John Thompson : on DGM

Shuen-Git

The two main reasons I find the Second Life Virtual Guqin Museum
interesting is that it brings the guqin before a new group of people,
and it allows the presentation of the music within a context that can
in some ways evoke aspects of the guqin tradition better than the
standard performance environment can. Although when well played guqin
music is very beautiful, by tradition it is not so much a performance
instrument as an instrument for self-cultivation or meditation. In
landscape painting it is commonly depicted played in the countryside,
and yet from a musical standpoint such an environment is often
unsatisfactory (waterfalls are too loud, modern sounds intrude, there
may not be an appropriate place to sit or on which to place the
instrument, and so forth). However, such an idealized environment can
be evoked and perhaps more readily controlled in cyberspace. Another
ideal environment is said to the an "elegant gathering" involving
other literati arts such as painting, calligraphy and refined
conversation. Again, such an environment can also be created in
cyberspace through the addition of appropriate imagery and
participation of invited guests. The totality of the guqin makes it
very much a multi media instrument by nature. When fully devoloped the
Second Life Museum has the potential of bringing this all together.

John Thompson
13Feb 2009
www.silkqin.com