Tony Wheeler – guqin

Tony Wheeler studied guqin古琴 at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with LIN Youren 林友仁 from 1985 to 1987, as well as having regular lessons and discussions with him for the 26 years following that time. In Shanghai Tony also studied ruan 阮 (4-stringed Chinese guitar) with ZHU Xincheng 诸新诚 and composition with HE Zhanhao 何占豪.

LIN Youren (1938-2013) was one of the most highly respected qin players of the modern age, and himself studied with several of the most prominent qin masters of the 20th century. Mr LIN was officially named in 2008 as one of 10 national-level transmitters of qin music and culture in China. Tony also studied qin in Hong Kong with LAU Chor-wah 刘楚华 from 1988 to 1991. It was from LAU Chor-wah whom he learned, among other things, a deep appreciation of traditional silk strings.

Primarily due to the influence of LIN Youren, Tony Wheeler’s qin playing is deeply grounded in tradition. His style is simple, uncomplicated, and free of any unnecessary florid elaborations or ostentatious movement. Tony’s playing is natural and down to earth, with strong elements of spirituality which emanate from his practice of Zen 禅 meditation.

Tony Wheeler is also a professional clarinet and saxophone player, teacher and composer. He gradu¬ated from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 1982, before going to the Shanghai Conservatory in 1985. After leaving Shanghai, Tony then studied and taught at the Uni¬versity of Hong Kong for four years before being awarded an M.Phil. in Composition for Chi¬nese instruments.

He has performed extensively on guqin in Australia and China, and has done much work on the da-pu 打谱 (reconstruction) of music from traditional guqin scores. Some of these reconstructions are featured on this CD. His da-pu of Walking with the Ancients 古交行 was published in China in 2011, and his essay on the reconstruction process of this piece was published in 2013 in the book Postscripts on the Resurrection of the Zither Manuscript of the Pine and Strings Hall  松弦馆琴谱钩沉打谱后记.

Guqin (Ancient 7-stringed zither)
The guqin (often referred to as the qin) is one of the oldest indigenous Chinese instru¬ments, having survived intact for well over two millennia. The qin is mentioned in liter¬ature of the Zhou era (11th cent. B.C. - 221B.C.), though at that time it probably only had five strings. By about 200 A.D. it had evolved to a shape and form which has changed little even to the present day. Originally qin strings were made of silk, although in the later decades of the 20th century many players in Mainland China preferred to use nylon-wound strings with a thin steel core. Steel-cored strings are more stable, less inclined to snap, and produce a louder sound. Their timbre, however, usually lacks some of the depth and sonority of silk strings.

All the pieces on this CD are played on silk strings. Two instruments were used in the recordings:
Track 2 is played on a China fir wood qin (named 禅钟 – Zen Bell) made by Nan Feng 南风 Qin Company in Yangzhou in 2011.
All other tracks are played on a paulownia wood qin (named 常安 – Constant Tranquility) made by LI Mingzhong 李明忠 in the 1990s.

Throughout history the qin has always been associated with the refined, scholarly and even mystical aspects of music-making. It is rather reclusive by nature, and is the sub¬ject of much folklore, but despite these mystical connections its sound has a direct and earthy presence, very much of this world. Acoustically it is relatively quiet, but possesses a rich palette of timbres and a wide range of more than 4 octaves. It is most suited to being played in quiet, intimate surroundings, where the often contemplative nature of the music may be fully appreciated.


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Zeng Xiaogang kommer från Kina och spelar det klassiska kinesiska instrumentet qin. Qin representerar en säregen österländsk musikestetik som skiljer sig markant från den västerländska och i stor utsträckning också från den övriga världens musiktraditioner i sin form, fri rytmik och berättande karaktär. Qinspelaren beskrivs kunna måla med toner. Xiaogang har under många år också utforskat instrumentets möjligheter utanför traditionen i nyskapande sammanhang som solist, improvisatör och i möten med andra musiker och ensembler. 


琴聲雖可狀，琴意誰可聽。

Although the tones of the qin may be features, when listening to them who shall be able to fathom their significance.


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