The Basics
The guzheng is a long, stringed instrument that is played by plucking the strings with the fingers or with picks that are worn on the fingertips.
Ding Yi wrote the following message to express what the guzheng means to her:
筝 Zheng
Usually called Guzheng 古筝, is a Chinese instrument with more than 2500 years of history. People will indulge in experiencing the vibe of Chinese culture by appreciating Zheng music. In this long history, our predecessors have created various ways of performance to express their appreciation and profound love for this Chinese instrument. As a young modern performer, I cherish and learn a lot from their creations. At the same time, I am trying to explore the combination of improvisation and Zheng music as my way of inheriting and innovating Zheng music. I want to let people from all over the world know and invite Zheng music into their everyday life.
I hope my Zheng improvisation will make global people living in this up-to-date world enjoy the music created by such a Chinese instrument.
I hope my Zheng music will nourish your heart, bring peace, love and hope to you.
I hope this lovely world will be peaceful as always, nature and human.
万物共荣，世界和平。
In these videos, Ding Yi performs a piece on the guzheng, shares about her experiences playing the guzheng and what it means to her, and invites us to take a detailed look at her instrument and how it works.
The piece that Ding Yi performs for us is called “Gao Shan Liu Shui” (“High Mountain and Running Water”).
Extension Activities
When visiting Sherwood Elementary, Ding Yi shared about some of the elements of traditional Chinese landscape painting style, and its themes of communing with the natural world, comparing landscape paintings with actual photos of Chinese mountains and rivers. As she discussed in her videos, learners then had the opportunity to create a large artwork as a class that reflected these themes while listening to Ding Yi’s guzheng playing. This activity could be replicated with the use of Ding Yi’s performance video and images of Chinese landscape paintings as inspiration.
Learners could also discuss the science of sound and create their own pitched string instruments like the guzheng. More resources for exploring the guzheng are shared on the Oliver’s Song website.
About Ding Yi
Ding Yi Feng is a professional guzheng, or zheng, musician and teacher. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Guzheng Performance from the Tianjin Conservatory of Music and a Master of Education from the University of Prince Edward Island. In 2017 she received the Tianjin First Guzheng Art and Tianyun Cup in Guzheng Performance and has also been the recipient of the Professional Youth Group Bronze Award. Since coming to live in PEI, she has performed regularly at many events including the #RisingYouth Multicultural Youth Showcase, Ebb & Flow: Tides of Settlement on PEI, DiverseCity Multicultural Festival, and the PEI Chinese Lunar New Year Gala.
