| Themes > Arts > Music > Musical Instruments > Musical Instruments of East Asia >The Art of the Qin | ||
| The
qin is, along with poetry and calligraphy, the emblem of literate
China. But above all it is an extremely simple instrument with immense
tonal capacities, from deep low notes to its luminous top register, from
notes attacked with great violence to glissandi melting into silence.
The sound-box, lacquered and set with grains of precious metal (making it a work of art often admired) is strung with seven strings corresponding to the fundamentals of the Chinese scale; C-D-F-G-A-C-D. Thirteen little heads of pearl indicate harmonic divisions along the string. |
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Three different
playing techniques can be used: open strings, strings held along the
finger-board which is smooth like a violin's, and harmonics. |
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