I collect high quality original materials for Digital Guqin Museum. (Initially there are lots of general materials, but for the Digital Guqin Museum itself, its a showcase in 3D, therefore visually attractive materials will be privileged)
So far, I have seen quite a lot of qin books, cd, dvds. They are all shared with enthusiasm by a lot of people in the guqin research field. One such example is the silkqin site by John Thompson : invaluable, most complete and excellent a ressourceful and generous site.
I hear that there is a new qin book in planning - so I ask for a free copy when ready if the writer think its convenient.
So far at the Chime meeting, i saw a few new qin books - but all these qin books are familiar accounts of existing knowledge, not much more than re-writing, re-wording, re-packaging previous books with various layouts - not particularly inventive or particularly attractive layouts !
The only high quality book with outstanding literary beauty and first hand information is the one by Cecilia Linqvist because aside from her visual aesthetic choices, she has unique first hand information from the 60s - that of her own story.
The other interesting qin related book was by Bell Yung who told anecdotes about a specific teacher - also first hand data - also his own story.
No book is perfect, but its interesting to see what drives people to write about the guqin? What do they think they could add to the existing body of guqin material?
What first hand data are people going to write about? Or is willing to write about and is interesting to read?
What might a new qin book contain as first hand information?
How to play?
Re-interpretation of existing scores?
New forms of guqin, or ways of making guqins; or stories about their guqin making? experiments/experiences?
Costumes / outfits / showmanship of playing guqin?
Other interior/private moments of experinces with playing guqin?
Contemporary life of a guqin player?
Guqin showmanhip/show-womanship?
Revival of Hanfu as a cultural experience/package?
TangFu? Contemporary sexy Asian themed peek-a-boo/Romantic/fairy attire?
What else would a new guqin book contain?
Has there been a lot of "progress" made? And in what ways?
What does improvisation mean in guqin music?
What does "preservation" the original essence of the guqin mean?
Recently, I found a copy of an art historian's book on the guqin - almost all text in Chinese published recently - his breadth and reach of material beyond the usual body of guqin material makes it quite interesting to read. It means, his book contains a lot more than "pure guqin" material. Its a cross disciplinary text. (I am not at home at the moment and will complete this entry with references when i get home)
No comments:
Post a Comment