|
T of C
Home |
My Work |
Hand- books |
Qin as Object |
Qin in Art |
Poetry / Song |
Hear Qin |
Play Qin |
Analysis | History |
Ideo- logy |
Miscel- lanea |
More Info |
Personal | email me search me |
| Studying with Prof. Sun Sun Yuqin on qin making My current repertoire | 首頁 |
| Sun Yü-Ch'in 1 | 孫毓芹 |
| Sun Yü-Ch'in in 1990 |
From 1974 to 1976 I studied qin in Taiwan with Sun Yü-Ch'in (1915-1990), learning from him the following 17 melodies.2 To my knowledge this was his repertoire at the time, though his memorial CD also includes
Ao Ai, apparently learned later from a recording. The links have further information on each melody.
Sun Yü-Ch'in was born in 1915 in Tangshan, Hebei province. In 1930 he began studying a variety of music instruments, including the xiao and di flutes, the yueqin moon lute and the huqin two-string fiddle. In 1936 he began studying guqin with Tian Shounong3 of Tianjin, learning over 20 melodies from him. Sun graduated in politics and economics from Chinese College in Beijing, then joined the army in the war against the Japanese invasion. He went to Taiwan with the army in 1950 but was unable to play qin again until 1955, at which time his Chan (Zen) Buddhism master introduced him to Chang Chih-Sun.4 Sun revised his playing style when studying with Chang, later also learning melodies from recordings he was able to get from the Mainland. Due to the difficulty in getting qins in Taiwan he learned to make them himself, though his main achievement in this regard was teaching Ye Shih-Ch'iang to make them.5 In 1989 the government selected Mr. Sun as one of its first Living National Cultural Treasures.6 On the CD made in his honor in 1991 (now out of print) he speaks about the qin, then plays Xiangjiang Yuan, Xiao Xiang Shui Yun, Yu Qiao Wenda and Ao Ai.
Footnotes (Numbers refer to entries in Zhongwen Dacidian)
1.
Sun Yü-Ch'in (孫毓芹 Sun Yuqin)
For further information in English see:
2.
Melodies learned from Sun Yü-Ch'in
Sun Yü-Ch'in was an excellent teacher in the traditional style (see
testimonial), and when I arrived in Hong Kong in 1976 I was told that my playing style very much resembled his. However, after this I gradually stopped playing the melodies I had learned from him, changing my focus to the reconstruction of early melodies, and my repertoire now consists almost exclusively of the earliest published versions of any particular melody. The following list shows the versions I play today of the melodies I originally learned from him:
Sun Yü-Ch'in did not play the modern Ao Ai when I studied with him. Subsequently I learned the melodically related but quite different Yu Ge from <1491.
(Return)
3.
田壽農 Tian Shounong
No further information
(Return)
4.
Chang Chih-Sun (章志蓀 Zhang Zhisun, 1885-197?)
Zhang, from Anhui province, 字章梓琴 was also called Zhang Ziqin. He was an avid collector of qins and qin handbooks, though most of these were lost before he moved to Taiwan in 1949. He named his studio Hall for Studying the Yi Jing and Practicing the Qin 研易習琴齋 Yan Yi Xi Qin; consequently his qin handbook is titled Yan Yi Xi Qin Zhai Qinpu. According to comments there at the beginning of the second folio he
originally studied qin with 寶慶李緝熙 Li Jixi of Baoqing (in Hunan), then with 陳壽臣 Chen Shouchen. At the beginning of the Republican period he "met" 江陵李寶常 Li Baochang of Jingling, 裴介卿 Pei Jieqing and 四川劉鳴遠 Liu Mingyuan of Sichuan. After moving to Hangzhou in the 1920s he met 徐元白 Xu Yuanbai and 汪惕予 Wang Tiyu. Traveling around he met other qin players as well but it is not clear to what extent he studied from any of them after Chen Shouchen.
(Return)
5.
Yeh Shih-Ch'iang (葉世強 Ye Shiqiang)
See separate page.
(Return)
6.
National Living Cultural Treasure (國家國寶 Guojia guobao)
Also called 國寶級民族藝師 Guobao Ji Minzu Yishi. I have not seen an official translation for that.
(Return)
Return to my performances, my repertoire, or the Guqin ToC