The Chinese qin 琴, a zither-like instrument, can be traced back about 2500 years ago through archaeological evidence, and has a textual history dating back even further. As an instrument associated with literati and sages, we see a wealth of references to it in poetry, mythology, historical and semi-historical accounts, and philosophical exegesis.
The first example of a written record of music for the qin, however, does not appear until the early Tang dynasty (7th century). This earliest prose example details the hand positions and movements the performer must enact to accurately produce the right notes. By the late 12th century, we have examples of these prose directions condensed down to a single, character-like tablature for each note.
This event will alternate between a lecture, led by ISM Fellow Kelsey Seymour, and a musical demonstration, offered by Peiyou Chang 張培幼. The evening’s discussion and performance will take us through the conceptualization and use of qin tablature with demonstrated examples from an expert performer on the instrument. In particular, we will explore the ways in which musical sounds are visually represented, how the representation of musical sounds is tied to the representation of verbal sounds, as well as the kinds of information a musical score can convey. Following the talk will be a short performance of qin music.