Story Summary

Scholar of the performing arts and disciple of Sun Shujun, Kate introduces the technical aspects of Beijing Drumsong.

More Info

The lesson includes a description of “Ziqi Overhears the (Superb) Music of a Zither,” [子期听琴] by Sun Shujun (see below). Mr. Wang was a distinguished scholar of the performing arts and also Sun Shujun’s husband. “Ziqi Overhears the (Superb) Music of a Zither,” is set in the Lieguo Period (i.e., Warring States) of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (425-221 BCE). This very moving piece is about a serendipitous meeting of two men, a traveling expert zither player, Yu Boya 俞伯牙, and a woodsman, Zhong Ziqi 鐘子期. Boya, stopping his boat because of rain, is inspired to play a tune on his zither—“A Small Lonely Boat” (yi xiao gu zhou 一小孤舟). Suddenly he see a woodsman—Zhong Ziqi 鐘子期—standing on the shore, transfixed by the stunning performance on the zither. They become fast friends because Boya realizes that this woodsman actually understands the melody exactly as Boya intended it. From this episode and its continuation, “Boya Smashes [his]Zither” (Boya shuai qin 伯牙摔琴), comes the Chinese expression for “Soulmate” (zhiyin 知音: one who knows/understands [my] sound/music/soul).