对牛弹琴 - playing music to a cow

“对牛弹琴” (duì niú tán qín) is probably one of my favorite Chinese idioms / ChengYu of all-time. Quite literally, it translates to “playing music to a cow”. Historically, the “琴” (qín) in this phrase is the Guqin (古琴), a traditional Chinese string instrument. However, many modern translations (including the one I originally learned) tend to translate the “琴” (qín) to piano, as the Chinese word for piano is 钢琴 (gāng qín) and shares the same last character¹.

And now, I’m going to go a rant on how the curtains aren’t just blue² and tie this ChengYu into some other thoughts I’ve been turning over in my head… Stick with me here as I am about to embark on some Roland Barthes and the Death of the Author shenangians.

The phrase itself is supposed to be a little condescending- it’s used to imply that the speaker (the person playing the qín) is explaining something too sophisticated or profound for the listener (the cow) to appreciate or understand. Sometimes it’s also used to imply that the speaker is wasting their time. It’s very similar to idiom “do not cast your pearls before swine” from the Bible.

You may ask, Tiffany, how come this phrase is your favorite ChengYu? Are you implying that you think you’re so esoteric that the people reading this aren’t on your level?

Quite the opposite- not only do I love to find meaning in inane and meaningless things, but I love cows! Some of my favorite pieces of media are ones that are surface level silly but have much deeper elements if you look closer. Also, many of my friends will know that in college I had a period of time where I was obsessed with cow print. I’ve had cow print on a bag, on my bed sheets, and even painted cow print on my nails pretty frequently.

Back when I had first learned this phrase, I would imagine it while practicing piano. I’d be be bored, trying to hit my 1 hour daily practice quota, and zone off imagining that I was playing for a herd of cows that were equally as empty-minded as I was. It was a little inside joke between me and the imaginary cows in my head. So, as much as I logically knew that the phrase was condescending (my mom also loves using this phrase offhandedly), I always found a certain sense of whimsy and irony in it.

Finding out that cows actually love music and react very positively to music also added to this sense of irony. Music, in fact, can make cows feel more relaxed and enrich their living environment³. There are also many videos online of people playing music for cows in an open field, and the cows will run over and listen intently with their tails swaying. Here’s one of the first few I ever saw and personally enjoy:

To me, the irony is that “对牛弹琴” is also something delightful. To be the cow is not a bad thing. You can be explaining something that someone else doesn’t fully understand, but they are still happy to be there and enjoy listening. To not understand and to be unengaged are the distinctions here. There are things that people will talk to me about that go right over my head, but I will still happily ask more about. There are things that I enjoy sharing with people that are willing to listen, even if they don’t fully understand as well.

In fact, I think this concept is an undercurrent in many aspects of my life. I happen to be lucky enough to have friends with a wide range of interests that I know barely anything about (#DEI win). I love hearing about any and all of these things even if I’m not personally well-versed in the subject- what matters is that I care about the person and the aspect of their life they are willing to let me in to see. I love that! It makes a person interesting and fun and just a joy to be around.

Even on the flip side, sharing things that other people don’t fully understand can be fulfilling, and I am really coming around on that. I would consider myself more of a jack-of-all-trades kind of person, and I have a bajillion different side projects I am always picking at. But, I’ve been putting off compiling these threads into this blog between a lack of drive, work, and sometimes just the worry that a single side project isn’t substantial enough for a post. I’m sure there’s some part of my brain that’s going: “who even cares about this nonsense you’ve been doing in your free time, go do real work or something”.

But, I’ve been inspired by a lot of things recently: one of my friends is getting more into pottery, another is making mead and other alcoholic brews, another is making a Medium blog to start writing more about political events, and so so much more. I ask them to share the effort they put into these things with me because I love to hear about what my friends are getting into, so why would I not do the same back? It finally made me sit down and write out my thoughts about this ChengYu, as silly and ironic as it is.

All that is to say, I am piano player and I am the cow. There is music everywhere you care to look. Thank you for listening, and I hope you found some enjoyment out of it all!

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1. Actually, 古琴 (gū qín) used to be just referred to as 琴 (qín). The first character 古 (gū) was added for clarity as other stringed instruments like pianos (钢琴, gāng qín) and violins (小提琴, xiǎo tí qín) used the character 琴 (qín) as part of their names. ↩

2. There was this meme (circa 2016 or so) that poked fun at English teacher’s overanalysis of literature, specifically that many teachers would over-interpret the “blue curtains” as an indication of sadness. The meme is that the curtains are actually blue. My personal opinion is that most things do have meaning, even if it was not intended, but it is a fun callback. ↩

3. Ciborowska P, Michalczuk M, Bień D. The Effect of Music on Livestock: Cattle, Poultry and Pigs. Animals (Basel). 2021 Dec 16;11(12):3572. doi: 10.3390/ani11123572. PMID: 34944347; PMCID: PMC8698046. ↩