Wu Fei's Music Daily
Wu Fei's Music Daily
#1119 — Two rings, four pitches 二环,四调,五宫
0:00
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -5:19
-5:19

#1119 — Two rings, four pitches 二环,四调,五宫

For prepared guzheng

Hi everyone,

I composed and recorded this two-track prepared guzheng piece yesterday. There are two elements that inspired me: prepared instrument, and the nine scales from the Yuan Dynasty in China.

Prepared instrument (music) refers to experimental music played with a prepared instrument, a musical instrument with objects inserted or attached to alter its sound. In this piece, I stuck two metal key chain rings (photo below) on the strings. The sound almost sounds like a gong, and the pitch changes too.

The nine scales 九宫 (or 五宫四调) was originated in the Song Dynasty in China (960 - 1279 A.D.) The scales became popular in the classical poetry form called Qu during the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368 A.D.), and reached a special height of popularity. Therefore it is often called Yuanqu 元曲. This music form always had words as lyrics to be sung. However, I always like the impressionism approach of a reality.

Wu Fei 吴非

Wufeimusic.com

Discussion about this episode