Wu Zhao

Wu Zhao

Wu Zhao, male, Han nationality, was born on December 28, 1935 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. The second batch of national intangible cultural heritage project Guqin art representative inheritors. Guqin is also a music historian.

Character experience

In 1955, he joined the History Department of Tianjin Nankai University and studied Qin from Wu JINGLUE, a Guqin master of Wu school. After graduating from university in 1959, he joined the National Music Institute of the Central Conservatory of music and studied Chinese music history under the guidance of music historian Yang Yinliu. In 1985, he was an associate researcher of China Art Research Institute and Secretary General of Beijing Guqin Research Association. From 1987 to 1989, he was the director of the Research Office of Chinese music history. In 1991, he was a researcher of the Institute and President of Beijing Guqin Research Association. In 1992, he received special allowance from experts with outstanding contributions from the State Council. Since 1993, he has been the doctoral supervisor of the Institute. Since 2001, he has been the president of China Guqin Association and director of the national amateur Guqin art level examination committee.

Wu Zhao was born in a scholarly family. His family is a famous family in Suzhou. Jiangnan talents and scholars with rich knowledge are frequent visitors. Wu Mei, his great uncle, is a professor of Yanjing University, an expert of Kunqu Opera and a ci writer.

After the abolition of the imperial examination in the late Qing Dynasty, Suzhou Kunqu Academy was set up by local people of insight in order to save the endangered Kunqu art. Wu Zhao's grandfather was one of the participants. When Wu Zhao was a child, local cultural celebrities and Kunqu fans often came to his home and held "the same period" in the flower hall deep in the courtyard. Naturally, these melodious tunes and lyrics containing Chinese culture are indispensable to his ears. It was also at that time that Wu Zhao began to read a large number of ancient Chinese cultural classics, including the book of songs, Lisao, Yuefu, Hanfu and the poems, songs and Fu of the past dynasties.

father

Wu Zhao Guqin's first teacher was his father. Wu Zhao's father is versatile. He studied under Wu Lansun, a famous guqin master in Suzhou (Wu Lansun is the father of Wu Zhaoji, a contemporary Guqin Master). He also studied painting with Wu Hufan's elder martial brother, a famous painter. He didn't pursue fame and wealth. He lived in peace with the world all his life. Like ancient Chinese literati, he discussed painting, poetry and piano as part of self-cultivation. All these deeply influenced Wu Zhao's life choice, and also branded him with the mark of Chinese traditional culture.

Western Learning

Wu Zhao is the eldest son of his family. He has a younger brother and three younger sisters. Unfortunately, his younger brother died early, which makes his parents love him even more. However, unlike the Chinese tradition of wearing long robes and Mandarin coats, Wu Zhao's mother's family worked hard to learn western culture, often dressed in suits and spoke fluent English. According to the situation at that time, Wu Zhao's parents, who were influenced by more western thoughts, sent him to a local missionary school. However, family education was still completely rooted in the life of traditional Chinese culture. In Wu Zhao's initial family education and way of life, they always adhered to the ideology of people with traditional Chinese culture. As the first boy of a big family, Wu Zhao was able to recite poems and articles in the bright sunlight, following the traditional Chinese education concept of self-cultivation, family management, governing the country and pacifying the world. Of course, he also had another course of self-cultivation: seeking things, learning, sincerity, and integrity. Guqin is the beginning of self-cultivation and self-improvement.

Art career

Wu Zhao was eleven or two years old when he was studying piano. His father played the piano, he learned the piano, did not make a deliberate choice, everything happened naturally. But his parents soon found out that he was especially fascinated by guqin, and could play it tirelessly and enjoy it. It was Guqin that helped him find a way to express himself: what he had gained from reading poems and articles in the past seemed to be able to be vividly expressed through the strings under his fingers; his feelings and ideas could also be expressed completely by plucking the strings. Wu Zhao was no longer satisfied with his father's professor. He decided to pay homage to cha Fuxi, a famous guqin artist at that time. To his delight, chafuxi accepted him as a student.

At that time, his family had already moved to Beijing. Wu Zhao, who was studying in an ordinary middle school in Beijing, would go to his teacher chafuxi's home every week to learn "Arts" and receive traditional Chinese private school education: two pianos were placed on one table, and the teachers and students sat down face to face. Because there was no modern recording equipment, he taught piano and music by hand.

Wu Zhao often met Zha Fuxi, Li Tingsong (Master Pipa), Jiang Fengzhi (expert erhu) and pan huaisu (expert ancient music) who were in Beijing at that time. Mr. Pan is often the one to watch and comment, while others offer their own skills. Cha Lao's Kunqu Qingchang, Dongxiao solo or Guqin performance; Li Tingsong's Wuqu "ambush", "Bawang Jiejia" or Wenqu "Xunyang Pipa"; Jiang Fengzhi's "Autumn Moon in Han Palace" are their respective masterpieces. Sometimes, Mr. Jiang would take the initiative to find Mr. Cha and use erhu and Guqin to play the music "the gull forgets the opportunity". This rare opportunity of artistic edification made the best preparation for Wu Zhao's future study of Chinese music history in practice. Before graduation, Wu Zhao's piano skills were becoming more and more mature. In addition to the gathering of Guqin friends, he began to participate in some public performances and emerged as a newcomer in Guqin industry. At the age of 19, he performed for the first time at Zhongshan Park Music Hall in Beijing. Normally, he had been preparing for it for a long time, and he knew the music very well. But when he appeared on the stage, because he was on the same stage with six famous artists, he couldn't help getting nervous. In order to help him and accumulate playing experience, the older generation of artists suggested that he should not be nervous and just play. At that time, Wu Zhao and Pu xuezhai played guqin, Cha Fuxi played Xiao, and others played erhu, Cuan and Zheng in unison. Because there is only one microphone, what we hear is basically the sound of Pu xuezhai, another Guqin artist.

Unconsciously, Wu Zhao graduated from middle school. Wu Zhao, who wanted to be a scientist and serve his motherland, finally accepted the teacher's advice and went to study history. At that time, the Central Conservatory of music was still in Tianjin. At that time, Lu Ji, the president of guqin, was very fond of Guqin. He broke the rules and set up the first Guqin major in the Department of national instrumental music of the Institute, and transferred Wu JINGLUE, a famous guqin master of Wu school, from Shanghai to teach. Therefore, Wu Zhao chose Tianjin as his place of study.

In 1955, Wu Zhao was admitted to the History Department of Tianjin Nankai University. In order for Wu Zhao to learn piano, Cha Fuxi wrote a letter to recommend it to Wu JINGLUE. Therefore, Wu Zhao studied piano with Wu JINGLUE of the Central Conservatory of music.

Wu JINGLUE's requirements for Guqin playing skills are particularly strict, which can be said to be continuous improvement. His teaching method is also different from many people. He always plays first, guiding Wu Zhao to listen and see clearly before playing. Wu Zhao likes all kinds of unique performance techniques in his playing art very much. When encountering some difficult movements, Wu Zhao likes to ask questions and study every skill. Wu JINGLUE also appreciates his spirit of exploration and is willing to explain the essentials of each fingering in detail. As for the unique skills of Wu fingering, he encouraged Wu Zhao to strive to learn the essence of each fingering movement, and then to seek his own understanding and expression. From Wu JINGLUE, Wu Zhao learned the unique singing skills of Chinese Guqin, as well as the unique pursuit of Guqin art by Wu JINGLUE. Wu Zhao's experience of learning to play piano brought his skill and understanding of piano to a new level.

university graduated

In 1959, Wu Zhao graduated from university. As a teacher of vice president of Beijing Guqin Research Association, Cha Fuxi wanted to recruit Wu Zhao as his assistant. At this time, Yang Yinliu, the director of China Music Research Institute, began to persuade Cha Fuxi: "if you want to recruit assistants, it's good to have a Guqin major student in the Central Conservatory of music. Just wait a year. As for Wu Zhao, I want to transfer him to the research institute to study the history of Chinese music with me. Based on Wu Zhao's natural endowment, artistic accomplishment and traditional culture, he can give more play to his specialty in this position. " In this way, Wu Zhao went to the China Music Research Institute (the predecessor of the China Academy of Arts) as a research intern. Together with his teachers, he studied ancient music books. He went deep into the grass-roots level of Chinese folk and remote mountain music life to carry out investigation and research, and began his life-long work on the study of Chinese music history.

Teacher Yang Yinliu

Wu Zhao quickly adapted to and liked his work, and under the guidance of his teacher Yang Yinliu, he made a lot of fruitful academic research results. In 1964, he published his first book "a brief history of ancient Chinese music" in mimeography. In the process of delivering this book for official publication, the Cultural Revolution came, his research institute was canceled, and his teachers, Zha Fuxi, Wu JINGLUE and Yang Yinliu, were all removed from the cowshed. Fortunately, Wu Zhao's book has not yet been published, and he was sent to work in the countryside as a general public and other colleagues. Due to limited conditions, he no longer carries guqin, but pipa. In his spare time, he plays the lute and accompanies the model opera with it. No one will criticize him for playing the lute because he has nothing to do.

A brief history of Chinese music

After the cultural revolution, Wu Zhao began the peak of his career. His "a brief history of ancient Chinese music" was greatly revised, and his colleague Liu Dongsheng added the modern part, which was officially published under the name of "a brief history of Chinese music". The revised version was translated into Japanese and published in Tokyo in 1994. His other research works, such as "tracing the track of music gone", have also been published one after another, and some of them have become a must read reference book for music majors in universities. And his ancient

Chinese PinYin : Wu Zhao