In guzheng playing, shoulders, arms, wrists, and fingers are the main moving parts. This article briefly describes the functions of the muscles in the above parts in playing, the principles of stretching and shrinking, the playing postures and the playing methods as follows:

1. Shoulder

The shoulder movement when playing the kite is mainly realized by the deltoid outside the shoulder joint, the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor in the chest; the trapezius above the scapula; the latissimus dorsi, rhomboid, and trapezius on the back. , For students who are beginners to play the zither, due to improper control of the method, these muscles are prone to excessive tension. If the time is a little longer, they will feel fatigued. If the muscles in these parts are not relaxed in time, there will be symptoms of back and shoulder pain. So shoulder relaxation is a very important issue. Only when the shoulder height is relaxed can the upper arm, forearm and hand be in a relaxed state, and better performance can be obtained with less force.

2. Upper arm

During playing, the upper arm often needs to do abduction, adduction and flexion and extension. The upper arm is raised outward and inward, which is called abduction and adduction, respectively. The forward movement of the upper arm is called flexion, and the backward movement is called extension. These actions are achieved under the synergy of the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor muscles of the chest, the latissimus dorsi, atrophic muscles, trapezius muscles of the back, and deltoid muscles of the shoulders. When playing, the relaxation and tension of the muscles in these parts directly affect the upper arm movements. Only under the control of the brain can the playing movements be relaxed, natural and coordinated.

In actual performance, do not lift the upper arm and elbow too high. Generally, the abduction of the upper arm and the side chest wall are about 45° angle. If the upper arm is too abducted, the elbow must be raised too high, which will cause the upper arm to be in a tense state.

3. Elbow

The upper arm flexors (biceps and brachialis) and extensors (triceps) originate in the shoulder, insert in the forearm, and span the elbow joint. Therefore, their expansion and contraction can produce movement of the elbow joint. When the elbow is flexed, the flexor muscles are contracted and the extensor muscles are properly relaxed, but still maintain a certain degree of tension, so as to ensure that the elbow joint is properly flexed and the string movement is accurate. If the extensor muscles are absolutely relaxed and the degree of flexion and contraction is too large, then the degree of elbow flexion will be large, so that the elbow flexion exceeds the predetermined position; if the degree of relaxation of the extensor muscles is small, then the degree of contraction of the flexor muscles must not be large, and the degree of elbow flexion will also be small. Do not bend the elbow to the desired position. It can be seen that the accuracy of the playing action is controlled by the flexor and extensor muscle groups, and only the contraction and comfort of the flexor and extensor muscle groups can achieve the accuracy of the action. To achieve this goal, we must go through a long period of hard practice, so that the body is fully trained and the accuracy of its movements is improved.

4. Forearm

The forearm flexors flex the forearm, pronate the forearm, flex the wrist, adduct the hand, flex the proximal finger joints, metacarpophalangeal joints, and flex the thumb joint. The forearm extension group can extend the wrist, abduct the hand, extend the fingers, apply the forearm, abduct the thumb, and extend the metacarpal joint of the thumb. Extend the thumb interphalangeal joint. Therefore, the relaxation of the upper arm intramuscular group directly affects the forearm, and the relaxation of the forearm muscle group directly affects the wrist and hand.

5. Wrist

The flexion and extension of the hand cavity is based on the wrist joint. The wrist joint consists of eight small bones that facilitate up, down, left, right, and rotational movement. In the performance, the relaxation and flexibility of the hand cavity directly affects the finger playing, so it is a very critical issue. If the wrist is not flexible, it will inevitably lead to excessive participation of the forearm in sports, which will lengthen the moment arm and increase the performance movement, resulting in slow movement, blunt and rigid pronunciation.

Common wrist problems are as follows:

(1) The wrist is too flexed. The wrist flexes due to tightness (i.e., contraction) of the forearm flexors, and the greater the tension in the flexors, the greater the wrist flexion. Excessive tension of the forearm flexor group causes the wrist to flex too much, which makes the fingers lack strength and elasticity, and the finger movement is difficult, which affects the playing.

(2) The wrist is too stretched back. This wrong posture makes the upper arm excessively raised, and the forearm and hand muscles are always in a tense state, which makes it difficult to lift the fingers and play the strings. In the process of arm strength reaching the fingertips, part of the arm strength is lost due to the collapse of the wrist.

(3) The wrist is too flat. Because the wrist posture is too flat, the fingers must be spread out, so the movement of the fingers in the middle is increased. At the same time, the string points and direction of each finger are inconsistent, which affects the timbre and strength.

(4) The wrist is twisted to the right. The twisting of the wrist will inevitably cause excessive tension in the palm and forearm muscles. If this incorrect posture is used for a long time, it will not only affect the direction of the fingers and the flexibility of the fingers, but also the wrist muscles will be easily damaged.

(5) Wrist stiffness. The flexor and extensor muscles that control the movement of the wrist are completely in a state of tension and stagnation, making it difficult to flex and extend the wrist.

The five common faults listed above refer to the undesired hand shape under normal playing conditions and the playing position in the middle range. Due to the limitation of the radian of the zither panel, the degree of flexion of the wrist should change with the playing range. And adjust. In the low range, the wrist is more flexed, while in the high range, especially when playing melody and "shaking" with the right hand; due to the change of the arc width of the panel and the proximity to the upper body, the wrist not only cannot be flexed, but sometimes It also has to sag a bit to play well.

When playing vibrato, tension in the left arm and wrist is a common problem. In order to overcome it, like a beginner, learn to relax the left arm first, and then learn the vibrato technique.

When playing the vibrato technique, the left arm must always have "constant tension" and "supportive tension" of the muscles to keep the left arm in a vibrato position. The arm again has "functional tension" as the fingers depress the strings. The wrist flexor carpi radialis and flexor carpi ulnaris simultaneously contract, making the wrist strong. The arms and hands are integrated, and the knuckles stand upright and do not collapse. Use the weight of your entire arm to press down on the strings to raise the strings. Then the muscle group that controls the lifting of the forearm lifts the forearm hand in time, while the wrist and hand muscles relax to restore the string sound. After the arm is relaxed, the upper arm and forearm remain in "supportive tension" and "constant tension", resulting in a vibrato. According to this aspect, continuous action several times at a certain speed forms the tremolo technique.

6. Fingers

The muscles that control the movement of the fingers should rapidly contract the flexors and the extensors at the moment of playing the strings. After the playing action is completed, the flexors and extensors should relax at the same time, but still maintain a certain degree of tension (constant tension) for the next time. The progression of a performance action. The hand muscles have been in this infinite repetition of tension and relaxation throughout the performance.

When playing the strings, the finger movement method should be based on the movement of the finger joints driven by the metacarpophalangeal joints. The fingertips should be flexible and active. The chord point of each finger should be basically kept on a line parallel to the front beam. The hand is always in a round shape. The knuckles and metacarpophalangeal joints should not collapse, otherwise the arm strength cannot be directly delivered to the fingertips. The fingers that are not playing should droop naturally, do not lift up, and some people will lift the little finger up unconsciously, which is caused by the muscle tension of the little finger. It is not aesthetically pleasing, but also affects the relaxation and exertion of other fingers. When playing, you need to train the explosive power of the fingertips at the moment of playing. If the explosive power is large, the sound can be solid and loud. When playing lyrical slow music, although the finger movements are relatively slow, pay attention to the explosive power of the fingers when they touch the strings. Compared with the former, the latter only differs in the magnitude of the explosive force. Even if you use the method of holding the strings, you cannot use your fingertips to wipe the strings lightly, otherwise the sound will be weak and weak, and it will not give people a clear and transparent feeling.

The key to the skill of playing the kite and moving the fingers lies in the accuracy and speed of the finger movements. The pronunciation of the zheng is produced by finger strumming, and the extremely accurate finger strumming action is obtained by accumulating and arduous training. If the most difficult skills in the music can be repeated dozens of times or even hundreds of times with the correct playing method, so that the relevant muscles can be fully trained, then the skills will be mastered to an extremely accurate level.