Wu Fei's Music Daily

Happy New Year everyone, 2022 is just around the corner. It has been another year that we all have been trying to move forward in the middle of the pandemic. Every now and then I realize how far I have made posting new music here. But most of the time, I don’t even think about it. It has become such a fun part of my daily life, especially when I know I am connecting to so many of you all over the...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #481 — Sweeping round and round 七月的北斗. This piece was created yesterday on multitrack guzheng, performed by me. The inspiration was from a painting on a ceramic vase (photo below) that I saw in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City recently. It was from the Qing Dynasty (1644- 1911) period. The...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #478 —North of the river 河北. This vocal and guzheng improvisation was recorded yesterday, performed by me. The holiday traveling week has begun. I feel very lucky and grateful for having my family with me for another holiday. Meanwhile, I feel sad for not being with my New Zealand family for another holiday...

Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #477 — Bartók’s butterfly 巴托克蝴蝶. This composition was created and recorded yesterday, performed by me on multitrack guzheng. In the previous episode #476, I was inspired by Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967). This piece, I am inspired by another Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881-1945). The two composers were v...

Good morning everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #473 — Sleeping, walking 行入睡. This piece was created and recorded on guzheng, performed by me. Last Friday, we experienced a very scary moment when the quad-state tornado came through Nashville. It was at 3:30am when the tornado siren went off on my phone. I could hear the storm screaming louder and louder...

Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #472 — The great whistle 大哨. This guzheng improvisation was recorded yesterday. I didn’t wear finger picks for this recording. Every now and then, I like to feel the direct connection between my fingers and the strings. It gives a softer tone than the sound produced by finger picks. Playing without picks al...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #468 — Fifty seven feet 五十七尺. This guzheng composition was created yesterday, performed by me. I was trying to minimize the movement on my hands to stay leveled with the strings in the calmest manner I could, like when a humming bird drinks nectar — the more relaxed its body is, the faster its wings flap....

Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #467 — The purple fish escape plan 紫鱼阵. This composition was created yesterday on multitrack prepared guzheng, performed by me. I gave myself another challenge in this piece — playing the tempo at 190 beats per minute. I felt a little hesitant to begin the recording with 16th notes. Right around 2:20, my h...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #463 — Kalimba night song 1 卡林巴夜曲一号. Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday if you are in the U.S.. Hanukkah 2021 has started since Sunday. Hope you are having a wonderful festival if you celebrate this Jewish tradition. This piece was created and recorded yesterday on kalimba and guzheng, p...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #461 — Grandma Zhao 赵姥姥. This piano piece was composed and recorded yesterday, performed by me. It was a rainy and grey day in Nashville. Weather always effects our mood and thoughts. I walked in my studio not having any artistic direction. As soon as I touched the keys on the piano, a wicked old lady walk...

Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #460 — Nature is slippery 初秋，出溜. This piano piece was composed and recorded yesterday, performed by me. The hiking paths in the forest are covered by leaves. The steep hills are very slippery to walk on. I fell on my elbow yesterday. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt. And then I realized that the paths are always s...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #456 — Old toys, new toys 旧爱新欢. This guzheng composition was created and recorded yesterday, performed by me. It is a piece entirely built on tremolos. My son recently re-discovered a bunch of old toy cars of his in our smoke house. Apparently he didn’t remember having them, but was over joyed that the to...

Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #455 — Ground full of pears 梨花漫. This piece was composed and recorded on prepared multitrack guzheng, performed by me. It has been an exciting week for me. I flew on a plane for the first time since February 2020! Seeing earth from the sky again felt amazing. I did not want to take it for granted so I star...

Greetings from North Carolina everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #452 — Five star bug motel 五星厦. This solo guzheng composition was created and recorded two days ago, performed by me. It is another piece that I prepared the guzheng partially. This newsletter is free for everyone because I am excited to announce that the tickets for my solo concert at The...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #451 — Crispy steel 铁钉令. This piece was composed and recorded yesterday on guzheng, performed by me. I prepared the guzheng with two metal rings, and a bandanna. I also plucked a few microtone strings on the left side of the bridges. It was a fun experiment orchestrating all the sounds and pitches. Hope yo...

Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #450 — B minor 181 毕家一百八十一 This guzheng piece was composed and recorded yesterday, performed by me. The inspiration came from Masada. In Hebrew is מצדה‎ metsada , — "fortress". Masada is an ancient fortification on top of an isolated rock plateau on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking t...

Good morning everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #446 — Falling syrup 糖人儿. This piano piece was composed and recorded yesterday, performed by me. The inspiration is from 糖人— sugar people. Sugar people is a traditional Chinese form of folk art using hot, liquid sugar to create three-dimensional figures (see photo below). These fragile, plump figures hav...

Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #445 — Ball of big teeth 大牙之舞. This piano piece was composed and recorded yesterday, performed by me. I love the pumpkins at my children’s school that are carved by all the talented parents (see photo below). They are hilarious! Wish you all a fantastic Halloween weekend! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.com Twitte...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #442 — Old road to Memphis 故途. This piano composition was created and recorded yesterday, performed by me. Driving can be very meditative, especially in rural areas. This hobby has taken me to forty five states of the U.S.. I hear sound in my head every second while I am behind the wheel. Nature stuns me, a...

Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #441 — The eighth epic pepper 八大椒. This piece was created and recorded yesterday. All instrumental and vocal tracks are performed by me. I used a southern sanxian (Chinese three-string fretless lute) 三弦 for all the plucked string tracks and the percussion part. It was a very fun experiment for me creatin...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #437 — Batman queen genie 蝙蝠精灵. This piece was composed and recorded yesterday on multi-tremolo guzheng. Every tremolo with new pitches were started eighteen seconds after the previous one was introduced. Gradually, a sound cluster was built. Every tremolo was ended because my fingers were exhausted. That...

Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #436 — Sichuan dollhouse 娃寨. This piece was created and recorded yesterday on multi-vocal tracks, sung/spoken by me. It draws from the tradition of Luogu 锣鼓经. Luogu literally means "gongs and drums." Luogu is a Chinese percussion ensemble that typically comprises several types of drum and several types o...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #432 — Si la re mi 老电话. This composition was created yesterday on multitrack guzheng, performed by me. I used four pitches as the motif for the entire piece. They are singing pitches: si la re mi in solfège. Solfège is a music education method used to teach aural skills, pitch and sight-reading of Western...

Happy Friday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #431 — Honey brothers 蜜兄弟. I created this piece yesterday on multitrack guzheng, inspired by the honey fungi I saw in the forest (see photo below). I admire its delicious color. Honey fungus spreads from living trees, dead and live roots and stumps by means of reddish-brown to black rhizomorphs (root-like...

Happy Monday everyone, Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is episode #427 — Jana 詹娜. This piece was created and recorded yesterday on multitrack guzheng, performed by me. I would like to dedicate this composition to a dear friend of mine — Jana. Jana and I have known each other for twenty one years. She was my first friend in the U.S. when I arrived in Texas in 2000. She was...