Creative process – audio 1

This painting is a spring scene from a set of Landscape in Four Seasons by the Southern Song painter Liu Songnian, which depicts the four seasons in a rich man’s courtyard by the West Lake. The West Lake was located in Hangzhou, which was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. To the right of the picture is a courtyard which has a mountain at its back and a river in front of it. The sound of the river flowing is always present. And to the left of the painting are mountains, the river and the road stretching infinitely outwards. We want the weather to change every five minutes, so the first five minutes of the audio are sunny, the middle is cloudy and windy, and the last five are rainy. On a sunny day, there will be the sound of birds chirping and a gentle wind. On a cloudy day, there will be the sound of the wind and the wind blowing the leaves. On a rainy day, there will be the sound of raindrops falling into water, the sound of thunder, the humming of the wind and the sometimes loud and sometimes light rain. It is clear from these words that the sound element in the first ten minutes is too little and too monotonous.

I decided to include a melody. Imagining the painting, with someone playing the instrument in the courtyard. I’m looking for a piece that fits the time period, preferably a Guqin piece. Because the Guqin was the earliest stringed instrument of the Han nationality, and the Southern Song dynasty was ruled by the Han nationality. The ancient literati felt that a respected literary figure should be proficient in The Four Arts(qin, chess, calligraphy and painting), and this “qin” refers to the Guqin. Most of the compositions written during the Southern Song period were melancholic, as the people’s lives were in dire straits due to the constant warfare during the Southern Song period. I found a piece about spring from a dynasty before the Southern Song, but when I used it I felt it didn’t fit the picture. Liu Songnian lived in a time of unrest and the spring scenes in his painting were not vibrant. So I change a different direction – a Southern Song dynasty luthiers or musicians. I found a man called Mao Minzhong, and most of his works are also related to the people and the country. But he had one piece that was different, which was called Fisherman’s Song. This piece is based on a poem(called The Fisherman) by Liu Zongyuan, one of the Eight Essay Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties. The music expresses the poetic meaning of Liu’s poem, “欸乃一声山水绿”(The fisherman shakes his scull and long shout, the green hills and the green water come into view), and expresses a sentiment of disregard for fame and fortune and a love of the landscape.

To make the Guqin piece sound like it was coming from the courtyard, I first reoriented it so that the sound was off to the right. I use the delay plug-in, so that the music sounded like it was sounding in the courtyard on the right, and then the sound spread to the left.

In fact, even with the addition of the music, the final outcome did not come out as expected. In my thoughts, nature should be varied and abundant, randomness. I’ll keep modifying the audio afterwards.

渔翁夜傍西岩宿，晓汲清湘燃楚竹。烟销日出不见人，欸乃一声山水绿。回看天际下中流，岩上无心云相逐。——《渔翁》柳宗元

At night, the fishermen’s boats stop at the western hills for the night. In the morning, he gets up, fetches water and fires bamboo to cook. As the sun rises and the fog lifts, the surroundings are silent. The fisherman shakes his scull and long shout, the green hills and the green water come into view. Looking back at the sky, the river is flowing east. The white clouds on the mountain are relaxing and rolling.

I have tried to translate the scene described by Liu Zongyuan’s The Fisherman. I hope it conveys the mood of the poem.