T of C 
Home 		My
Work		 Hand-
books		 Qin as
Object		 Qin in
Art		 Poetry
/ Song		 Hear
Qin		 Play
Qin		 Analysis History Ideo-
logy		 Miscel-
lanea		 More
Info		 Personal email me search me
SQMP 首頁
33. Celestial Air Defining Jiao Mode
- When referring to a note usually pronounced "jue";2 standard tuning: 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 		神品角意 1
Shenpin Jiao Yi  

For more information also see Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.3

The primary tonal center in Shen Qi Mi Pu jiao mode melodies is the relative pitch gong (1, do); the secondary tonal centers are jiao (3, mi) and yu (6, la). The open third string plays the note gong; this string is named "jiao". It is tempting to think that there is a connection between the fact that these melodies are placed in the jiao mode and the fact that their primary tonal center is on the string called jiao, plus a secondary tonal center is the relative note jiao. However, I have never seen any other commentary to this effect.

After the modal prelude Shen Qi Mi Pu has two pieces in this mode,

#34 Lingxu Yin and
#35 Liezi Yu Feng.

Although these two pieces were very popular in early Ming, the mode was not used very much otherwise.

The only handbook to include a significant number of jiao mode melodies is Xilutang Qintong (1549), which includes 13 entries listed under jiao. Eight of these can only be found here. Three are versions of the Shen Qi Mi Pu melodies discussed above. The other two are: are:

Cangwu Yuan (first of 14), and
Xianshan Yue); second of two.

Xilutang Qintong melodies listed under jiao that I have reconstructed include:

  1. Cangwu Yuan
  2. Lienü Yin (modally it seems better to fit into zhi mode; see comment)
  3. Caizhen You (as previous)
 
Original preface4
None

 
Music5
One section

(00.33) -- harmonics
(00.48) -- Modal prelude ends

 
Return to the Shen Qi Mi Pu ToC or to the Guqin ToC.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Shenpin Jiao Yi 神品角意
35831.43 角音 jiao yin says "spring dream sound" but has no jiao diao.
(Return)

2. Pronunciation of 角
My teacher Sun Yü-Ch'in pronounced this "jiao" and this is the way I usually pronounce it, though most people today say "jue". Its original meaning is "horn".
(Return)

3. Also Qin Tunings, some theoretical concepts.
(Return)

4. Preface to the jiao modal prelude
Although SQMP modal preludes have no prefaces, those in Zheyin (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 jiao modal prelude was probably as follows:

（角意）﹕希仙曰，
考之角數六十有四聲，陰中之少陽，清濁之間也。 位於三弦專之，而為角調。有清寂之音。
Jiao Mode:
(Not yet translated)
(Return)

5. Music for the jiao modal prelude
The lyrics from the version in 1585 can be sung here, suggesting they might also have been in the original edition of Zheyin Shizi Qinpu.
(Return)  
Return to the Shen Qi Mi Pu ToC or to the Guqin ToC.