Transmigration of the Famous Cyberstar (1)

Chapter 136: Playing the Guqin

"Mhm," Owner Li added on, "If you read the ancient records describing how a Guqin gets played, they all call it caressing the Guqin. Usually, you play the Guqin with your right hand plucking the string and your left hand pressing on the string. Your hands move around back and forth on the strings, and it requires lots of focus, while the way you play a Guzheng is completely different from the way you play a Guqin."

Wen Fangfei reached out her hands and showed Li Xiaoru all ten of her fingers, "We Guzheng players pluck the strings with our right hand's thumb, index finger, and middle finger. Our left hand would use the elasticity of the strings to control the changes in the notes to make the melody."

Li Xiaoru only realized until now that, similar to herself, there were calluses all over Wen Fangfei's fingers. The only difference was that they had calluses on different positions.

"A Guzheng has more strings than a Guqin, so it seems that playing a Guqin is much easier than playing a Guzheng. However, in reality, the ancient Chinese thought playing the Guqin was much harder than playing a Guzheng because you need to bring your audience into an artistic mood. Guqin is an instrument that's very hard to completely control.

If you look at how Yu Boya played 'Mountain stream' for Zhong Ziqi and how Sima Xiangru played "Feng Qiu Huang" for Zhuo Wenjun. You need lots of understanding of the music and talent to reach this kind of artistic level. You won't be able to reach this artistic level just by studying. It is why there are fewer and fewer Guqin players now. The amount of people in the Guzheng major is four times the amount of people in the Guqin major. The school doesn't treat this unpopular major as important either," Wen Fangfei informed Li Xiaoru.

Li Xiaoru, who learned a lot, nodded her head, "I thought Guzheng and Guqin were the same before, but I never knew how much there is to learn about both of these instruments."

"Unfortunately, most parents are like you. They don't understand the folksong instruments. People who don't study music always subconsciously think the western instruments are high-tiered. When they want their children to develop an interest in music, they always choose western instruments like the piano and violin. Now, the folksong instruments are getting less and less popular," Owner Li sounded very disappointed.

"My shop has been here for twenty years. Over the past few years, the business has been getting worse and worse. Sometimes I get five to six customers a day, and sometimes I get none. If you look at the guitar shop opposite the street, you would see they have lots of customers every day."

Li Xiaoru said, "Guitars are different. Those boys all go and learn guitar like a swarm of bees just because they can sing and play at the same time, and it's easier for them to flirt with girls."

Li Xiaoru could always make everyone else laugh and make them be in a good mood.

Wen Fangfei smiled as she added, "You have a point. Whenever there's a boy playing the guitar, there would immediately be a crowd of girls surrounding him."

"You would have to be handsome before you can cause this kind of effect," Li Xiaoru laughed as she looked at Wen Fangfei, "If you play the Guzheng publically, you would probably attract a huge group of boys too."

The three girls chatted and laughed, finally chasing away the aftereffects of that certain incident involving broken strings.

Wen Fangfei tentatively asked Liu Man, "You seem to be interested in this Guqin. Do you want to try playing it?"

Li Xiaoru felt Wen Fangfei's words were strange, "Did you forget we are piano majors? How in the world can Man Man possibly know how to play the Guqin?"