Theremin & Guqin

This composition is for the 7 stringed Chinese zither called the "guqin", and the modern electronic instrument known as the "theremin". For many centuries, the guqin (pronounced "koo - chin") was the instrument of classical Chinese scholars, philosophers and literati and its sound is very subtle and quiet (which is not surprising since its strings are made of silk).

The theremin, on the other hand, is an entirely electronic instrument and, if you want it to, it can blow the roof off the Houston Astrodome.

In order for these two very different instruments to complement each other I had to do two things: first I had to play the theremin very quietly and when I mixed the recording I tried to make it sound as if it was being played in the distance. Secondly, I made two custom piezoelectric pickups and installed them inside the wooden body of the guqin so that its sound could compete in volume and resonance with the other instruments around it.

People who are familiar with the guqin will notice that I am playing with tortoise shell fingernails on my right hand. The guqin requires fingernails but as a multi-instrumentalist I play several instruments that cannot be played if you have fingernails. Traditionally guqin players have used nails made out of bird quills, tortoise shell, and sometimes bamboo. I would prefer to play with my own natural nails but that is impossible.

The theremin in this performance is the Moog Ethervox. I did not bother to show myself playing it because I already have all sorts of theremin videos on my YT channel including many with the Ethervox. When I looked at the video of myself playing the guqin I thought it was rather boring, so I decided to liven things up visually with some clips of the beautiful, supernatural fight scenes from the epic film HERO.

For anyone interested in knowing more about the guqin and its several thousand year history, I suggest John Thompson's remarkable website "silkqin.com".

Category:

Music

Tags:

• guqin
• theremin
• ethervox
• silk
• strings
• chinese
• music
• peter
• pringle
• hero
• jet
• li
• moog
• Moog Music