Technology Empowers the Art of the Qin and Zheng

Release date:

2023-05-25 14:05

Author:

A black body, lightweight materials, and gleaming white strings—this is the electric zither developed by Xiong Liqun, honorary president of the Yangzhou Qin and Zheng Association and a designated inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of guzheng art. Unlike traditional guzhengs, the electric zither is crafted from eco-friendly, lightweight composite materials, addressing the issues of heaviness and poor portability that have long plagued conventional instruments.

　　A black body, lightweight materials, and gleaming white strings—this is the electric zither developed by Xiong Liqun, honorary president of the Yangzhou Qin and Zheng Association and a designated inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of guzheng art. Unlike the traditional guzheng, the electric zither is crafted from eco-friendly, lightweight composite materials, addressing the issues of heaviness and portability that have long plagued conventional instruments.

　　Addressing the inconvenience of traditional guzheng tuning, the electric guzheng employs worm‑gear technology, allowing strings to be tuned with just two fingers. At the same time, its audio output can be freely switched between headphones and speakers, so players need not worry about neighbors complaining during practice or struggling to hear the instructor in group lessons. “On the one hand,” says Xiong Liqun, “we’ve reimagined the conventional guzheng design, making substantial changes to its appearance. Building on the electric guzheng’s hardware, we’ve also developed an ‘AI‑powered guzheng teaching aid system.’ Through multimedia‑enhanced formats, this system transforms the traditional guzheng classroom into a modern learning platform that is healthy, convenient, engaging, and highly efficient.”

　　Stepping into the Yangzhou 486 Intangible Cultural Heritage Cluster, waves of melodious zither music drift gently through the air. Zither and guzheng craftsman Jia Hongliu is leading his team in developing an intelligent teaching‑aid system. Leveraging cutting-edge technology, the system can intelligently recognize and score the guzheng’s tone, finger techniques, and playing posture, while delivering interactive instruction via projection and audio‑visual feedback. It also employs smart string‑recognition and projection‑calibration algorithms to facilitate precise instrument tuning. “We aim to harness the latest technologies to break new ground in teaching methods, further promote the art of the guzheng, and address the challenges of making its instruction more accessible,” says Jia Hongliu.

Keywords:

Haiyi Musical Instruments

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