Guzheng and Taiwanese Ballad

"Zheng" is a kind of traditional stringed instrument, which existed in China as early as 2,500 years ago. People nowadays call it “Guzheng” as its long history. “Gu” also means “ancient and old”. Today, October 6th, 2022, CLCC invited Mr. Guo Yuting, a musician and also composer of Guzheng, to come and lead us to know this classic Chinese instrument.

Mr. Guo quickly shared the history of guzheng, the difference between “Zheng” and “Qin” (very alike stringed instruments), and diverse playing methods and playing techniques. He also prepared 8 sets of guzheng for students to experience closely!

He first taught everyone how to paste the "righteous armor" to be pasted when playing, and then let everyone practice plucking, become familiar with scales, and learn to read guzheng notation. Even though the first time to touch this instrument, the students were able to quickly learn how to play the nursery rhyme "Sister Carrying a Doll (妹妹揹著洋娃娃Mèimei bēizhe yángwáwá )", which is popular among Taiwanese people from the age of 3 to 103. They challenged the famous Taiwanese ballad "Wang Chunfeng (望春風)" as well. This is a beautiful, well-known Taiwanese ballad.  

Today’s cultural talk was a precious experience for both Chinese learning and Taiwanese students. The traditional classical Chinese musical instruments are actually not familiar to people, but through this lecture, students had an opportunity to get in touch with guzheng. It was more fortunate to hear Mr. Guo demonstrate the beauty of guzheng music. The live music was melodious and immersive. Successfully narrowed the distance between us and classical music.