Wu Fei's Music Daily

This multitrack guzheng composition was created and recorded yesterday, performed by me. I saw a broken eggshell in the middle of the hiking trial (photo below). It wasn’t there the day before. I wonder if it’s a bird or a tortoise. Or could it be a snake? Whatever it is, I hope it’s growing strong and taking on the world with bravery! Hope this piece brings you a moment of joy. Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeim...

This three-track counterpoint guzheng piece was recorded yesterday. The quarter-dotted note theme is throughout the piece. Everything else is an extension of the theme in an non-strict canon style in terms of compositional structure. I did not intend to develop the piece this way when I started the first track. Hearing what I had come up with from the first track drew me into an irresistible force...

This composition was created and recorded yesterday on multitrack guzheng. I was inspired by a painting from the Song Dynasty China called Lady Su Hui and Her Verse Puzzle (photo below). It is a collection in The Met . “This scene appears in a later copy of a Tang-dynasty painting illustrating the story of a literary legend, Lady Su Hui, who was supposed to have lived in the late fourth century. T...

This piece was composed and recorded yesterday. Maestro Ahmad Jamal, the legendary jazz pianist/ composer passed away yesterday at age 92. I am beyond grateful for his brilliance, beauty and inspiration. Words are weightless to say what I want to say how much joy and wisdom his music has brought to my life. He was a treasure of our time. Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.com This is a public episode. If you'...

The guzheng (古筝 lit. 'ancient zheng'), is a Chinese plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21 (most common like the one in the recording), 25, or 26 strings, is 64 inches (1.6 m; 5.3 ft) long, and is usually tuned in a major pentatonic scale. In this piece, I tuned it completely different from the traditional scale. It was inspired by Arabic music. Guzheng has a large, resonant soundboa...

This solo guzheng improvisation was recorded yesterday, inspired by German composer, pianist, and piano teacher Clara Josephine Wieke-Schumann (1819 - 1896). I had known about Clara Schumann as the talented wife of Robert Schumann, another German composer. But yesterday, a coincidence online led me to discovering more of her work. I was amazed to discover details about her compositions, her marria...

The early azalea (photo below) is here in Nashville. They smell amazing already. Can’t wait for the full blossoms! Wishing you all a beautiful weekend. Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagram @wufeimusicYouTube @wufeimusic This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wufeimusic.substack.com/subscribe

Yesterday, I heard the passing of Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. I grew up listening to his music in films ( The Last Emperor ), animations and video games. As a composition student in a conservatory in China in the 1990s, Ryuichi Sakamoto’s music was like a fresh ingredient to my sonic learning book. This piece is dedicated to him. RIP, maestro. Thank you for composing all the music that fil...

Wish you all a healthy and romantic weekend with this new piece! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagram @wufeimusicYouTube @wufeimusic This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wufeimusic.substack.com/subscribe

This piece was created and recorded yesterday. I plucked the strings on both sides of the bridges on my guzheng. One side is tuned in multi-pentatonic scale, and the other side is in all microtones. The blend of the two scales gives an interesting tone color and timbre that is seldomly explored in the traditional way of composing and performing. I find it very satisfying to create music like that....

This solo guzheng piece was created and recorded yesterday after seeing a rue-anemone (photo below) on the hillside of the forest. When I looked up this little flower, an interesting fact was that the rue-anemone was often confused with the similar species, the false rue-anemone. Both plants have white flowers that appear in early spring and grow in wooded areas. However, the false rue-anemone is...

I wrote this piece yesterday and recorded it on multitrack guzheng, performed by me. Spring has arrived. The bunnies are out again in the forest. Each year, the cute furry animals become less scared of us. Now, when I step out of the house to put food leftover in the compost bin, the bunnies don’t run away any more. Instead, they hang around like in the photo below and wait for sweet peas and lett...

This composition was created and recorded yesterday, inspired by the memory of my concert residency at the UNECO World Heritage Zollverein in Essen Germany last November (photo below). Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagram @wufeimusicYouTube @wufeimusic This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wufeimusic.subst...

This composition was created and recorded yesterday, inspired by a smart bass (photo below) that has been living in the pound near my home. A dear friend caught it yesterday & threw it back in the lake. I had fun watching him fishing. Hope this piece brings you a fun moment into your weekend! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagram @wufeimusicYouTube @wufeimusic This is a public episode....

I composed and recorded this multi-track guzheng piece yesterday morning after hearing the beautiful eastern towhee birds in the forest. I didn’t get a good photo of the birds. You can listen to their callings on: All About Birds of The Cornell Lab . It has become one of my favorite websites to learn about the birds in North America! Hope this piece brings a moment of joy into your weekend! Wu Fei...

This piece was created and recorded yesterday on guzheng. I used mostly harmonics of the strings. Two days ago, Nashville experienced a day of severely strong wind. I was scared while I was driving my children from school to home in the wind. Every second, I worried my car being blown over by the wind. Luckily, we got home safely. However, more than 120,000 residents lost power for hours if not a...

《春晓》 “春眠不觉晓，处处闻啼鸟。夜来风雨声， 花落知多少。-” 孟浩然 ( 689 - 740), 唐代山水田园派诗人 “Soundly sleeping in the spring, I didn’t realize the dawn. Till the birds broke out in song everywhere. Last night, in the clamor of wind and rain. How many flowers have fallen, would you suppose? ”- Meng Haoran (689 A.D. - 740 A.D.) Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty. Meng Haoran was a major inf...

Dear listeners, Twenty fours hours ago, I returned home from a week of concert residency with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra in Washington state. It was a wonderful week rehearsing and delivering two successful concerts last weekend in Bellingham. I have attached some photos from this trip (see below). Wish I had photos from the concert. I was too busy playing on stage :) Bellingham is a beauti...

I composed this guzheng piece yesterday inspired by the first millipede I saw this year. There is an old idiom in Chinese 千里之行, 始于足下. It means “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Thank you all for your generous support from all over the world! This daily music project has changed my life in a significant and profound way. Everyday I get in a zone (when I’m home, not...

Friends in Washington state, I'm so excited to perform with Bellingham Symphony next week! Bellingham Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, 2/26, presents its 8th Harmony from Discord concert, featuring contemporary composer Wu Fei's Hello Gold Mountain. I am thrilled to be working with maestro Yaniv Attar ! Info and tickets are here . Hope to see you there! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagr...

What an amazing concert residency I had last week Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I am humbled to receive standing ovations from the audience for my symphony premiere of Hello Gold Mountain. What an honor to be called a “triple threat” artist by maestro Paul Salerni of Lehigh University Philharmonic! I’m now an honorary member or Lehigh Orchestra. Thank you fo...

I created and recorded this piece on sanxian 三弦 (means 3 strings) and guzheng, both performed by me. Besides plucking the sanxian, I also played the resonator as a drum. The membrane is made out of snake skin. You can go to this page to read more about the sanxian. Hope this piece brings you fun energy into your weekend! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagram @wufeimusicYouTube @wufei...

I had a fun hike in the forest encountering the first toad of the year (photo below). When I got home, I immediately created and recorded this multitrack on prepared guzheng (strings muted by a beach cloth). Hope it brings you a moment of joy in the early spring! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagram @wufeimusicYouTube @wufeimusic This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this...

This piece was created and recorded on multitrack guzheng to welcome the lunar new year of the rabbit, which starts on January 22 this year. Chinese Astrology also incorporates the five elements: Water, Metal, Wood, Earth, and Fire. The zodiac moves through a different element each year. 2023 will be the Year of the Water Rabbit. Because the Yin Water element is associated with the color black, so...

It has been raining in Nashville. The rain inspired me to warm up my fingers on double guzheng. My left hand played a 3-finger rotating technique when my right hand played the long tremolos. The two guzhengs were tuned slightly different. That is how I hear the rain — sometimes the rain drops emerge into one pitch, some time the pitch split into hundreds of different pitches depending on the inten...