Guangling Zither School

    Ancient Zither, also known as Yao Zither, is one of the traditional Chinese musical instruments. The history of the Guangling Zither School in Yangzhou can be traced back to ancient times. This school has developed its unique features. The music masters over the generations had attached great importance to it. The activity of playing traditional zither in Yangzhou was passed down from the Tang and Song Dynasties and reached its zenith in the Qing Dynasty. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the music masters in Yangzhou , the most famous ones being Xu Changyu and his son Xu Qi, were superbly skilled in playing zither, and they had composed various musical scores of zither. Those survived include Clear-mirror Hall Music Score by Xu Changyu, Five-wisdom Study Music Score by Xu Changyu and his son Xu Qi, Self-selected Hall Music Score by Wu Hong, Palm-leaf-hall Music Score by Qin Weihan, Withered-tree Music Score by the monk Kong Chen. In 1932, some musicians in Guangling, such as Sun Shaotao, Zhang Ziqian, Liu Shaochun and Hu Zifu, formally set up the Zither Society of Guangling. Those who belonged to this society had kept the traditional features. Their aesthetic standard is to be delicate, graceful, free and easy. They attached great importance to the contents and the presenting of feelings. Their features include flowing rhythm, gentle fingering, and exquisite performance. They not only assimilated the detachedness of the Mountain School , but also opened up a new way of giving full play to the meaning of the music. They had developed a free and easy style by combining boldness and implicitness together. The most famous music of the Guangling School includes The Flying dragon and The Song of the Woodchopper . The former is adapted from the dream of Zhuang Zhou about the butterfly, and is an ancient piece of music with a flowing rhythm and gaily sentiment.