playing other pieces could not be used as the video camera was too far away to capture the sounds from the guqin. hahaha




Pictures of silly old me at my part-time teaching gig informally sharing about the 古琴 Gu Qin with my undergraduate students in Singapore. As you can see, there are students of different ethnicities in multi-cultural Singapore together in harmony. That's what I like about Singapore. haha...

I shared with the students about my teacher's teacher, 孙毓芹 Sun Yu-Chin, who was the National Living Treasure of ROC (Republic of China on Taiwan).

I also shared with the students about my guqin teacher Mr. John Thompson. For more info about the guqin, please visit his website at www.SilkQin.com

New URL of Jun Tian Fang's taobao online store is zhenglindian.taobao.com

New URL of Jun Tian Fang's taobao online store has been changed to http://zhenglindian.taobao.com

The old URL at juntianfang.taobao.com is now defunct.

Replica of Ming Dynasty bronze guqin for aficionados of jade bridge, jade pegs, jade "dragon gum bumpers," and jade goose feet

Alert to aficionados of all things related to Ming Dynasty: this seems to be a replica of a famous Ming Dynasty metal guqin called the "龙音渊邈." This bronze guqin is ideal for people who also love jade bridge, jade pegs, jade "dragon gum bumpers," and jade goose feet. You know you want it. It might be useful for playing outdoors during winter without fear of wood cracking because no wood was used in this bronze guqin. Yours starting from RMB30,000. 

Interesting. I wonder if a CNC (computer numerical control) machine was used to cut the bronze pieces to make the guqin, or was it 'handmade' throughout the entire process? Available at this taobao store at http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=40812756056&ali_refid=a3_420434_1006:1104141246:6:%B9%C5%C7%D9%C7%D9%D7%C0:16e3ad890a14e0cf6ddfd0a5b19d23d6&ali_trackid=1_16e3ad890a14e0cf6ddfd0a5b19d23d6&spm=a230r.1.17.25.2UawNe

There's more than one available at this taobao store at http://shop60721900.taobao.com

For people outside PRC, you may consider using a Taobao agent such as http://www.taobaoring.com or http://www.sgshop.com.sg
(No, I am not affiliated to any of the Taobao merchants or Taobao agents.)

灵韵 Ling Yun brand guqin silk strings RMB298

Ling Yun 灵韵 brand guqin silk strings. RMB298. Available from this shop on Taobao at http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.5.w4002-1137096523.10.7CIpnd&id=18507555374

For people outside PRC, you may consider using a Taobao agent such as http://www.taobaoring.com or http://www.sgshop.com.sg

(No, I am not affiliated to any of the Taobao merchants or Taobao agents.)

Colored silk strings for guqin

Check these out! Colored silk strings for guqin.

Available from this store in Taobao at http://maiwangxianzi.taobao.com/index.htm?spm=2013.1.w5002-5700216427.2.jHoA3l

For people outside PRC, you may consider using a Taobao agent such as http://www.taobaoring.com or http://www.sgshop.com.sg

(No, I am not affiliated to any of the Taobao merchants or Taobao agents.)

How to get rid of mites in guqin hard foam case

In a wet, humid, tropical place like Singapore (where I am located), mites might suddenly manifest themselves in musical instrument foam cases. I have tried using Detol, Febreze, vacuum cleaner, and even catching the mites using my naked Mach 5 eyeballs and pieces of paper napkins. However, none of them worked, as the mites would reappear again after just less than a week.

So, imagine my joy when I chanced upon this Mite removal product called "Ninja Robo" when I was shopping in Tokyu Hands in Singapore's Westgate shopping mall. I promptly purchased a pack of 3 Ninja Robo refills (Sgd$73), punctured holes in the plastic packaging that they came in, and placed them outside and inside one of my mite affected guqin hard foam cases. I hope it works. haha

This video shows how Robo Ninja works.

New brand of guqin silk strings RMB395. Made by 夕溪斋

New brand of guqin silk strings spotted on Taobao. RMB395. Made by 夕溪斋http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.168.s5yMLF&id=40195457145&ns=1#detail 

(No, I am not affiliated to the taobao seller. Cutomers outside PRC may consider ordering using TaobaoRing.com) Happy shopping!

finger strengthening exercises for playing guqin instead of changing guqin or strings

More finger strengthening exercises for playing guqin. hahaha

Regardless of playing with metal-nylon strings or with silk strings, like it or not, playing guqin *is* a strength related activity. Instead of changing strings or changing guqin because of so-called 'playability' issues of the musical instrument, why not simply strengthen the player instead? haha...

Yes, that old fool in the video was silly me doing nine and a half pull-ups on 19 July 2014 Saturday morning in my home in Singapore. haha (Don't worry, it is not NSFW. I did not expose any *dots* 沒有露點, which means it is completely Safe for viewing at work. hahaha)

Day time - finger-strengthening exercises for playing guqin



Night time - finger-strengthening exercises for playing guqin

神农 Shen Nong brand guqin silk strings RMB350

New brand of silk strings available on Taobao. 神农 Shen Nong brand RMB350, seen by me while I was 'window-shopping' on Taobao. It can be purchased by customers outside PRC using www.taobaoring.com You just have to let TaobaoRing.com know about the Shen Nong silk strings' original URL at http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.146.GJM3hP&id=38486315582&ns=1#detail

Customers in Singapore can use the reliable taobao agent (which I have used on numerous occasions) http://www.sgshop.com.sg

Video demonstration of Shen Nong silk strings can be seen at http://v.163.com/paike/V8H1BIE6U/V9U7482JE.html

If anyone has purchased or tried them, please do post a comment? Thanks!

Maestro Wang Long 王珑 playing in Athens, Greece in June 2014

Maestro Wang Long 王珑 playing in Athens, Greece in June 2014.

Very good and strong playing. Enjoy.

Finger strength training for guqin playing

As a guqin player, I finally decided that it was irresponsible, and frankly downright contradictory for my so-called 'self-development' if I continue to neglect my health by eating trashy fast food like ice-cream, fried chicken, beef steaks, hamburgers, lardy sausages, soft drinks, mayonnaise laden foods, and freedom-fries. I was just sick and tired to carrying the obese fatty dead weight around day after day, night after night on my short body frame (1.65m). Apart from stopping my wanton consumption of unhealthy foods, I started drinking oatmeals and eating a lot of vegetables, and also stopped eating foods with refined carbohydrates, such as white rice and noodles. haha

So, I wondered, what kind of exercise could benefit both my body and my guqin playing? Why, something that strengthens my fingers, of course! Pull-ups. But there was a problem. I was already 41 years old. Two months ago, I could not do a single pull-up. I also had a fractured finger on my right hand, a souvenir from my national service in the Singapore Army more than 20 years ago. hahaha... But no matter. I bought a portable pull-up bar and started struggling on the pull-up bar every single day. I am happy to report that 2 months later, I can currently eke out 7 pull-ups. I have also realized that my fingers could play the guqin with much less effort, and I could control the strength of my hands to play certain notes softer or louder, as well as manipulate the speed and rhythm of my fingers on both metal-nylon strings and silk guqin strings much better now. Yes, like it or not, guqin playing is a strength-related activity. The stronger you muscles are, the more flexible you become. The ancients probably only ate meat once a year during Chinese New Year (if they were lucky). Now we can eat KFC everyday. No wonder many people in modern society are obese. hahaha

Obesity is just yucks. I hated the obese me. Dear friends, if you consider yourself to be a serious guqin player, please stop eating trashy foods and start exercising! If you consider yourself to be just a so-called 'casual' guqin player (also what people on the Interwebs refer to as a 'poser'), then you may continue doing what you want and continue to stuff your face and gorge yourself silly. Who cares about you? hahaha (This may sound harsh, but I hope the reverse psychology is working! hahaha)

Oh yeah, the stupid fool in the Youtube video was silly old me. haha

The Science and Art of Practicing

After practicing hard on your guqin 古琴, if you have ever wondered:

• Why is it better to practice every day for an hour, instead of seven hours on one day of the week?
• Why didn’t it help much to play that hard passage 20 times in a row?
• Does mental practicing actually work?
• I practice so hard, why does my playing sound mechanical?

The article, The Science and Art of Practicing: with Molly Gebrian and Shelly Tramposh, written by Laurie Niles just might shed some light on the subject. Enjoy.

Please post your comments and share your thoughts. Thanks! *smile*