CD 2

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.... (n.b., the poem opening is also written "泠泠七絃".) 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.

By 蔡文婷 Ventine Tsai; photos (not included) by 黃麗梨 Huang Li-li
Translated by Phil Newell

古琴製作稱「斲琴」，林立正是孫毓芹斲琴的弟子，也是國內唯一專業的斲琴者。
The making of the ku-ch'in is known in Chinese as "hewing the ch'in." Lin Li-cheng was a student of the renowned ku-ch'in maker Sun Yu-ch'in and is the only specialized hewer of ch'ins in the country.

多年來，他走遍高山尋找斲琴良材，為了扛重木也傷了脊椎，但是林立正仍一本初衷，無怨無悔。
For many years he has roamed in the high mountains in search of the best ch'in materials. In lifting heavy wood, he injured his spine, but has lost none of his original enthusiasm.

彈琴者得好琴才能演奏清音，而斲琴者必得良木方能製成佳琴。
To play the ch'in one must have a fine instrument; to make a fine ch'in requires good wood.

一張琴，從選材、鑿斫、上漆、定徽到上弦，每一道手續都繁瑣而精細。
Every step in the process, from selecting the wood, to hewing, to applying the lacquer, to stringing, is complex and refined.

奇木、奇人、奇事 所謂「巧婦難為無米之炊」，琴材的選擇需要眼光和時間。
The selection of materials requires a good eye, and time.

古來就有不少傳奇軼事。
(not translated)

像是唐朝的斲琴者雷威，每逢大風雪就喝得微醺，披上蓑衣、笠帽，深入峨嵋山中，傾聽松林的呼嘯聲，聽到聲音特別綿長悠遠的，便砍下帶回。
It is said that the Ch'ing dynasty ch'in maker Lei Wei, each time it snowed, donned his palm-bark rain cape and bamboo rain hat, and went deep into Omei Mountain to listen to the whistling of the winds in the pines. When he heard one that was especially lingering, he cut it down and brought it back.

而漢朝蔡邕自木材燃燒的劈啪聲中，搶救出有名的「焦尾琴」原材，更為後人津津樂道。
And then there's Ts'ai Yung of the Han dynasty, who selected his wood by the sounds it made being scorched.

對林立正而言，雷威的方法太過傳奇；而蔡邕的故事，以科學方法來分析，是因木材遇高溫樹脂收縮而爆裂，而密度愈高者迸裂聲愈洪亮，自然是制琴的好材料。
As for Lin Li-cheng, Lei's method is too mythical; and Ts'ai's story can be explained scientifically, because the more dense the wood, the more resonant the cracking sound when the resin is dissipated under high temperatures.

林立正也是依科學方法來製琴。
Lin Li-cheng uses scientific methods to make ch'ins.

從小家中經營木材場，林立正是在木頭堆裡長大的，隨著父親、老伐木工在林場裡來去，他識得許多樹的名稱、顏色、紋理、年輪疏密、砍伐角度等。
(not translated)

斲琴的木材必須質地細密、全無木液，因此遭雷劈死枯朽者或是古建築的樑柱，都是上好之材，也就是說停止生長的、年代越久的木材越好，倘若是新材，便得再多方處理以去掉木液。
(not translated)

千山萬水尋良材 為了尋得良材，林立正經常隻身入山林。以多年在林場的生活及幾年跑船的經驗，不需指南針，他一樣可以依山勢、天象，甚或是一種直覺找到方向。 山中一去便是一個月，糧食不足便找野菜、游魚裹腹，夜裡便套件睡袋，以大地為床。
In order to find good materials, he often goes alone into the forest, relying only on the lay of the land and his instincts to lead him, living off the land if need be, for up to a month.

在山林，他像在家中一般自得，而年輕時對古琴的狂熱，常是不覓得良材誓不回的。
The woods are like his home. When he was young he often swore not to return home at all until he found materials.

民國六十九年，他自獨立山入林、溯立霧溪而上（枯木材在泥土中易腐，流於水則較易保存）。
In 1980, when he was alone in the mountain woods, he was walking up a stream (old wood is relatively well-preserved in flowing water).

傍晚覓得曲流岸邊休息，在溪中捕魚時，看見一紫黑色枯枝，折下一段，空氣中爆出濃郁香氣，並且木質脆密，應是斲琴良材。 潛下水中、高興地發覺水下的木幹正足夠制上一把古琴。
That night, while resting on the bank, he detected a purplish-black branch under thewater, just right for a chrin in length and of excellent quality.

此後廿多天，他便每日帶著鋸子潛水，要鋸下那段水中的木材。
Every day for the next twenty days he dove underwater with his saw to chop the branch away--no mean feat submerged, especially when the sawdust sticks to the sawblade.

可以想像他在急流中潛水，除了耗費體力、還得不時換氣；
(not translated)

而水中鋸木，木屑會附著在鋸縫中，這都較一般鋸木工作要難上數十倍。
(not translated)

良材是可遇不可求，他憑著這股傻勁兒辛苦取得，這塊一般人眼中的朽木，居然在日後成為林立正最滿意的「古澗泉」名琴。
The wood eventually became the ch'in that Lin is most satisfied with.

科學辨木法 從六十二年向孫毓芹學斲琴起，林立正一直是全心投入，除了老師的經驗，他更下苦心到師大上顯微技術、木材化學，到台大學硬木切片。
Starting from his time studying with Sun Yu-ch'in in 1973, Lin Li-cheng has always committed himself completely. Besides learning his teacher's experience, he took himself to leading universities to study microscope technology, wood chemistry, and hardwood.

對高中沒畢業的林立正而言，研讀這些課程並不容易，一些公式、化學符號在他眼裡簡直是「有看沒有懂」，不過基於狂熱，他總能自其中吸收自己所需要的。
For Lin, who had never been to high school, this was not easy. But he was able, through hard work, to get out of it what he wanted.

雖然這些課程不見得對斲琴有實質幫助，但是對他超越自己，或日後教授學生也有些助益和依據。
(not translated)

以古木材斲琴不須特別處理，但因原料取之有限，因此一般斲琴者多以新木材斲琴；
Old wood requires no special handling for hewing the ch'in. But because original materials are limited, most ch'in makers use new wood.

但新木必須去除木液，將雕成雛型的木頭放入石灰水槽浸泡一、兩個月。
But it's necessary to get the liquid out of the new wood by sub mersing the embryonically carved wood in lime water to soak for a month or two.

如此一來，木液雖然去除了，但石灰中的碳酸鈣卻浸入細胞壁中，雖然將之放在流水中三、四月，也無法完全漂去灰氣。
But then, the calcium carbonate in the lime gets into the cells, and there's no way to completely get rid of it.

為此，林立正投下大量時間，研究用一種專吃木液的細菌侵入木料，蝕去木液，便不會傷害木質。 不過還在試驗之中。
Lin has spent a lot of time researching a way to put liquid consuming microbes into the wood, but this is still in an experimental stage.

放在水中長期漂灰的木頭，上岸後必須陰乾，林立正發覺在台灣即使任木頭自然陰乾也會造成裂紋，應該在密室中以最「溫和」的方式陰乾才對。
Wood which has been in water for a long time must be dark dried. Lin feels that in Taiwan, even if the wood is dried naturally, there will be cracks. So it should be dried in the most moderate possible environment.

而這些經驗都是書上沒寫的，只能在不斷的嘗試及學習中獲得。
These kinds of things cannot be discovered in books, but only through trial and study.

細細推敲好琴音 製作一把好琴，工藝技巧是其次，最重要的是聲音，這便和琴腹空間、琴面和琴底搭配合宜有關。
In making a ch'in, the handcrafting is secondary to the tone. This is closely connected to the middle space and the matching of the face and underside of the ch'in.

林立正剛開始向孫毓芹學藝時，一把琴作好了，請老師試彈，音色不對便拆開修改再請老師試彈，如此折騰，一把琴往往得拆拆改改廿幾回。
When he first began studying, Lin would take a finished ch'in to his teacher Sun to try out.

到現在，也會彈琴的林立正只須改個兩、三次，便可成就一把相當出色的古琴：技巧及音感都臻一定水準，而且對不同木頭在經雕斫後，因結構不同而可能產生的變形也都仔細考量，所以琴不會彈上一兩年便因變形而走音，甚或報廢。
If the sound wasn't right, it would be taken apart and repaired repeatedly, sometimes more than 20 times. Now Lin can get it right in two or three tries. Different kinds of wood may show different types of shape changes which must be carefully considered so that a ch'in will not lose its tone after a year or two.

不少出了毛病的古琴，也常會送來請他診治，即使香港最有名的蔡福記製古琴，或大陸質好而工不佳的琴，也常送往林立正這兒「急救」。
Many defective ku-ch'in are sent to Lin for "emergency treatment," including those by the famous Hong Kong hewer Tsoi Fok-geh and mainland ch'in which have good materials but poor workmanship.

一般市面上的古琴大約是新台幣兩萬元左右，林立正的琴最低價卻是五萬元。
Most ch'in on the market go for about NT$20,000. Lin's cheapest is NT$50,000.

「不好的琴隨便賣，丟人哪，所以全部燒掉，我的琴若不是有把握是不會開那個價的。」
(not translated)

事實上，來買琴的人也沒有嫌貴的。
But those who come to buy don't think it's expensive.

為古琴立命 製一把琴，林立正平均得花上兩年時間，除了前面說過的步驟，還得打底、上漆、定徽、上弦。
To make a ch'in takes Lin two years. Besides the steps already discussed, there's also sanding, lacquering, and stringing.

打底是以鹿角灰、瓦灰或石膏為材料，而上漆是用生漆，打底上漆的厚薄、材料的成份都會影響琴音，一點也馬虎不得。
He uses deer horn powder as sanding material, and crude lacquer on the outside. The depth of the lacquer and its ingredients affect the sound, and cannot be taken lightly.

因此林立正的鹿角灰是自己以石磨磨出，篩得極細，日後琴面才會平滑。 而生漆惟恐購得的漆成份不純，林立正都是在七、八月時，親自到埔里一帶向漆農包漆樹林，並隨漆農入林割漆。
Lin grinds his own deer horn powder and goes to get crude lacquer from a forest near Puli every seven or eight months.

漆樹不但刺激性極強，亦極易使人過敏，而且一刀只能取到五CC的生漆，林立正的雙目便是長期在漆樹林中，因過敏而紅腫微凸。
This May, Lin injured his spine lifting heavy wood.

「定徽」是標示音階的記號，古來不論金、玉、螺蚌等寶石皆可利用，但憑各人喜好。
(not translated)

林立正只用螺蚌，他的理由是，「金、玉太昂貴，若是古琴傳到不愛護的人手上，一定會動念挖取金、玉所製的徽，那豈不反害了琴。 」對琴，林立正可真是用盡心思。 今年五月林立正的脊椎因扛大木頭而折斷一截，目前復健狀況不錯，不過工作量卻不免大量減少。
He is recovering well, but inevitably his workload has been reduced.

所幸他今年國中畢業的大兒子林海，極有興趣學習，願意以一年時間全心學習，以減輕父親的工作。
Fortunately, his oldest son is graduating from middle school this year, and will, after studying intensively for a year, help his father in his work.

林立正常感嘆自己起步太慢，不然可以研製更多好琴。
(not translated)

一般人聽過「書癡」、「情癡」，卻很少見識到「琴癡」，林立正就是最具代表性的人物。
We've all heard of people who are "lovecrazy." But few have seen anyone who is "ch'in-crazy." Lin Li-cheng is the most representative example.