The Art of Chinese Music
2 min readWhite snow in Spring
White Snow in Spring is said to be composed by Shi Kuang in the Jin State or by Liu Juanzi in the Qi State during the Spring-Autumn Period.Now there are two separate tunes:One signs the gentle breezes and the sprou-ting of all plants.The other signs the immaculate beauty of the snow.
Wild Geese over the Calm Sands
Qin players simply call this music piece as“Calm Sands”.The score was first published in the Ancient Authentic Qin Music of 1634.Since then it has been loved by qin players from different schools.Various versions ofthe music were developed，making it as one of the qin music with the largest numbers of published scores.
The music depicts the desolate land-scape and the flying wild geese of autumn.In a clear weather of autumn，the wild geese fly in the endless sky.The scenery reflects the thoughts of a recluse.
An Overall Ambush
Pipa divertimentos are usually classified into two categories:civil and military.An Overall Ambush is a representative military divertimento.The composer describes how General Han Xin of the Han State between Qin and Han dynasties used the military tactics of ambushing on all sides，with three or four hundred thousands troops and horses in Gaixia and defeated his enemy Xiang Yu，forcing him killing himself by cutting his throat in Wu-jiang River.
Making the best of the various playing techniques of Pipa，such as rubbing，poking，pushing，and sweeping，this music fully revealed the fighting scene in ancient times and described the mighty winners.The music is of a divertimento structure with several periods divided into four parts which are an overture，pre-fighting，fighting，and post-fighting.It is an in-corporation of the strong points of various schools of Pipa music composition，marking the peak of playing style of Pipa military music.
