> ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Stuart LeBlanc" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 8:43 PM > Subject: RE: Blind players and memory > > >> Must >> I give up the bragging rights I have claimed at the Go club??
I wouldn't dream of it! At least you can play Go ;^) >> However, I've heard both the ch'in and p'ip'a played at a very high level >> (in fact attended a Wu Man solo recital just a few months ago) and from >> what >> I've heard the p'ip'a music certainly holds its own artistically. If one >> had >> to offer a critique you could say some of the music is overtly virtuosic, >> but >> what I've heard is certainly not empty virtuosity. I'm interested to >> hear >> otherwise from someone who actually knows this repertoire. >> The p'i-p'a has beautiful and artistic repetoire. "Ambushed on All Sides" for example is a stunning tour de force that contains many pyrotechnics yet is also a work of art. The low esteem that the literati had for instruments other than ch'in was their "official" stance. The ch'in was the instrument of choice for the Chinese literati for a variety of reasons. Among other things it was regarded as a tool of self cultivation. To quote Zhu Quan in the preface to his Shen Qi Mi Pu of 1425: "As the qin became a physical object, the sages made it in such a way that it could correct purposeful thoughts, provide leadership in worldly affairs, bring accord to the six influences and tune the harmony of the seasons. It is indeed the divine instrument of heaven and earth, and a most ancient spiritual object; thus it became the music used by sages of our Middle Kingdom to control the government, and the object used by princely men to cultivate (themselves); it is only appropriate to stitched sleeves (i.e., scholars) or yellow caps (Daoists)." While they may have "officially" disdained other instruments such as p'i-p'a, they certainly enjoyed their music. I'm afraid this is drifting off topic, I only meant to offer information about the instrument mentioned in the "Four Arts". Steve Amazeen To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
