First Yaji #
Barcelona, May 14th, 2005
The first Friends Of Guqin meeting or Yaji was celebrated a radiant day of spring, with the participation of Cesc Fortuny and Joan M. Vigo.
At the end of April, Joan finally received his silk-stringed Qin from China, crafted by Wang Peng - Cesc is still thinking about buying himself one. So, the Friends of the Guqin could already celebrate their first meeting with the Qin.
The meeting divided into three parts: tuning of the Qin, interpretation of Xianweng Cao according to the transcription of John Thompson and finally a session of improvisation.
Tuning of the Qin #
The first part of the meeting focused to revising the tuning of the Qin and understanding the tuning method, as well as the pentatonic scale and the musical theory of the instrument. More detailed information on this subject is available at tuning the guqin.
Xianweng Cao #
The Melody of the transcendent and venerable one is quite a simple melody that can be sung while it is played. The first time that we hear it was during the conference-demonstration that John Thompson carried out in Casa Asia, Barcelona, last February. Besides, the transcription of this melody can be read online in the web that John Thompson dedicates to the Guqin.
In this second part of the yaji, Joan played this melody twice, proving that indeed the last part of this can be used for checking the tuning of the Qin (thanks John!). Cesc studied the movements and the positions, and he also tried to play it.
Improvisation of Qin and acoustic guitar #
During the last part of the meeting, Cesc and Joan they improvised with the acoustic guitar and the Qin respectively. The truth is that the combination did not sound badly. The deepest pitches of the guitar allowed the Qin to be listened to without having to be amplified. However, if the guitar raised the tones, then its force turned off the sound of the Qin.
Conclusions #
We want to give thanks to the people that have discovered the world of the Guqin for us, especially to John Thompson. And also to: Jim Binkley, Chris Evans, Judy (Pei-You)Chang, Julian Joseph, Huibi Liu and the NAGA, for the efforts that all of them carry out in the diffusion of the Qin and the valuable online information that they maintain.