Guqin

The guqin is a seven-stringed Chinese long zither, played horizontally on a table or the player's lap. Strings were traditionally silk (some performers now use steel); the instrument has thirteen mother-of-pearl studs (hui) marking harmonic nodes, and three principal techniques — open strings (san), stopped notes (an) and harmonics (fan). Playing dynamics are quiet, intended for solo contemplation or an audience of one or two; the instrument's sound is often described as a conversation overheard rather than addressed. Notation uses a unique tablature system, jianzi pu, that specifies fingerings and string positions but leaves pitch and rhythm to the player — every performance is partly a re-creation.

The guqin has been played in China for more than three thousand years and is associated above all with the scholar-official (literati) class as one of the four classical accomplishments alongside calligraphy, painting and chess (qin-qi-shu-hua). Confucius is said to have played it; the major surviving repertoire dates from the Ming and Qing dynasties, transmitted in handbooks like Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425). Twentieth-century master Guan Pinghu (1897-1967) and his students rebuilt the modern performance tradition after the upheavals of revolution and Cultural Revolution. UNESCO inscribed guqin music on its first list of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage in 2003.

Listen for the long decay after each note: the silk-string guqin's tone fades over many seconds, and the music depends on what happens in the spaces between attacks. The player's left-hand vibrato and sliding (yin and zou) on stopped notes shape the dying tone, sometimes more than the original attack does. The interlocking of three techniques — san, an, fan — gives each piece its textural map.

Guan Pinghu's 1956 recording of 'Liu Shui' ('Flowing Water'), one of the pieces selected to be included on the Voyager Golden Record in 1977, is the form's canonical entry. The full piece is roughly seven minutes; sit with the silences as part of the music.

A recording of 'Flowing Water' performed by Guan Pinghu was placed on the Voyager Golden Record in 1977 — currently traveling through interstellar space as part of the only physical Chinese cultural artifact NASA included on the spacecraft.