In Fengxuan Xuanpin (1539) Dao Yi Qu is a song in one section.⁴ It is grouped with shang mode pieces. It has no preface or attribution, and seems to occur only in this handbook.

This Dao Yi Qu is thus musically unrelated to the 23 later pu connected to this title in Zha's Guide.⁵ This later melody, the earliest of which was published in 1589, is usually called simply Dao Yi,⁶ but it is also sometimes called Qiushui Nong.⁷ Versions of this later melody are often attributed to "Pan Tingjian of the Tang dynasty".⁸ It uses qingshang tuning (same as guxian: raise 2nd, 4th and 7th strings).

Although this later melody is unrelated musically to the Dao Yi Qu here in Fengxuan Xuanpin, the lyrics of this earlier version consist of lyrics identical to those in Sections 11 and 12 of later versions with lyrics, with a short addition in the middle. At least four later handbooks use these longer lyrics.

A descendent of the qingshang version is found in the Mei'an Qinpu (1931).⁹ There are several recordings available.

There is a transcription of yet another Dao Yi in Guqin Quji, I (pp. 260 - 264). It uses huangzhong tuning (from standard tuning lower the first string and raise the fifth). It has eight sections and is transcribed as played by Long Qinfang from a handbook dated 1880.¹⁰

Not complete.

 
Original preface

None

 
Music and lyrics
A largely syllabic setting of the lyrics, a tentative translation of which is as follows,¹¹

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 12840.2 has nothing about poetry or music.
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2. Mode
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3. No illustration yet available.
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4. I have not been able to find the source of the lyrics.
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5. Zha Guide: 15/162/356
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6. Dao Yi 搗衣
The first surviving tablature for this melody, which has no melodic relation to the earlier Dao Yi Qu, can be found in Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin (1589); it survives in at least 23 handbooks up through the one in Mei'an Qinpu (1931). Some later versions are (also) called Qiushui Nong (see below and Zha's Guide 15/162/356). The Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin preface attributes this version to "Pan Tingjian of the Tang dynasty" (again see below). There is considerable variety among the versions of this melody, but they all seem to be related and many prefaces have the same attribution to Pan Tingjian.

Dao Yi Qu uses standard tuning, but this later melody uses qingshang tuning (same as guxian: from standard tuning raise the 2nd, 4th and 7th strings half a tone each. The Yang Lun version is a song with lyrics in all 12 sections. Although it is musically unrelated to the Fengxuan Xuanpin version, the lyrics of Sections 11 and 12 are the same as those of Fengxuan Xuanpin, adding a short section in the middle (q.v.). At least four later handbooks also use these longer lyrics.
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7. Qiushui Nong 秋水弄 (Autumn Waters Melody)
In addition to being an alternate title for later Dao Yi, Qiushui Nong is also mentioned in connection with the musically unrelated Yueshang Cao. The melody Qiu Shui (4 from 1647) also seems unrelated. See also an early Ming melody list.

Qiuye Wen Zhen 秋夜聞砧 On an Autumn Evening Hearing the Stone
This melody (25505.134xxx; 29749.xxx), the title of which may refer to clothing being beaten, seems to survive only in the same early Ming melody list mentioned above. Could it be related to one of the Dao Yi?
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8. 潘廷堅 Pan Tingjian
Commentary in Yang Lun Taiyu Yiyin begins, "按斯曲，乃唐人潘廷堅所作....As for this melody, it is by Pan Tingjian of the Tang dynasty"(QQJC VI); however, I can not find any information about such a person in the Tang dynasty. Bio/xxx or 潘庭堅 Bio/2527 (Yuan/Ming); 18737 same. For Tingjian 9553.58 庭堅 has a 潘(牛+方)字庭堅 but his dates are 1205 - 1246 (Bio/2519). 9792.77 廷堅 has no 潘 Pan.
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9. Dao Yi in Mei'an Qinpu
For more on this version see Fredric Lieberman, A Chinese Zither Tutor, p.131ff
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10. Dao Yi in Huangzhong Mode
龍琴舫 Long Qinfang is said to play this version (see Guqin Quji, I) according the to the version of 錢壽占 Qian Shouzhan as found in his handbook 錢氏十操 Qianshi Shi Cao (19 Melodies of Mr. Qian, 1880).
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11. Original lyrics of Dao Yi Qu
The original lyrics, which are not attributed, are as follows:

These have the basic structure 7 x (7+7), with filler syllables 那 added on one line, 的那 on another, and two extra characters at the end.
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