[NetBehaviour] ~~wards, qin improvisation

[Simon Mclennan]

Really meditative and great Alan. Enjoyed this.
It’s a great contrast to your recent acoustic guitar improv pieces which move differently. 
Simon

Sent from my spyphone 

> On 13 Oct 2020, at 15:23, Alan Sondheim <sondheim at panix.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> ~~wards, qin improvisation
> 
> http://www.alansondheim.org/wards.jpg qin
> http://www.alansondheim.org/wards.mp3 sound
> 
> I hadn't played the quqin for several months; one has to come to
> it, I think, at least for me, in the proper state of mind. This
> is the older of my two instruments, some centuries old, unsigned,
> originally designed for silk strings. I keep the metal strings
> tuned low. I try I want (not I desire) to keep to its nature as
> well. I love this improvisation. There's a slight ringing on one
> of the harmonics due to the nature of the glass table I use for
> the qin. The table was originally for packages and down in the
> lobby of the building we live in. It was being thrown out, and
> we had another rescue. It's the perfect length. We found an old
> chair from around 1850 maybe that's the perfect height. Stephen
> Dydo brought the qin to life. Originally, I asked the luthier
> Candelario Delgado to make a tuning apparatus which was
> non-traditional but worked for a long time. Dydo restored the
> original, including adding two legs which had disappeared a
> long time ago, before I had it. As I've written before, I found
> the instrument in New Hampshire at an antique shop for eighteen
> dollars. When I left the proprietor asked what I wanted that old
> board for. I improvise only on it; I don't read qin notation. I
> listen a lot to qin music, I've know qin players, including Fred
> Lieberman, who was partly responsible, I think, for introducing
> the instrument to the United States. He told me I'd never learn
> to play it. Stephen Dydo has been amazingly generous and helpful
> and I've learned to play it. I have to add, not all the way up
> the scale, and my right hand fingers don't hold the traditional
> postures. I have to also add I've had it for half a century and
> we accommodate each other. The improvisation is called 'wards'
> because it's inwards, outwards, upwards, downwards, forwards,
> backwards, but mainly in wards. Any relationship to asylum wards
> is coincidental, hopefully, enjoy. The Album Stephen and I did
> together for ESP, Dragon and Phoenix, issued by ESP-Disk, is
> available online. It's described and can be purchased at
> http://www.espdisk.com/5019.html . Thank you!
> 
> ___
> 
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