Gu Zheng Lesson

This past week, I was fortunate enough to have a lesson on a traditional Chinese instrument, the Gu Zheng. I very much enjoyed the lesson, especially considering that there were many unique aspects to this instrument. The first of these was the style of the instrument. This instrument technically belongs to the zither family. I thought that it was an interesting experience to take a lesson on an instrument of this family as I have never had any experience with this. I am not sure whether or not the timbre of the instrument is characteristic of this family, but I very much enjoyed that. I found it odd, though, that rather than marking the "do" of each octave, the instrument marked the "re". That was slightly confusing to me as a beginner and I am curious, still, as to the reasoning for that.

I found that the way that the Gu Zheng was played (plucked by three to eight fingers with picks) was very difficult for me as a beginner to navigate. While I began with only three fingers, my instructor has developed to the point where she was able to use eight. I imagine that working to this level of proficiency would be difficult and would take a child many years of study, simply to develop the motor skills required.

Another unique aspect of this lesson was the fact that the Gu Zheng music was in a Chinese notation. I found this particularly fascinating as I have always enjoyed studying alternative notation systems, such as mapping, neumes, etc. I found that the notion was very conducive to a young child to learn as the music was not on a staff, but was noted by degrees. Due to the way the Gu Zheng is constructed, it is very easy to find specific degrees on the instrument. That, I feel, would significantly decrease the learning time required for a young student. Another unique concept of this music is the way in which rests are treated. Rather than being an empty space in the music, the rest is considered a "0". This is almost like measured silence and I think that would significantly help a child to understand the concept of a rest as being the presence of no sound rather than the absence of sound.

In all, I very much enjoyed the lesson. While the instrument was quite difficult to play to begin with, I feel that once a certain proficiency and comfort with the instrument is reached, progress will increase rapidly. This was a very unique experience and I look forward to the possibility of having additional similar experiences on other world instruments.