User:CSHHKX/Guzheng

The Guzheng is played throughout all of China with a variety of different techniques, depending on the region of China and the time period.

Styles and Techniques
The guzheng is plucked by the fingers with or without plectra. Most modern players use plectra that are attached to up to four fingers on each hand. Ancient picks were made of mundane materials such as bamboo, bone, and animal teeth or by finer materials such as ivory, tortoiseshell, and jade.

Traditional playing styles use the right hand to pluck notes and the left hand to add ornamentation such as pitch slides and vibrato by pressing the strings to the left of the movable bridges. Modern styles use both hands to play on the right side of the strings. There are many techniques used to strike notes. One iconic sound is a tremolo produced by the right thumb rotating rapidly around the same note. Other Guzheng techniques include Harmonics (Fanyin) with one plucks a string while tapping it at the same time, producing a note in a higher octave.

Techniques can be borrowed from other instruments. For example, Lun is a borrowed technique. In Lun, all five fingers pluck on a string to produce a tremolo sound similar to the Pipa.

Techniques can also vary in Northern and Southern China, producing different sounds and styles.

Northern China
Northern styles include songs from the Shandong and Henan regional schools.

Songs from Shandong include "High Mountain and Flowing Water [Shandong Version]" (Gao Shan Liu Shui) and "Autumn Moon Over the Han Palace" (Han Gong Qiu Yue). Songs from Henan include "High Mountain and Flowing Water [Henan Version]" and "Going Upstairs" (Shang Lou).

According to Samuel Wong, songs from Henan are fiery. Left hand slides and vibrato are used frequently and tremolo is done with the thumb. Meanwhile Shandong songs are "glamorous...melodic lines often rise and fall dramatically...Its music is characteristically light and refreshing.” . Slide descending notes are not used as as often as Henan. Glissandos are always on beat.

Southern China
Southern styles include Chaozhou and Kejia (Hakka) regional styles. Another prominent school is the Zhejiang regional school in the southeast.

Southern songs include "Jackdaw Plays with Water" (Han Ya Xi Shui) from Chaozhou and "Lotus Emerging from Water" (Chu Shui Lian) from the Hakka School. Famous songs from Zhejiang include "The General's Command" (Jiang Jun Ling).

Chaozhou and Hakka songs are similar but according to Mei Han, “Hakka melodies are similar to but less highly embellished than those of the neighboring Chaozhou school.” Songs from Chaozhou use even less descending notes and glissando are free rhythm. Chaozhou songs have "irregular beats, and alternate between hard and soft taps on the strings". Zhejiang songs use technique similar to the Pipa. Frequent tremolo is used with left-hand glissando. Other techniques include sidian, where 16th notes are played used thumb, index finger and middle finger in quick tempo.

The Guzheng is played on a pentatonic scale, with notes "fa" and "ti" being produced by bending the strings. The scale can change with using "flat", "natural" and "sharp" notes. Chaozhou songs use multiple scales, using both "flat" notes or both "natural" notes. The tone of the song can change based on the scale.

Modern Guzheng Music
Many pieces composed since the 1950s use new techniques and also mix elements from both northern and southern styles, ultimately creating a new modern school. Examples of modern songs include "Spring on Snowy Mountain" (Xue Shan Chun Xiao) by Fan Shang E, and Fighting the Typhoon (Zhan Tai Feng) by Wang Changyuan.

New techniques include playing harmony and counterpoint with the left hand.

Experimental, atonal pieces have been composed since the 1980s. For example, "Ming Mountain" (Ming Shan) and "Gloomy Fragrance" (An Xiang) are contemporary songs that do not use the traditional pentatonic scale.