Today’s ZiYo guqin showcase is this finely handcrafted guqin owned by our student, Cassandra, 夜雷 (Night Thunder)
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Cassandra is a musician with a Bachelor’s degree in orchestral percussion. She has practices guqin music for her own personal enjoyment.
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As an experienced musician she is well disciplined in practicing and learning to play. In order to get the best learning experience she has lessons in person with Yi, she travels over an hour to get to the ZIYO studio every week for her lessons.
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She has a good understanding of the differences between entry-level and professional-level instruments, including the cost difference between the two. She decided to buy a quality guqin from ZIYO on her very first lesson with Yi. She rented one of our qins to get a better understanding of the instrument, as well as to start saving up for a finely crafted guqin.
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Cassandra’s qin follows Zhong Ni style (仲尼式). The body is crafted from aged fir wood (老杉木) reclaimed from a temple. Ebony(紫光檀) is used to make the tuning pegs, feet and bridge. This ain was varnished several times with a premium quality natural lacquer, which ensure durability and protection for the Qin’s body. The lacquer is mixed with deer horn and mineral pigments to add a patina to the finish. Guqin playing involves a lot of sliding techniques, our select qin craftsmen place a lot of attention to the varnished finish of the qin in order to best support smooth sliding actions. Our select Qin craftsmen also set up the Qin to minimise the gap between the strings and Qin’s body, whilst ensuring there is no buzzing from being too close to the body.
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The name of Cassandra’s qin is 夜雷 which means Night Thunder. There are so many excellent names to choose from but Cassandra was drawn to the word Thunder. On the very same day that she chose this name there was an electrical storm over London’s night sky, almost like a celebration on the birth of the qin.
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The poem on 夜雷 (Night Thunder) is “In a Retreat Among Bamboos” from Wang Wei 獨坐幽篁裏，彈琴復長嘯。深林人不知，明月來相照。
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