Whether Su Dongpo knew music or not is a matter of great debate. Judging from the fact that Su Shi was born into a guqin family and had been exposed to music since childhood, Su Dongpo may have an understanding of music.

Su Shi's father, Su Xun, loved classics and guqin art, and was an influential music connoisseur and music lover at that time. "Biography of Qin Players of the Past Dynasties" quotes Zhang Youyan's "Qin Jing Daya Siyin": "The ancients often used Qin in their family, and the most famous is Meishan Sansu." The young Su Shi had a strong interest in music, and the three Sus were all He is an expert at playing the piano, and his father Su Xun is the best at playing the piano. The family also has a collection of the famous "Lei Qin" from the Tang Dynasty.

Since he was influenced by his father playing the guqin as a child, Su Shi had a special interest in the guqin throughout his life.

In order to study the sound-making principles and characteristics of the guqin, he did not hesitate to take apart the precious "Lei Qin" from the Tang Dynasty collected in his home to observe and analyze its secrets. For this reason, he also wrote a special article "Leiqin in the Family". Su Shi's Guqin from the Tang Dynasty has a surface covered with snake and cocoon patterns. The upper hole (at Longchi) reads "Made in the 10th year of Kaiyuan, Lingguan Village, Yazhou", and the lower hole (at Fengmarsh) reads "Thunder". The family records are combined on the eighth day." "Yue" is also called "Yueshan". It is made just right and is one of the signs of a good Qin. At that time, only the "Lei Qin" made by the Lei family in the Tang Dynasty had such advantages.

In addition, he also found that the sound of the piano came from a slight bulge in the wood opposite the hole, like the shape of a sage leaf. Since the exit of the sound was very narrow, it could not go out immediately, and it lingered inside the piano as a lingering rhyme. , this is the mystery of Lei Qin. For this reason, Su Shi wrote a poem praising: "I have phoenix branches, with snake and cocoon patterns on my back. The moonlight shines quietly, and my mind is clear and I hear wonderful things." (Ci Yunfeng, four poems by Qian Mufu, Jiang Yingshu, and Wang Zhongzhi, "Seeing and Listening to the Qin under the Moon at West Lake")

In addition, he also admired the famous scholar Li Wei's flute playing art, saying: "There is a sound of piercing the clouds and cracking the rocks." He is a close friend of the song "Crane Flying South", and he can even hear the tune with the customs of the ethnic minorities in the northwest frontier very clearly. At the end of the song, he presented a poem titled "Li Wei Plays the Flute": "The lone crane on the top of the mountain flew south, carrying me southward to Jiuyi. Who plays the flute in the lower world? I will invade Qiuci again when I am in trouble."

In the fourth year of Jiayou's reign, when the father and son went to Beijing, Su Shi listened carefully to the music played by his father on the boat. He had many feelings and wrote the poem "Listening to the Master Playing the Qin in the Boat": "Playing the Qin at Jiangpu Night The water is leaking, and the wind and pines are eavesdropping. The sound of the jade pendant has been forgotten. In order to fight against the past, we strive for sonority with new music. The sound is soft and crisp, and the sound is as crisp as a reed. What’s more, the ancient meaning is dim and the moon is in the sky. The moon is shining, and the king of Wen is invited to play at night. ."