1st May 2005

This, the 13th meeting of the London Youlan Qin Society, was held at the home of Sarah Moyse in southwest London. 

Programme

  1. Wang Tingting: Meihua San Nong, Yangguan San Die [sung]%
  2. Chen Jinwei: Xiao Xiang Shui Yun, Ao Ai%
  3. Dan Nung Ing: El Testament d'Amelia#
  4. Christopher Evans: Liang Xiao Yin*
  5. Charlie Huang: Feng Lei Yin, Feng Qiu Huang* 
  6. Julian Joseph: Shishang Liu Quan* , Tian Lai* 
  7. Marnix Wells: Guangling San#
* Played on a  qin made by Zeng Chengwei in Chengdu, southwestern China, less than 1 year ago, with steel/nylon strings.
# Played on a  qin made by Wang Peng in Beijing with silk strings
% Played on a  qin made by Li Guangyi of Hangzhou with steel/nylon strings

Introduction

Tingting Wang began the proceedings with a rendition of Meihua San Nong, followed by Cheng Jinwei with Xiao Xiang Shui Yun. Then Dan Nung Ing gave a talk on the work he has been doing on qin string tensions. 

String tension in silk and steel/nylon strings

There is debate as to whether the tension of steel/nylon strings is greater than that of silk, and whether the use of steel/nylon styrings is therefore detrimental to a qin. Dan Nung described the experiments he had been carrying ut to compare the relative tensions of silk and steel/nylon strings. For details, please click here.

Dan Nung's talk led to much discussion, which may be summarised as follows:

There is nothing wrong with changing the grouping of the strings, but neither is there any reason to break with tradition. The difference in the balance of the forces is too small to matter, and a qin is much stronger than a guitar. But there may be an effect on tone colour. Resonance of the whole instrument can generate second and third order harmonics. This may be affected by other factors - string tension, the way they are attached to the body of the instrument, the sizes of the strings, the resonating chamber and how it is braced, how the strings are attached at the back. It was suggested that it may be to do with the generation of harmonics, which pass through the wood because the strings are all attached at the same point. Alternatively, it may be caused by distortion of the wood: horizontal bending leading to torsion. There are tonal differences between guitars depending on the type of bridge and whether the strings pass through the body or are hooked underneath.

It may be possible to improve the sound of steel/nylon strings by making them heavier: heavier strings at higher tension give a more rounded, more beautiful sound. The highest strings on a qin are actually underweight, giving a thinner sound. This could be improved by making the ratio of weight to tension closer to that of silk by making these strings thicker. For example one could use another string 6 for the top string. Guitarists tend to use thicker strings at higher tension, so they tune down a semitone, from E to E flat or even D.

Music

Dan Nung Ing learned the classical guitar some 20 or 30 years ago. He felt some classical guitar pieces were eminently suitable for transposing to the guqin. He played one such piece, a well known Catalan folk song called "El Testament d'Amelia" which he had just started to work on. It was transcribed for the classical guitar by Miguel Llobet, and students of the classical guitar learn to play it after about 18 months of study. Tingting Wang, who is doing her PhD on qin songs (qinge), sang "Yangguan San Die". In keeping with qinge tradition, she used her own (Changsha) dialect. She gave us all copies of the words, so everyone who could read Chinese could (and did) join in. The original words are those of Wang Wei's famous poem, but they were later added to. The music is from the 19th century qin handbook  Qinxue Rumen. Chen Jinwei played Ao Ai. These two words have no meaning, but are onomatopoeic, describing the sound of an oar. They come from a Tang Dynasty poem by Liu Zongyuan, about a fisherman. The piece creates a very Daoist mood.



Copyright the London Youlan Qin Society, 2005. All rights reserved.