The Qin is generally about three feet six inches long (about 120-125 centimeters), symbolizing the three hundred and sixty-five days in a year (some say it is like the 365 degrees in the sky). Generally about six inches (about 20 centimeters) wide. It is generally about two inches thick (about 6 centimeters). The Qin was first made in the shape of a phoenix body. Its whole body corresponds to the body of a phoenix (it can also be said to correspond to the human body), with a head, neck, shoulders, waist, tail and feet.
The upper part of the "head" is called the forehead. The lower end of the forehead is inlaid with hardwood for stringing, which is called "Yueshan", also known as "Linyue". It is the highest part of the piano. There are two sound grooves, large and small, at the bottom of the piano. The larger one in the middle is called "Dragon Pond" and the smaller one at the end is called "Feng Pond". This is called going up the mountain and going down the marsh, and there are dragons and phoenixes, symbolizing all the phenomena of heaven and earth. There is a hardwood strip on the forehead side of Yueshan, which is called "Chenglu". There are seven "string eyes" on it, which are used to thread and tie the strings. There are seven "Qin Zhen" under it for tuning strings. On the side of the head of the piano, there are "phoenix eyes" and "guards". From the waist down, it is called "Qinwei". The tail of the instrument is inlaid with a hardwood "dragon gum" carved with shallow grooves to hold the strings. The edges on both sides of the dragon's gum are called "crown angles", also known as "burnt tails".
The seven strings rise from the exposed part, pass through Yueshan and Dragon Gum, and turn to a pair of "goose feet" at the bottom of the piano, symbolizing the seven stars.
The seven strings rise from the exposed part, pass through Yueshan and Dragon Gum, and turn to a pair of "goose feet" at the bottom of the piano, symbolizing the seven stars.
In the belly of the piano, there are two dark grooves on the head, one is the "tongue point", the other is the "sound pool", and the other is the "according sound". There is also a dark groove at the tail, which is called " Yun Bo". Corresponding to Longchi and Fengmarsh, there is often a "Nayin" in each place. There is a "Tianzhu" on the head side of Longchi Nayin and an "Earth Pillar" on the tail side. When making a sound, "the sound is about to come out, but it is narrow and lingers, so there is a lingering rhyme." Since the piano has no "frets" (posts) or "codes", it is very easy to play flexibly. It also has the characteristics of particularly long effective strings, large amplitude of string vibration, and endless lingering sound, so it has its unique hand-sounding sound. .
In terms of structure and sound, the structure of each part of the piano is very reasonable. Its size is neither big nor small, making it easy to carry and square and elegant. If you play the harp with your heart, its shape is enough to make people happy. The influence of Confucianism on the Qin making can also be seen from the naming of each part of the Qin.
The front of the piano is wide and the back is narrow, symbolizing the difference between superiority and inferiority. The five strings of official, merchant, horn, levy, and feather symbolize the five social levels of king, minister, people, affairs, and things (or the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth). The sixth and seventh strings added later were called Wen and Wu strings, symbolizing the harmony between the monarch and his ministers. The twelve emblems each symbolize December, and the largest emblem in the middle represents the king, which symbolizes the leap month. The arc of the piano surface symbolizes the ancient world view of a round sky and a square place.
The guqin has three timbres: overtones, fretted tones and scattered tones, which respectively symbolize the harmony of heaven, earth and man. The symbolic meaning of the naming of these guqin shapes actually reflects the Confucian etiquette and music thoughts and the harmony that the Chinese people value.
Guqin shape
Guqin has beautiful shapes, and the most common ones are Fuxi style, Zhongni style, Lianzhu style, Luoxia style, Lingji style, banana leaf style, Shennong style, etc. They are mainly distinguished according to the shape of the neck and waist of the piano body. There are broken lines in the lacquer, which is a sign of the age of the guqin. Due to the vibration of long-term playing and the difference between the wood and the paint base, various break patterns can be formed, such as plum blossom break, ox hair break, snake belly break, ice break, turtle pattern, etc. Qins with broken patterns have clear sound and beautiful appearance, so they are more valuable. Famous ancient qins include Green Qi, Jiaowei, Chunlei, Bingqing, Monkey King Yiyin, Jiuxiao Huanpei, etc.
Guqin music is mainly influenced by the Confucian ideas of peace, gentleness and sincerity, "virtuous music is called music", and the Taoist ideas of conformity to nature, loud music and sound, clear and subtle, and distant. Traditional qin music mainly uses the pentatonic scale, that is, the five right tones, which can be said to be the musical implementation of Confucian harmony and elegance, while the quiet and quiet style and artistic conception of qin music mainly reflect Taoist ideas. Due to the shape, timbre, music theme, connotation, structure and other factors of the instrument, the musical style of the guqin tends to be static, simple, implicit, ancient, feminine, lyrical and elegant. Many people even think that this instrument is silent when they first listen to it. The ancients also said that the guqin is "difficult to learn, easy to forget, and unpleasant to listen to" and "it only works when no one is listening." "Not pleasing to the ears" and "no one listens to it" are actually precisely because the guqin music style belongs to the static beauty of tranquility, emptiness, deep tranquility, secludedness, tranquility and so on. This is why the guqin is most suitable to be played at night when people are quiet, because such an environment can match the style of the music and the artistic conception it pursues.
It makes sense that the entire guqin music art is called qindao, because the appreciation and understanding of guqin cannot be understood solely from its musical tunes, but comprehensively from multiple aspects as a spiritual reflection of intellectuals. All of this is reflected in the selection of themes, the pursuit of artistic conception, and moral norms, which represent the ideal style and aesthetic standards of Qin music.
Confucianism’s worldly thinking emphasizes moderation, elegance, and morality, which is reflected in music by admiring elegant music and virtuous music and denouncing vulgar music, obscene sounds, and indulgent sounds.
Taoist transcendental thoughts form the aesthetic ideal of pursuing artistic conception, valuing "meaning" and emphasizing the meaning behind the strings. The outline of Qing Weiyuan also includes derivatives and variations such as Qing and elegant, ancient light and distant, quiet and distant, pure and simple, simple and simple, quiet and elegant, quiet and distant, etc.