Robert Martin, Director
Bard Conservatory of Music

Bob,

It was wonderful meeting you on Saturday, with the delightful addition of being able to share a Haverford experience or two. We discussed John Davison; to that I could add that one reason I majored in music was that Bill Reese was on sabbatical my junior year and so, by specializing in early music, I took most of my music classes at Bryn Mawr.

The US-China Music Institute is a wonderful endeavor and I wish it long term success. As for my specific ideas regarding it, I wonder whether I should be copying what I write here also to Professor Cai or whether I should correspond with him separately. He indicated to me that he planned to look at my website. Perhaps I should write to him in more detail about that? 

At present what I would write to him is the following. Do you think I am phrasing it in a way that adequately expresses that, while I am hoping I can make some suggestions, perhaps even strengthen the institute through sharing my research materials and collections, I do not wish to do anything inappropriate?
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For over 40 years now I have been researching, reconstructing and performing guqin music largely from Ming dynasty sources. In the process I have created probably the largest website on historical Chinese music, even though it focuses mainly on guqin music published before 1650. It has been particularly interesting to experience how this work connects with the aesthetics and processes involved in historically informed performance of Western music, but it has also been a natural inspiration for getting more deeply involved with Chinese culture in broader ways. 

Recently I have been looking for an institution that might be interested in the research materials I have collected while doing this work, as well as a possible future home or homes for the instruments (including two antique guqin) and various types of artwork, including furniture, that I have collected because I found it relevant and inspiring for my work. I think it would make a good basis for a scholar's studio - with a few additions it could be of museum quality. Ideally it will go into an environment likely to attract other people who might have, or acquire, an interest in historically informed performance of early Chinese music. (I realize it might be difficult for all this to go to the same place.)

As François Picard mentioned at the conference, exposure to early Chinese music can provide good inspiration for people dedicated to creating new Chinese music with a basis in Chinese traditions. A similar belief directed me in my own work from 1980 to 1998 with the Festival of Asian Arts in Hong Kong. There, as Artistic Consultant, my aim was for the festival not only to show the beauty of traditional Asian arts but also to showcase the way training in Asian traditions can be relevant to contemporary expression. This is something too often overlooked.

Regarding specifics of my guqin work I could go into great detail, referencing relevant pages on my website, but here I only mention two. The first has links to online recordings of my reconstructions (currently 174 of the over 230 I have made); the second is my article on historically informed guqin performance. (For both pages there are linked Chinese translations).

http://www.silkqin.com/06hear.htm
http://www.silkqin.com/08anal/hip.htm

In any case, I look forward to having an opportunity to discuss this again. Of course, some of this can only be expressed by actually playing an ancient melody or two on my silk string zither.

Best wishes,

John