Guqin and xiao duet: Guan Shan Yue

[ziman]

This past Friday, I performed the classical piece Guan Shan Yue (關山月) with my guqin-playing friend: www.dropbox.com/s/cxecm0j6wepmsce/IMGP1487.AVI

You'll want to turn the volume up so you can hear the quieter notes of the guqin.

And ignore the distracting blue background; a projector glitch happened in the room we were performing in. Luckily I wasn't playing from sheet music, otherwise, the light would have been quite annoying.

As you can see, I am not exactly a brilliant player as yet, with less than 4 months of playing experience. Still light years away from master Tam Po Shek's rendition of the same piece: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbpNNPZtOiU&feature=BFa&list=PL3344211C7B4C8A58

[Blue]

You're being too modest. Performing in front of an audience with a guqin player: that's already an excellent achievement. I've never formally performed a xiao in front of people before. In a couple of months you'll surpass me and I would have to address you as master!

You might want to challenge yourself further by playing happy, higher pitch, quick tempo tunes on the xiao. Can you reach up to two octaves?

Also, do you have any experience with the dizi? Which one do you like more? The xiao or dizi?

[ziman]

Hi Allent, thanks for your encouragement

I can reach up the full two and a half octaves, except that my highest two notes in the third octave are still somewhat unsteady. The main two octaves I'm fine with though. (The piece Guan Shan Yue which I played in the video spans two full octaves.)

I'm also gradually training myself to control timbre and resonance. Slowly getting the hang of it, right now I can only control the resonance of the two lowest notes with a fair amount of consistency. (That control still goes awry when I'm stressed though! I often jokingly tell my friends that the xiao is the best Stress-O-Meter I've seen-- the more tense I am, the worse it sounds!)

Fortunately, I know my xiao is capable of a good amount of resonance in all notes in its range-- that I know because I have at varying times managed to bring out the resonance of all the notes (mostly by accident; as mentioned, I only really have consistent control over the resonance of the low notes). I'm quite lucky in that regard, I think, since master Wensong (a.k.a. Donsiau) has pointed out that resonance ability depends not just on player ability but also the quality of the flute. I should thank Dong Xue Hua for making me such a good flute.

For quick-tempo challenge practice, I often "cross-train" in Irish folksongs. Many of them are fast-paced and require great agility on the part of the flute player. The ornamentation style of Irish music, full of quick cuts and rolls, adds to the challenge. Besides, it's fun to explore pieces from a tradition different than the one I normally play in.

I used to play dizi on and off in my high school years, mainly because my dad had a qudi at home. I like the xiao much more though, just a personal aesthetic preference for one kind of timbre over another. My dad is the opposite, he finds the tone of the xiao rather boring and prefers dizi

[Blue]

Ah, another follower of Donsiau. Did you check out his facebook page?

Yes, I prefer the xiao over the dizi because the dizi is getting too loud for my ears and at least neighbors don't complain if I play the xiao. My only complaint is that xiaos are always 6 holes or 8 holes including the thumb hole. This is unlike the quena/quenacho which as 7 holes, including the thumb hole.

Although I've taken dizi lessons, I never took xiao lessons before. I just simply visited a xiao maker in central Taiwan, bought a few, and ended up playing pretty well so long it's UV hybrid.

[ziman]

I do follow his facebook page, although it seems a little quiet of late.

Why do you find 6 or 8 holes troublesome as compared to 7 holes? I've never played a quena/quenacho before, wonder how their blowing technique differs from the xiao.

Speaking of similar instruments, I might get a chance to meet a shakuhachi maker/player who resides in New York next month. I wonder how different the embouchure between xiao and shakuhachi are.

I haven't taken any formal lessons either. I usually refer to a bunch of books and websites, and figure it out myself. Apart from Wensong's site, which has helped me a great deal, I've also found some of the technical exercises used by shakuhachi players to be helpful. An example: web.archive.org/web/20110714222217/http://nyokai.com/tips/index.php?n=Tips.BreathShapes

When I hit a problem I really can't figure out, I send a message to Wensong to seek advice. He is really good at picking out what my trouble spots are. For instance, I used to have difficulty maintaining stability in the highest three notes in the second octave. He correctly identified the problem as excessive tension in my lips, which caused my lips to quiver ever so slightly, resulting in an unstable airstream, which in turn caused the sound to "jump" uncontrollably between the first and second octaves.

[Blue]

Yes, Wensong is very responsive to questions and likes meeting people of all walks of life regardless of their xiao playing ability. As long one has interest in playing the xiao despite one's difficulties, he is happy. I actually met him last year in person. If you do visit Taiwan, don't hesitate to ask for an appointment to meet him (and see all the xiaos that he displays on his website).