Wu Fei's Music Daily

There have been a lot of turkey tail mushrooms in the forest of west Nashville (photo below). Turkey tail is a common polypore mushroom found throughout the world. Meaning 'of several colors', versicolor reliably describes this fungus that displays a variety of colors. For example, because its shape and multiple colors are similar to those of a wild turkey. I decided to create / record this vocal...

This solo guzheng piece was created and recorded yesterday, inspired by a little hover fly (photo below) that hung out with me while I worked out on my back porch. According to Wikipedia: “Hover flies (aka flower flies or syrphid flies) are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while the larvae eat a wide range of foods. In some s...

Inspired by quantum mechanics, I composed this multitrack guzheng piece yesterday. Yesterday, I read an article - Pioneering Quantum Physicists Win Nobel Prize in Physics on Quanta Magazine. As a life-long math & science fan, I found the theory and experiments of the entangled particles breathtaking. The article explains well how I hear pitches and their relations within in a whole music compositi...

I wrote and recorded this guzheng piece yesterday. It started on a fast etude, ended on a spacey night song style. Hope it brings good energy to your Monday. Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagram @wufeimusicYouTube @wufeimusic A pillow from our local Publix Pharmacy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wu...

This guzheng multitrack composition was created and recorded yesterday. I shared the photo below with my sister-in-law who lives in New Zealand. She was surprised by how large the pumpkins were. Wish 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 acce...

Shanah Tovah! 犹太新年快乐。This 3-track guzheng piece was created and recorded yesterday evening when Rosh Hashanah 2022 started, marking the beginning of the year 5783. May the new year be full of peace and joy! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.comTwitter @wufeiInstagram @wufeimusicYouTube @wufeimusic Wild ironweed blossoms are all over west Nashville. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss th...

I am excited to share that I have finished orchestrating the full symphony version of my chamber ensemble work Hello Gold Mountain . I am sure I will revise more later, but the beast is there! It will be premiered by Lehigh University Symphony Orchestra at Baker Hall in Zoellner Arts Center on February 11th, Saturday 7:30pm, 2023. A symphony work is a universe itself, full of surprises, adventures...

This solo guzheng improvisation was recorded yesterday. I was inspired by the bees, the butterflies and the flowers that I walked through on top of the hills of Charlotte Pike in Nashville. I was over joy by how many wild lives I saw, especially the wild bees. They were calm, almost lazy. You’d think the bees would attack you if you are nearby. Not at all. At least not these bees. They were incred...

Two days ago, I wrote a piece inspired by the goldenrod soldier beetles. Yesterday, I wrote a piece inspired by the devil’s nettle (photo below) — the best friend of goldenrod soldier beetles. The plant is blossoming like crazy all over the forest in west Nashville. I never knew that flowers could be blossoming in autumn much more than the spring. I was so excited by the followers that I challenge...

There has been many spiderwebs in the forest. In the last two weeks, I had been bitten by spiders while hiking. I thought it was chiggers first. And then I realized I was bitten by spiders because there were always two biting marks next to each other. After doing more research, I came to peace with the spiders in the forest because I was walking through their webs. In their defense, I was an invad...

I improvised this piece on guzheng and my vocal yesterday. It is dedicated to our youth and the young loves. We all have grown, and hopefully have grown wiser. Everything we experienced made who we are today. There is only appreciation for those experiences in my heart. I want to send my thank you to all the new paid subscribers in the last few days. Our life paths have joined from this moment. Th...

I have never loved a bandana so much until I discovered its best use — to mute the sustained sound of my guzheng strings. The compositional possibilities from adding one bandana to my strings are infinite! 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, v...

I improvised this solo guzheng piece yesterday after reading Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1048 - 1311), was a polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and Persian poetry. He was born in Nishapur, the initial capital of the Seljuk Empire. As a scholar, he was contemporary with the rule of the Seljuk dynasty around the time of the First Crusade. “ Whether at Naishápú...

Yesterday, I received a dear subscriber’s email asking tips about how to work on counterpoint music. He watched the video (below) that I made for self-counterpoint practice. I must say that counterpoint music is one of the more complex music forms in terms of composition and practice. The foundation to play/sing/compose counterpoint is ear training from my own experience. Being able to hear what i...

I wrote this single melody piece on guzheng yesterday. After being with many children at a back to school party this weekend, I felt like writing something with only one line of melody to celebrate simplicity. As adults, we often forget how beautiful being simple can be. It is full of imagination, possibility and nobility, which children are. Hope you all have a wonderful week! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimu...

This guzheng improvisation was created yesterday. I was thinking about my mother when I was playing. Since she and my father moved to Nashville from Beijing in 2019, their health has improved tremendously. As their daughter, I feel happy, lucky and proud that I can take good care of them when they are old. We do argue like all families (less and less :). My mother can only say sweet things to me,...

This multitrack guzheng piece was created and recorded yesterday. I was driving my children to their school Sunday picnic yesterday, and I heard my 7-year old son say “…The waterfall of trees I see in the reflection…” I thought it was an interesting sentence, and decided to write a piece with that impression. Meanwhile, I continue orchestrating my symphony score for Hello Gold Mountain . Yesterday...

This three-track counterpoint guzheng piece was composed and recorded yesterday. After two hours of working on the orchestral score of Hello Gold Mountain , I needed a change of brain. Then I remembered my old composition professor’s home phone number back in Beijing. I used to memorize all my professors’ phone numbers in music pitches. Most of my music lessons at the China Conservatory of Music w...

I composed and recorded this three-track guzheng piece yesterday. The lower strings were half muted by a bandana. That is why the sustain of the strings is no longer there. I also didn’t wear finger picks, so I plucked the guzheng in the way harpists play., which adds a more muted sound effect. Hope you enjoy it! I have some work news: I have started orchestrating a symphony composition of mine: H...

This love song was recorded yesterday. This last weekend, we had a 3-year anniversary celebration for my parents moving to the U.S.. It has been an amazing three years for all of us, especially for my parents to move to a country they had never been. Yesterday, I realized that I had never seen them this peaceful around each other. They looked like a loving couple that I always hoped they could be...

This piece was created and recorded yesterday to celebrate Qixi Festival. The Qixi Festival (七夕), is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology. The festival is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunisolar month on the Lunar calendar. It is also known as the Chinese Valentine’s Day. According to Wikipedia, the festival was derived from w...

After nearly two weeks of recovering from Covid, yesterday was the first day I felt I was getting close to be 100% again. I made a video of an improvisation to celebrate (see below). After making the video, I recorded this audio track in one take as the sequel. Hope it brings a moment of peace to your new week. I’d like to thank Substack for interviewing me for What to Read , its series of newslet...

The forest I live in is full of colors in the summer. Because of the warm climate in middle Tennessee in the United States, plants grow all year long. All kinds of flowers blossom in different seasons. The Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly is back (photo below). This peaceful creature is nearly as big as my palm. I hope it realizes how beautiful it is! Wish you all a wonderful weekend! Wu Fei 吴...

Happy Monday everyone. Hope you’ve had a restful weekend. Yesterday, I tuned my guzheng in D minor. Lately I have been drawn to minor sounding scales. Maybe it’s because the half-sized guzheng I played for more than a month in Auckland was in major scale. I couldn’t change the tuning because I brought the wrong tuning hammer with me from the U.S. to New Zealand. Now I have all the right gears agai...

When I was Auckland two weeks ago, I was amazed by how large the penguins I saw in an aquarium. They were standing so quiet and still as if they were taking a nap together. Some had their heads up like proud singers when some had their heads down like thinkers. They all had their wings open like orchestral conductors bowing to the audience after a concert. I wrote this piece yesterday to reconnect...