[NetBehaviour] 2 qin (guqin) improvisation

[Alan Sondheim via NetBehaviour]

2 qin (guqin) improvisation

https://youtu.be/FP_210DyWxs CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

because I can or can't... I haven't played these instruments for
a while, particularly the newer one; on one of the recordings I
played dual qin because I can't, now just returned after
spending a fair amount of tuning and setting them up. I don't
remember all the positions! I search for the positions! I work
through my ignorance! I reach beyond myself and fall, falter,
fail, furious! at myself, within myself, beneath myself, _this
isn't a circus!_ in any case, this came out better than I
thought it would, my hands searching for the right notes, within
the range of the lower bridge or the position markers in the
middle of things. harmonics always guide me. of course this
isn't traditional qin playing, although traditional is what I
listen to. I owe so much to Stephen Dydo by the way; we recorded
an album together (for ESP) that I quite like. but it's clear to
everyone: I am not a qin player, not in any sense of the term,
and it may not be clear, but I revere the instrument. so this
recording - the sound is direct from a Zoom H4n; there's no
modification at all, no added reverberation or manipulation. the
visuals have video echo added. the sound spreads between the two
qin, which are identically tuned. the nearer instrument (to me)
is a poor one, modern; in fact it sounds quite good. the farther
is my old qin, 200-400 years old, heavily "messed up" when I
found it at an antique store for eighteen dollars. Stephen Dydo
worked on it, adding traditional legs, steel strings (not
traditional, but functional), and pegs. At this point I don't
have the strength to restring it myself; he did that as well.
Enjoy the music, the intensity I need to bring to the qin
(finding the proper positions, working the two instruments,
moving my hands between them, etc.) is necessary to make any
sense of parallel instruments. Finally, I hadn't played these
for several months, due to slipping pegs and my lack of
attention (covid, exhaustion, death of my brother and many other
real excuses), so this is also an exploration, for me, of
origins in a sense, histories, music, and hopefully something
worth listening to.

http://www.alansondheim.org/sc.jpg , click on link above for VIDEO

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