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| 20th c. 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 1978 (compare 1990) |
From 1974 to 1976 I studied qin in Taiwan with Sun Yü-Ch'in (1915-1990), learning from him the following 17 melodies; to my knowledge this was his entire repertoire at the time.2 I do not recall in what order I learned them so the listing here is alphabetical; the links have further information on each melody.3
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 Shounong4 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.5 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.6 In 1989 the government selected Mr. Sun as one of its first Living National Cultural Treasures.7 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.
Sun Yü-Ch'in's repertoire
Although to my knowledge this list comprised Sun Yü-Ch'in's repertoire at that time, his memorial CD also includes
Ao Ai. I believe he learned it later, from a recording.
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3.
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 first learned from him (in the list below, "original" means "earliest known published verwsion"). The list is alphabetical, but with the melodies I currently do not play placed at the end:
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.
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4.
田壽農 Tian Shounong
From 天津 Tianjin, but no further information.
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5.
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.
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6.
Yeh Shih-Ch'iang (葉世強 Ye Shiqiang)
See separate page.
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7.
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.
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Return to qin biographies, my performances, my repertoire, or the Guqin ToC
Appendix
古調雖自愛，今人多不彈 —— 古琴藝師孫毓芹
The cold, bleak seven strings, Silently attending the sounds of wintry winds through the pines;
冷冷七弦上，靜聽松風寒；
The Tang dynasty poet Liu Chang-ch'ing's poem, looked at today, is a pretty apt depiction of the fate of the ch'in.[tr.note: The ch'in, or ku-ch'in (literally "ancient ch'in"), also known in the West as a Chinese zither, is a stringed instrument, about one meter across (though length varies), which is plucked with the right hand while the left fingers make notes on the strings.]
In fact, although the number of ch'in players in Taiwan is not high, the proportion is more than ten times greater than in the mainland.And more than half of these ch'in players have been the students of Sun Yu-chin, who was selected this year as a Traditional Arts Master.
When you talk about the ch'in, you must mention Sun Yu-ch'in.
Since the Spring and Autumn period this story has been popular among the people: Po Ya could express his profound visions through the ch'in, but only his close friend Chung Tsu-chi could appreciate it.
But those well-versed in music are few, and after Tsu-chi died, Po Ya smashed his ch'in to express his grief, and never played again.
Sun Yu-ch'in hails from Fengtung County in Hopeh.
Though his family was in mining, he had poetry as his companion from infancy, and got his first inkling of the ch'in in the ancient verses.
At 17 he began studying art with Tien Shou-nung.
Taking advantage of his home's--indeed, his village's--only radio, he listened to ch'in performances, and became drawn in from there.
He gave up other instruments and focused on the ku-ch'in.In his youth Sun was immersed in the sound of the ch'in every day.
"This darned ku-ch'in is hard to study, easily forgotten, and grating on the ears," laughs Sun, repeating his own teacher's description of the ch'in.
Compared with the ku-cheng, which has 13 to 16 strings, each with two tones, the ku-ch'in has seven strings, each with 34 sounds.
Just remembering where all the notes are requires considerable effort.
If you don't practice one day, you forget what you've been taught.
A hard working student studies for two years before being considered to have elementary knowledge.If you really want to get the spirit of it, that takes ten years!
Besides the large number of note positions, the fingering methods are copious--with no less than 100 types."There was one fingering method, I spent a year before really grasping its subtlety," recalls Sun. And ku-ch'in musical notation is a complete mystery to anyone who's never studied it.
In The Dream of the Red Chamber, the hero Pao-yu visits the heroine Tai-yu.
Looking at her books, he can't recognize a single character, saying, "Sister has really progressed--now she can read the Heavenly script."
Tai-yu laughed and retorted, "Someone who studies as well as you, and you've never even seen ch'in music."
In fact, Tai-yu's book can be understood with a little explanation: the characters are composites of other, standard characters which, in combination, indicate which fingers to use where.
But earlier texts are even more incomprehensible, and each school or style had its own system of notation.
Further, the sheet music contains no indication of rhythm or time, so that the student can only follow the teacher note for note.
This causes some students to give up halfway--or to not even get halfway.
With a light, low-volume sound suitable for playing in front of just a few aficionados, there are few performance opportunities for the ch'in.The number of students is small, and naturally so is the number of those who truly appreciate it.
Sun's student Chen Wen indicates that compared to the nearly 100,000 people who have taken up the ku-cheng, those who study ku-ch'in must master the ancients' lament: "The singers spare themselves no pain, but are saddened only that those who are truly able to appreciate are so few."
How can one appreciate the ku-ch'in?
The listener must be like the monk who tranquilizes the body, lips, and mind for meditation.
And the player must take into account the weather, the geography, and harmony with other people.With years of experience, Sun believes that the temperature must be moderate.
If it is too hot, it is not only easy to get over-wrought, but the hands sweat and dampen the strings. When it's too cold the fingers are stiff. And rainy weather can obscure the sound of the ch'in. Humidity makes the strings muddy.
Thus it is best to play on clear nights.Geographically someplace dark and removed is foremost.
Classic paintings often portray the hermit, sitting cross-legged deep in the forest, facing a waterfall, fingering the ch'in.
But Sun says with a laugh, "Holding the ch'in on your leg like that is bad enough, but add to that the thunderous sounds of the waterfall, and it's really not fit for playing the ch'in. It's certainly less refined than 'Sitting alone deep in a bamboo grove; plucking the ch'in and singing softly; deep in the forest unknown to others; the moonlight comes to trade reflections.'"
With moderns surrounded on all sides by urban jungle, the selection of a ch'in studio is best done to avoid facing factories or main streets.
Even if the weather and geography are right, the people must be in harmony in their moods.If the artist is consumed by various emotions and desires, even if he or she can reluctantly be made to play, the results will be less than ideal.That is why Confucius did not perform music on the day of a friend's funeral.
Now 75, Sun's health has, for the past three years, not been as good as in the past.Respiratory and heart disease make an oxygen tank a constant companion.He almost never goes out; but students still come to see him.
Already a great-grandfather, Sun is alone in Taiwan.At his side are only two thrushes and the oxygen tank.
The best thing for relieving the loneliness is still the ch'in.The longing for his family causes Sun to avoid playing as much as possible those melancholy songs that tell of one thinking of a home far away.
It's best to play those that evoke nature, to induce feelings of peace and contentment.
Since the government has allowed family visits to the mainland, Sun has exchanged letters, but dares not go back, for fear his body could not take the traveling or the emotional duress.
Sun has not changed since being selected as a Traditional Arts Master.On the one hand he sees fame to be "as fleeting as drifting clouds," and on the other hand the passing on of his art is his natural work, which he has never abandoned even for a day.
"I only want that the teaching of the ku-ch'in be more than just technique.If there is no rapport between student and teacher, I am afraid it will be difficult to go deeper than technique."
Sun's only hope is that the Ministry of Education will have different standards than those used to choose students for other traditional arts; instead of the strictest standards he would just have two or three really dedicated students to carry on uninterruptedly the noble and lucid song of the ch'in.
Return to the top.
Though I Adore the Ancient Melodies, No One Plays Them Any More.
—— The Ku-ch'in Teacher Sun Yü-ch'in
蔡文婷 Cai Wenting, 《光華》，頁118-122。1989
Translated by Phil Newell
Though I adore the ancient melodies, No one plays them any more.
古調雖自愛，今人多不彈。