Wu Fei's Music Daily

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, This four-track guzheng set was inspired by the Jack-o’-lantern mushrooms I saw on a hike today (photo below). They’re all over the hills in West Nashville, and it was my first time seeing these bright orange fungi. I just had to look them up. They grow in clusters on decaying stumps, buried roots, or at the base of hardwood trees in Europe and eastern North A...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, I composed and recorded this three-track guzheng piece today. The entire piece is built on double and triple tremolos, played simultaneously by my right thumb, index, and middle fingers. I was inspired by a conversation with my 10-year-old about the universe—how everything will keep stretching until it bursts. The micro world can be as powerful as macro space,...

Happy Moon Festival! Also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, tonight brings the fullest and brightest moon of the year. The Mid-Autumn Festival—sometimes called the Mooncake Festival—is a traditional Chinese harvest celebration held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, under a full moon. This year, it falls on October 6th. For Chinese communities worldwide, it’s the second most important holiday...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, All the photos below are from my Lithuania debut concert with the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra. It was an honor to have my own work debuted along with my heroes - Tan Dun 谭盾whose concerto I played, Dr. Chen Yi 陈怡 and Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu 武满彻. I was moved by the audience’s warmth, including those who drove three hours from Vilnius. The response...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, How have you all been? Thank you for being patient with me this last week when I was away from home. I have returned home from a beautiful trip premiering guzheng concertos with the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra in Lithuania. It was a such a wonderful collaboration and a cultural experience for me. I’ll share more about this trip in the coming newsletters. I fell...

Shana Tova! Happy Rosh Hashanah if you celebrate the Jewish new year! It will be the year 5786 beginning at sundown on the eve of September 22, 2025. I thought the Chinese new year was old :) As I’m preparing my first trip to the Baltic coast to play with the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra in Lithuania, I just learned something absolutely amazing after googling “Lithuanian and Latvian folk music”. As...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, Right now, the forests of Tennessee are becoming more colorful by the day. It is my favorite time of the year. Today’s improvisation was recorded on two guzhengs. The first time I premiered a double-guzheng concert was at Big Ears Festival in 2017 (photo below). It was in the St. John’s Cathedral in Knoxville, Tennessee. The acoustic was stunning. I am very ex...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, I composed and recorded this guzheng étude today, inspired by the patterns of one of the ceilings in the National Palace of Sintra (photo below). I visited this historical place in July this year. Growing up in Beijing, I have always been fascinated by the architectural design and paintings of old palaces, like the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and the Summ...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, I am excited to announce I'll be returning to perform at Big Ears Festival 2026, March 26-29 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Honored to be included in an AMAZING lineup including many of my heroes including Laurie Anderson and John Zorn. For more information or to purchase passes, please visit https://bigearsfestival.org #BigEarsKnox 很兴奋的与大家分享，我将于20...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, I'm excited to share a new three-track guzheng piece I recorded today. It was inspired by a small Eastern Box Turtle I met on my driveway yesterday before a hike. I included a photo for scale. It's always a gift to see these fascinating turtles around my home in the summer. I hope this music brings a little calm to your weekend. Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic.com This...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, My heart is heavy with the news of the passing of a family friend today. It is the Chinese Qixi festival, sometimes called Chinese Vaentine’s Day, which comes from a story of a family whose mother is imprisoned in the heavens. Every year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar, according to the myth of Qixi, swallows fly toget...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, I composed this two-track guzheng lullaby today, inspired by my experience of watching the shooting stars in Shamrock Ranch last week in California (photo by Dimmi Zhang below). The only light pollution there was our headlight and car lights. I envied the trees and the grapes. They get to sleep, wake up and be nurtured by the sky and the stars. The grapes tast...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, Thank you all for your patience while I was traveling in Northern California. I've returned to the green forests of Middle Tennessee feeling deeply inspired. That inspiration led to this solo improvisation, which I created while reconnecting to the memory of the incredible night sky I witnessed near the Shamrock Ranch. With very little light pollution, the vie...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, Today’s new song was inspired by a magical summer night I spent at the Alcazaba of Málaga last month. Exactly one month ago, I gave my debut solo concert in Spain at that breathtaking castle (photo below). My green room overlooked the city, offering a stunning view of Málaga glowing under the night sky. The concert began around 10:30 PM—later than I’m used to—...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, Last month in Mojácar, Spain, I was deeply moved by the words engraved on the door of the house where I stayed. Hosted by my dear friends who are the owners. They organized an amazing concert for me (sold-out) within those very walls—a space that embodied wisdom, art, and kinship (photo below). What an honor to receive such a hospitality! Hope this piece bring...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, Inspired by a moment last month in the tiny Spanish mountain village of El Villar—watching an old shepherd with his flock (photo below)—I composed and recorded this three-track guzheng piece today. It explores structure through ostinato and non-strict pitch-reversed canon. What does that mean? 🎵 Ostinato: A recurring motif or phrase (rhythmic, melodic, or bot...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, I just finished composing this four-track guzheng piece today. As I walked to my studio, seven wild turkeys lined my driveway like a feathered procession. They foraged beneath our bird feeder, cleaning up every spilled seed – a determined, hungry crew. It's good to see them return. Last spring they looked robust; now their bellies seem leaner. Time to help the...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, Today’s prepared-guzheng piece was inspired by my visit to Portugal’s medieval town of Óbidos last month. I attended their annual summer festival where the streets filled with people in period costumes—imagine sweltering heat rivaling Nashville’s, complete with cicadas (you’ll hear them in the recording!). For those new to prepared instruments: They’re traditi...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, I recorded this guzheng solo piece today. The music flowed naturally as soon as I started playing. Later, I came across this old photo in my Google Photos. It captured me standing next to a silo in The Nations neighborhood of Nashville – an abandoned site back then. It struck me how much has changed. That same silo now has a large mural visible from the nearby...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, How have you been? I’ve missed you. I’ve missed creating my daily music. After an intense summer travel in Spain and Portugal with my family and for concerts, I am back in the calm Tennessee forest. There is so much I have absorbed from the Iberian Peninsula — the nature, the people, the languages, the cultures, the food, the castles, the history etc. In the c...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, This solo guzheng piece was recorded today, inspired by the iconic mural on a grain silo in Nashville’s The Nations neighborhood. My family and I lived there after moving from Beijing (2015–2016). I still remember the bare silo, and how I longed to climb inside — to see Nashville through its highest window. Time moves irreversibly, yet art bends memory. This c...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, I composed this 3-track guzheng waltz today. Hummingbirds have returned to our Tennessee forest. I have a couple of bird feeders outside of my window. They have been coming to drink the sugar water multiple times a day. This adult male ruby-throated hummingbird has become less afraid of me. Now, he drinks the sugar water even if I stand in front of the feeder...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, I just composed this 3-track guzheng piece with half of strings muted. (Guzheng has 21 strings.) I was inspired by a cute little frog that was not afraid of the heat of Nashville’s mid-summer (photo below). Hope this song brings you a moment of fun energy :) Wu Fei 吴非 wufeimusic.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribe...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, I recorded this two-track upbeat guzheng étude a few minutes ago. The mid-register of the strings are half muted by a piece of thin cloth to stop the long lingering sound. If you play the piano, the cloth functions as the damper on the guzheng. When the guzheng is played in a fast tempo, the sound has much more clarity. I like to play études this way on the gu...

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, This solo guzheng piece, recorded just moments ago, is dedicated to all navigating health struggles. A dear friend’s illness recently reminded me of life’s fragility — and how much we must treasure time with those we love. Yesterday in the park, I spotted a single bee on a purple American bellflower (photo below). I wish this captured moment of nurturing and t...