This title, as well as Shenpin Gu Shangyi, Shang Yi and Shang Diao, include a number of melodies intended to introduce characteristics of shang mode, or in some cases the modal characteristics of the pieces following it. These range from those almost identical to the one here, to ones that are seemingly unrelated.³

In Shen Qi Mi Pu the mode with the largest number of melodies is shang mode. These melodies are as follows:

1. Shenpin Shang Yi
2. Shenpin Gu Shang Yi
3. Kai Gu (Sigh for Antiquity)
4. Wang Ji (No Ulterior Motives)
5. Yin De (Hidden Virtue)
6. Guanghan Qiu (Autumn in a Lunar Palace)
7. Tianfeng Huanpei (Jade Pendants in a Heavenly Breeze)
8. Shen You Liuhe (Spirit Roaming the Universe)
9. Chang Qing (Long Clarity)
10. Duan Qing (Short Clarity)
11. Bai Xue (White Snow)
12. He Ming Jiugao (Cranes Cry in the Nine Marshpools)
13. Yi Lan (Flourishing Orchid)

In addition, shang mode melodies I have studied from other handbooks include:

1. Xiangfei Yuan (Lament of the Xiang River Concubines)
2. Gui Qu Lai Ci (Come Away Home)
3. Yuan He Shuang Qing (Paired Clarity of Gibbon and Crane)
4. Fenglei Yin (Wind and Thunder Prelude)
5. Gujiao Xing (Going with Old Style Relations)
6. Kai Gu (Sigh for Antiquity)
7. Chun Jiang (Spring River)
8. Yanyi Ge (Doorbar Song)
9. Xing Tan (Apricot Forum)
10. Xue Chuang Ye Hua (Evening Talk by a Snowy Window)
11. Meishao Yue (Moon Atop a Plum Tree)
12. Mozi Bei Ge (Mozi Sings with Feeling)

Modal characteristics of the shang mode can be examined in at least two quite different ways: the characteristics of melodies listed in shang mode, as above; and modal characteristics that could also theoretically be attributed to a shang mode. As can be observed from the modal chart, surviving qin melodies up through the middle Ming dynasty seem all to have primary tonal centers and secondary tonal centers, the latter generally a fifth above the former. Gong mode has gong (1) as the primary tonal center and 5 as the secondary center. Zhi mode has zhi (5) primary, 2 as secondary. Yu mode has yu (6) as primary, 3 as secondary. Since the music is largely pentatonic it is not surprising that there seems to be no jiao mode following this pattern, as a fifth up from jiao (3) is 7, a non-pentatonic tone. However, shang mode does not have this problem, and it seems logical that shang mode melodies should have shang (2) as the primary note, with 6 secondary. However, standard tuning shang mode pieces do not have this characteristic. This modal characteristic is found only in qiliang mode pieces and perhaps some ruibin mode pieces. These two modes both use raised fifth string tunings, and most of their melodies seem to be associated with the region of Chu (now Hunan province and perhaps Hubei).

Of particular interest in this regard is that fact that shang mode was connected in the Song dynasty to the famous qin player Guo Chuwang (see in QSCB, Chapter 6a3). Guo was apparently very fond of the Chu region (around Hunan), and melodies related to Chu often use a raised fifth tuning, especially ruibin and qiliang modes. Are these the true shang mode melodies?⁴

In fact, early Ming handbooks do not seem to consider this connection, shang mode always being associated with standard tuning (note however chushang mode). Here the major characteristic differentiating the shang mode from the gong mode is that, whereas in the gong mode the third string is gong, in the shang mode the first string is played as gong. This means in general that the open third string is avoided because it would be fa (4), not part of the standard pentatonic scale. The zhi mode has a similar characteristic.

In addition, the main tonal center in shang mode is played on the open first string (called gong), while the main tonal center in gong mode is played on the open third string (called zhi). Pieces in the shang mode use the first string (1) as the main note; secondary notes are shang (2; open second string) and zhi (5; open fourth string).

A particularly interesting characteristic of this mode is the common tendency of the third above the main tonal center (here 1) often to be a flatted third (here 3^b) instead of a whole-tones third (here 3♮). This is discussed further in Modality in early Ming qin tablature .⁵

There are no melodies in Shen Qi Mi Pu Folio One said to be in shang mode:⁶ all are in Folio Two. Here, in addition to the two modal preludes, Shen Qi Mi Pu has 11 melodies in shang mode.

Dictionaries generally associate the shang mode with sad melodies, but that doesn't seem an apt category for many of the melodies here.

It seems that shang is the most popular mode in Shen Qi Mi Pu Folio Two, which has 20 pieces divided into five modes, with shang mode having 11 of them. Song dynasty sources say that the wealthy music connoisseur Yang Zuan of Hangzhou was particularly impressed by the shang mode pieces which his in-house qin teacher Liu Zhifang had learned from the famous qin player Guo Chuwang and then taught to Mao Minzhong, and so Yang also told his other house guest Xu Tianmin to study these pieces.

Perhaps when Yang Zuan compiled his now-lost Song dynasty Zixiadong Pu⁷ (Handbook of the Grotto in the Rosy Clouds) he included a relatively large number of qin pieces in this mode. If so, this could support the theory that there is a connection between the music in SQMP (especially Folios II and III) and this Hangzhou school of qin play.

Xilutang Qintong (1549) has a Shang Yi with lyrics that will fit here.⁸ There is further discussion of related lyrics under the Taigu Yiyin melody Gu Qiu Feng.⁹

 
No original preface¹⁰

 
Music
One section

(00.53) -- harmonics
(01.03) -- Modal prelude ends

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Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Shang mode 商調
3834.157 商調，樂曲之一。 Shang mode was apparently used for sad songs; it is also connected to autumn. See also .145 商頌 Shang song and .149 商歌 Shang ge. (商 Shang ("commerce, converse") was the name of an ancient state.)
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2. Standard tuning is usually considered as 5 6 1 2 3 5 6.
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3. In Zha Fuxi's Guide see:

4. See also the discussion of Xiao Xiang Shui Yun in QSCB, Chapter 6b1-3.
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5. In addition to Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature, see also the related Qin Tunings, some theoretical concepts.
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6. Shen Qi Mi Pu Folio One melodies are all said to be in gong mode. Note, however, that Gufeng Cao seems more characteristic of melodies in yu mode.
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7. 紫霞洞譜 See further information under Shen Qi Mi Pu: a General Introduction.
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8. The lyrics are adapted from the poem 秋風詞 Qiufeng Ci (Zha Guide 43/--/--. 商意 Shang Yi 1/6/7 and 商調 Shang Diao 1/--/5 .
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9. Such lyrics, including those of Wenhuitang Qinpu (1596), 開指魯商意 Kaizhi Lu Shangyi, are included in a footnote to Gu Qiu Feng.
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10. Although SQMP modal preludes have no prefaces, those in Zheyin Shizi Qinpu (which all have identical music) do. Those in Zheyin are almost identical to those in Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu (1585), and so the latter can be used to reconstruct the former when they are missing. Thus the preface to the shang modal prelude was probably as follows:

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