Hangzhou Guqin
1 Guqin string history
According to Mr. Huang Shuzhi's research, "Before the Song Dynasty, the strings were mostly made by piano players, and after the Ming Dynasty, they were mostly commercial strings." "Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the best strings were recommended in Hangzhou Huihuitang. Its first generation of Li Shiying began to produce guqin strings since the Ming Dynasty. The strings they made were called 'bing strings', designated as tributes from the inner palace. It has been passed down for more than 300 years... Huihuitang strings sold with Lao Santai's signature in the late Qing Dynasty..."
50 years ago were the "Jinyu Qin strings" made by Fang Yuting. According to records, "Jinyu Qinxian" began in 1943. At that time, due to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the "Huihuitang Qinxian" of the Laosantai in Hangzhou was closed down in 1939. When the piano player had no strings to play, " Wu Jingluo , Zhang Ziqian , and Zhuang Jiancheng gradually took the method of making strings from documents and awarded the ordinary string craftsman Fang Junyuting of Suzhou, which was trial-recovered in 1943." (Chat Fuxi "Chat Fuxi Qinxue Literature Collection, Old Sorrow and New Hate of String Production") The string production was restored and named "Jinyu Qinxian". Its production continued until after the "Cultural Revolution", intermittent, and due to raw materials and other problems, the quality could not be guaranteed. It was not until the late 1980s that the guqin steel strings had been recognized by most piano players. Except for a few Hong Kong orders, Jinyu's strings were basically discontinued. Before the Cultural Revolution, the use of silk strings was not affected. At that time, the "Jinyu Qinxian" sold in the musical instrument storage room of Shangyin Affiliated Middle School costs 6 yuan, which is almost equivalent to the food expenses of half a month at that time. Now it seems that it is not expensive or cheap. Its quality is not as good as the "Huihuitang String", which is a common theory passed down.
Before the "Jinyu Qin String" was launched in 1943, Mr. Wu Jingluo also instructed a workshop called "Zhenchangcheng" to make strings. On November 8, 1941, Mr. Zhang Ziqian wrote in "Caoman Scholars": "Zhenchangcheng's strings have been made 80% successful. Research can be improved again, and Jingluo's guidance is indelible." The strings were made the following year. On September 1, 1942, Mr. Zhang Ziqian wrote, "Zhenchangcheng's strings are quite good, and each payment costs 24 yuan, which is too expensive. I will buy two payments." Zhenchangcheng's strings failed to last long, which may be related to the turmoil in society at that time.
In the late period of the "Cultural Revolution" in the 1970s, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Musical Instrument Factory began to develop guqin steel strings based on harp strings. At that time, Shangji Music Instrument Factory made harp and violin, and also made harp strings, which had string making equipment. At that time, the participants included Master Zhao Junren of the Music Instrument Factory, and the guqin teachers participated in Wu Jingluo and Liu Jingshao. They were not involved in a development organization, but went to discuss with the musical instrument factory alone. Lin Youren and Gong Yi and others also participated separately (so you need to understand the developers of steel strings, and there will be different answers). Different people from musical instrument factories take over the manufacturing process, and they will always find the piano player to discuss it. At different periods, different requirements of different piano players, and the raw materials entering the factory are different, until today, the quality and specifications of the guqin strings of Shanghai Conservatory of Music have never been stable. At that time, Mr. Wu Jingluo also participated in the development of guqin steel strings at the Shanghai National Musical Instrument Factory. The outer layer of guqin steel strings in their guqin steel strings was also wrapped in nylon wire, but there was no need for a whole steel wire inside, but a "steel rope", that is, a steel rope twisted by very thin steel wire, which can reduce the amplitude of the string vibration, reduce the volume, and the tone is softer. For some reason, it did not become a climatic later.
Later in the "Cultural Revolution" to the end of the "Cultural Revolution", the piano player started to pack up the guqin again, and the strings were needed. However, the Musical Instrument Factory of the Conservatory of Music is not enthusiastic about making guqin strings, because the total production volume of guqin strings is not high, and it cannot be compared with guqin strings. Of course, the profit is not the same. During this period, I switched to , Wuxi to make somewhere in , and the strings are still made of paper bags of "shangyin card strings" in the musical instrument factory or green color, but this period has not been long. Suzhou has also made steel strings, which are shorter and have never reached the level of Shanghai Conservatory of Musical Instrument Factory. About ten years ago, another steel string making manufacturer in Shanghai appeared. The "Lesheng" brand was founded by Hu Zuting, a teacher from Shangyin's erhu. It is still in operation. Yangzhou Ma Weiheng has been using his steel strings.
At the beginning of this century, in the trend of reviving traditional national music concepts, silk string production was restored only after many years of hard work by Mr. Huang Shuzhi. Because Mr. Fang Yuting passed away for many years, this time it was not a simple "restoration" of restoring production, but the reality that silk string production has stopped for nearly 40 years, and starting from the study of traditional production techniques and methods from ancient books and materials, it was almost "rebuilding the stove". Mr. Huang Shuzhi devoted a lot of energy and financial resources and worked hard to finally succeed in his "Taigu Qin Strings", which should be said to be above the level of "Jinyu Qin Strings". It is really not easy for him to accomplish such a career with one person. According to Mr. Huang, he has found a clue that he can learn and study the traditional craftsmanship of Japanese silk strings - Japan's traditional string making technology has continued since ancient times and has never stopped. It is said that Mr. Huang recently used 6A silk as strings, and the effect is good. Of course, the cost is very high and it is not affordable for ordinary people. There is only Mr. Huang Shuzhi's "Taigu Qin String" in traditional silk strings. Moreover, in the current commodity economy society, we have also encountered the trouble of confusion and impact of inferior products, which is almost unsustainable.
At present, steel strings are still being produced continuously, supplying most of the string demands for guqin, and the supply is in short supply. Steel strings have also been striving for timbre improvements, but there are almost no obvious breakthroughs. As for the steel strings produced by Shanghai Conservatory of Music, it has been almost forty years and the overall quality is not higher than that of the beginning. The quality of steel strings mainly depends on the quality of the steel wire.
Xiamen Longren Qinfang has successfully developed guqin strings based on artificial fiber as raw material. The texture of artificial fibers is softer than steel strings, harder than traditional silk strings, much easier to use than traditional silk strings, and relatively cheaper to make them, and the production method is easier to include in the specifications than silk strings. The successful grasp of product quality is much greater than that of silk strings, that is, its industrial production level is higher than that of silk strings mainly based on handicraft production methods. The artificial fiber strings that have appeared at present have a similar to traditional silk strings. The annoying metal sound of the steel strings is gone. This is a great advantage of artificial fiber strings. The surface of the string is similar to that of the steel strings, and the most important advantage of the steel strings has been preserved. At the same time, the overly lengthy lingering sounds have also been significantly improved on the artificial fiber strings. The prospects for artificial fiber strings are promising, and it may replace steel strings and become a cheap alternative to traditional silk strings. The production process of traditional silk strings is complex, and it is greatly affected by the level of raw materials and production skills. The overall process time is long and the production time is affected by the season. The final cost is much higher than the previous two strings, and the price of the finished product will naturally be several times higher than the former. The most important constraint is the quality of the raw material silk.
2 Steel strings, the change of silk strings
Musical instruments are a carrier of culture, especially music culture. Through the guqin, the guqin is used to convey the information of ancient Chinese music culture, the philosophical connotation of the qin music, the ancient social style, artistic creation style, techniques, etc.... Various instruments have different imprints of the times, and different eras will have different instrument materials, shapes, scales, and styles of different tones, etc. Changes in instrument manufacturing will affect the above and show differences. Even if it is a subtle change, even if it is a slight change, people can't speak, but they feel it, and they will say that the "taste" is a little different. If we have the purpose of maintaining the traditional style as much as possible, then we will treat these changes very carefully in the manufacture of musical instruments, not easily, and not act as we wish. Invisible cultural messages rely on tangible carriers, and the two are closely related. So is the change in strings a change in instrument manufacturing? Of course. Because strings belong to a part of the instrument, different strings appear different tones, which is crucial in the expression of music. An instrument can not only make sounds, but what kind of sounds it makes and what kind of tone it makes. The tone itself is attached to a certain instrument. The instrument reflects the musical style of a certain era. The instrument changes, and the music also changes.
The event that caused great changes in Chinese music due to changes in strings was the overall change of the strings of national musical instruments that began around the 1960s: from traditional silk strings to metal wire strings. Except for the yangqin that originally uses metal strings, almost none of them escaped from the huqin , pipa, guzheng , and sanqin. This change is because the silk strings produced by handicraft encountered various difficulties such as scarce raw materials and lack of successors in production processes. The manufacturer gradually changed to metal wire strings or steel wire wrapped nylon filaments, and was accepted by the majority of performers, without any disputes involving the musical culture level. A great change was completed quietly and smoothly, and such a big "tooth revolution" was in a mere state. The reason was perhaps when people paid attention to the function of literature and art as a political weapon, and ignored the thinking as a cultural tradition. This kind of change has a special historical background. According to the older generation of zither Li Yuxian, the ensemble was required to reach the standard pitch in the past. After the silk strings of the guqin reached the standard pitch, the 7th string was easily broken, and later the steel strings were used to meet the requirements. The older generation of pianists who are used to using silk strings feel very harsh about the metal sound of steel strings, but as a new thing, no one dares to object. Of course, steel strings also have advantages. Although the sound quality of traditional silk strings is soft and charming, it is also quite painful to use. A pair of silk strings has finally been smooth, but it is also the time to break the most easily. Moreover, when the weather is bad, I don’t dare to play the piano, and it is easy to break because the silk strings are greatly affected by the dry and wet weather. This is also one of the reasons why the ancients were so taboo about playing the piano.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Yu Qin strings were still being produced intermittently, and the raw materials used for silk are getting worse and worse, so of course the quality of silk strings cannot be guaranteed. Since the development of steel wire nylon strings in the late Cultural Revolution in the 1970s, most piano players have switched to steel wire nylon strings. Finally, Suzhou Jinyu piano strings are on the verge of discontinuation, and steel strings are almost dominating the world. Until the 1990s, after the steel strings were used forty or fifty years, its annoying metal sound, its overly long lingering sound... Such obvious flaws have been agreed by most piano players. At the same time, the durability of steel strings and smooth surfaces of strings are also praised by the piano players; its "different from ancient times" and not very simple and elegant sound quality is also accepted by the new generation of piano players who are not familiar with the sound quality of traditional silk strings, and is gradually accustomed to the piano players who have used silk strings - this is the reality of modern piano history.
The debate on steel and silk strings continued to rise after the end of the "Cultural Revolution". The debate began to become more and more intense in the 1990s. Chinese national instruments other than guqin are still accustomed to changes that have come decades ago, and there is no phenomenon of guqin's debate on this. No factory has any initiative to resume production of guqin, such as guqin and erhu silk strings, although the use of guqin and erhu strings is much greater than that of guqin. The methods and specifications of making silk strings in
should change with the historical inheritance of the piano. Whether the silk strings in the Tang and Song dynasties and the silk strings in the Ming and Qing dynasties have changed in terms of production methods and specifications has not yet been examined. The silk strings that have been passed down from the Qing Dynasty to this day have a very loud friction between the left hand on the strings, which to some extent blocks and interrupts the progress of the musical melody. When playing musical scores such as "Miracle Secrets" and "Xilutang Qintong" are mostly left out of the Tang and Song dynasties), the "walking sound" is rarely used. The "walking sound" with a short time value is large and the friction sound is low, and the noise cannot exceed the musical sound. This faint friction sound also brings some natural emotion and "taste", just right, because these piano music "more tones and less rhyme". When playing some slow "small sounds and more rhymes" piano music in the Qing Dynasty, the "walking sound" value is often the amount of friction sound that exceeds the weak rhyme. Even the musical sound has disappeared, and the left hand is still moving up and down on the strings. The frictional sound replaces the progress of the musical sound and the melody, greatly affecting the expression performance of the musical instrument as a musical art. Starting from the late Ming Dynasty, the music style and fingering of the guqin turned to "less sound and more rhyme", which was a big change in the history of the guqin.In this way, the silk strings that can adapt to the music played by the music before the Ming Dynasty and before the Ming Dynasty were not adapted to the Qing Dynasty! This causes the disadvantage of "the friction between the left hand on the piano surface is very loud, which to some extent blocks and interrupts the progress of the musical melody."
However, the Qing Dynasty piano players who were conservative and retro-conscious did not realize that they should improve the production of silk strings, but adjusted their aesthetic habits in the time that was gradually passing by, adapting to the chaotic sounds that hindered the music of the piano. The qin music in the Qing Dynasty declined step by step. The guqin art emphasizes morality and form, and lightens the artistic function of music to the extreme. The musical beauty of the guqin seems to be no longer important to them. In contemporary times, some zithers are still used to excessive friction sounds and don’t care much, and even think that this is the origin of tradition. But most zithers think this is traditional helplessness. Among the previous generation of piano players, Wu Jingluo, , Xu Lisun and other seniors did not think this was an excellent feature in tradition. When they played the piano, they had made efforts to minimize the friction sounds that overshadowed the musical sounds, and their comments on this were also left with text. In fact, it is precisely because string production has not kept up with the changes in the development of art that has caused this unaccommodation.
The manufacturing of guqin wire strings in the 1960s has been nearly half a century since the use of steel strings. How is the situation compared with traditional silk strings?
steel strings are durable and stable, especially the advantages of smooth surfaces, which have changed the slow "small sounds and more rhymes" music, such as "Shadling Goose", "Remembering Old Friends", and "Good Night Introduction", which is praised by the piano players; and its annoying metal sound, its overly long lingering sounds and other defects are also agreed by most piano players; in addition to the shortcomings of the strings that are not as smooth as steel strings and have a high friction sound, the performance of traditional silk strings is not stable enough, and is greatly affected by temperature and humidity, which is not durable and has a high cost of use. Whether you play the strings hard or play them lightly, the condition is the same, and this state affects the expressiveness of the music. What is important is that the tone produced by steel strings lacks the traditional nostalgic "charm" of silk strings that is very close to human voice, that is, the warm color with a certain human touch. Subtle, different tones are felt by "people" and are different from different "people". This is the feeling and reaction of "people" in the process of human history and cultural influence, and is an identification in the concept of humanity.
timbre analysis of steel and silk strings can be carried out from physical acoustics. Envelope is an important concept for analyzing sound and tone. The propagation of each sound is a dynamic process. The envelope of sound is the connection between the peaks of each frequency (vibration) cycle in the sound. The spectrum envelope draws a distribution pattern of frequency energy in a spectrum. The envelope of the sound is divided into the initiation (sound head), attenuation, continuation, and disappearance. Each sound has a process from its sound to its continuation to attenuation and elimination, and the different characteristics of each part have a significant impact on the sound characteristics. For example, the tone of steel strings and silk strings is very different, and the sound envelope is also very different, and the T-shaped structure of the silk strings is relatively obvious. After the steel string is played, the "sound-output process state" presented is different from the traditional silk strings from the sound output to the disappearance. Regardless of the scattered sound, pressed sound, or overtone, the "sound head" at the beginning of the traditional silk string sound has an impact moment, and the "sound head" quickly becomes a slightly weaker volume after the appearance of the "sound head"; while the "sound head" of the steel string has relatively no impact strength, and the duration is relatively long. Therefore, although the volume of the steel string is large, it does not have the full sound quality and strength of the traditional silk string, and lacks the "grained feeling" of traditional silk string playing, and the "bone strength", the piano sound presents a "tired" state. The sound of the dragon man ice string is close to the traditional silk string, and the volume and continuity value are better than the traditional silk string and slightly lower than the steel string.
Although the production system of traditional guqins is different in materials, sizes, styles, etc., there is a common idea that the well-made guqin must be equipped with silk strings.Therefore, during the process of making pianos, the piano production system takes into account this final "compatibility". Even today's artificial pianos, they all carefully study the production process of old pianos handed down from ancient times. The sudden intrusion of steel strings naturally causes some kind of conflict and discomfort. Of course, in modern times, people who make pianos have accepted the installation of steel strings, and the body making of pianos will also adapt to steel strings, and conflicts are avoided to some extent. Nowadays, the guqins made by Xiamen Longren Qinfang are all equipped with rayon strings, and the arrangement of the piano body is also made to meet the requirements of rayon strings, with excellent sound quality.
"Xie Xiyi's String Making Method" by Liu Lai of the Southern Dynasty said: "If the zither is heavy and thick, thin strings should be used. If the zither is thin and timid, thick strings should be used. Today's new zither is made in an environment where steel strings are generally played, and it is suitable for steel strings; the silk strings are not necessarily necessary. We can only choose a new zither suitable for silk strings. This has a process of experimenting and gaining experience. Use a regular standard (equivalent to the "Zhongqing") silk strings from Suzhou, and first put them on a new zither with a looser and looser sound when the original steel strings are used. As a result, the strings were weak and the sound of the piano seemed empty and weak. Later, I changed to a new piano that originally pressed the strings and didn't make a sound when I was pushing the strings. The effect was very different from the previous one, and the sound was clearer and more vigorous. I changed to a slightly transparent steel string zither and tried it with silk strings. It also had a transparent feature, and the sound seemed to have a sound of metal and stone.
The ancients made zithers in the environment of silk strings. Because there were strings of different thicknesses and specifications, the zithers they made were not the same, and they were depicted as heavy as iron and as light as leaves. It can be seen that the difference was also very big. Therefore, , Today, when the silk string specifications are single, even if you are on the old zither, it is not necessarily 100% suitable. Some zither makers are already exploring the new characteristics of zither specializing in silk strings. It can be expected that after the continuous improvement of silk string quality, variety and zither making skills, zither lovers who like silk strings will be more likely to choose a satisfactory zither.
In recent years, there have been more and more people who yearn for silk strings, including young zithers. They pay great attention to the production and quality improvement of silk strings. In the past half a century, In the future, the production of guqin silk strings only progressed intermittently in a string making workshop in a folk music factory in Suzhou. Overseas pianist Huang Shuzhi has been studying and analyzing the improvement of silk strings and investing in multiple experiments and trial productions, and has achieved certain results from raw materials to process and specifications. Huang has further ideas and research on the transformation of strings. Under his promotion, he believes that the quality of silk strings in Suzhou will gradually improve.
(This article is a compilation of existing string research, for reference only.)
