Wu Fei's Music Daily

Hi everyone, I just recorded this guzheng night song. You might hear my husband opening and closing his car door at the end — I decided to just leave the noise in as a part of my improvisation. I’d also like to tell you about a concert I’ll be playing next year on March 14, 2024 in Ghent, Belgium. You can buy tickets here ; the concert description is below. House of Wu Fei: Tides and Time The prem...

This solo guzheng improvisation was recorded yesterday, twelve hours after a massive tornado that tore across middle-north Tennessee. We were lucky (again) that the tornado missed our area by not too far. Two suburbs of Nashville -Clarksville and Hendersonville were hit the worst, Lives were lost and houses were destroyed. I was driving to pick up my daughter from a friend’s house when the state-w...

Hanukkah sameach! This solo guzheng night song was created and recorded during the sunset of Dec.7th as we entered this year’s Hanukkah. Wish you all a stronger year ahead with health, wisdom and joy! If you are in Nashville, I’d like to share a performance that I’ll be part of as my last public concert of 2023. Wednesday, 12/13, 7pm at Tempo Address: 2179 Nolensville Pike, Nashville, TN 37311 The...

Good morning everyone, This three-track prepared guzheng composition was created and recorded yesterday. Prepared instrument is when musical instruments whose timbre has been altered by placing various objects (preparations) on or between the instrument's vibrating strings (or other sound source). I put seven metal key chain rings on seven different strings in the middle register and a cotton bana...

Hi everyone, It is my pleasure to invite you to the "Creativity and Collaboration in Transnational Chinese Music", part of the Conversation in Creative Practice series organized by the Department of Music, SOAS University of London. It’s on Tuesday December 5, 2023 at 3-5pm GMT (EST 10am | CST 9am | MST 8am | PST 7am) in Room G52 (SOAS main building). I will be remotely joining composer Yi-Chen Ch...

This multitrack guzheng composition was created and recorded yesterday, inspired by one of my favorite poems from the Song Dynasty in China: Water Melody 水调歌头, written by Su Shi 苏轼 (1037 - 1101 A.D.) on the Moon Festival in the year of 1076 A.D..  My calligraphy (photo below) follows the traditional order of Chinese writing, from top to bottom and right to left. The four bigger characters on...

Dear all, As the United States entering the Thanksgiving holiday, I want to send my appreciation to you for the support for my work either from May 3, 2020 when I launched my daily music on Substack, or from yesterday as a new subscriber. I am grateful for connecting to you everyday in this very special way. It amazes me that I receive new subscriptions everyday from all over the world. I tune mys...

This three-track night song was created and recorded on guzheng and valiha yesterday, performed by me. The guzheng is a traditional Chinese 21-string zither and valiha is a traditional tune zither from Madagascar. The photo below is my mother in Beijing in 1973. She was 25 years old and visiting her family briefly. Between 1969-1975, my mother was one of the 17 millions of sent-down youth during C...

Kilometer zero was composed and recorded yesterday on two-track guzheng. The term is also written km 0 . In many countries, kilometer zero is a term which distances are traditionally measured and some use this as their official country location or coordinates for faster search at space satellites, this is also used for measuring distances between different countries around the world. Historically,...

Dear all, Thank you for being patient for me to resume my daily music. I have come home safely from a wonderful tour in: Decorah, Iowa; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Stoughton, Wisconsin. I got to play in beautiful and legendary venues for the first time, and made many new friends. How humbled I am for the support and love from everyone! I want to send my deepest gratitude to my music collaborator Abiga...

Dear all, I just recorded this solo guzheng improvisation after packing my gears for a midwest tour. Thank you all again for your tremendous support to my music daily! If you are in one of the cities below, I’d love to see you at the concerts: Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn will bring their banjo-guzheng cross-cultural musical mind meld to: Nov 09: Luther College, Decorah, IA Nov 10: The Cedar Cultural...

Dear all, This piece was composed and recorded on the valiha and my vocal today. The beautiful valiha belong to two dear friends of mine in Nashville. They have generously let me play their valiha for me to explore more sonic vocabulary. This is the 4th night song I’ve composed on this instrument. The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of local bamboo; it is considered the...

Dear all, This guzheng piece was composed and recorded yesterday, inspired by a painting from the Five Dynasties (907 - 979) period of China (photo below). I have been doing some research on ancient plucked instruments from different cultures including the history of my instrument - guzheng. It has been utterly fascinating to discover so much connections of all the zithers, harps, lutes etc. aroun...

This solo guzheng night song was recorded yesterday, performed by me. It has been cloudy in Nashville the past a few days. The sunlight gets squeezed through the cracks of the thick clouds when there is a chance. The layered colors of the trees change constantly (photo below). It reminds me of a section of the Song Cí (宋词) poem — Shui Diao Ge Tou (水调歌头) by poet Sū Shì (苏轼 1037-1011). Shui...

A year ago, I was on tour in Europe with a group of amazing European musicians. When we transferred trains in Cologne Central Station to Brussels, I was stunned by the Cologne Cathedral and the architecture of the station (photo below). This piece was a vivid memory of what I felt standing by the train tracks watching trains passing by. Hope this piece brings you a moment of energy into your weeke...

This piece was inspired by the crabapple flower in the forest near my home. Crabapples usually only blossom in early April and for only ten days or no more than two weeks. This year has been strange. This crabapple tree started flowering in late summer unexpectedly. Since then, the dozen flowers have been standing proudly (photo below) even after most the leaves fell off. I’m stunned by its toughn...

This three-track guzheng fugue was composed and recorded yesterday, performed by me. Although the autumn has arrived in Nashville, the flowers in the forest are blooming as gloriously as in the spring. Bright colors are everywhere - purple, blue, yellow, orange, red, white etc.. The blue mist flowers (photo below) were shining like flashing beam in the wind and under the sun. Walking through them...

Dear all, and especially friends in Seattle area, I am excited to share with you about a new exhibition that I am humbly featured among many amazing artists. The exhibit is a collaboration between The Music of Asian American Research Center (MAARC) and the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle. A big thank to musicologist Dr. Eric Hung for inviting me to be part of this incredible project! ABOUT THE EXHIBIT...

Dear all, This multi-track composition was created and recorded yesterday on the valiha and guzheng. Half of the tracks were valiha while the other half were guzheng, both performed by me. The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar. The guzheng 古筝 is a 21-string either from China, which is my main instrument that I’ve been playing since I was five. The valiha in the recording belongs to my frie...

Dear all, The last thirty hours have been very heavy in my family and many families around the world since the war broke out in Israel. The situation is only getting more scary by the minute. I have close friends who have family members over there in the war zone. Some of them have not been able to get hold of their loved ones for two days; some are on their way back to join the army. My heart has...

This three-track guzheng étude was composed and recorded yesterday, performed by me. I didn’t wear finger picks this time. The timber is much softer than when I wear my picks. I usually wear seven finger picks - four on the right hand and three on my left hand. I also half muted my guzheng with a banana that was weaved through the strings in the middle and lower resisters. I have always enjoyed pl...

This guzheng étude was created and recorded yesterday. I played it at a tempo of 205 BPM. BPM stands for beat per minute. It is also known as Prestissimo in music term. For example: Moderato (moderately): 108-120 BPM. Allegro (fast): 120- 168 BMP. Presto (very fast): 168-200 BMP. Prestissimo (extremely fast): over 200 BMP. It was rather a crazy day for me. So I let out all the energy in this highl...

This three-voice guzheng fugue was composed and recorded yesterday, inspired by this cute baby eastern box turtle in the forest of west Nashville. In classical music, a fugue is a contrapuntal, polyphonic compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches), which recurs frequently thr...

This three-track night song was created and recorded yesterday. I played the guzheng and valiha (traditional zither from Madagascar) at the same time for the first track: right hand played the valiha while my left hand played guzheng (photo below). After the instrumental track, I sang on the other two tracks. I was inspired by the full moon over the weekend and a lovely family reunion with my cous...

Dear all, I am back home after a busy and amazing week at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Yes, I got to perform my own composition with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and I got to conduct the orchestra in one of the seven movements using lightening batons and lightening gloves. Maestro Lio Kuokman conducted Hello Gold Mountain. Oud wizard Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz was magical as always. Dr. Patricia Rosen...