Purple Bamboo

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the solo music of Guqin already had a certain artistic expression ability, such as the legend that Boya played the piano and Ziqi was good at listening.Famous qin masters at that time included Shi Juan from Wei State, Shi Kuang from Jin State, Shi Wen from Zheng State, and Shi Nang from Lu State. "Yangchun", "White Snow", etc., have been recorded in the annals of history.

Han String Song Figurines

During the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties, the art of Guqin has undergone significant development. In addition to being used as an accompaniment instrument in "Xianghege" and "Qingshangyue", it also appeared in the form of "Danqu".Such as the instrumental music "Guangling San", "Da Hu Jiaming", "Little Hu Jiaming", etc., reflecting an important development stage of Guqin as an instrumental music performance.Cai Yong's father and daughter in the late Han Dynasty and Ji Kang in the Wei and Jin Dynasties were all famous guqin performers and composers at that time.For example, Ji Kang is good at playing the famous guqin song "Guangling San", which has been passed down as a good story in history.The famous pieces of music created include Ji's four plays: "Chang Qing", "Shan Qing", "Long Side" and "Short Side"; Cai's five plays: "You Chun", "Lu Shui", "Secluded Residence", "Sitting Sorrow" and "Autumn Thinking"; it is said that it is the qin song "Jiu Kuang" composed by Ruan Ji among the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, and "Wu Ye Cry" by Song Wang Yiqing of the Six Dynasties.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, music from the Western Regions prevailed, and the pipa rose, while the development of Guqin music was restrained to a certain extent.However, due to the production of Guqin scores, it not only promoted the spread of Guqin music at that time, but also had far-reaching historical significance for the inheritance and development of Guqin music in later generations, making the history of ancient Chinese music enter a period with sound to follow.At the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Yeli sorted out the fingering notation of characters popular at that time, and compiled works explaining the playing method such as "The Right Hand Method for Playing the Qin" and "Gestures for Playing the Qin".The famous qin melody "Jieshi Diaoyoulan" was handed down by Liang Qiuming in the Southern Dynasty. It is now handwritten in Tang Dynasty and handed down to Japan. It is the earliest and only known Guqin written score in China.

Tang Dynasty poets Li Qiao, Li Qi, Li Bai, Han Yu, Bai Juyi, Zhang Hu, Yuan Zhen, etc. all wrote immortal poems for Guqin.Bai Juyi loves guqin. In "Yeqin", it is said: "Shuqin is solid in wood, and the sound of Chusi is clear." He wrote in "Boat Night Aiding the Qin": the bird rests and the moon moves, and the moon shines on the night river.The Qixian is a good friend, the two ears are bosom friends, and the quietness of the heart means that the voice is calm, and its hearing is unprecedented. " Zhang Hu's "Listening to Yuezhou Xu Yuanwai Playing the Piano" also has: "The jade rhythm conceals a guqin, and the philosopher's heart sees the saint's heart."The south wind seems to be the will of the day, and the mountains are filled with nine doubts, apes and birds. "Describes the rich expressive power of Guqin. Famous qin masters in the Tang Dynasty include Zhao Yeli, Dong Tinglan, Xue Yijian, Chen Kangshi, Chen Zhuo, etc. Zhao Yeli summarized the Qin school at that time and said: "Wu Sheng is clear and graceful, if the Yangtze River flows broadly, It stretches and passes away slowly, with the style of a national scholar, and the voice of Shu is impatient, and if the waves are rushing to the thunder, he is also a handsome man for a while. "It still conforms to the characteristics of the two schools of Wu and Shu. Dong Tinglan in the prosperous Tang Dynasty has handed down Qin music such as "Da Hujia" and "Little Hujia". Xue Yijian summarized the role of Guqin music in his "Qin Jue" as follows: " It can be taught by watching wind, capturing the soul, discerning joy and anger, joyful thinking, calming the mind, strengthening courage, avoiding worldly customs, and distinguishing ghosts and gods. "And it is proposed that the performer must be "concentrated and focused", which is valued by later generations of pianists, which leads to many specifications for playing the piano.

In the late Tang Dynasty, Cao Rou created the reduced character spectrum because of the inconvenience of using the script spectrum because of its "extremely complicated text".That is to say, it is a kind of notation formed by subtracting pens from Chinese notation on the basis of character notation, similar to playing symbols, and it is an early form of guqin minus notation.Famous pianist in the Tang Dynasty was Dong Tinglan (during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years), who inherited the most famous tunes of Shen and Zhu from his teacher Chen Huaigu, and was good at playing the qin tunes "Da Hujia" and "Little Hujia".Xue Yijian, a qin master in Tianbao, can play [-] big nongs and [-] miscellaneous tunes, and has seven theoretical works "Qin Jue". "Crane Exercise", "White Snow" and other songs.In the late Tang Dynasty, there were also qin music composed by qin player Chen Kangshi based on Qu Yuan's "Li Sao".

On the one hand, the guqin in the Song Dynasty has a tendency of nostalgia and retroism. On the other hand, due to the long-term practice of the guqin in the performance of "Xianghege" and "Qingshangyue", it has a profound connection with folk music, and the qin song "Chu and Han Old Sound" The historical tradition of Guqin music has not been annihilated in the tendency of retroism, but has been developing with ups and downs.Guo Mian, an outstanding qin player in the Southern Song Dynasty (named Chuwang, born in 1190 and died after 1260), and his disciples Liu Zhifang, Mao Minzhong, etc., made certain contributions to the development of Guqin music in terms of sorting out and creating Guqin heritage .For example, the qin songs "Xiaoxiang Water Cloud", "Flooding Canglang" and "Autumn Hong" composed by Guo Mian; "Forgetting the Machine" and "Wujiang Song" composed by Liu Zhifang; "Peilan" and "Mountain Dwelling" have been handed down to this day.Famous qin songs at that time also included "Chu Ge", "Hujia Eighteen Beats", "Zepan Yin" and so on; Yin" and so on.The "History of Qin" written by Zhu Changwen of Song Dynasty truly records the historical materials of Qin in Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties.