Bad Postures and Corrective Methods in Guzheng Playing

110 views · Organized by 花昼 on 2022-05-24

Qin, chess, calligraphy and painting all pay attention to the correctness of posture. This is the first lesson for beginners of guzheng, so today we are going to talk about bad sitting posture in guzheng performance and how to correct it. Correct posture can make learning and connection more effective. Improper posture is prone to physical fatigue after a long time of playing, resulting in restlessness. Therefore, good posture needs to be paid attention to in guzheng teaching.

Bad Postures and Corrective Methods in Guzheng Playing

The first thing you should pay attention to when playing the guzheng is the relaxation and naturalness of the basic playing posture, that is, the relaxation and naturalness of the hands, arms, shoulders and the whole reminder. Human-induced psychological factors and technical obstacles can cause unnatural tension, which seriously affects the technical development of beginner guzheng learners, and easily causes muscle fatigue, shoulder pain, hand pain and other occupational problems.

So what is the natural relaxation we need? The natural feeling and visual perception are comfortable and natural. In the basic training, special attention should be paid to the cyclic alternation of tension and relaxation, that is, the relaxation after tension when playing the strings. The ancients said: "One piece and one relaxation is the way of civil and martial arts." Here are some tensions caused by poor performance postures in basic training, so how should we correct them?

1. Eagle Claw Hand

It refers to the state of the hand in which the hand is stiff and the wrist is high. This kind of tension in the hand is not desirable. So what is the state of the hand when playing the kite? Natural hand shape, loose hand shape is better.

At present, there are different interpretations and understandings of what is a natural hand shape. Some require the hand shape such as "chicken feet" and "upside down lotus", and also require "the middle finger should be in a line, parallel to the front beam, with the elbow naturally raised and slightly facing outside". In fact, these requirements are difficult to make the hand relax, on the contrary, it makes the hand more tense. Because these requirements make the fingers stand upright, the back wrists high, and the elbows high, all in a state of tension, so how can the hand shape naturally relax?

The natural hand shape is the hand shape in the relaxed state, that is, the state when the hands naturally sag when a person is standing. According to the requirements of the performance, the big finger is slightly spread out, the fingers are naturally bent, and the hand is in a half fist shape. This relaxed natural hand shape is not only displayed in the static state, but also in the dynamic process of performance; it is not only the basic shape of the right hand to play the strings, but also the basic posture of the left hand to press the strings.

2. High elbow

The elbow is raised high, which is called "playing a kite on the shoulders" among the folks. When the elbow is raised and the upper arm is tense, the arm is easy to become rigid. This posture has a great influence on the performance of the students. Elevating the elbow for a long time is a natural habit, and mistakes are difficult to detect. After the in-depth progress of skill learning, quick skills will increase the tension. Excessive tension will cause muscle strain and arm pain symptoms.

Many reasons for the high elbow elevation are caused by the discomfort of the height of the zither stand and piano bench. The height of the zither stand and the piano bench is easy to be overlooked. The common phenomenon is: the zither stand is high and the piano bench is low, so that the elbows have to be raised for the convenience of touching the strings when playing. This is what I said above. High elbow posture during performance; low zither stand and high bench will also affect performance, which is also not advisable; if the zither stand is low, the player's legs cannot stretch freely; if the zither bench is high, the player is prone to stooping and hunchback , are very awkward.

The height of the piano bench: When sitting and playing, the player's arms are required to hang down naturally, and the elbows are placed on the strings of the zither.

The height of the guzheng stand: Take sitting playing as an example, it is suitable for the player's legs to be able to stretch freely in the zither stand.

Due to the different genres, the placement of the zither, the zither stand, and the zither stool are also different.

Some use a table-style zither stand, some use a herringbone-shaped zither stand, and some play on the lap. It is more stable and reliable to use the piano table type zheng stand, and the panel of the piano table helps the resonance of the zither.

The size of the piano table should be appropriate, just to hold the four corners of the zither; there is a certain gap between the zither and the piano table to facilitate the sound; the height of the piano table is suitable for the legs. In addition, the shape of the piano table should be beautiful and generous. If a similar herringbone-shaped folding zither stand is used, attention should be paid to the stable placement of the zither to avoid shaking during performance.

If you use a zither to play on your legs, a zheng support should be added at the bottom of the zither head to prevent the upper body from leaning forward too much... The correct posture can make learning and practice more effective. Improper posture is prone to physical fatigue after a long time of playing, resulting in restlessness. Therefore, good posture needs to be paid attention to at the beginning of guzheng teaching

Correct posture can make learning and practice more effective. Improper posture is prone to physical fatigue after a long time of playing, resulting in restlessness. Therefore, good posture needs to be paid attention to at the beginning of guzheng teaching.

Reference materials and contributors
古筝演奏中的不良姿势

Involving musical instruments

Guzheng (pinyin: Gǔ Zhēng), also known as Hanzheng and Qinzheng, is an ancient national musical instrument of the Han nationality and is popular all over China. It is often used for solo, duet, instrumental ensemble and accompaniment of song and dance, opera and folk art. Because of its wide range, beautiful timbre, rich playing skills and strong expressiveness, it is known as the "King of Music", also known as "Oriental Piano", and is one of the unique and important national musical instruments in China.

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