In Fengxuan Xuanpin (1539) Dao Yi Qu is a song in one section.⁶ It is grouped with shang mode pieces. It has no preface or attribution, and is known to occur only in this handbook. There seem to be several errors in the tablature, making interpretation problematic.⁷ A transcription of this Daoyi Qu by Wang Di is included in her Qin Songs (1982; staff notation) and Xian'ge Yayun (2007, number notation, with tablature).⁸

The melody Dao Yi⁹ from 1589 (and later), as well as the melody Gui Yuan Cao from that same handbook, also concerns lady whose husband is seeking advancement (enfeoffment) on the frontier, but it has no musical relationship with this Dao Yi Qu and is discussed separately. There being no reliable information on the age of the present melody, there is not much use in speculating its connection with related titles found on old melody lists, such as Hearing Pounding on an Autumn Evening (Qiuye Wen Zhen).¹⁰

Although the later melody is unrelated musically to the Dao Yi Qu here in Fengxuan Xuanpin, the lyrics of that later melody use the present lyrics in its Sections 11 and 12, with a short addition in the middle. At least five later handbooks use a version of these longer lyrics. Nevertheless, even these versions with lyrics may work also as instrumental melodies, and it is difficult to say how their being paired with lyrics affected the melodies.¹¹

 
Original preface

None¹²

 
Music and lyrics (五線譜 staff notation; timing follows 聽錄音 my recording)
A largely syllabic setting of the lyrics, a tentative translation of which is as follows,¹³
(compare 1589 Dao Yi and/or 1609 Qingshang Diao)

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 搗衣曲 Dao Yi Qu references (compare 擣衣)
One melody list includes a 擣衣弄 Dao Yi Nong in its listing by type: in it list of qin nong it is #19. The age of this list is not stated and the reference may be to a Li Bai poem that includes this version of the words dao yi (see Ziye Wu Ge, in particular the lyrics).

12840.2 搗衣 dao yi, 又作擣衣, has nothing about poetry or music, instead describing the process whereby two women pound cloth. It also refers to a painting about this, probably the original of the one copied above. "衣 yi" could refer to common cloth or clothing, in contrast to "練 lian", silk, as in the image above (comment). 搗練圖 Dao Lian Tu is the name given the famous painting, while 12849.9 describes 搗練子 daolianzi as 詞牌名 the name of a cipai as well as 曲牌名 the name of a qupai.
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2. Shang Mode (商調 shang diao)
For more on this mode see Shenpin Shang Yi.
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3. Image
For more information on this image see the commentary with the 1589 Dao Yi, which currently uses the same one.
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6. Dao Yi Qu: A song in one section (compare Dao Yi)
The former were also used for Sections 11 and 12 of the latter; I have not been able to find their source.
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7. Errors in the 1539 Daoyi Qu?
Nothing in the original tablature is unplayable. However, several places are worthy of particular comment. In particular:

• The tablature paired with 東 dong, in the second half of the third couplet, calls for the fourth string, the same as for the following note; based on parallel with final couplet of the melody, in particular the tablature with 尤 you, I have changed this to the fifth string.
• The tablature paired with the first half of the fourth couplet (妾身不是蕩子婦) sounds clumsy and in particular the cluster paired with the 子 of 蕩子 is awkward to play and its use of 跪 gui (left ring finger doubled over) seems illogical; however, the phrase does concern a sort of ruffian or "vagrant" (蕩子 dangzi), so perhaps this is intentional.
• In the next phrase two characters (為誰) are paired with a single slide (or single note), contrary to the standard pairing method.
• The second last cluster, paired with 君, has 十 the tenth position; this is possible, though 七 the seventh position would be more idiomatic.

With this tablature only in one handbook it is difficult to verify or correct my understanding of these passages.
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8. Wang Di transcription of Dao Yi Qu
See 1982, p.13; 2007, p.21. The former interprets the tuning as 5 6 1 2 3 5 6; the latter as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 ; otherwise they seem identical until the final note, which 1982 changes from 1 to 2. In addition, in the 2007 version (which includes the qin tablature) Wang Di omits all the vibratos indicated in the original. Her solution to the second problem mentioned in the footnote above is to change the single slide into a three note slide, giving a note sequence 2-1-7-6 (or 5-4-3-2) and with one character paired to each note. This sort of pairing is not common in the early qin song repertoire, but making it idiomatic requires adding a right hand stroke. My own inclination is either to pair one character on the slide then either add one plucked note (open second string) for the extra character (誰), or simply add it to the end note of the slide.
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9. Pounding Cloth (搗衣 Dao Yi) (QQJC VII/129)
For this version beginning 1589 see further details, including the chart
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10. Qiuye Wen Zhen 秋夜聞砧 On an Autumn Evening Hearing Pounding (on Stone)
This melody (25505.134xxx; 29749.xxx), the title of which may refer to cloth being pounded, 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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11. Pairing lyrics and music: how did they influence each other?
See further under 1589 Dao Yi.
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12. Preface
Perhaps one might here substitute the 1589 preface.
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13. Original lyrics of Dao Yi Qu
The original lyrics, which are not attributed, are as follows (translation above; these lyrics are also used with Sections 11 and 12 of the 1589 Dao Yi, with Section 11 also adding the two lines in the indented part):

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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Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.