Since I have been learning Guzheng, I've been trying to come up with creative ways to practice whilst I'm waiting for my own actual Guzheng to arrive. It's hard to keep up with a class full of chinese students, even if they are only very young, because I think as most people know, Chinese students work ethics are VERY high. I'm grateful for my background in music because not only am I dealing with learning the instrument but I'm also dealing with learning the Chinese for everything. It adds a few seconds on to my thinking process when I have to first translate in my head what Tu Laoshi has just asked me before I can do what she wants me to do. For example play "bei di yin mi " (very low register "mi" string, as in do,re,mi,so,fa,la,ti,do) or gao yin do (High registered "do" string.)
For those who are musically inclined, the Guzheng is split into 4 registers, bei di yin qu, di yin qu, zhong yin qu, gao yin qu, tuned in a major pentatonic scale and 1 high string "bei gao yin do string". 21 strings which as the teacher calls out (in chinese obviously)or writes, in the unusual way that Chinese write music (with numbers and dots above and below them and dashes for note values)...I have to find...very quickly. What a challenge!
Last week I drew the guzheng strings onto a big piece of card, so I could practice what each string is called and where each string is. This week I hit GOLD on the internet when I found this site
http://www.noteflight.com/info/make_music
Not only is it great for me to practice memorising melodies for guzheng (like the short tune we have to be able to sing and identify the notes for at this weekends lesson) but also at "Noteflight" I can start writing and composing songs again, something I havent done now for many many years. For my Muso mates, I urge you, CHECK IT OUT!
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