Assignment 4 - Musical instrument and ecological sustainability

Guqin and its ecological sustainability - Pui Yan

In this short essay, I will be introducing Guqin and discussing its relationship with the environment in terms of ecological sustainability. 

Fig1. Guqin

Guqin(古琴) is one of the oldest musical instruments in China, consisting of a wooden zither as the “body” and seven strings for sound production. Due to its characteristics as a quiet and soothing instrument, it is recommended to play it in a relatively quiet environment, preferably outdoors in the mountains or in a garden[1]. The Guqin is usually performed in a small group setting, encouraging mindful listening and allowing listeners to feel the melodies and the environment blending perfectly together to form music. 

Fig2. 聽琴圖 (English: Painting - Listening to the Qin) during the late 1400s - early 1500s

Credit to the Cleveland Museum of Arts (https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1977.199)

There are two types of Guqin strings, the first being a silk string. The weave made by the silkworm in its pupal stage with a web around itself is extracted as silk thread. The extracted silk first goes through temperature treatments, then twisted into thin strands, and several strands are combined together by twisting again to become one string[2]. The number of strands bound together depends on the thickness needed for the string product. Silk string is able to produce rich timbre through the overtones when played. It complements the aesthetic sense in “Chinese traditional music”, as the sound produced is soft, delicate and “fragile”. This is also the reason why the silk string is often referred to as “the crucial element required by the musical aesthetics of its original listeners”, according to John Thompson, a Guqin music reconstructor[3]. 

Fig3. Expanded silk string

While silk string produces the “most authentic” and “traditional” sound, and is said to be the “correct historical way” to play a Guqin piece, the sericulture involved in silk string production raises environmental concerns. Silk larvae kept in silk farms are fed with mulberry tree leaves. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), for every 10000 square metres planted with mulberry trees, with all their leaves fed to silk larvae, only 40kg of raw silk can be harvested[4]. The high demand for tree leaves leads to increased consumption of pesticides and fertilisers to enhance the growth rate of the trees, resulting in ecosystem imbalance in the forest area and eutrophication. Although silk is naturally produced by moths, the manual production of refined silk has damaged the environment by disrupting agriculture and constantly requiring high energy input. 

Ethically, the still intact silkworms are often killed during the process of cocoon purification (boiling) for the best yield. Although there is currently no research suggesting that silkworms feel pain or suffer before dying, the number of them turning into moths is extremely low and they barely survive to complete their normal life cycle. This also leads to a scarcity of silk for generating strings, especially in the 1970s, when the Cultural Revolution and the failing silk industry led to the invention of metal strings as a desperate alternative.

Fig4. Sericulture

The metal strings, or nylon strings, are much cheaper and easier to manufacture and are less easy to break compared to silk strings. However, with the traditional problem of using silk strings solved, new challenges to Guqin's performance[5] and the environment emerged. One reason is that It gives a much louder and brighter timbre which makes it impossible to embody the unique tone quality of a silk string, causing a loss of the aesthetic beauty of the Guqin sound. Below shows two videos featuring the same famous Guqin piece - Drunken Song, played on a silk string Guqin (left) and a metal string Guqin (right): 

 

Videos: Compare the timbre(tone color) of silk string Guqin(left) and metal string Guqin(right)

Another problem is that metal strings are not biodegradable compared to silk strings, so broken or wasted strings could exist for hundreds of years. In particular, inappropriate treatment of nylon strings has been identified as a significant source of marine pollution by allowing microplastics to accumulate in waterways and, ultimately, in the ocean.

In terms of future ecological sustainability, although silk string manufacturing has negatively impacted the environment, policies such as restricting mulberry tree production, or laws monitoring the use of pesticides may mitigate their negative effects. At the end of the “string life”, the silk strings are biodegradable and are therefore deemed to be more ecologically sustainable, compared to metal strings, whose “afterlives” post greater harm to the environment. 

References:

1. Guqin. Metmuseum.org. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/500624 
2. Silk strings  . (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2022, from http://www.silkqin.com/03qobj/silk.htm 
3. Silk strings  . (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2022, from http://www.silkqin.com/03qobj/silk.htm 
4. CFDA. (n.d.). Silk. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://cfda.com/resources/materials/detail/silk#:~:text=When%20thinking%20about%20sustainability%20of,on%20workers%20and%20their%20communities 
5. Wong , S.-C. (n.d.). Through Qin Strings, Inquiring about the Guqin's Past, Present and Future Path of Development. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from http://www.silkqin.com/03qobj/strings/shuchee1.htm