Gu Shen

by Shiuan Chang

for Percussion Solo

about Gu Shen

Gu Shen by Shiuan Chang is created as a tribute to his fascination with one of his early memories from childhood – Tai-Chi martial art. It invites the viewers to experience the poetic composition of the everchanging shape sculpture, to question the cognition of arts, and connect back to the wholeness of nature. A large percussion instrument within the impermanence of shapes and sounds formed by the performance of the ancient traditional Chinese martial art together with the art installation, Gu Shen manifests the relationship between the oneness and the wholeness, and pushes the boundary of the notion of music.

To create Gu Shen, Shiuan Chang studied the practice of Tai-Chi martial art movements, and translated 13 specific moves of them into the preforming techniques for the percussionist that has been specifically developed and embedded into the choreography. The research and the interest of Tai-Chi started in 2014 with the creation of Monk for flute, clarinet, cello, and piano, whereby the gestures of the Tai-Chi martial arts are translated into the musical gestures. The gesture “Drawing circles” is the essence of Tai-Chi; one could even say that “Tai-Chi is the art of circles.” Together with the unique musical elements from Monk, the gestures play an even more important role in Gu Shen. Each of these 13 specific movements percussionist performs, in various forms of circles: fast / slow, small-circle / large-circle / half-circle, produces a specific sound on the large art installation. Moreover, the linear-spatial relationship of the combination of the sound is influenced by the understanding of the preceding sound and the group of the sound.

The title Gu Shen comes from the sixth chapter of Dao De Jing. It is often used as the metaphor of “the valley spirit” and the analogy of “Tao.” A valley supports life, providing fertile earth, unlimited warmth of the sun, and the flow of the river for agriculture and all the animals that live there. It borrows the image of the profound maternal nature to describe that Tai-Chi is intrinsically self-sufficient and boundless and is a place where everything originates. It is a beautiful demonstration of the concept of “Ying and Yang:” The valley can accept everything because it’s originally empty; it could foster all kinds of life because it accepts everything. The spirit of Tai-Chi, Ying and Yang, and the image of the maternal nature are being carried by the everlasting circle drawing Tai-Chi movement. During the performance, the art installation translates into a large organic breathing creature that sings and sighs inexhaustibly.

The music composed by Shiuan Chang is the core of Gu Shen, which connects everything. It expands and evolves gradually and slowly into the form of body movements, the installation, choreography, and space. It is not an interdisciplinary nor a multi-disciplinary work, but music.