British Forum for Ethnomusicology

Meaning and Structure: The Case of Chinese qin (zither) Music

Author(s): Frank Kouwenhoven
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 10, No. 1, Music and Meaning (2001), pp. 39-
62
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060771
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FRANKKOUWENHOVEN
Meaning and structure - the case of
Chinese qin (zither) music

In Chinese traditional culture, primary importance is attached to the program-

matic and aesthetical purport of musical pieces. In practice, however, one is
confronted with an abundance of different (often contrasting) musical mean-
ings. This is true for contemporary Chinese compositions, but also for
traditional repertoires such as folk songs and qin (zither) music. This article
discusses some contrasting interpretative views in the realm of qin music, on
the basis of statements made by qin players and written documentation accom-
panying their commercial recordings. The article argues that the idea of
musical structure as a major guide to the musical meaning of a piece can be
safely discarded, if only because the structure of a piece does not exist - as
little as the meaning.

Music has whatever meanings composers, performers and listeners wish to

ascribe to it. All programmatical and functional ideas about music merit our
attention, and we have to acknowledge that meanings change over time.
Performers, listeners and environments change, and no musical idea (or idea
about music) is ever contained in splendid isolation. If musicologists defend
any specific interpretationof a musical piece, one imagines that they attempt to
define the meaning of the piece at the time when it was conceived. While this is
an important challenge, it remains unlikely that a single, "original" meaning
can ever be ascribed to any musical piece. One realm of music which may
illustrate this is the Chinese qin tradition. The examples from the qin repertoire
discussed below are to some extent arbitrary. They reflect my interest in
particularcompositions, but other qin pieces could have served equally well to
demonstrate the same point, namely, that music is one thing, and program-
matical meaning quite another.

Humble and haughty

The qin or guqin ("old instrument") is at once the most humble and most
haughty of all musical instruments. The preserve of a small elite of learned and
philosophical men and women in China, the seven-string zither is itself

BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGYVOL. 10/i 2001 pp. 39-62

40 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.10/i 2001

Figure1 Thispictureof qinmaster

ZhangZiqian,takenin the 1950s,
epitomizesthe essentialinterests

-i refined music. Only a wine-bottle is

missing!

associated with an atmosphere of purity, peacefulness and enlightenment, while

in fact its repertoire is considered to encompass a far wider range of program-
matical meanings and emotions. The qin serves principally as a road to
spiritual enlightenment and self-improvement for players and listeners
(DeWoskin 1982:101-24, 128; Goormaghtigh 1990, 1994, 1998). But it also
embodies the spirit of the many stories captured in its music: descriptions of
scenery, love stories and dark tales of murder, war, abandonment and deep
loneliness (Gulik 1969b:153-161; Schaab 1988:12-21).
The historical backdrop of the qin tradition is an ancient country of rural
poverty, corruption, wars, power struggles and social inequality. Qin pieces are
full of references to this troublesome past. Qin players, while aspiring to be
sages and to live in quiet harmony with their environment, act as insatiable
escapists and restless seekers of bliss and redemption. They cannot but interact
with the world in which they live. Qin music is certainly not a repertory of
social outcasts, and it hardly ever refers to the life of the poor and the
powerless, but qin players do channel their melancholy into music in much the
same way as blues players did in rural America at the beginning of the
twentieth century. As early as in the Han dynasty (206 BCE-221 CE), Chinese
intellectuals were fascinated by "sadness" (bei) and by grave sentiments in
music, which, intriguingly, they associated with lofty mental states and with
moral purity. In later periods, the qin was never able to shed off entirely its
image as a "sad" instrument, and as a medium which could transform the
minds of its players and listeners, and evoke a deep sense of harmony and
peace.
KOUWENHOVEN Meaning and structure - the case of Chinese qin (zither) music 41

Ji Kang's famous argument(third century CE) that "music has neither

sorrownorjoy" has been interpretedas a reactionagainstthe overridingvogue
for sadnessin his time. But Ji Kang did not deny that qin music could evoke
emotionalresponses,nor did he object to music serving as an outlet for sad
feelings. His mainpolemic was directedagainsthypersensibilityand a theatri-
cal exhibitionof such sentiments.He criticizedthe exploitationof emotionsfor
artisticor self-centeredinterestsandrejectedthe promotionof suchideas to the
ranksof valuesandtruths.(On Ji Kangandsadnessin music, see Egan 1997.)
For Ji Kang, and for most other qin aficionadosin later periods,the qin
primarilyremaineda symbolof intellectualsophistication,mentalrestraintand
emotional balance - and not just a symbol, but also an effective practical
mediumto achievethose ends. Ji Kang'sidea was that the highest essence of
musicalexperiencetransgressedthe narrowconcernsof humanpsychology.In
the mind of a "superior"man, sadness and joy in music would merge and
become a single unitedexperience.Music was capable,ideally,of instillingin
man a sense of deep peacefulnessand spiritualunity with the cosmos. Music's
expressivepowerstranscendedthe personalconcernsand individualtragedies
of humanbeings, but only if players and listenersmanagedto control their
emotions and to concentrateon the inner qualities of the music. There are
familiarechoes of these views in numerousWesternwritingson music, from
Plato (who recognizedmusic as a cosmologicalparadigmin his Timaeus)to
Stravinsky(who rejected romanticsentimentand promotedobjectivity and
restraintin musicalperformance)andbeyond.
In qin music, it was said, a peaceful state of mind and cosmic harmony
could be achievedby those who exploredthe sounds of the qin with a pure
heartand an open mind and who were able to recognizeand acceptthe instru-
ment'svery "mysteriousness" as the key to its greatestpowers.Ji Kangrejected
crude escapism but promoteda near-religiousvenerationfor music and for
natureas the roadto a tranquil"cosmic"detachment.Ji Kang'sideas, notably
his mystification of nature, which he shared with the great philosopher
Zhuangzi- Zhuangzireferredto the deep "pipingof heavenandearth"- had a
lastingimpacton Chineseqin philosophy.1Ji Kang was one of many Chinese
authorsto celebratethe eternalbondsbetweenman and natureand to promote
music as an ideal mediumfor exploringthose bonds,but he was certainlyone
of the most influentialones. Qin lore today is still saturatedwith allusionsto
scenery, animals, objects and events in the naturalworld, and some of the
proponentsof qin philosophycontinueto honourthese allusionsas sacrosanct
and as a domainthat only the initiated(the really proficientplayers)can fully
appreciateandunderstand.

1 For Ji Kang's essay, "Music has No Sorrowor Joy", see De Woskin (1982:104, 117); and
Egan (1997); for his "Poetical Essay on the Qin", see Gulik (1969a) or (in French)
Goormaghtigh(1990). Ji's famous essay on the qin in many ways supplements, from the
specific angle of qin music, his more generalideas aboutmusic and emotion.
42 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETH NO M US IC OLOGY VOL.10/i 2001

The qin as a tool for "sounding nature"

Qin players strive to transcend the limitations of human experience by seeking
spiritual communication with nature. (And what, if not sadness, fundamental
insight into the transience and imperfections of the human condition, would
make them wish to do so?) The qin serves as a bridge to the non-human world, a
presumed realm of immortality, eternal peace and transcendental fulfilment.
Many qin pieces are musical descriptions of mighty rivers, high mountains,
autumnal landscapes, birds flying in the air, or boats floating on water, but qin
players do not simply treat their instrument as a tool for evoking such elements
in music and for painting pretty scenes. As Kenneth De Woskin has pointed out,
they tend to think of the qin as a "sympathetic resonator", a medium which
offers access to the deeper "sounds" of nature - that is, the metaphysical truths
of existence. In this context, words like "sound" and "hearing" are used in a
similar way to "vision" and "seeing" in the West: they do not refer to the ordin-
ary senses, but imply an ability to grasp the inner essence of things. More than
just a musical instrument, the qin becomes a "hearing aid", a tool in the com-
munication with cosmic powers. One might argue - as some philosophically
minded qin adepts do - that the music of the qin is not created by its players: it
consists of messages received from nature (De Woskin 1982:33-5, 138).
Very interesting is the extraordinaryimportance attached to "silence" in qin
music - that is, to the imaginary continuation of sounds beyond what the
normal human ear can detect: silences - not only pauses and interruptionsbut
also the dying away of audible sounds, supported by hand and finger move-
ments that may continue for a while after any audible pitch has disappeared -
are yet another way to suggest "deep, spiritual listening".
How could one stress such lofty abilities of the qin better than by placing
the instrument and its performance tradition as much as possible in an
(imposing) outdoor environment? Qin players' favourite spots for playing
music are lonely bamboo groves or high mountain tops - at least, this is what is
suggested in traditional qin lore, in writings, drawings and paintings. One
thirteenth-centuryscroll painting by Zhao Mengfu (see Figure 2) demonstrates
the romantic image of the qin player as a philosopher and cosmic explorer.
It shows a scholar and owner of a qin pausing in his climb up a mountain. He is
a rich man who can afford a servant to carry his zither up to the top. Soon he
will sit down cross-legged under the pine tree, place his instrument on his lap
and play for the gods or for himself. The wind may touch his strings furtively,
and he could leave it at that, or he might sing a poem or two, or pluck the
strings randomly to produce just a few soft sounds. The fog and silence around
him serve as reminders of the world's deep emptiness. Vast mountains and
abysses mock the idleness and futility of all human strife and ambition.
The Chinese visual arts abound with images like these, which reveal the
essential nostalgia and Weltschmerzof China's traditionalelite, and which firmly
idealize the past. After all, the scholar depicted in this thirteenth-centuryscroll is
a fourth-centurypoet, Tao Yuanming, a literarycelebrity from (what was already
then) an illustrious past. In Western art we might be inclined to provide an
KOUWENHOVEN Meaning and structure - the case of Chinese qin (zither) music 43

Figure 2 Zhao Mengfu's

""' thirteenth-centuryscroll
' :-::'
~;-. paintingdepictsthe fourth-
centurypoetTaoYuanming
preparingto travelthe
mountainsof his mindwith
his qin

intellectual giant like Tao with a face, perhaps showing his courage or
determination, or moral uprightness. We might depict him holding the main
emblem of his wisdom - the qin - in his hands. On the Chinese scroll he is
characteristically reduced to the size of an ant. Apart from his implied status in
human society (master rather than servant), he could be any man, reduced to
near-nothingness in his confrontation with the overwhelming powers of nature.
There is no evidence that qin players were ever really fond of climbing
mountains and exposing their instrument to severe cold, stormy wind or trips
over slippery stone paths. Written recommendations existed in the Ming
dynasty (1368-1644 CE) which list, among ideal situations for playing the qin,
"sitting on a stone", "having climbed a mountain", "resting in a valley",
"resting in a forest", etc. Additionally, there are regulations, from the Song
dynasty (960-1279 CE)and possibly earlier, which specify that one should not
play the qin "when there is wind and thunder, or in rainy weather" (Liang
44 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.1 0/i 2001

Figure3 Nostalgiaforthe powerful Figure4 Duringthe Tangand Song

imagesof the past:a CDcoverof qin
masterZhengChengwei(Chengdu)
shows himperforming outdoors,playing
the qinin medievalfashion(by holding
it on his lap)
dynastiesthe qinwas normallyheldon
the lapduringperformance.(Inlater
periodsitwas puton a table.)A portrait
of
qinmasterYangJijing,paintedby Gu
Hongzhong in the tenth century CE

1972:141). It appears that most of these rules were made by Daoist monks who
dwelled in temples and secluded spots and who felt an overriding need to live
by strict regulations. Some of them may indeed have played outdoors, in quiet
scenic spots, but the documents say little or nothing about the ambiance in
which most qin players in China actually played the instrument.
The soft-toned qin is not really suited for playing outdoors, except perhaps
on a summer evening in a quiet garden. But so powerful are the traditional
images, so persuasive the intended symbolism, that modem qin players appear
on CD covers playing the instrument in "nature", against a backdrop of flowing
water, rocks or a bamboo grove, while, in reality, very few of them would be
inclined to go outdoors to play the instrument.
In the winter of 1998, when I interviewed some forty qin players in Beijing,
Shanghai and Chengdu, I found myself travelling from one noisy urban back-
yard to another, visiting the musicians in small apartments in busy neighbour-
hoods. Small wonder that some players dream of roaming mountain land-
scapes! But only Zheng Chengwei (in Chengdu) and Lin Youren (in Shanghai)
confessed a genuine interest in - occasionally - playing the qin outdoors on
solitary mountain walks, and only Yu Bosun (near Chengdu) was observed in
the act of playing his qin in a garden pavilion. (That must may have been a
more common practice in the past, when more literati could afford gardens.)
KOUWENHOVEN Meaning and structure - the case of Chinese qin (zither) music 45

1 A 44-4-
*
It 4ro t' I

Figure 5 Hand-postures from the fifteenth century qin handbook Taigu Yiyin,with their
suggested correlates in nature: a leopard holding a smaller animal, perhaps a rabbit,
and a crane calling in the shade. The accompanying texts explain the technicalities of
the postures in detail and provide poetic and metaphoric descriptions of the essence of
the posture. The leopard symbolizes an attitude "in-between relaxation and ferocity".
The crane's bright call is "reminiscentof ancient tunes", and it merits emulation, "but
take heed: the higher you soar, the more the harmonywillfade"

The cover of Zheng Chengwei's CD (published by Hugo Records) shows him

playing a qin in a bamboo forest (Figure 3), and to make things looks even
more "traditional",he holds the instrument on his lap, in the classical pose,
rather than playing it on a table, as became customary after the Tang and Song
dynasties. (see Figure 4).
Concrete connections between qin playing and nature, between the present-
day tradition and its romantic idealized past, go far beyond assuming a
romantic posture in a bamboo grove. Almost every aspect of the size and the
shape and construction of the instrument and virtually every hand movement
and every posture of the fingers is in some way or other inspired by, or
interpreted in terms of, cosmology or by evocative images from nature (see
Figure 5; De Woskin 1982:114-15, 130ff; De Woskin 2000; Liang 1972:8-14).
There is no place here for a lengthy discussion of this aspect of qin lore.
46 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETH NO M US I CO LOG Y VOL.10/i 2001

Suffice it to say that images from nature and mythology abound in qin organ-
ology: parts of the qin have been given names like "immortal's shoulders",
"dragon's toothgums", "phoenix' eye", "goose feet", "dragon's pond", etc. Its
concave upper surface and its flat bottom are said to symbolize heaven and
earth. Even the patterns of cracks which, in due course, appear on the coat of
varnish that covers the qin have been given names relating to nature: "serpent
belly cracks", "cow's hair", "turtleback", or "crackedice".
Sometimes the music of the qin directly imitates certain sounds, such as the
flowing of water, the singing of birds, the flapping of birds' wings, or the drip-
ping of a woman's tears. The hand and finger postures of the player frequently
correlate with the shapes of animals or trees. In the Taigu yiyin of 1413, we
find descriptions like "the leopard catching its prey", "a crane calling in the
shade", "the lonely duck looking for the flock", or "the fish beating its tail"
(see Figure 5). The drawings contained in the book serve as mnemonic devices,
but also as metaphorical extensions of certain ideas from qin philosophy or as
poetical clarifications of the intentions of specific postures (strength, deter-
mination, "lingering", tranquillity, inactivity, alertness, etc.). More important
than any of these outward imitations and references to the natural world is the
ability of the instrumentto capture the spiritual essence or "mood" (yijing) of a
piece. The player ideally attempts to reproduce as faithfully as possible the
mood intended by the composer (Gulik 1969b:88; Yung 1987:84-5; 1998:3).
Yet this mood can only become evident from the programmatic content, as
specified in titles and subtitles and literary prefaces that accompany the
musical notations of qin pieces: no matter how metaphysical the performer's
goal, the path towards it leads along concrete mountains, animals, narrative
charactersand events. The stories of qin lore are a key factor in the process that
will turn a mere musical (or gymnastic) exercise into a process of spiritual
elevation. This explains, in part, why the literary element in the tradition is
given such a tremendous weight. Before taking a closer look at some of the
stories, let me say a few words about the scores, the overall character of the
music, and the ways in which the qin repertoirehas changed over time.

The notations: some thoughts on rhythm

An estimated 3,000 qin pieces survive in written notation. The notations are
largely contained in some 150 qin handbooks, most of which date from the
fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. At least one piece (Youlan) survives in a
(descriptive) notation dating from the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE), and a few
other pieces were included in thirteenth-century manuscripts (Mitani
1981:123-5). Many of the extant pieces are variants of one and the same
composition, but even taking this into account, we are dealing - as far as
historical sources are concerned - with an estimated 600 different written
compositions for the instrument, a sizeable repertoire (Dai 1998:124).
The notations are mostly in tablature form. They indicate fingerings and
playing techniques for executing individual pitches or groups of pitches; the
beginnings and endings of melodic phrases and of separate sections in the
KOUWENHOVEN Meaning and structure - the case of Chinese qin (zither) music 47

music are marked, but there are few indications of rhythm or metre. This is to
some extent comparable to the way in which early medieval music in the West
was written down - there is a parallel especially with fifteenth-century lute
music, which was also notated in tablature, and which contained only limited
rhythmical markings (Ivanoff 1997:8, 11-13).
In the course of the seventeenth century, qin players in China began to
record their fingerings in increasingly sophisticated ways. But rhythm - with
the exception of a few formulae - was still not indicated. It has been argued
that rhythmical freedom in performance is a major and conscious feature of the
qin tradition: the same melody can be played in many different ways,
depending on the interpretationof its prosody, and no repeated performance of
a qin piece will ever sound exactly the same (Lee 1995; Mitani 1981:126-34;
Yung 1994). The process of translating the unmeasured and free qin notations
into versions for use in performance, with more definite rhythmical contours, is
called dapu.
The freedom of rhythm has been interpretedby some as a musical reflection
of the players' aspirations for spiritual loftiness. Perhaps too much has been
made of this particular aspect in scholarly writings on qin performance. Qin
players may decide to reshape and remould certain pieces according to their
own understanding, but they still work within an established framework of
rhythmical formulae and metrical conventions, and are certainly not reinvent-
ing the traditionevery time they touch the instrument.Different ways of playing
a tune like Yangguansandie (as shown in Mitani 1981:127-8) normally do not
result in more (or less) variation than, say, different performance versions of
the tune Greensleeves among Western singers or instrumentalists.
The principle of rhythmical flexibility in qin music is roughly comparable
to that of any music in parlando-rubato style, from eighteenth-century French
harpsichord music to gypsy fiddle tunes. Indeed, in deciphering old notations
and preparing them for performance (if no oral precedent is available), qin
players face a challenge comparable to that of Western instrumentalistswho try
to perform the French lute preludes or (more complex) French harpsichord
preludes from the times of Denis Gaultier to Louis Couperin - pieces written in
sequences of whole notes, which leave the players free, without metric
constraint, to invent their own pace and rhythmic divisions (Tilney 1995).
Usually, after a few playings, sequentially repeated melodic fragments in these
preludes begin to emerge. The same may happen in qin music, when a score is
brought to life in the dapu process.
The rubato-like nature of the melodic flow in qin pieces may suggest vocal
origins for a great deal of qin music. In ancient sources there is frequent
reference to the qin as an accompanying instrument in vocal music, and some
styles of qin playing - such as the Qinling style of Nanjing - are reportedly
influenced by the ornaments and vocal techniques of specific singing styles
(Liang 1972:120).
In view of its rhythmical properties, it is an attractive idea to interpret qin
music as a Chinese equivalent of the stilo fantastico of the Western Renais-
sance and Baroque periods, with its connotations of rhetorical speech and
48 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL. 1 0/i 2001

theatrical content, of the human (or superhuman) voice "speaking", in

mysterious ways, via the instrumental sounds.
But let us beware of ascribing a stilo fantastico to all qin music. This may
apply to some pieces, but in my view the qin does not constitute a single
tradition. Historically, there must have been different qin traditions in different
places, with different kinds of co-involved instruments, different performance
settings and different kinds of musical functions and perceptions. The qin may
have featured as an instrument in folk traditions, even if (to our knowledge) no
evidence of any recent tradition along those lines survives (cf. Evans 1998). If
we focus strictly on evidence attesting to the qin as an instrument of China's
wealthy elite, the picture of qin music that emerges from history is still impres-
sively diverse.
In antiquity, the qin was played both as a solo instrument and in ceremonial
court ensembles (for example in groups of six or twelve qins, together with
other instruments; it has been argued that in ensembles only the open strings
were plucked). Qin was used in the accompaniment of dance, presumably in
music that was measured. Some statements suggest that the qin may have
served as a percussive instrument. The oldest surviving literary references to
the qin - in the Shujing (Book of History) and the Shijing (Book of Odes),
dating from 1000-600 BCE - state that the qin could be "swept or gently
touched", or even "drummed";and clay figures of musicians from the Han
dynasty, unearthed in Sichuan, show the performance combination of qin and
hand-drum(Liang 1972:52, 56, 78-80). These and similar sources also attest to
traditions of qin accompanying songs (sung by the zither player or by another
singer). It seems unlikely that all these situations shared one and the same
musical idiom, let alone the same set of pieces.
As for rhythmical features: early recordings of qin performances from the
1940-50s - which I was able to hear in the archives of the Music Research
Institute in Beijing - suggest that players in the first half of the twentieth
century tended to follow a much more steady pulse in the execution of qin
pieces than they do today. The free-floating melodies that we can hear in
performances and on recordings of recent times, with abrupt shifts in tempo
and frequent ritardandos and accellerandos, are a development of the last fifty
years, probably under the influence of other musical genres. To what extent
these free and rhythmically variable performances coincidentally approach the
rhythmical conventions and freedom of melodic phrasing of earlier periods in
qin music remains a matter for conjecture.

Rapid change
On the whole, the qin repertoire as it sounds today deviates in many ways from
historical traditions. Many changes emerged in the process of oral trans-
mission, and there was a considerable amount of reinvention in the recreation
of ancient scores. The transition from silk strings to metal strings in the 1950s
resulted not only in a louder sound and a longer period of resonance but also in
entirely new possibilities for expression. The influx of Western (notably
KOUWENHOVEN Meaning and structure - the case of Chinese qin (zither) music 49

classical) music in China has had a major impact on numerous Chinese musical
traditions, not only in terms of changes in the construction of instruments. Qin
players in the People's Republic have begun to mark the transitions between
various sections in the qin pieces in very dramatic ways, by sudden changes in
tempo, by vigorous accents or shifts in dynamics. The resulting pieces are very
different from the versions that were played only a few decades ago. Players of
the older generation frequently moved from one section to the next almost
imperceptibly, in a fairly rigid beat and a single tempo that was maintained
throughout an entire piece. The new dramatic (some would say "romantic")
approach to qin music has created a very different musical landscape, if not an
entirely new repertoire. It has given qin music a new plasticity and a more
dynamic breadth. It has won over new audiences for the qin and has led to an
unprecedented wealth of sound recordings, an unprecedented amount of public
attention, even though the number of genuine qin aficionados remains small in
comparison to that of active supporters of other Chinese solo instrumental
traditions such as the pipa and the zheng. All this has happened at the cost of
some of the qin's traditional "intimacy", its richness of kinesthetic experiences
and its reputation as a private scholarly activity (Yung 1984:512; 1998). John
Thompson and others have suggested that a good deal of the former timbral
richness of the instrument is lost now that many performers no longer make use
of silk strings (which are rich in overtones). Bell Yung speaks for those who
deplore the transition from silk strings to metal strings and who criticize the
metamorphosis of an instrument (and an emblem) of private scholarly sophis-
tication into a "mere" musical instrument for the "masses" (due to the cultural
policies and mass ideology of the Communist government):

... qin music has stepped out of the privacy and intimacy of the scholar-
gentleman's study and climbed onto the stage of the public concert hall. In
so doing, qin music has become like other kinds of music: its main function
is to please a large, public audience ... On the stage of a concert hall, he
[the qin player] is judged by an audience- the workers,peasants, soldiers -
who are, for historical reasons, relatively uninitiatedin the music and its
literarycontent.
(Yung 1998:5)

Most certainly there were attempts to popularize qin - for example via sound
amplification - or by using the qin as a star vehicle for virtuosic soloists
accompanied by symphony orchestra. But the instrument's current (still very
modest) success in the People's Republic, as well as abroad, does not depend
on amplification or on symphonic concerts, even less on political propaganda.
It is primarily the legacy of a handful of gifted artists who managed to give a
new impetus to the tradition. Players like Wu Jingliie impressed their listeners,
not because they turned the qin into an instrument of mass ideology but
because they had something new and important to say. These individualists, as
much as their famous predecessors of the past, determine the current
development and public appreciation of qin music.
50 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL. 10/i 2001

Those who attend the (rare) concerts in China today would have some
difficulty identifying themselves as "workers, peasants, soldiers". They are
mostly intellectuals with a personal background or professional education in
music, and far from eulogizing the Chinese government's attitude towards the
qin, they tend to deplore the present scarcity of qin concerts and the appalling
lack of formal (governmental) support for qin players (cf. Cheng 1997.) Only a
few qin players in China are formally employed at music conservatoires, and
few or no funds are available for the preservation of precious ancient instru-
ments or for a more active promotion of the tradition (e.g. via television or
educational programmes).
I sympathize with some of Bell Yung's concerns - for example, I don't
think the qin works very well in symphonic concerts or as a "new age"
instrument, in combination with synthesizers, pianos or rock bands - but if the
qin needs any protection, it is not from such experiments but rather from some
of the more zealous devotees who continue to promote an atmosphere of semi-
sectarianism and impotent nostalgia (to borrow a phrase coined by Theodor
Adomo). The element of sectarianism may have ancient roots, but that can
hardly be a justification for perpetuating it. Spiritual greatness is not a pre-
rogative of the past, and there is no reason why qin music ought to remain a
privilege of the learned few, or a single-minded type of tradition.
It may be true that many aspects of the qin can only be appreciated by the
"initiated". It may be true that certain qin tones, particularly if played on silk
strings, can only be perceived through the qin player's hand movement or the
tactile sense of the finger, as Bell Yung points out, and that some qin players
would therefore decline to play for a general audience who would not be able
to appreciate such elements:
Zither players are generally reluctantto play for anyone who is not also a
zither player ... Only other zither players can understandthe kinesthetic
experience and share it, even though to a limited extent, with the performer.
Seen in this light, the recent trend in China of staging zither performances
for a large audience in a huge auditoriumis altering a fundamentalfeature
of the zithertradition.
(Yung 1984:514)
But the fact is that most qin recitals in China take place in fairly small rooms,
for a mere handful of listeners (with the exception of some symphonic
concerts). The intimacy has not disappeared, and (judging from my own inter-
views) it is simply not true that most zither players are "reluctant"to play for
anyone who is not also a zither player. Some are hesitant to play on a stage
because they lack concert experience, and it may be a difficult task to recreate
in a concert hall something of the intimate atmosphere of a scholar's room, but
(as a growing number of qin players in China and in the West have shown) it
can be done.
The touch of the instrument is certainly unique, but the same applies to the
violin, the lute and so many other musical instruments. In trying to discuss
aspects of posture and attack of the strings on the part of, say, a great violin
KOUWENHOVEN Meaning and structure - the case of Chinese qin (zither) music 51

master, one soon finds oneself pushed beyond the sheer technicalities of the
matter, into the realm of the poetic and the near-inexpressible. This should not
prevent anyone who is not a violin player from enjoying violin music in their
own ways. The kinesthetic elements in qin may be pronounced, but in practice
the act of playing the qin is no more intensely physical (or metaphysical!) than
that of (say) playing the violin, and it would be silly to argue that the element
of sound, in the case of the qin, is so imperfectly conveyed that it cannot be and
ought not be enjoyed by listeners in its own right.
The growing popularity of qin music and the rapidly growing number of
sound recordings attests to the special appeal of the qin as a musical instru-
ment. The future of the qin could even be brighter if contemporary composers
in China were willing to accept the qin as a "mere"musical instrument, instead
of looking at it as an ancient, remote and forbidding tradition that is better not
touched upon. As a consequence, very few composers write new pieces for the
qin. Blissful ignorance is the beginning of many a musical dialogue, but too
much ignorance (that is, too much blind veneration) won't do the qin much
good.

Stories and musical structure

The more than 150 extant anthologies of qin music contain numerous poems,
stories and comments which illuminate the programmatic nature of the qin
repertoire. In modem times, music essays, explanations on record sleeves and
CD liner notes, as well as concert programmes offer additional information.
Here, as in the old qin handbooks, we can find quotes from ancient sources,
mixed with contemporary views and comments of scholars, musicians and
patrons - the record publishers and organizers of qin concerts. (Below I will
quote at some length from record sleeves and CD booklets. Most of the
information contained there is provided by qin players and presents their own
views on the programmatical nature of qin music. Indeed, the vast majority of
Chinese writings on the qin, from scholarly essays to popular programme
notes, is produced by people who are players of the instrument.)
The overall impression from the qin handbooks is that the qin repertoire and
its lore are very lively and changeable. Titles move easily from one musical
piece to the next. So do stories and explanations. They are subject to constant
change. The same story may find its way to different qin pieces, or the same
piece may be explained in very different ways. Musically speaking, many of
the pieces occur in different variants, as shorter and longer versions, of which
the changes over time can be followed in different handbooks, and for recent
times, also in sound recordings (for specific studies on historical change, see
Dai 1998; Huang 1998a,b; Liang 1992; Wu 1990; Yu 1997; Yung 1987).
The stories and programmatical ideas that accompany the music,
particularly those of Ming dynasty handbooks, are marvellously suggestive,
rich in detail, often steeped in Daoist or Confucian philosophy. Frequently,
each part of a musical piece receives a subtitle which covers the mood and
content of that particular section of the music. Here, as an example, are the ten
52 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.1 0/i 2001

subtitles of the tune Liezi yufeng ("Liezi riding on the wind") as they occur in
the Shenqi Mipu (1425 CE). The translationis by Gulik (1969b:90):
1. Resting upon emptiness,ridingon the wind
2. Looking down on the earth
3. The universeis spreadout vast
4. I do not know whetherthe wind is ridingon me
5. Or whetherI am riding on the wind
6. The mind dwells on mysteriousplains
7. The spiritroams in greatpurity
8. Whistling long in the vast azure
9. Shakingone's clothes in the breeze
10. Having attainedthe utmost ecstasy, turningback
Programme notes like these are generally respected and taken into account by
qin players in their performances. In my interviews with qin players - part of
ongoing work on a future publication - I found that the spirit of the poems and
the stories in the old handbooks is still duly honoured by contemporaryplayers,
even in the People's Republic of China. Even many young players who have
grown away from the old tradition in so many respects - the notion of the qin
as an instrument for private meditation ratherthan public performance may not
be meaningful to them any more - state that the explanations in the handbooks
still serve for them as a tool for understanding the correct "mood" of the
pieces. Admittedly, after mastering the music - i.e. after mastering the tech-
niques and learning the melodies by heart - they may be content to follow their
own line of thought in performance.
The division into sections - a recurrentfeature of qin scores - is of practical
help in determining the overall structureof pieces. In many cases, sections are
melodically recognizable as separate units (by the repeated occurrence of
themes, motives or gestures), but not always. A lot of qin music is fairly rhap-
sodic: musical events may be related only in broad terms (by shared modal
features or by a shared basic "emotion"), and emphasis on timbral and orna-
mental detail can become such a dominant element that some of the music may
even be experienced mainly on a note-by-note, or a gesture-by-gesture basis:
There are so many differenttouches and variationsin tone productionthat it
is necessary to concentratefully on what one is doing. It is almost necessary
to think of one pitch at a time, and not the whole melodic line, or a phrase.
(Liang 1972:136)
The molecular, isolated and isometric appearance of the graphs [in qin
notation]conveys a sense of successive and complete moments, ratherthan
a sense of linear continuity.This, I believe, reflects the essential sense of
time in qin performance.A percussiveburstof sound will be expressed in a
single graph, and a long glide will be expressed in a single graph. Thus,
whereas the graphsare spatiallyfungible, the correspondingperformanceis
not so in terms of movementor sound.
(De Woskin 1982:130)
KOUWENHOVEN Meaning and structure - the case of Chinese qin (zither) music 53

The frequent reference to extra-musical elements - the description in sound

of narrative events, animal sounds, etc. - may also enhance the rhapsodic
nature of the music. Joseph Lam (1993) has gone so far as to practically equate
musical structure with programmatical meaning, i.e. with a sequence of
narrative events. In a comparative study of different analyses of the piece
Changmen yuan ("Lament at Changmen Palace"), he points out that the
structure of qin music cannot be successfully understood if it is studied solely
in terms of "motives", "variations", or "gestures" - in what he calls (rather
oddly) "westernized analysis". He proposes an "integrated" perspective,
combining the study of architectural features of the music with insiders'
comments and performative knowledge. This also includes the narrative or
"fictional" elements - in the case of the "Lament", the descriptive comments
offered by Xu Zhou, the first publisher of the score. Lam's conclusion is that
the elements of the "story" as related by Xu Zhou correspond neatly to the
sequence of musical and kinesthetic events (the player's hand and finger
movements) which make up the performance. In Lam's words, "Xu's account
is not only a programmatic interpretationbut also a structural analysis of the
piece" (Lam 1993:369). I do not object to this conclusion, but I am dis-
heartened by Lam's other basic assumption, the very point of departurefor his
research, namely that "diverse data about the same qin piece cannot be
incompatible: the same object cannot generate incompatible information about
itself (Lam 1993:361).
Musical pieces are not rigid and unchangeable "objects". If many
statements about the qin repertoire are "puzzling" and if data seem to be
"mutually exclusive" (Lam in the beginning of his essay), this is not because
the music is badly understood or because an "integratedperspective" is missing
but because qin is a living rather than a moribund art. It is subject to constant
change, to changing interpretationsand ideas, and it certainly depends on more
than just one authoritative player's or composer's views and explanations.
Hence the abundance of stories and conflicting interpretations.
None of this is an exclusive phenomenon of qin music. In nearly all Chinese
traditional music, much importance is attached to the programmatic and the
aesthetical purport of musical pieces, while in practice, one is frequently con-
fronted with an abundance of different and sometimes conflicting interpret-
ations. Given the rhapsodic nature of the music and the rhythmical flexibility of
the scores, very different performances of music may arise from one and the
same written source, certainly in those cases where the links with oral
performance tradition are tenuous or non-existent. Last but not least, many qin
players are gifted writers, and some of them are creative also as poets and
calligraphers. Reinventing tradition may co-involve the reinvention of stories
and explanations.
I now propose to look at some examples of this in the qin repertoire, and to
examine how stories can be linked to musical materials in diverging ways. I do
this not in order to criticize a lack of cohesion or to reveal absurdities but to
celebrate the repertoire's richness of literary invention and the blessed absence
of any deadening logic.
54 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.1 0/i 2001

One tentative conclusion is that the idea of musical structure as a reliable

guide to the musical meaning of a qin piece can be discarded. One can always
try to perceive a coherent interaction between a given set of ideas and a given
succession of musical sounds, but this is not the same as assuming that the
relationship between the two must be infallible, inviolable and constant - not
even within the mind of a single composer or performer, not even over the
briefest period of time. Ideas about music change as quickly and unpredictably
as the music itself: they can change while the performance is still underway.
Indeed, the notion "musical change" is a tautology. Music is change.

The sadness (?) of Lady Wang Zhaojun

One qin piece to which various meanings are attached is Qiu sai yin ("Autumn
grievances beyond the frontier"). It is sometimes said to portray the sadness
and homesickness of Wang Zhaojun, a lady at the Han dynasty court who was
forced to marry a barbarian(i.e. non-Han) king. When she left her native soil
forever, she wept at the frontier. Hence the title of the piece. But Qiu sai yin
also comes with different names and different explanations. Sometimes it is
called Shui xian cao ("Water spirit") or Sao shou wen tian ("Scratching one's
head and appealing to heaven"). Some sources say that the piece describes the
sadness of a qin player called Bo Ya, who was sent by his qin master to a
deserted island to experience melancholy and loneliness - two very important
emotions for a qin player.2 Other sources say that the music portrays the anger
and despair of an exiled poet, Qu Yuan of the Warring States. At least we are
dealing, in all these cases, with a displaced person, who longs for home or feels
some form of distress.
Two other pieces also describe the homesickness of the court lady Wang
Zhaojun. They are called Long xiang cao and Long shuo cao. The music of
those two pieces is not identical, though some parts of it are similar, and the
titles and the underlying programmes are also remarkably similar. Some
scholars believe that the two pieces originally sprang from the same source and
at one point formed a single composition. Both pieces are alternatively known
as Zhaojun yuan, "Wang Zhaojun's lament". To what extent they really are
laments remains open to question. Long xiang cao literally means "Soaring
dragon", and some qin players have associated this music with a poem about a
dragon disappearing into the air. They claim that the piece has a happy mood.
A similar controversy surrounds Long shuo cao, which is sometimes des-
cribed as a lament, sometimes as a happy piece. There have been occasional
2 The story about Bo Ya turnsup in various sources. As a beginning studentof the Chinese
zither,Bo Ya was apparentlynot very successful. His qin-masterCheng Lian sent him to an
island, suggesting that this would help his student to develop a better understandingof the
essence of the instrument.Bo Ya may have expected to find a better,more skillful teacheron
the island, but as it turnedout, the place was uninhabited.He spent three long years there in
complete isolation, listening every day to the sounds of waves and of seagulls. He became
rathersad, but this, according to the story, was precisely what eventually turnedhim into a
greatqin player.
KOUWENHOVEN Meaning and structure - the case of Chinese qin (zither) music 55

attempts to reconcile the supposedly positive mood of the music with the sad
story behind it. One qin player claims that his lively performance of the piece
is an evocation not so much of the tragic fate of the homesick Zhaojun, but of
"the pleasurable entertainmentin the palace of [her husband]."3 Another source
suggests that the beginning and ending of the music are gloomy, reflecting
Zhaojun's sadness, while the lively middle section depicts her charm and
beauty.4
If one compares Long xiang cao as played by Guan Pinghu (who inter-
preted the piece as a lament)5 with Zhang Ziqian's performance,6one may note
that the latter tends to treat the rhythms of Long xiang cao in a rather more
abrupt and jerky way, presumably in line with his view of the piece as happy
and spirited music.

Note on sources: Qiu sai yin; Shui xian cao; Sao shou wen tian
The oldest survivingscore of Qiu sai yin ("Autumngrievancesbeyond the frontier")
stems from the Xing ZhuangTaiYinBu Yi,a handbookof 1557. But the piece as it is
known today is usually played in differentversions,based on a notationcontainedin
the WuZhiZai Qinpuof 1722. In the Zi YuanTangQinpuof 1802, it is called Shuixian
cao ("[Musicof the] WaterSpirit").Othersources refer to it as Sao shou wen tian
("Scratchingone's head, appealing to heaven"). For some programmaticalinter-
pretations,see the sleeve-notesof Chine:L'artdu Qin, Li Xiangting,Ocora,C 560001
HM 83, 1990; Eminentpieces for guqin vols. 1 and 4, Wind Records,Taipei, 1994,
TCD-1015and 1016; and WaterImmortal,qin solos by Lau Chor-wah(Liu Chuhua),
ROI,HK, 1996,RA-961008C
The earliest survivingnotation of Long shuo cao stems from the Shenqi Mipu
(1425) wherea brief commentis added,statingthatthe "ancientname"of the piece is
(or used to be) ZhaojunYuan,"WangZhaojun'slament".In Long shuo cao, the title
given to the actual music notation,there is a minor mistake in the writing of the
charactershuo,causingit to look like the characterxiang.This may havecontributedto
the subsequentconfusionbetweenthe two namesLongxiang cao andLongshuo cao.
The same piece (with some modificationsin the music) is includedin the Xing
ZhuangTaiYinBu Yiof 1557, wherethe musicnotationis headedLongshuo cao, while
the piece is referredto in the tableof contentsas Longxiang cao - presumablyanother
mistakein writing.Followingthis, the ZhongXiu ZhenZhuanof 1585 incorporatesthe
music with its more ancienttitle Zhaojunyuan, presumablyin reverenceof ancient
times,andto honourthe well-knownTangdynastyheroineWangZhaojun,andit addsa
remarkthatthe piece is also knownas Longxiang cao. Fromthis momentonward,the

3 ChenChanglin.See theCD bookletof Min(Fujian)qinmusic,Hugo,1996,HRP7129-2,

1995.
4 See the programmenotes of Guangling qin music (vol. 2), Cheng Gong-liang, CD, Hugo
HRP7140-2,1987/1996.
5 Cf. Favourite qin pieces of Guan Pingu. 2-CD, ROI, Hong Kong, 1995, RB-951005-2C,
track5. Theoriginalrecordingdatesfromthe 1950s.Guanbasedhis versionon the scoreas
containedin theZiYuanTangQinpu(1802).
6 Cf. Anthology of traditional and folk music, vol. 3, CD, China Record Co. CCD-344,
1994,track5. Theoriginalrecordingwasmadein 1956.
56 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.10/i 2001

threetitles arefrequentlyassociatedwith one anotherandmixedup. In all the instances

mentionedso far,we aredealingwith earlyversionsof the piece thatis playedin recent
timesby performerslike ChengGongliangandChenChanglinas Longshuo cao.
The Cheng Jian Tang Qinpu of 1686 also has a piece called Zhaojun Yuan,but this
is not identicalto the older piece of that name. It re-occursin alteredform in several
handbooksof laterperiods,where it is usuallycalled Long xiang cao, and sometimes
Long shou cao or Zhaojun yuan. The Tian Wen Ge Qinpu of 1876 claims that this piece
was extractedfroma biggercomposition,Qiu shui ("AutumnWater"),whereit features
as sections 3 to 6. The versioncontainedin the Jiao'an Qinpu(1868) formsthe basis
for Long xiang cao as played in recent times by performerslike Liu Shaochunand
ZhangZiqian.For a comparativestudyof Longxiang cao andLongshuo cao, see also
ChengGongliang'sarticle(in Chinese)on "TheStudyof Long Shuo Cao",in Yiyuan,
journalof the NanjingInstituteof Arts, 1987,no. 3.
A commentary in the CD-booklet of Water Immortal, qin solos by Lau Chor-wah
(Liu Chuhua),ROI,HK, 1996, RA-961008C,statesthat "therhythm[of the music] is
free,jumpyandunexpectedandpresentsa happymood".LauChor-wahplays a version
passed down by her teacherCai Deyun, based on the score containedin the Jiao'an
Qinpu(1868). ZhangZiqian based his own version of Long xiang cao on the same
score (which explicitlyrefersto the lamentingof WangZhaojun),but he also interp-
reted the piece as basically happy music. He felt that Long xiang cao expressedthe
spirit and content of a philosophicalpoem by Zhuangziwhich referredto a flying
dragon:"WhileI play the qin / the dragonflies away/ But his voice / still lingersin the
air."Severalrecordingsof the piece performedby ZhangZiqianexist, with contrasting
commentaries.One commentaryrefersto the sad story of the Han dynastycourtlady,
andsays that"thetone [of the music]is low anddeepwith a plaintivetouch".(Fromthe
CD Anthology of traditional and folk music, vol. 3, China Record Co. CCD-344, 1994.)
A more recent and somewhat slower recordingby Zhang (included in the album
Guanglingqin music(vol 1), Hugo HRP7139-2, Hong Kong, 1987/1996)is described
in the accompanyingcommentaryas a "lively and highly spiritedpiece". Zhang's
formerqin studentsacknowledgethat the idea to call it a lively piece is more in line
withZhang'sown interpretation
of the music.

Bird cries and wing flapping

Since the qin tablatures hardly contain indications about rhythm or tempo, qin
players can mould and change the music to fit their own personal tastes and
emotions. In fact, they do not only do so by filling in rhythmic details, but also
by changing pitches in melodies, abbreviating or extending certain phrases, or
even omitting or adding entire sections. This artistic liberty may lead them to
explain the meaning of certain gestures or sounds in the music in rather
diverging ways.
For example, one description of the piece Wuye ti ("The calling of crows at
night") suggests that the parts in harmonics attempt to imitate the crying of
young crows.7 We can hear those harmonics right at the beginning of the
music. Later on they recur in a modified form. But a different description has it
7 See commentaryto Chine: L'art de la cithare qin Dai Xiaolian, CD, Auvidis, Paris, 1992,
B 6765.Therecordingis fromthisCD,track4.
KOUWENHOVEN Meaning and structure - the case of Chinese qin (zither) music 57

that "the frequent and incessant cawing of the crow(s) in the music is
contrasted sharply with the quiet melody in harmonics".8 In other words, it is
not the harmonics that imitate the birds' cries, but the melodic gestures in-
between. In one of the oldest surviving qin handbooks, the Zheyin Shizi Qinpu
(1475), the music of the beginning allegedly portrays a pair of birds dancing
together, while the harmonics as they occur later on in the piece portray a
group of young birds flying south. In brief, the links between images and
musical gestures in qin pieces are not always defined very consistently.
The same goes for the interpretation of entire musical sections. For
example, compare the following two versions of the piece Ping sha luo yan
("Wild geese descending on a sandbank"),of which the scores in two different
handbooks contain grossly conflicting statements about when the geese ascend
or descend, where and when in the music they honk or flap their wings, etc.

Mei'an Qinpu (1931) Jiao'an Qinpu (1868)

Section I Wild geese take wing Wild geese land on the shore
Section II Continuousflight Some of the landed geese call
to one another
Section III Continuousflight, sounds Some geese still airborne
of beating wings hearthe honkingbelow and land
Section IV Low flight A cacophony of goose cries,
dialogue between birds in the air
and birds on the shore
Section V Continuedlow flight A suddenbeating of wings
againsta bush
Section VI Mixed cries as the geese Some geese take off, land and
soar into the clouds call, making variousnoises
Section VII The flock beats its wings All the geese ashorecalm down.
againstthe sand, then A single one still in the air gives
circles the beach at a low out a lonely cry
altitude
Coda The flock alights in small The lonely goose in the air finally
groups on the beach comes down andjoins the others

There is little agreement about what happens in any of the sections, except for
section VI, where we can hear either "mixed cries" or "various noises".
Unfortunately, the music of that very section is the one part that really appears
to be totally different in both scores. The Mei'an score has a unique part in this
place, unlike anything else in qin literature, a very evocative section, quite
possibly an effective attempt to imitate noisy birds.
Listeners who wish to compare recorded interpretations of the two scores,

8 See sleeve notes to Xiao Xiang shui yun. Chinese guqin solos performed by Wu Wen
Guang, gramophonerecord,ChinaRecord Co, Beijing 1984, DL-0074.
58 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.1 0/i 2001

could for example consult Zhang Ziqian's rendering of the Jiao'an Qinpu score
on the Hugo label (with a bamboo flute playing along), and Tao Zhushen's
interpretation of the Mei'an Qinpu score, recorded on the cassette accom-
panying Fredric Lieberman's A Chinese zither tutor of 1983. (Lieberman's
book includes a Western staff notation of the Mei'an Qinpu version.)9
For many listeners, it will be difficult on the whole to connect this music
with its suggested programmatic images, except in terms of a general mood or
atmosphere of peacefulness. The flying and honking of the geese seem largely
to serve as symbols for spiritual harmony. Indeed, this is how many qin players
interpretthe programme. But then why go to such length to describe the details
of what happens in every part of the piece ?
The projection of images and events on to the music is primarily a matter of
literary play, an intellectual activity - no doubt an important activity, a major
element of the tradition, not just a trivial one, and in many cases a process that
is very much incorporated in the act of composing the music. But even as an
independent creative act it is taken very seriously. Some scholars go so far as to
speculate about every tiny gesture in the music, and how it expresses extra-
musical phenomena. A music essay by Xiao Lili, quoted in the sleeve notes of
David Liang Ming-Yueh's gramophone record Musik fur Ch'in (Liang 1975)
has the following explanatory table for musical gestures in the piece Ping sha
luo yan ("Wild geese descending on a sandbank"):

Instrumental technique Programmatic expression

Fast upwardor downwardportamentiin Flying
conjunctmelodic motion
Fast slides or quick vibratomovements Calling
aroundgiven tones
Single tones Alone
Double stops, octaves Togetherness
Open strings Scattered
(Series of) upwardportamenti Ascending flight
Descendingportamenti Downwardflight
ShortrepetitiveA-G-A motifs Bird calling
Right-handglissando sweep across seven strings Wings beating in bushes
immediatelydampedby the rightpalm
Acceleratingslides D-E in final section Final outburstof lonely goose

9 Guanglingqin music (vol.1), Hugo HRP 7139-2, Hong Kong, 1987/1996), track6,
Zhang
Ziqian, qin, with Dai Shuhong, xiao. Fredric Lieberman's A Chinese Zither Tutor, The
Mei-an ch'in-p'u. Hong Kong UP / University of WashingtonPress, 1983. Accompanying
cassette, side A, item 4, Ping sha luo yan, played by Tao Zhushen, qin. Recording date
unknown.
KOUWENHOVEN Meaning and structure - the case of Chinese qin (zither) music 59

This may be a legitimate theoretical exercise, but I doubt that most qin
players are interested, in practice, to pursue the matter this far, and to
reproduce every single movement of the geese in such a mechanical fashion.

Play for the sake of play: more room for different

meanings ?
The old programmatical explanations of qin music remain relevant to the
players, but new meanings and new images are constantly added, in record
notes and music articles. Naturally, the spirit of the compositions changes. This
is only in line with tradition, even if the outcome may sometimes be a far cry
from traditional practice. Different existing extra-musical interpretationsof qin
pieces may often be linked only in very loose ways to given musical forms or
gestures. But again, this is only in line with tradition.
Throughout the centuries there has been ardent dispute about what qin
music meant, what it was supposed to mean, what it ought to express, what it
should not be allowed to express, and how all this should be dealt with in
performance practice. Conflicting schools of interpretationin the qin world are
nothing new under the sun. (See Dahmer 1988:128-30 on clashing historical
judgments on Guanglingsan, one of the most celebrated compositions in the
repertoire.)
The existence of conflicting ideas does not imply that the act of projecting
images or spiritual feelings on to qin music must be a superficial activity. It is
best regarded as intellectual play, sometimes play of the highest order, an act of
provoking the gods. It adds a fascinating literary dimension which may be
appreciated independently from the music. It may offer a possible structural
framework for understanding the course and development of the music. In the
more extreme case, an added "programme"may amount to a summation of a
qin player's metaphysical yearnings and expectations. There is no reason to
assume that these aspects of the qin will easily lose their appeal. They are
among the tradition's most powerful and attractive assets, and are sufficiently
romantic to appeal to people from widely different backgrounds.
Admittedly, the act of projecting meanings on qin music itself is a privilege of
the few. Only people with a lot of spare time, a lively imagination and sufficient
affinity with the intellectual roots of their qin traditioncan afford to engage in the
game of inventing or explaining new and complex meanings for the sounds,
movements and shapes which they love so much. Ultimately, qin music is an
extreme example of a genre where multiple meanings are invented as a "leisure"
activity. The fantastic stories and spiritual feelings behind the music have been
allowed to grow and multiply in this frameworkof divine idling.
In a functional context, meanings of music cannot always so easily be
disputed, because they are more closely tied in with specific rituals and
narrowly defined actions. In traditional Chinese work songs, the "meaning" of
the music is primarily reflected in the regular rhythms of the songs, syn-
chronized to support and facilitate bodily movements. The words of work
songs do not matter very much; they are chosen primarily for their sound value,
60 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL.10/i 2001

and they do not determine musical meaning. In Chinese temple music worship-
pers frequently sing or play specific tunes which are prescribed to com-
municate specific messages to the gods. The meanings of those tunes cannot so
simply be changed, because they are linked to specific parts of ritual
ceremonies. Naturally, any genre and musical tradition is open to (re)-
negotiation of its non-musical connotations, but the variety of supposed
meanings of a given repertoire is likely to increase when music becomes dis-
engaged from a very specific functional context, and notably when its perfor-
mance turns into play for the sake of play. (I mentioned work songs and temple
music because these genres served as two important sources of inspiration for
qin music. In the past, many popular songs and temple tunes found their way
into the qin repertoire and obtained a wealth of new meanings in the process.)
The qin was eagerly promoted by people who loved to read and write and
who did not even necessarily play the instrument very proficiently. Some were
only able to pluck the open strings of the qin, or took satisfaction merely in
displaying their qins on a wall, as readily available status symbols and cheap
(or not so cheap) emblems of their imagined intellectual "superiority". In
addition to this, they also liked to add their own poems and ideas to the qin
tradition. In the seventeenth century, many literary qin aficionados were almost
as effective as genuine composers and performers in changing the face of qin
music: by adding innovative aesthetical ideas and new interpretations to
existing qin scores, they invited qin players to approach the repertoire in new
ways, and by so doing they ushered in a new era of great flourishing for the
qin. This great marriage of music and meaning must have been exhilarating and
deeply inspiring, for the literary as much as for the musically oriented. For all I
can see, this marriage continues to bear fruit at present.
But regardless of all literary input, the delicate sound of the instrument
should have the final say. Whether we are listening to ardent proponents of silk
strings, or to mainland Chinese players in robust and outspoken metal-string
performances, the qin, in the vast majority of cases, makes a virtue mainly of
its fragility, its evasive qualities, ratherthan - as in the romanticized, imaginary
past - its sturdy magical powers and cosmic aspirations. Listeners are lured -
and must have been lured for a good many centuries - primarily by its softness
of sound and by the questioning, seemingly inconsistent and vaporous nature of
the music: the qin enchants as much by what it says as by what it neglects or
refuses to explain.

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Note on the author

Frank Kouwenhoven (b. 1956) is a music researcher in Leiden, The Nether-
lands. Since 1986 he has been visiting China regularly to carry out musical
fieldwork, specifically on Chinese folk songs. He is a co-founder of CHIME,
the European Foundation for Chinese Music Research, and the main editor of
the CHIME Journal. Address: CHIME, P.O. Box 11092, 2301 EB Leiden, The
Netherlands; e-mail: chime@wxs.nl