Over the years, staff have been added to the original character scores to indicate different rhythm possibilities of a melody. For instance, the masterpiece "Ping Sha Luo Yan" ("Wild Geese Descending on the Sandbank") has different versions that appeal to different tastes.

"It always looks easy for beginners," says Wu. "However, one is likely to encounter obstacles after a certain level and find it difficult to advance to perfection. Artistic rendition is critical in that period of learning."

"We would rather offer a gathering place for people who share similar interests to get acquainted than to precisely run a school," says Yang Zhijian, one of the salon founders.

"Spreading traditional culture is the ultimate goal and guqin learning plays an integral part," Yang says.

You Huang Li

Address: 1801 Huaihai Rd M.

Tel: 021-6437-4111

Cost: 960 yuan for a class of four to six students; 1,800 yuan for a class of two; 2,600 yuan for a one-on-one class

Elsewhere to learn guqin

Jiu Pai Qin Yuan (Guqin Institute of Nine Schools)

With veteran guqin player Gong Yi as artistic consultant, all the instructors at the institute are graduates of Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music or Shanghai Conservatory of Music, most of whom are Gong's students.

It offers 12 weekly classes in three levels - elementary (six to eight students), intermediate (three to four students) and advanced (three to four students).

Address: Room 104, Bldg 2, Zhongshan Apartment Buildings, 1277 Changning Rd (across Zhongshan Rd W.)

Cost: 800 yuan for elementary, 900 yuan for intermediate, 1,080 yuan for advanced.

Tel: 021-5241-3027

Where to buy guqin, books

Guqins can be borrowed within the Jiu Pai Qin Yuan and can be purchased for 5,000 (US$650) to 30,000 yuan.

A full range of guqin books, scores and CDs are available in the institute.

Guqin masterpieces

"Gao Shan Liu Shui" ("High Mountains and Flowing Rivers")

The music is associated with legendary guqin virtuoso Yu Boya and his friend and soul mate, a simple woodsman, Zhong Ziqi. Unlike many literati, Zhong understood the music's subtleties perfectly.

After Zhong's death, Yu is said to have broken his guqin and never played again.

The legendary figures lived in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-467 BC), displayed profound musical talents that hinder others' appreciation except his bosom friend, Zhong Ziqi.

"Guang Ling San" ("Music from Guangling")

The melody, said to date from the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), tells a solemn tale of vengeance. Nie Zheng, son of a swordsmith who was unfairly executed by the emperor of Han State, avenged his father's death. He killed the king with a sword concealed in a guqin he was playing for the king, then he took his own life.

(Shanghai Daily June 5, 2009)