Wu Fei's Music Daily

Good morning everyone. Hope you are all enjoying a relaxing summer holiday if you are from the northern hemisphere. By the time you hear this piece, which was recorded two days ago, I have left Nashville to New Zealand. I have family in New Zealand. We have been separated by the pandemic for more than three years. It will be a very long travel. After Covid, the new requirements for entering New Ze...

Greetings from Nashville again! This piece was created and recorded yesterday after I came home with much excitement and honored from Chicago. I gave my solo concert at the historical Arts Club of Chicago on June 8th. I was in awe to learn that the club presented Pablo Picasso's first United States showing in 1923. The 1951 exhibition by Jean Dubuffet and his "Anti-cultural Positions" lecture at t...

This solo guzheng improvisation was recorded yesterday. I was inspired by this pair of damselflies (photo below) I saw by the pond. This type damselfly is called the marsh bluet. Their colors changed from sparkly to soft depending the angles where I looked at them from above the water or under the sunlight. They flew like this in the air too. They are similar to dragonflies. Most species fold the...

This night song was recorded yesterday after I read a poem by Xiang Hong Zuo (1798 - 1835), a poet from the Qing Dynasty of China. When I was reading this poem, I could hear birds singing non-stop in the forest. It helped me to focus again since I was awake a lot last night from a loud thunder storm. Hope this piece can help you too to fall asleep tonight. I believe you can hear the birds in the r...

Summer has arrived! The forest is incredibly vivid full of fragrance from the countless kinds of living creatures. I spotted this male slaty skimmer dragonfly (photo below) by the pond yesterday. It was flying on top of the water for a while, and then landed on a tree branch in front of me as if he was striking a pose for me. What a handsome dragonfly it is! Wish I could balance on a stick like th...

I composed and recorded this multitrack guzheng composition yesterday. The weather in Nashville has been going back and forth between sunny and storms in the last twenty four hours. Sometimes the sun and the rain were both out at the same time. Everything is growing in the forest. It looks like a jungle now — lush with dark green leaves everywhere. It is very smoothing on the eyes. Older generatio...

I composed and recorded this piece after seeing a hummingbird drinking at my feeder yesterday. The hummingbird flapped its wings so fast that I couldn’t really see the wings. Later, I learned that hummingbirds flapped their wings from about 10 to more than 80 times per second while hovering. They flap their wings even faster during the courtship display dives used by the males of some species. Mor...

This nearly 10-minute solo vocal and guzheng piece as recorded yesterday. After weeks of following the news of the lockdown in China due to the new breakout of covid, especially after a heavy news of my dear friend’s father passing away, my heart had a confrontation with my brain when I sat down to create this recording. I have known this friend since I was sixteen years old in Beijing. She is one...

Good morning, afternoon or evening everyone. This solo guzheng improvisation piece was recorded yesterday. During my hike, I noticed these little bumps on a leaf (see photo blow) in the forest. I had to look them up on the internet and learned that they were gall wasp eggs. What a fun day to begin my day to discover something I had never heard of in my life! According to Quogue Wildlife Refuge : “...

I composed this piece yesterday and recorded it on multitrack guzheng. It was inspired by a fantastic new harp composition I heard on Classical 91.5 Nashville radio when I was driving. I am still searching the name of the piece and the composer. All I remembered was the harpist was from Paris Conservatory. I will share the information with you as soon as I find that out. Hope this piece brings you...

I composed this piece yesterday after hiking in the forest. I was amused by the tadpoles in the creek (see photo below). The ripples from the tiny movement from the tadpoles’ tales looked magical under the sunlight and the shadows of the trees. It was meditative to stare at them while listening to the sound of the water floating and the birds. And then I recorded this piece as a Mother’s Day prese...

I created this piece yesterday inspired by all the bird calls I heard in the forest. All the sounds in this track are produced on the guzheng and my vocals. Hope it brings you a fun moment into the weekend! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagram @wufeimusicYouTube @wufeimusicufei This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episod...

A week ago, the very few blossoms that came out on our crabapple tree felt off. This one in the photo was the last one. Every year for two weeks, usually in the beginning of April, the tree would be covered by bright pink blossoms. My lack of knowledge about nature made me believe that the blossoms would just arrive later when the temperature became warmer. Of course it did not happen. I am patien...

Greetings from Washington D.C. everyone. This solo piece was recorded a week ago in Nashville. The wild azalea finally blossomed. I had been waiting for them for weeks. I hope there will be more when I get back home in a few days. If you are in D.C., I am playing a solo concert at The Kennedy Center on April 30th, Saturday. Hope there is still ticket available. Would love to see you there! Info &...

This piece was recorded on prepared-guzheng on April 22nd, last Friday. I decided to put all the keychain rings I could find in the house on the strings. After laying down all the plucking sound clusters, I used my tuning fork like a mallet to hit the high strings to create a short melody. Hope it brings a moment of fun to your Monday. Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagram @wufeimusicY...

This multitrack guzheng composition was created and recorded yesterday. I have missed playing gamelan. I started learning how to play Balinese gamelan music when I was at Mills College in California. My teacher and classmate Pak Windha taught me every instrument in a gamelan ensemble. It was one of the most amazing music experiences in my life. This piece is inspired by gamelan and the time I spen...

This spring has been cold in Nashville compared to last year. It is the first year we’ve lived here that our crabapple tree did not blossom. There were probably no more than 80 flowers that came out, and then there was a cold snap. Last year there must have been more than a thousand blossoms. The whole forest is not as colorful as usual. That makes the white azalea (photo below) extra precious as...

The first hummingbird of 2022 has arrived! I was taking photos of the flowers. A minutes later, I heard a loud buzz sound next to my ear. I thought it was a wasp at first. Then I realized it was a hummingbird. It was not scared of me being next it. And then, I wrote this piece. Wishing you all a Happy Passover, Easter, Ramadan, and a beautiful spring weekend! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wuf...

Yesterday, I looked up into the sky and saw this view (photo below). Look how many planes! “The pandemic is over”, I thought. Nashville’s sky have always been busy. I especially started noticing the frequent flights when I started this recording project at home because I could hear every plane when it flew on top of my house. I have to pause the recording every time to wait for the noise to be gon...

This multitrack guzheng composition was created yesterday, in spired by the dancer-like wooden stick waving in the wind (photo below). The sun was warm, the air was crisp, the wind was chilly. The shape of the stick reminded me a Peking Ppera performer when s/he paused with the gongs together. Hope this piece brings you a moment of joy into the weekend. I am also very excited and honored to share...

Today is the Qingming Festival also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English, a traditional Chinese festival. During Qingming, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites, pray to their ancestors and make ritual offerings. The Qingming Festival has been observed by the Chinese for over 2,500 years. I wrote this composition yesterday to dedicate to my family members who...

This solo guzheng improvisation was recorded yesterday on a beautiful sunny day in Nashville, Tennessee. After a week in London spending time with family, I was inspired by every minute in the magical home of uncle Gren and aunt Juliet in London. There were endless fun old collections in their house to look at, like these meerkats (photo below). I had my eyes closed in my studio in Nashville and t...

This composition was created nine days ago on multitrack guzheng, performed by me. I have been learning more about how to lay tracks down to prepare for a solo section all done by myself. It takes a very different structural planning in terms of timing, phrasing, accenting so that the overall result can flow naturally. Our brain can usually work in linear path. However, with training, it can fores...

I recorded this nocturne five days ago. It helped me to do deep breathing and swim in my imaginations. Hope it brings you a moment of peace at the beginning of your week. If you want a different way to receive and listen to my daily tracks, Substack now has an iPhone app (Substack Reader) that includes an audio player that makes it very easy to find and listen to my music here. Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimu...

This fun solo guzheng piece was recorded four days ago. I have started playing more without picks lately. It gives warmer tone than plucking with the picks on. However, it is harder to play without picks. Picks do deliver more accuracy, speed and volume. Hope this piece brings a moment of playfulness into your weekend! If you want a different way to receive and listen to my daily tracks, Substack...