Gu Meigan

Gu Meigan, (1899-1990), named Tao, also known as Meigan, also known as Qinchan, was originally from Huayang, Sichuan, and was a guqin educator and performer. Professor, representative of the Pan-Sichuan Guqin School.

Chinese name: Gu Meigan

Alias: Qin Chan

Nationality: Chinese

Ethnicity: Han

Birthplace: Changsha, Hunan

Date of birth: The sixth day of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, 1899

Date of death: August 22, 1990

Occupation: Guqin education Musician and performer

Main achievements: President of Guqin Research Society of Liaoning Musicians Association

Representative works: "Explanation of Ancient Fingering Methods of Guangling San", "Analysis of Ancient Fingering Methods of Guqin"

Life of the character

Scholarly family

In the 25th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1899), Gu Meigan was born in a scholarly family in Changsha City, Hunan Province Guqin Art Family. His great-grandfather Gu Gengshan was a famous calligrapher and painter in Chengdu, Sichuan; his grandfather Gu Yucheng was an alternate Zhili Prefecture in Hunan during the Qing Dynasty, and was a direct disciple of Zhang Kongshan, the originator of the Sichuan sect, a master of modern guqin

(In most published works One of the main disciples of Zhang Kongshan mentioned in the history of ancient Chinese music and piano), and also a famous calligrapher and painter. His father Gu Zheqing (a scholar in the Qing Dynasty) and his uncle Gu Zhuoqun are both influential figures in the modern qin world. Gu Meigan was influenced by his grandfather Gu Yucheng when he was young and loved traditional Chinese culture and the art of Guqin. When he was in private school at the age of six, he studied classics and history, the Four Books and the Five Classics, and could recite every chapter fluently. He studied painting under Su Guqing, a famous Hunan painter in the late Qing Dynasty. He was good at painting plums, orchids and bamboos. His paintings were praised by Chinese painters as: "The words reveal the style of a gentleman who is tolerant, kind and magnanimous." In his calligraphy, he imitated the calligraphy of Li Beihai, a famous calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty. It was in this environment where he grew up that he was deeply influenced by the art of guqin. At the age of 12, he began to formally study piano with his father Gu Zheqing and uncle Gu Zhuoqun. The first song was "Drunken Fishing and Singing Late", which became a favorite in the music world. During this period, his qin art had been passed down by the Sichuan School, and he joined the Nanxun Qin Society founded by his family.

First entry into the qin world

In 1920, qin players from all over the country went to Shanghai for a gathering at Chenfeng Lu. Gu Meigan, Peng Zhiqing and Shen Bozhong went to the meeting together. At the meeting, Gu Meigan played the piano music "Xiaoxiang Shuiyun", "Flowing Water", "Drunken Fishermen Singing Evening", "Pingsha Luoyan", and played "Pu'an Curse" with Peng Zhiqing and Shen Bozhong on the piano and flute. His performance won the honor of the meeting Very high praise from piano players. In 1921, at the invitation of Zhang Qinsun, the dean of Shanxi Yucai Institute, Gu Meigan, Peng Zhiqing, Shen Bozhong and Yang Yousan went to Shanxi to teach. Gu Meigan taught guqin music, taught Chinese music history and ancient literature, compiled guqin textbooks and music history handouts, and supervised the production of 12 new qin pieces. In the same year, he joined the Vowel Piano Club. In 1924, he returned to Hunan and joined the __Qin Society established by Peng Zhiqing. In 1947, he was invited to teach guqin, ancient literature, and Chinese music history at the Hunan Provincial Music College, and was appointed as a professor.

Tireless

In 1956, Gu Meigan was appointed as a special correspondence researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Music of the Central Conservatory of Music. He was invited to Beijing to join the Beijing Guqin Research Association and assisted in the investigation of Fuxi He completed two major works, "A Collection of Cunjian Guqin Music Scores" (Music Publishing House, 1958) and "A Collection of Cunjian Guqin Finger Scores and Words". During this period, he composed "Guangling San" and completed it in 45 days at the speed of one section per day. Later, he wrote "Explanation of Ancient Fingering Methods of Guangling San" (published in the second volume of "New Qin Theory" edited by the Institute of Ethnic Music of the Central Conservatory of Music, 1963), and "Analysis of Ancient Fingering Methods of Guqin" (published in the Editorial Department of "Music Theory Series": " Music Theory Series, Fourth Series, Music Publishing House, 1964) and other papers.

In 1963, in order to participate in the commemoration of Ji Kang's 1740 anniversary and the first national symposium on guqin notation experience, he composed "Changqing", "Duanqing", "Longside", "Shortside", and "Meeting Gods in the Lone Pavilion" , and wrote the articles "Textual Research on Several Issues in Ji's Four Movements" (published in the third volume of "Qin Lun Zhu Xin" compiled by the Institute of Ethnic Music of the Central Conservatory of Music, 1964), "Textual Research on the Variations of Zhang Kongshan's Liushui Biography" (published in the Central Conservatory of Music The Institute of Ethnic Music edited the second volume of "The New Guqin Theory" (1964). In addition to writing papers, in order to better inherit the tradition of guqin and respond to the country's call to protect traditional culture, he recorded ten guqin tunes for the Institute of Ethnic Music. A song called "Pu'an Curse", "Mozi's Sorrow", "Goose Falling on the Flat Sand", "Clouds on the Xiaoxiang River", "Drunken Fishermen Singing Evening" (1959), "Daffodil Exercises", "Remembering Old Friends" (1960) " Archives of "Confucius Reading Yi", "Flowing Water", (1962) "Chang Side" and "Feng Lei Yin". The scores of his performances of "Flowing Water" and "Remembering Old Friends" were published in the second volume of "Collection of Guqin Music" (edited by China Academy of Arts and Beijing Guqin Research Association, People's Music Publishing House, 1983). "Flowing Water", which he recorded in the 1950s, is included in the seventh volume of "Chinese Music Encyclopedia Guqin Volume" (China Record Company, 1994)

Qin Xue Bei Yao

In 1959, Shenyang Music The college offered the guqin major. Li Jiefu, a famous musician who was the dean of the Shenyang Conservatory of Music at the time, sent Mr. Zhu Yuzhi, director of the folk music department, to Beijing to hire Gu Meigan to the folk music department to specialize in the teaching of guqin. Since then, Gu Meigan has become the number one person majoring in Guqin in music academies in Northeast China, sowing seeds and bearing fruit in an area that was likened to a "cultural desert" by ancient literati. During this period, many celebrities in today's piano world were taught by him. Such as: Gu Zechang, Ding Jiyuan, Ding Chengyun, etc. The following year, he was invited by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and was seconded to teach Guqin in the Folk Music Department of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Today's leading players in the piano world, such as Gong Yi and Lin Youren, were taught by Gu Meigan. One year later, he returned to Shenyang Conservatory of Music to teach. It was also during this period that he began to write his masterpiece "Qin Xue Bei Yao" (1964). After school, he was always working hard during the day and night, or during winter and summer vacations. In addition to Sichuan-style qin music, 14 pieces including "Yangchun", "White Snow", "Black Night Cry", "Pheasant Flying in the Morning", "Flowing Spring on the Stone", "Long Xiang Cao" and "Nagato Resentment" were also excavated and sorted out , to complete the first draft before the Cultural Revolution. "Qin Xueyi Yao", a masterpiece with hundreds of thousands of words, was published by Shanghai Music Publishing House in 2004. It includes general rules, fingerings, gestures, music scores, temperament, theory and system, equipment, playing methods, music, and notation. , An Essay on Music , and other comprehensive, detailed and comprehensive treatises on various aspects of guqin science are among the few in the history of Chinese guqin development, and can be called "the first and most comprehensive guqin education in the history of modern Chinese guqin" Textbook." is another great contribution he made to the development of Guqin.

Life writings

He is the author of "Explanation of Guangling San Ancient Fingering", "Analysis of Ancient Guqin Fingering", "Textual Research on Ji's Four Exercises", "Cunjian Guqin Fingering Notation" "Compilation" (co-author, main author), "Cunjian Guqin Music Score Collection" (co-author, main author), "Qin Xue Preparatory Notes" and other works. Died in 1990.