Gao Hong: Nomadic Pipa Master/Mom

Have you attended a concert or heard a recording by Gao Hong, nicknamed ‘Flying Dragon’?

Chinese pipa artist and composer Gao Hong is featured in this month’s issue of Sounding Board, the newsletter of American Composers Forum. When she was 22, she was one of just two pipa players who were selected to train at China’s premier school of music, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she studied with Lin Shicheng, the great master of Pudong style pipa. Currently, Gao is Adjunct Instructor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.

The pipa is essentially a ‘bowl lute’. In Chinese, ‘Pi’ means ‘to play forward’ and ‘Pa’ means ‘to play backward’. In China the instrument dates to at least the 4th century C.E., but it had its origins more than 2000 years ago in Central Asia and the Middle East. The pipa has normally either 4 or 5 strings. The number of frets has gradually been increased over the centuries (now with 23 to 30 frets), giving the modern pipa greater chromatic possibilities over a three-and-a-half octave range. The pipa player tapes picks (fake fingernails) to all fingers and, optionally, to the thumb. (Do a mouse roll-over Chinese images to see translations of the texts below.)

Gao Hong has lived in the U.S. since 1993. Her playing and composing have won her much recognition, including:

• Meet The Composer Fund New York, 2005-6
  
• Subito award from the American Composers Forum, 2005
  
• Emerging Composer Commission from the Jerome Foundation, 2002
  
• American Composers Forum’s Performance Incentive Fund, 1998
  
• McKnight Artist Fellowship for Performing Musicians, 1997
  
• Fellowship from Minnesota State Arts Board, 1997
  
• Walker Art Center Community Partnership Fund, 1996
  
• First Prize in Hebei Young Music Performers’ Competition, 1984.

Gao continues to travel a great deal. So much so that I am reminded of Jacques Attali, who talks about ‘hypernomads’ in his work, L’homme nomade. Hypernomads are voluntary nomads, as distinct from involuntary nomads (infranomads), whom Attali separates into ‘nomads by custom’ and ‘nomads by constraint’. The latter includes refugees, migrant workers, homeless people, exiles. For Attali, hypernomads are a constitutionally peripatetic class of creative individuals, whose discoveries and art works influence the sedentary non-nomads. Gao Hong must, by all reckoning, be a hypernomad. Look up ‘hypernomad’ in the dictionary, and we imagine to see a picture of Gao—successful diaspora of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Flying Dragon!

Gao expresses her admiration and gratitude for her experiences learning from pipa master, Lin Shicheng, who died two years ago. Gao is by nature modest and makes special effort to attribute her own accomplishments to the teaching and generosity of Lin Shicheng. It is a striking and characteristic feature of her personality, for her to so consistently and earnestly do this. She does Lin Shicheng great honor.




[ Lin Shicheng and Gao Hong, pipa; video 1996 ]

Sonic signs of Spring include birds singing at dawn, chipmunks emerging from hibernation chirping to each other from rocky outcrops. We hear this in Gao Hong’s playing, on YouTube here and here.

Aphorisms are an oblique acknowledgement of difference—of crisis—and opposing nomadism and passivity by acting to redeem or recover culture from fragmentation and nihilism. Is this part of Gao Hong’s intention?

If you haven’t lived in many places, you may not be able to identify an association between sound and place.

Listeners make of music what they will, based on their prior experiences and contexts that they’ve known. From all possible interpretations, they select ones to which their own experiences give priority. Gao Hong offers a wider range of experiences than most of us will ever know…

People who haven’t ever been displaced—who haven’t moved around a lot, who haven’t experienced periods of separation from family and place—think of this music as ‘fantastic’ or ‘alien’. To Gao Hong, it’s utterly concrete. The timbral and rhythmic textures are concrete. Except for echo, except for reverberation. Hear it on her recordings. It is the abstraction of distance in the Chinese landscape, of mountains in the distance.

Epic migrations over long distances—marking the chapters of one individual’s life; marking the chapters of a people’s existence as a society.

It is by now evident that Gao Hong is very blue, probably bluer than her master, Lin Shicheng—even though Gao is too modest to even contemplate that possibility. Lin Shicheng’s blues were, admittedly, of a different hue—of a different generation.

Gao permits herself and her music to become ‘inscribed’ by the culture within which she lives. Minnesota and North America have been hospitable, for some 15 years now. But Nature is not ‘kind’ or ‘hospitable’. Her 7 year-old daughter’s leukemia is a case-in-point. How can a parent not be ‘inscribed’ by the life-threatening illness of her child. Where water flows, a channel is formed. Yes, a channel. An indelible gash is eroded. No one’s fault. How to cope?

And life goes on. Hardship and suffering are the human condition, as well as joy and treasured remembrance. It makes us become extraordinary things, leap unleapable barriers, makes us do unbelievable deeds. Things that ought to be impossible, and that one should never wish to befall any of one’s enemies. You think pipa is ‘alien’? Think again! Listen to Gao Hong’s music.

What does not kill us makes us stronger?

Gao Hong, fine ambassador for the human species.

Gao, cheerful and friendly, makes everyone feel welcome. Given the challenges she has faced, how can we not be inspired by her example?

Layer upon layer in her instrumental and choral writing, reflecting the classical influences of her conservatory training and regard for traditional Chinese forms—and yet bearing the marks of her own sense of what is happening now and what lies ahead.

The spontaneity of Gao Hong’s playing sometimes astonishes us. She seems fearless. She lets the ‘chips’ fall, even if what they contain is an inconvenient truth.

Collaboration with Shubhendra Rao and other Asian chamber musicians is a hallmark of recent Gao projects.

When she was young, her mother told her “that I had a terrible singing voice. When I sang she said it sounded like someone stepping on a rooster’s neck… Writing a choral work now has made me the happiest person in the world. Even if I don’t sing it, I enjoy hearing others perform it. I’m so happy … with the incredible luck of having my piece as one of five selected to be premiered with VocalEssence.” [interview with Amy Boxrud, ACF, SoundingBoard, MAR-2008]

What is most important is to keep going, to never give up.

And to use compositional materials and instruments that are best-suited to the expressive goals at hand.

C  ontrary to the objective evidence, it is the ‘we’ of all people who feel more insecure and more passionate about everything related to security than people of most other societies on record. This is the puzzle that needs a resolution if the twists and turns of the popular sensitivity to danger ... are to be comprehended.”
  —  Zygmunt Bauman, Uncertainty and Other Liquid-Modern Fears, in Priban, p. 17.

Gao will perform at Ted Mann Concert Hall, Univ Minnesota, 2128 Fourth St South, Minneapolis at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, 19 April.

• Gao Hong website
  
• Gao Hong page at ACF
  
• Pipa page at Wikipedia
  
• Music Faculty at Carleton College
  
• Attali J. L’Homme Nomade. Artheme Fayard, 2003.
  
• Cavell S. This New Yet Unapproachable America: Essays after Emerson after Wittgenstein. Living Batch, 1994.
  
• Humphrey C, Sneath D. The End of Nomadism? : Society, State, and the Environment in Inner Asia. Duke Univ, 1999.
  
• Myers J. The Way of the Pipa: Structure and Imagery in Chinese Lute Music. Kent Stat Univ, 1992.
  
• Priban J, ed. Liquid Society and Its Law. Ashgate, 2007.
  
• Thrasher A. Chinese Musical Instruments. Oxford Univ, 2001.
  
• Yung B, Rawski E, Watson R, eds. Harmony and Counterpoint: Ritual Music in Chinese Context. Stanford Univ, 1996.

Strengthening Lumbrical Muscles

S till having tenderness and weakness in my left hand when I’m playing lute. What exercises should I try? Are there any exercises that I should stay away from—ones that could do more harm than good? Is there any exercise equipment that can make the muscles in my hand stronger, but not make the control coarser or less precise? Wrapping the wrist—would that help maybe? What about wrapping the fingers—especially the middle finger and the ring finger—how about that?”
  — Anonymous.

The lumbricals are four small muscles in each hand that interconnect the deep flexor muscles to the extensor muscles of the fingers. The lumbricals are the only muscles in the human body that have no direct bony attachments. They attach at both ends to tendons of these other muscles. The lumbricals are extensors of the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) and distal interphalangeal (DIP) joints. In addition, the lumbricals play a part in side-to-side and rotation movements of the fingers. They’re metacarpal phalangeal (MCP) joint flexors as well, but they’re relatively weak as flexors. They get fatigued easily in their flexor and abductor-adductor and rotator roles.

As each finger moves through its range of motion, each tendon slides a certain distance (An, 1983; Storace and Wolf, 1982). Excursion takes place simultaneously in the flexor and extensor tendons during joint motion: the tendons of the agonist muscles displace in one direction, while the tendons of the antagonist muscles displace in the opposite direction. Knowing what the tendon excursions are has applications for rehabilitation or enhancement of the hand (Brand and Hollister, 1999; Chao, 1989). Most of the time, your exercises should involve motions that cover most of the normal excursion that the tendon (and joint) moves through.

Muscle	Tendon Excursion (mm)
Interossei	30
Extensor pollicis brevis	30
Abductor pollicis longus	30
Lumbricals	40
Thenar muscles	40
Finger extensors	50-60
Finger flexors	60-70

Coordination is usually tested by counting the number of repetitions of a particular movement—such as rapid repeated tapping—that you can do in 30 seconds. Reduced ability to perform rapid, repetitive movements is often seen for movements that involve muscles like the lumbricals and interossei muscles. Try tapping with each finger of each hand and record your results. The repetitive movement is fatiguing, and you may find you need to concentrate more to perform the test on one side compared with your other side. Lack of precision and lack of smooth movement often are observed, with noticeable differences between fingers and between the two hands. Doing this testing is, admittedly, a bit tedious. But you’ll have a clearer and objective idea of your situation if you do these timed counts.

Subtle issues of coordination and endurance may be more of a problem in lute players than many other musicians—because of the geometry of the instrument. Correcting muscle imbalance requires stretching tight muscles—soft tissue massage. Often a particular area is painful, and ‘trigger points’ are found in the corresponding muscles. Common trigger point sites often include the dorsal first, second, and fourth interossei, the middle finger common extensor, the extensor indicis, the flexor carpi radialis, and flexor carpi ulnaris muscle bellies. You ‘find’ the trigger points by palpating with your right hand’s fingers while you make the left hand do the motions/excursions that are problematic.

Correcting muscle imbalance also requires strengthening the weaker muscles—extensor carpi ulnaris, common wrist extensors, and intrinsic muscles of the hand including the lumbricals. Specific lumbrical muscles surrounding a painful finger are often weak. If you have a lax, hyperextended thumb, it may have a weak extensor pollicis brevis. Often the thumb opponens and flexor pollicis brevis muscles are weak but the thumb adductor muscle is pretty strong. Treatment for hyperlaxity includes temporary supports and strengthening exercises.

Temporary supports to maintain a joint in a neutral position can be helpful. You can gradually wean yourself from them as your symptoms subside and the finger strength improves. Supports may include neoprene wraps or Lycra finger sleeves. These provide joint stability for hypermobile thumb, finger, or wrist joints. The tough thing is to find a support that’s not too bulky or stiff. The reinforced Lycra sleeves that are used for volleyball and other sports aren’t flexible enough. Some Lycra sleeves of the types that are sold in pharmacies are too flexible and don’t offer enough support. Other finger sleeves of the types sold by fly-fishing retailers have a millimeter or two of neoprene or other materials that are too bulky.




The DigiSleeve product is, for me, a reasonable compromise between support and flexibility. It comes as a length of Lycra tube that you cut with a scissors to the exact length that’s right for the dimension of your finger and the amount of the phalanges that you want to cover or support. It’s fairly inexpensive—you just discard the tube segments after several episodes of use and cut yourself new ones. I made a ‘template’ measuring guide on a postcard where I marked off the lengths that I need for the fingers I use the DigiSleeves on, and I keep this template card on my desk next to the box where I keep the DigiSleeve materal. When I need a new sleeve, I just lay the DigiSleeve material on the appropriate template “finger” on the card and cut with a scissors to the right length for that finger. Quick, easy, no re-measuring or guessing, and no wasted material.

In general, it takes some months for joint stability and lumbrical muscle strength to improve significantly, so you’ll need some patience with the temporary splints or wraps and a modified playing schedule. ‘Stability strengthening’ exercises encourage co-contraction of the muscles surrounding a joint. Improved stability strength helps to compensate for a hyperlax joint. Stability strength training can include isometric and proprioception exercises on your instrument and on exercise equipment like the kinds shown here. For exercises away from the instrument, you can do muscle contractions with a support (such as Lycra finger sleeves) on.



In later phases, your hand exercises can include strength training motions that are are concentric and eccentric (with respect to the center of rotation around the affected joint). The DocZac device works pretty well for this. ‘Proprioception’ exercises can include tapping and weightbearing—mostly in a mid-range, neutral joint position. Finger push-ups for hyperlax finger joints, for example—can be performed anytime, against a table or other convenient surface.



Warrington emphasizes that even the most conscientiously developed exercise program cannot reproduce exactly the action required from the various joints and muscles to play your instrument. And, yes, performing exercises that reproduce some of the actions and that aim to strengthen certain muscles, like the lumbricals, or aim to reduce the laxity of certain joints can be carried too far—excessive exercise can lead to further imbalance or overuse injuries or inflammation, can lead to different problems than the ones the exercises were designed to solve. You’ll be best able to judge your progress—and keep an eye out for problems that may develop—if you keep a log and record your daily hand exercise routine and other relevant details.


There are fancy, expensive equipments that neurologists use to measure these things. But there are also some freeware/shareware programs that you can use on your computer to do pretty much the same measurements. One of these is Stamina 2.5 (Windows XP / Vista). You can create your own ASCII script files, tailoring the sequence of key-depressions to just those motions that you want to work on or measure, in each of the fingers you are having problems with. From the Stamina 2.5 pull-down Mode menu, choose Other Modes. Select the External File cascading menu choice and navigate to the .txt file you want. Here is one I created for the left ring-finger, and here is one I created for the right ring-finger. Download them and save them to a directory on your PC as you prefer, or to the c:\Program Files\Stamina\Data\ subdirectory where the script files for Stamina 2.5 reside. You can use these as-is, or, more likely, just examine them and see how you may want to set up your own custom script files. Besides revealing the characters-per-minute (cpm) count, which you can record in your daily log, Stamina 2.5 shows the graphical time-trend of how your fingers fatigue with prolonged action. As your stability-strengthening exercises proceed, you may notice that the rate at which your lumbricals-propelled fingers fatigue gets better as the muscles get stronger. And if you experience an injury, the graph is a sensitive indicator of the injury and its severity. The lower cadence achieved by the ring finger may be due more to a lack of independence at the level of voluntary neuromuscular control, than to any innate mechanical interaction with (‘enslavement’ to) the other fingers. Tapping cadence of each finger is lower for the double-finger mode than for the single-finger mode.

You can know for certain when your fingers are being moved by the lumbricals—just make your fingers do a harp-plucking motion. Generally, the lumbricals, flexors, and extensors will all be involved at once, in a way not under your conscious control. Change the finger movement—change the relative amount of straightening and forward motion—and feel your left forearm with your right hand. If the flexor and/or extensor muscles in your arm are contracting, you distinguish it easily because those muscles grow thicker and slide under the skin. When you’re moving your finger forward in such a way that you can’t feel much muscular action in the forearm, then the lumbrical muscle is doing almost all the work. Here are four basic rules for achieving accurate control and endurance:

1. Do not make unnecessary movements or muscle contractions.
   
2. Do the necessary movements as smoothly as possible.
   
3. Use the strongest muscles that can do the job.
   
4. Exercise to strengthen the muscles that have the potential to do the job.

Good luck!

• DSM. Lutes and Lumbricals. CMT blog, 29-APR-2007.
  
• Stamina 2.5 (Windows freeware; 1.3MB download)
  
• External character file to measure left 4th digit tapping speed in extension and flexion, for Stamina 2.5 software [4KB txt file]
  
• External character file to measure right 4th digit tapping speed in extension and flexion, for Stamina 2.5 software [4KB txt file]
  
• Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, U.K.
  
• Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange (CIRRIE)
  
• Leijnse J. Why the Lumbrical muscle should not be bigger—a force model of the lumbrical in the unloaded human finger. J Biomechanics 1997; 30: 1107-14. [1MB pdf]
  
• DigiSleeve (cut to desired length with scissors)
  
• Alpine Innovations Stripee fly-fishing finger guards
  
• Futuro support glove
  
• Gripmaster hand exerciser, extra-light tension
  
• DocZac Handmaster-Plus exerciser
  
• Expand-Your-Hand bands
  
• An K-N, Chao E, Cooney W, Linscheid R. Forces in the normal and abnormal hand. J Orthop Res 1985; 3: 202-11.
  
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• Warrington J. Hand therapy for the musician: Instrument-focused rehabilitation. Hand Clin 2003; 19:287-301.
  
• Warrington J. Upper-extremity Problems in Musicians Related to Age. MPPA 2002; 131-4. [500KB pdf]
  
• Devonshire Hand Clinic, 30 Devonshire Street, London, W1G 6PU, Tel: +44 020 7486 7131, Email: j.warrington@tesco.net
  
• Winspur I, Wynn Parry C, eds. The Musician's Hand. Taylor & Francis, 2005.