Guqin is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It is called a culture and has always occupied the highest point of Chinese classical music art. Since ancient times, there have been sayings that "a gentleman's seat must be on the left side of the qin and the right side of the book" and "a gentleman does not withdraw the qin and serge for no reason". Therefore, more and more people are beginning to know, love and learn Guqin. However, beginners will inevitably encounter many problems. These questions either come directly from the guqin, or are indirectly related to the guqin. In order to facilitate beginners to learn, this article summarizes some of the problems that are often mentioned by students in teaching, as well as the knowledge that must be understood and mastered in learning Guqin, as well as some of my own experience and experience of learning Guqin over the years, and these are collected and analyzed. Organized and presented in a question-and-answer format. Due to space limitations, some questions could not be discussed in depth, but were answered concisely, so there must be some rough points. Therefore, it is only used as a family's word for your reference.

Q: Why is the guqin designated as a world intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO?

A: Guqin has a very long history. According to legend, Fuxi made the qin. It can be said that it has been handed down along with the civilization history of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. People have been playing it without interruption. There are nearly 60 different styles of Guqin. He also has an independent and complete set of minus-character notation system, and has used this minus-character notation method to preserve more than 140 qin book notation collections since the Six Dynasties. In these qin book notation collections, three thousand More than 360 biographies of different factions. This undoubtedly left a rich legacy to the music culture of China and even the world. Guqin is designated as the world's intangible cultural heritage, which is an honor given to Guqin by the world, and an affirmation of Guqin by world music culture.

Q: What are the components of a guqin? What's it called?

A: The qin is composed of "qin body", "goose feet", "qin strings", "qin Zhen" and other parts. The rightmost part of the qin body is called "qin forehead", and "Yueshan" is inlaid on the "qin forehead", which is the highest part of the qin. "Yueshan" is inlaid with "Chenglu" on the side of the forehead, and there are seven "string eyes" on it, which are used to tie the strings. Below it are seven "qin zhen" for tuning the strings. The strings start from "Yueshan", pass through the "neck", "shoulder", "waist" and "jiao tail" to the "dragon gum" and wrap around the "goose feet". On the side of the head, there are "phoenix eyes" and "huzhen". There are also thirteen emblems on the piano surface, which are marks of overtone vibration points. There are two large and small sound holes at the bottom of the piano, and the longer one in the middle is called "Dragon Pool". The shorter one at the tail is called "phoenix marsh".

Q: Each part of the guqin has its own unique name. Do they have any special meaning?

A: The ancient man-made qin is the ingenious integration of its philosophical thoughts into the guqin. The guqin panel is arc-shaped, symbolizing the circle of the sky. The bottom plate is straight, symbolizing place. The length of the qin (from Yueshan to Longgu) is about 3 feet 6 inches and 6 minutes, symbolizing that there are 365 days in a year plus a leap day. There are thirteen emblems, symbolizing that there are twelve months in a year plus an intercalary month. The guqin has seven strings, the first five strings represent the five elements, and the last two strings represent civil and military affairs. Guqin has three timbres: overtone (such as heaven), according to sound (such as human) and scattered tone (such as earth), which symbolize the harmony of heaven, earth and people respectively. Because people love Guqin very much, some anthropomorphic appellations and sacred animal names have been added to Guqin, such as "forehead", "neck", "shoulder", "waist", "longchi", "phoenix marsh" , "Dragon Gum", "Goose Foot" and so on. From this we can see that the ancients associated the beautiful things between heaven and earth with the guqin to express their love for the qin. It expresses the desire of the piano person to be one with the piano and nature.

Most of the names of the various parts of the guqin contain a word, that is - water. Such as "Chenglu", "Dragon Pond", "Phoenix Pond", "Zhen Pond", "Foot Pond", "Sound Pond", "Yun Pond" and so on. These words are all related to water and are used to hold water. The use of these numerous water-related words is not accidental, but intentional. This is to hope that the water can be brought together to praise the water, as a metaphor for the virtue of a gentleman. These names on the guqin are telling us a modest and peaceful truth and a kind of expectation for the qin players. I hope that the qin people are like water to benefit all things without fighting, lower their posture and calm their minds, so that they can achieve a peaceful state.

There are mountains (yueshan) and water (strings) in the guqin, which actually reflects an aesthetic interest of Chinese literati: seeing the mountains and making up their minds, encountering water, feeling love, benevolent people like mountains, and wise people like water. Water originates from mountains, and the strings on "Yueshan" flow like rivers. It took a year (thirteen emblems) to reach the mouth of the dragon, the god of water, the dragon's gum. "Dragon Pond" and "Phoenix Marsh" complete a cycle, and so on. The aesthetics of Shangshan Rushui is fully reflected here.

Q: Guqin has seven strings, what are their names?

A: The names of the seven strings of the guqin are called Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, Yu, Wen, Wu in turn from outside to inside. It is also referred to as the first string (one), the second string (two)...the seventh string (seven) on the reduced character notation. One thing to note here is that string names are not note names. That is to say, Gongxian is not Gongyin, and Shangxian is not Shangyin. These are two completely separate concepts that should not be confused.

Most of the names of the various parts of the guqin contain a word, that is - water. Such as "Chenglu", "Dragon Pond", "Phoenix Pond", "Zhen Pond", "Foot Pond", "Sound Pond", "Yun Pond" and so on. These words are all related to water and are used to hold water. The use of these numerous water-related words is not accidental, but intentional. This is to hope that the water can be brought together to praise the water, as a metaphor for the virtue of a gentleman. These names on the guqin are telling us a modest and peaceful truth and a kind of expectation for the qin players. I hope that the qin people are like water to benefit all things without fighting, lower their posture and calm their minds, so that they can achieve a peaceful state.

Q: Since the string name is not the sound name, what are the sound names of the seven strings of the guqin?

A: The seven strings of the guqin take the positive tone as an example. The sound names from the outside to the inside (from the first string to the seventh string) are Zheng, Yu, Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, Yu. Among the five tunes of Guqin, in addition to the positive tune, there is also a more commonly used tune, that is, the tight-feather tune (commonly known as Ruibin tune) of the tight five-string, where the yu refers to the string name (five strings) rather than the sound. The seven strings of the tight-feather tone are Shang, Jiao, Zheng, Yu, Gong, Shang and Jiao.

Q: What are the most common styles of guqin now?

A: The most common styles of guqin are Zhongni style, Fuxi style, Shennong style, Luoxia style, banana leaf style, Lianzhu style and Lingji style.

Q: Before the Zhou Dynasty, the guqin only had five strings, so are there still qin pieces played on five strings?

A: In the collection of qin books and scores in Jiancun, there are still some qin pieces played on the five strings (only the five strings of Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng and Yu are used). For example, "Nanfeng Chang", "God and Man Chang", "Lishan Song", "Yushun Missing Relatives", etc. ("Xilutang Qintong" version), although the descendants of these qin pieces are very likely to be written in ancient times, but, This can also be said to be some relics preserved from the banjo by the ancients.