As I am not an expert on Chinese modal theory, my comments here are based almost solely on direct observation of music I have reconstructed from early qin tablature³ and transcribed into staff notation.⁴ Most important is the music from the earliest major handbook, Shen Qi Mi Pu (see my transcriptions). These observations do not necessarily correspond to Chinese traditional modal theories.⁵ What they do suggest is that early qin modes can be defined largely in terms of their relative tuning and tonal centers, though some modes may also have non-musical associations.⁶ The following chart summarizes some of the most important such musical characteristics of the modes.

Chart of the modes in Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425; 中文) ⁷

mode name	tuning	main note	Secondary note(s)	Main string	Tuning method
gong	5612356	1 (gong)	5 (zhi)	3rd (jiao)	standard
shang	1245612	1 (gong)	2, 5 (shang, zhi)	1st (gong)	standard
jiao	5612356	1 (gong)	3, 6 (jiao, yu)	3rd (jiao)	standard
zhi	1245612	5 (zhi)	2 (shang)	4th (zhi)	standard
yu	5612356	6 (yu)	3 (jiao)	2nd (shang)	standard
shangjiao	1245612	1 (gong)	3, 6 (jiao, yu)	1st (gong)	standard
					Non-standard :
manshang	1145612	1 (gong)	5 (zhi)	1 (gong)	slacken 2nd
manjiao	1235612	1 (gong)	5 (zhi) [3 (jiao)]	1st (gong)	slacken 3rd
ruibin	2356123	6 (yu)	1, 3 (gong, jiao)	4th (zhi)	tighten 5th
qiliang	2456123	2 (shang)	6 (yu)	1st (gong)	tighten 2nd/5th
guxian	6123561'	1 (gong)	3 (jiao)	2nd (shang)	tighten 2nd/5th/7th
mangong	3561235	6 (yu); 1 (gong)	3 (jiao)	3rd (jiao)	slacken 1st/3rd/6th
huangzhong	1356123	6, 3 (yu, jiao)	1, 5 (gong, zhi)	4th, 2nd (zhi, shang)	slacken 1, tighten 5

Regarding this chart, for all modes the basic collection of notes are those of the (relative pitch) pentatonic scale 1 2 3 5 6 (traditionally called gong, shang, jiao, zhi, yu), corresponding to the Western do, re, mi, so, la.⁸ Since at least the Tang dynasty qin melodies have been organized into qin modes such as those named in column 1.⁹ These modes can be characterized by:

1. Tuning method (last column). This determines the relative relation between the notes played on the seven open strings. These are of two types:

   Standard: notes of the pentatonic scale arranged as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 , though this could also be considered as 5 6 1 2 3 5 6
   Non-standard: variations on the above, usually described in front of the relevant melody, as here in the last column

2. Qin tuning (relative; column 2): This is defined in terms of which string is used as 1 (do). Early Chinese texts do not seem to discuss this, and often it is not clear whether "diao" is referring to a relative tuning or to its modal characteristics.
3. Main note (or notes; column 3). This is determined by overall frequency, frequency at the end of phrases and frequency at section endings; it is also usually the last note of a piece.¹⁰
4. Secondary note (or notes; column 4). Determined by overall frequency and frequency at the end of phrases.

Further on column 6, "tuning method", it has been mentioned above that this refers to determining to what relative pitches the strings are tuned in relation to each other. In fact, "tuning method" could also mean the physical method of turning the tuning pegs. In this vein it might be said that the actual pitch is generally determined by how much one can tighten the strings without causing them regularly to break.¹¹

As for column 5, determining the relative tuning and main note determines the main string. The string names are gong, shang, jiao, zhi, yu, wen and wu. The first five correspond to note names and mode names. However, the main open string does not necessarily play the main note.¹²

The transcriptions of my Shen Qi Mi Pu reconstructions use staff notation as though C is 1 (gong, do) rather than a fixed pitch. Perhaps I first did this because of hearing that the first string should be considered as "C", even though it seemed that in fact with standard tuning the bottom string could be tuned anywhere from about C two octaves below middle C down to as low as A one and a half steps lower. Later I used relative pitch as a method of avoiding having to write accidentals. Eventually, though, I discovered the best reason: it provided a standard basis for comparing the modes.¹³

Using this transcription method, when standard tuning is considered 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 (gong, jiao and yu mode transcriptions), then the lowest note is written in staff notation as G one octave plus a fourth below middle C. When standard tuning is considered 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 (shang, zhi and shangjiao modes), then the lowest note is written in staff notation as C two octaves below middle C. With this as a basis, it is quite straightforward to figure out from the chart above the lowest notes in transcriptions for non-standard tunings.¹⁴

 
Analysis

Further regarding the first column, it has been mentioned that in the qin context the Chinese word diao¹⁵ can mean both mode and relative tuning. The first column lists the 13 different modes in Shen Qi Mi Pu, but these represent only eight different qin tunings: the first six modes listed on the chart all use standard tuning, while the next seven each uses a different non-standard tuning. For non-standard tunings the tuning name and mode name are the same, but for standard tuning there are six different mode names.

• Standard tuning: although it can be considered either 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 or 1 2 4 5 6 1 2, these relative tunings indicate relative pitch: changing the relative tunings does not necessarily mean changing the absolute pitch. Changing the relative pitch name without changing the relative pitch is a kind of transposition.¹⁶
• Non-standard tunings: the name of the tuning and the name of the mode are the same. The last column of the chart describes the tuning methods. The following shows how each action changes the tuning from standard tuning, then shows what transposition is necessary in order to avoid the maximum number of non-pentatonic notes.¹⁷ ruibin: raising the fifth string from 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 gives 1 2 4 5 7^b 1 2, transposed to 2 3 5 6 1 2 3
  qiliang: raising the second and fifth from 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 gives 1 3^b 4 5 7^b 1 2, transposed to 2 4 5 6 1 2 3
  guxian: raising the second, fifth and seventh from 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 gives 1 3^b 4 5 7 1 3^b, transposed to 6 1 2 3 5 6 1'
  mangong: lowering the first, third and sixth from 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 gives 7 2 3 5 6 7 2', transposed to 3 5 6 1 2 3 5
  huangzhong: lowering the first (whole tone) and raising the fifth from 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 gives 7^b 2 4 5 7^b 1' 2', transposed to 1 3 5 6 1 2 3

As for the second column, the notes of the Chinese pentatonic scale can be named according to their Western equivalents do re mi so la. In Chinese writings these notes were traditionally called gong shang jiao zhi yu. As was seen in column one, these are also the names of modes; and as can be seen in column five these are also the names of qin strings. In old notation the notes were sometimes written in a system called gongchepu; this then evolved into the modern Chinese number notation system, which uses Arabic numerals. In this modern system the same pentatonic scale is written 1 2 3 5 6. In my transcriptions into staff notation I have always made do or 1 = C. However, it must be emphasized that even though the music is written using staff notation, these are not absolute pitches but relative pitches (see comment).

Columns three and four provide more specific structural details of the early qin modes. The following characteristics are related to these structures.

• The primary tonal centers are usually either do or la, with the secondary note usually one fifth up from the main note. Modes with these characteristics can be called "do so modes" and "la mi modes"; clearly they can be seen as modal equivalents of the Western major and minor keys. And yet this modal emphasis within early guqin music seems to be both earlier than and completely independent of the equivalent Western emphasis on major and minor keys.
• When the tonal center in early guqin music changes it most commonly goes up a fifth from the main tonal center, just as modulation in Western music is usually from tonic up a fifth to the dominant.¹⁸
• The second most common change of tonal center in early guqin music is from la to do (6 to 1) or vice versa. This corresponds closely to the common modulation in Western music from a minor key to its relative major, or vice versa.¹⁹
• Although all of these old qin modes are indeed largely pentatonic, there are also many non-pentatonic notes. However, in all modes the most common non-pentatonic notes are notes from the diatonic system: fa and ti (4 and 7). This characteristic may or may not be unique to qin music of the Ming dynasty and earlier.²⁰
• A second category of non-pentatonic notes is more unique. It results from the tendency for the third above the main tonal center often to include a flatted third as well as the "whole-tones third".²¹ Related to this is a tendency for the seventh and flatted seventh to appear in the same melody. Significantly, when this happens the tonal center often seems to be on 5: flatted 7 and 7 are a flatted third and whole-tones third above 5.

The characteristic of certain melodies to include both flatted thirds and whole-tones thirds is connected to the above chart only in that it usually takes place above tonal centers. However, it merits more detailed analysis, since it seems to be unique to surviving early qin tablature and is thus very intriguing. This characteristic can be found in any mode, but it is particularly common in the shang mode. In Shen Qi Mi Pu shang mode has the largest number of melodies : 11 of the 22 melodies using standard tuning.²² Nevertheless, only three of these shang mode melodies, Yin De, Bai Xue and Yi Lan, are to be found in qin handbooks after 1600. The other eight are in this way similar to most of the Folio I pieces (the "most ancient spiritual pieces"). Before 1600 these usually were simply copied out as they occured in Shen Qi Mi Pu; after 1600 they are rarely found.²³

Is there a connection between the disappearance of most shang mode melodies and the unusual use of thirds? What can we learn from analyzing this characteristic in the three shang mode melodies that did survive? In fact, Yi Lan is one of the few shang mode pieces which does not have any flatted thirds.²⁴ Yin De survived in a different version, named Qiujiang Yebo,²⁵ which had no flatted thirds. And later versions of Bai Xue seem to be descended from the somewhat different Bai Xue in Fengxuan Xuanpin (1539), which also had no flatted thirds.²⁶

All this suggests that a shifting third was a characteristic of many ancient qin melodies, and is thus evidence that melodies found in Shen Qi Mi Pu are indeed relics of earlier times. A number of melodies in Xilutang Qintong (1549) also share this characteristic; so this, in turn, may suggest a similar antiquity for some of its melodies.²⁷ The compiler, Wang Zhi, did write (as had Zhu Quan) of collecting old tablature and then reprinting it.

Another characteristic of some melodies, already mentioned above, is the inclusion of both flatted 7s and 7s. The earliest version of Dongting Qiu Si (Autumn Thoughts at Dongting), in Xilutang Qintong, has this characteristic.²⁸ Dongting Qiusi is in the zhi mode (see chart above), which has zhi (5) as the main note.²⁹ A third above 5 is 7, and here 7 is often flatted. This is thus comparable to the flatted thirds and whole-tones thirds of shang mode; and likewise, later versions of this melody soon changed the flatted sevens to non-flatted sevens.

Huangzhong mode (again see chart) offers different but still related examples. Here the main note is usually yu (la, 6). The third above 6 is 1; this interval being a minor third, sometimes 1 is sharpened to 1#, making a whole-tone third.³⁰ Likewise in yu mode, where the main note is again 6, 1 is sometimes changed to 1#.³¹ In addition, the tonal center in both modes often shifts up a fifth from 6 to 3 (mi). When 3 becomes the tonal center, 4 is often played as 4#.

Within Shen Qi Mi Pu, the huangzhong tuning may in fact be sub-divided into two or three different modes. And if the examination is extended beyond Shen Qi Mi Pu the situation becomes still more complex.³²

 
Modal preludes (調意 diaoyi) ³³

Ming dynasty qin handbooks usually group melodies according to diao, which as mentioned above can refer either to the relative tuning of the seven strings (tuning). At the beginning of each such group there is often a short modal prelude; as suggested by its name (diaoyi: mode-significance) it was supposed to convey something of the essence of the mode. Clearly the modes were important, but there is little writing that clearly explains their meaning or function.³⁴

R. H. Van Gulik³⁵ considered the diaoyi very important. His comments are interesting, but some of what he wrote is rather questionable. For example, he said that they "contain all the main grips necessary for executing tunes set to this mode," and that "although the tunes themselves as given in the early Ming handbooks differ greatly, the diaoyi are practically uniform." Neither of these comments accords with my own observations.

Tang and Song dynasty lists of musical pieces often grouped them according to diao.³⁶ In addition, there are two surviving sets of five standard tuning diaoyi from Song dynasty sources: Shilin Guangji and Taiyin Daquanji.

Shilin Guangji: the diaoyi have characteristics that correspond with what is shown in the above table for the gong, shang, zhi and yu modes. However, while the jiao modal prelude seems to have the same modality as zhi mode above (the main notes are 5 and 2), and it uses the third string as 1.
Taiyin Daquanji: the diaoyi are shorter than above; gong, shang and yu have the same characteristics, while zhi may as well but there are too many copying errors to be sure; jiao again is different, with 6 as the main note, like yu mode, but the secondary note(s) unclear. It might be added that the jiao mode (q.v. in Folio II) was rather uncommon.

Shen Qi Mi Pu has three folios: the first folio has the oldest melodies, the second and third seem to be later ones.³⁷

In Folios II and III each mode begins with a modal prelude (diaoyi) called a Celestial Air (Shenpin). Earlier kaizhi (opening fingerings) are said to have filled the same function, but the two kaizhi in Folio One are each specifically connected to one piece. Also, the one surviving earlier kaizhi, Kaizhi Huangying Yin, found in the Song dynasty Shilin Guangji, also seems to have been connected to a specific piece, Huangying Yin, now lost.

It is not certain whether any of the Shen Qi Mi Pu diaoyi were ever so connected, though many pieces end with the instructions "play again the harmonic ending of the diaoyi."³⁸

After the Ming dynasty, although pieces are rarely grouped by mode, an attempt is still made to identify the mode. It seems that often the attempt was to be more precise than during the Ming, for example, by giving separate indications for tuning and modal characteristics. There seem to be no detailed studies of the results (at least in English), but the analysis would probably have to be much more complex than what is shown here.

In my experience the diaoyi do convey some of the mood of the mode. I find them quite lovely and enjoy them as a form of psychological preparation for a tune in that mode. I also tend to associate them with the specific piece which follows, but this may very well be because I usually play these two together. The piece following the diaoyi in Shen Qi Mi Pu is often short, the longer pieces being put at the end of the section devoted to that mode. Four modes in Folio 3 of Shen Qi Mi Pu have only the modal prelude, a short melody then a longer melody; perhaps these are integrated sets of three (see #51 - 53, #54, 56 - 57, #58 - 60, #62 - 64). Such sets of three also appear in some later handbooks. See, for example, #113 - 115, #153 - 155 and others in Xilutang Qintong (1549).

 
Conclusions

In general, Chinese sources are indeed very much conflicting in their descriptions of modes. Shen Qi Mi Pu describes tuning, but does not discuss modes and so the initial impression is that mode may be determined by theme. There may be some truth in this.³⁹ However, analysis of the notes shows that the modes can perhaps better be defined in terms of the relations between the actual notes played, in particular, which ones are emphasized. Certain modes also have more of a tendency to use non-pentatonic pitches.

It also seems likely that the performance characteristics within modes are in fact determined to a certain extent by which string has the important notes. Thus if the main string is the open first or open second, playing octaves between the first and sixth and/or second and seventh strings might be common, whereas if the main note is on the open third string, such octaves become less common. The diaoyi may indeed prepare one for this, and more specific research might eventually show systematic differences in finger technniques between the modes. However, so far I do not have much of a sense of how this might happen.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. This analysis of mode is an expansion on Modality, a section of the paper Some Issues in Historically Informed Qin Performance. I originally presented that paper at the ACMR meeting in Detroit, October 2001.

Although the analysis here is based on observations of mode as found in qin zither tablature published during the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), much of it, particularly the music published in Shen Qi Mi Pu, is thought actually to pre-date the Ming dynasty.
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2. Compiled by Ming prince Zhu Quan in a conscious effort to reconstruct early music.
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3. Qin tablature
Qin tablature does not directly name the notes (though since the latter 19th century some attempt has been made to add this information); instead it tells the relative tuning, finger positions and stroke techniques; it does not directly indicate note values, as the actual melody was generally learned from a teacher, not directly from the tablature. It should also be remembered that tablature was not written as a composition, but as a description of how a certain player was playing that melody. Music was not written in qin tablature as a composition but as a description of how a certain player was playing that melody. This is why the tablature does not directly indicate note values: the actual melody was generally learned from a teacher, not directly from the tablature. As with tablature in general, qin tablature does not directly name the notes (though since the latter 19th century some attempt has been made to add this information); instead it tells the relative tuning, finger positions and stroke techniques. And because qins are tuned to relative pitch the tablature also indicates relative pitch.
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4. Staff notation: using it to indicate relative pitch (also see Connecting Chinese modal theory to actual qin practice).
Chinese traditional notation systems generally expressed relative pitch. Thus the notes of the Chinese pentatonic scale gong shang jiao zhi yu, today generally expressed as 1 2 3 5 6 , can be seen as equivalent to the Western do re mi so la. Qin tablature does not directly express either note value or pitch, whether relative or absolute: it only tells finger positions, stroke techniques and ornamentation. Transcribing qin music into staff notation thus requires assigning pitch as well as note values.

Staff notation expresses music through notes on music staves. This is often thought to represent absolute pitch: the note a' should be 440Hz (vibrations per second). However, historical research indicates that pitch has been rising over the centuries. Thus, during the Baroque period the actual pitch of a' varied regionally or from ensemble to ensemble. In fact, a study of the pitch of surviving Baroque organs shows that in the 18th century the pitch A could be less than 400 vibrations per second (approximately B flat).

For my analysis, relative pitch is much more important than absolute pitch, and so in writing out transcriptions for at least 200 melodies from the Ming dynasty I have used Western staff notation as though it was equivalent to the Chinese number notation system. Had I been familiar with the number notation I might have used it; its relative note values would be quite appropriate. However, by using Western staff notation I found that its visual aspect helped me perceive contours in the music.

What, then, should I do about the fact that using staff notation required at least tentatively assigning fixed pitches? In general, while writing out the notation I have always determined the actual notes by selecting the ones that to the greatest extent avoid accidentals (sharps and flats). In number notation terms this would mean trying to assign notes the relative pitches of the diatonic scale 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. The result of using this method has been that the actual notes have fallen overwhelmingly into the Chinese pentatonic scale 1 2 3 5 6. The most common non-pentatonic notes are 4 and 7; the most common non-diatonic notes are 3^b and 7^b. The implications of this are a major focus of the analysis on the present page.

To test this note assignments I have played the melodies for people who can name the relative notes while singing them (think of "Twinkle twinkle little star..." sung as "do do so so la la so...."). Here I have discovered that the names they almost always assign to the notes of these melodies are the relative notes I had selected. In other words, they naturally sing do for my C, re for my D, etc.

It might be added here that, from earliest times one can find Chinese efforts to determine the "best" pitch for music (i.e., the best pitch for huangzhong, the yellow bell). Perhaps because of this some people have tried to assign a "best" pitch to qin strings; clearly, though, in actual music practice the pitch was relative. And although using staff notation to express relative note values may be confusing for someone familiar only with staff notation, it is this custom which has allowed me to make the discoveries described here about modality in early qin music. To my knowledge no one else uses this system, and perhaps this is the reason more has not been discovered about the principles of early qin modes.
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5. Connecting Chinese modal theory to actual qin practice
I have not studied traditional Chinese music theory in detail. One reason for this is that it doesn't seem to have any connection to the reality of what I have found in surviving qin tablature that I have studied, mostly from the early Ming dynasty.

As of early 2006 I have transcribed about 200 qin melodies into staff notation. Since the original tablature does not indicate note values, determining these is at the core of this work, which in Chinese is called dapu (for more on this see Dapu: Bringing old music to life ).

The original tablature also does not indicate absolute pitch, and when looking at my transcriptions it is important realize that I treat Western staff notation as though it is Chinese number notation. This number notation in the past used various Chinese terms but today usually uses Arabic numerals. Thus the notes of the Chinese pentatonic scale (traditionally called "gong shang jiao zhi yu") are written 1 2 3 5 6. This may sometimes mean the (relatively) absolute pitches C D E G A, but traditionally these numbers refer to the relative pitches that Western systems call do re mi so la. ("Relatively absolute" refers to the fact that although today the pitch "A" may be 440 vibrations per second, in the past it was much lower: 400 v/s or perhaps even lower.)

Thus, in my staff notation what is written as the note "C" actually means "do" or, as in the number Chinese system, "1" (traditionally: "gong"). When doing my transcriptions, I determine which note is to be called "1" (and thus notated as "C") by first trying to arrange the notation so that the only notes are notes that fit the Chinese pentatonic scale 1 2 3 5 6. Once I have done this I have almost invariably found that most of the other notes in that piece are 4 and 7, and there are no sharps or flats unless it is a characteristic of the mode (e.g., a characteristic of the shang made in early Ming tablature is that it includes a flatted 3 as well as the whole-tones 3.)

The best test of this system is to play the melody for someone who can sing naming the notes (usually they sing solfeggio: "do re mi"). The result is that they almost always sing "do" for what I have written as "C". The exceptions usually occur if they start in the middle of a piece, at a section where the tonal center has changed.

Having done this, several major problems arise in connecting qin practice to traditional Chinese modal theory.

The first major problem is the fact that in qin music there is no absolute pitch. The actual pitch depends at a minimum on the size of the instrument, and you can see that instruments vary a lot in size. Other factors include the quality of the instrument, the quality of the strings, the temperature and other factors, including presumably the taste of the player.

The second major problem is that, for some reason I don't understand, the standard tuning of the seven qin strings is not 1 2 3 5 6 1 2, but 1 2 4 5 6 1 2; the third string is thus the non-pentatonic note fa (some people have written that gong should be fa not do, but there the same problem remains, just the names are different). Tuning the qin this way means that to make the open strings fit the traditional Chinese pentatonic system you have to make the third string play the note "gong". The tuning then becomes 5 6 1 2 3 5 6. Since from ancient times the 7 strings have been called gong shang jiao zhi yu Wen Wu, it seems that there will always be confusion. In other words, whether the tuning is seen as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 or 5 6 1 2 3 5 6, the names of the notes do not correspond to the names of the strings. (N.B.: According to tradition the qin originally had five strings, the sixth and seventh being added by Wen Wang and Wu Wang; in most tunings the 1st and 6th string form octaves, as do the 2nd and 7th.)

Because of this, it would seem that the most logical standard tuning should be 1 2 3 5 6 1 2. In fact this is quite an uncommon tuning, its lack of importance emphasized by the fact that it is sometimes called "lowered third string" tuning. (For more on this tuning see Shenpin Biyu Yi.) If this were standard tuning it would probably be much easier to apply the traditional Chinese theory to qin music. In this regard, I can only suggest that the reason this tuning is not so common is not a theoretical reason, but because of the third main problem, to be discussed next.

The third main problem in aligning actual qin practice to traditional theory is the fact that the qin can use many different tunings, and these developed naturally, not according to any theory. These tunings can be divided into two types (here "diao" means "tuning").

As mentioned above, to fit the theory most easily standard tuning should be 1 2 3 5 6 1 2. Perhaps originally it was, and perhaps it became in fact a rather uncommon tuning because, through acual qin play, it turned out that it was easier to play with the third string used for the note gong (do, 1), and this was true even if the first string was actually played as the note gong, meaning the tuning had to be considered 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 (treating the tuning this way often means trying to avoid playing the open third string). Whatever the reason, the standard qin tuning has made it very difficult to fit traditional Chinese music theory into qin practice.

A fourth problem in aligning actual qin practice to traditional theory is the fact that qin music does not include the variety of modes that some interpretations of the theory seem to require. Thus it has been written that gong (1), shang (2), jiao (3), zhi (5), and yu (6) modes should (as with the old Western church modes) have as their main notes (in order) 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 within the scale 1 2 3 5 6. However, no matter what the name of the mode, surviving early qin music (and this includes You Lan, which dates from the 7th century or earlier) almost always has as the main notes 1 or 6 (with the secondary notes almost always a fifth above this). Sometimes (see zhi mode in the chart above) the main note can be 5 (again the secondary note is a fifth above) but, if the scale is to remain 1 2 3 5 6, the main note is never 2 or 3. So does this mean there is no shang or jiao mode in qin music?

The actual situation with qin modes (again see the chart above) looks quite complex, but everything seems to revolve around the main note (tonic or fundamental) being either 1 (with 5 as the secondary note) or 6 (with 3 as the secondary note), corresponding interestingly with the Western major and minor modes. Still, there is quite a bit of variety and fairly clear distinctions within the modes. Again, the characteristics outlined in the chart are based on examining only the 64 melodies in one handbook (1425). A study of later handbooks suggests that the system holds up for a while, but then there are changes. For an example of one such change, see the discussion of the modal differences between Qiu Jiang Ye Bo (1614) and Yin De (1425).
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6. Non-musical associations with mode
Perhaps the most obvious example of this is that melodies about birds are often in the yu (literally, "feather") mode. Other associations seem to be less obvious. Thus many melodies in huangzhong mode are connected to Central Asian/nomad themes. Melodies associated with the old region of Chu often use one of the raised fifth tunings.

There seems to be no connection between such associations and the non-musical associations with strings and notes such as can be found in Taiyin Daquanji, Folio 1, Discussion of Strings (QQJC I/38).
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7. Chart of Shen Qi Mi Pu modes
More detailed analysis of tunings and modes can be found in Modality in early Ming Qin tablature. According to my observations from reconstructing melodies in Shen Qi Mi Pu, modes seem to a large extent to be determined by musical relationships such as the relative tuning and the tonal centers. Further comments on each mode can be found with the modal preludes linked from the chart above. These include mention of some of the non-musical associations connected to some of the modes (e.g., bird themes with yu [feather] mode).
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8. Chinese note names
Gong shang jiao zhi yu are 宮商角徵羽. See further above.
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9. Chinese mode names
Gong shang jiao zhi yu are also mode names: 宮調、商調、角調、徵調、羽調。
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10. Sometimes the last note (or two) of a melody seem to be in a mode completely different from the rest of the piece. See for example Huaxu Yin.
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11. One reason for the popularity of metal (nylon-metal) strings is apparently that if the first string is tuned up to C a metal string is less likely to break than a silk one. This, of course, is a very Western bias. On the other hand tuning to C can be a great convenience when playing with instruments that use Western pitch standard.
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12. String names and mode names
The seven open qin string names (gong, shang, jiao, zhi, yu, wen and wu) can be confusing, because the first five of these are also mode names, and yet only in the manjiao tuning (also called Biyu Diao) do the names of the notes correspond closely with the names of the strings.

There is at least one instance in which it seems to be the main string that determines the mode rather than the main note and secondary note. Thus, the jiao mode and shangjiao mode both have 1 as the main note, with the secondary notes 3 and 6. However, whereas jiao uses the third string as 1, shangjiao uses the first string as 1. Thus perhaps "shangjiao" is considered as a cross between jiao and shang mode, which also uses the first string as 1.
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13. See further comments on this above.
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14. This may be important when trying to find a way to play with instruments tuned to A=440. If the first string cannot be tuned to C, for fear of breakage, one can instead tune it down to A. This is particularly useful with guxian tuning, which already lowers the first string. In guxian with A as the lowest string the relative tuning becomes A' C D E G A c , an easy tuning to use with fixed pitch instruments tuned to A=440.
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15. Meanings of 調: diao or tiao
Besides "mode" and "qin tuning", the Chinese word "調 diao" has many other meanings including "melody" and (pronounced "tiao") "play" or "tune" (i.e., the physical act of tuning the instrument). See also Qin Tunings, Some Theoretical Concepts
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16. Transposition (see glossary)
Transposition is generally defined as writing or performing a melody in key other than the stated one. Stated another way, it usually means either modifying pitch by moving it up or down, or to moving written notes up or down so that they indicate higher or lower pitch. Thus a singer might transpose a melody upwards to fit her vocal range; she may or may not transpose the written notes upwards so that they reflect the change in pitch.

These two examples assume the notation reflects absolute pitch. If the song instead had been written in relative pitch notation, then when transposing the melody it would be incorrect to tranpose the written notes. It might, however, be said that the notation itself has been transposed. Likewise, some qin melodies with 1 as the main tonal center play this note on the open first string. Other melodies with 1 as the main tonal center play this note on the open third string. If these are to be written in relative pitch notation then what must be tranposed is not the pitches or the written notes but the notation itself.

Such transpositions are reflected in column two (tuning) in the chart above. The above explanation covers the tranpositions for standard tunings, considered as the relative pitches 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 and 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 but having the same absolute pitches. It is a little more complicated for some of the non-standard tunings. Thus the ruibin tuning method requires tightening the fifth string. This means that the relative tuning 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 becomes 1 2 4 5 7 1 2. However, in ruibin the main note is 6, played on the open 4th string. Thus the notation itself must be transposed one (relative) note upwards from 1 2 4 5 7 1 2 to 2 3 5 6 1 2 3.
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17. See also Tuning a Qin.
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18. Modulation vs. tone center change: 1 - 5
The change of tonal centers in early qin music are not the same as modulation, though they may share some characteristics. Thus the most common modulation is up or down a fifth; this is also the most common tone center change. For true modulation from C to G the note F becomes F#. A comparable change in pentatonic music would have the scale 1 2 3 5 6 change to 5 6 7 1 2. In other words 3 is replaced by 7. This may explain some of the occurrences of 7s in qin music, but to my knowledge no one has done research into this aspect. (See also next.)
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19. Modulation vs. tone center change: 1 - 6
Huangzhong mode is the one that most commonly has this change: at least two of Shen Qi Mi Pu melodies, Shanzhong Si Youren and Xiao Hujia, have tonal centers on 1 and 5, secondarily on 6 and 3.

This might be compared to the second most common modulation (after the 1 - 5 modulaton mentioned in the previous footnote): relative major and minor. In a diatonic system the set of notes is the same for both keys. Generally with qin music the notes do not change: 1 2 3 5 6 becomes 6 1 2 3 5 rather than 6 7 1 2 4. However, melodies using 6 as their tonal center do seem to have 7s more often than melodies with 1 as their tonal center. Again, to my knowledge no one has done research into this aspect.
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20. Occurrences of 4 and 7
Occurrences of 7 are discussed in the previous two footnotes. In some cases 4 seems to occur when the tonal center has changed to 3. Once again, to my knowledge no one has done research into this aspect.
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21. Flatted third and whole-tones third (see glossary)
Although there is some discussion of flatted thirds and whole-tones thirds as a characteristic of qin melodies published in the Ming dynasty, the antiquity of this characteristic is problematic. It is found in the Shang Diao and Shang Yi apparently published in the Song dynasty, but it is not found very often in Shen Qi Mi Pu Folio I, which presumably has the oldest melodies. In fact, Folio I does not include any pieces in the shang mode, and so its best examples of this characteristic are perhaps those in the first two melodies, Dunshi Cao (see mm.77, 183 and 188 in my SQMP transcriptions and Guangling San (numerous places, but mostly in the opening sections, thought by some to have been Tang dynasty additions to an earlier piece). Many people are not aware of this because in his Dunshi Cao reconstruction Cheng Gongliang changed all the flatted thirds to whole-tones thirds, and in his Guangling San reconstruction Guan Pinghu also changed all the flatted thirds to whole-tones thirds.
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22. Two of the eight modal preludes are also in shang mode. Qinshi Chubian, page 89, says Yang Zan (see Yang Zuan above) was particularly fond of pieces in the shang mode, as played by Liu Zhifang. Perhaps this helps to reinforce claims for connections between Shen Qi Mi Pu and Yang Zuan's Zixiadong Pu.
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23. Although many of them do appear in 琴苑新傳全編 Qinyuan Xinchuan Quanbian, dated 1670, that handbook mainly copied out earlier pieces without change.
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24. See the chart tracing Yi Lan.
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25. After 1585 Yin De, appears only once, in 1670. However, in 1614 Songxianguan Qinpu published Qiujiang Yebo as though it was a new melody, but which was actually a revised version of Yin De. Also called Qiujiang Wan Diao 秋江晚釣 and Qiujiang Wan Bo 秋江晚波, it subsequently was quite popular. There are several modern recordings of Qiujiang Yebo. (Note that my own recordings of both Yin De and Qiujiang Yebo are now online here.)
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26. 風宣玄品 Fengxuan Xuanpin was compiled by another Ming prince, 朱厚爝 Zhu Houjiao.
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27. 西麓堂琴統 Xilutang Qintong was compiled by Wang Zhi 汪芝 .
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28. 洞庭秋思 Dongting Qiusi was reconstructed in the 1950s by 查阜西 Zha Fuxi, who changed all the flatted thirds.
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29. Zhi mode (see chart and Shenpin Zhi Yi)
This mode seems to have the most exceptions to the modal characteristics I have been finding in early Ming qin tablature. The main note in zhi mode is always played on the open fourth string, called zhi, but the relative pitch names assigned to this string is open to debate. My selection of 5 as the relative pitch name of the open fourth string is based on my research into modes in Shen Qi Mi Pu; this makes the relative tuning 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 . However, in some cases it seems better to select 6 as the relative pitch name for the zhi string, making the relative tuning 2 3 5 6 7 2 3 (in these cases the mode seems to function rather like yu mode, see below). 丁承運 Ding Chengyun thinks 1 should be the relative pitch name for the zhi string, making the relative tuning 4 5 7 1 2 4 5 (this emphasizes its similarity to shang mode). All these understandings are possible; but although such different interpretation suggest different understandings of zhi mode, they do not change the general conclusions made here about mode.
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30. Huangzhong mode (see chart)
In this mode when the relative scale is 6 1 2 3 5, with 6 as the main note, 1 is sometimes changed to 1# (a whole-tones third). This is not very common in Shen Qi Mi Pu, the best example being 大雅 Da Ya from Folio III.
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31. Yu mode (see chart)
In this mode the relative scale is 6 1 2 3 5, with 6 as the main note. In Shen Qi Mi Pu it is very rare for yu mode pieces to include 1# (a whole-tones third); for a good example of where it does occur see 佩蘭 Pei Lan in Fengxuan Xuanpin; later versions drop the 1#.
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32. Although in Shen Qi Mi Pu it is rare to find non-standard tunings that can be subdivided into different modes, several of the non-standard tunings in Xilutang Qintong (1549) can be so subdivided (see its tuning chart).
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33. Modal preludes (調意 diaoyi
Diaoyi (mode-significance) were supposed to convey something of the essence of the mode. They are sometimes compared to "opening fingerings" (開指 kaizhi). It is possible that at one time kaizhi were modal preludes to individual melodies while diaoyi were modal preludes for any piece in its mode, but the evidence for this distinction is rather sketchy.
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34. See Pian, Rulan Chao, Sonq Dynasty Musical Sources, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1967, p.56; she gives no examples.
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35. R. H. Van Gulik, Lore of the Chinese Lute, pp.86-7.
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36. See for example the list of melodies at the back of the long-hand tablature for You Lan.
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37. The 64 Shen Qi Mi Pu (SQMP) melodies are organized as follows:

Gufeng Cao is the first melody listed under gong mode in the Shen Qi Mi Pu Table of Contents. "Gong mode" is also written under its title next to the tablature itself. However, since Zhu Quan could find no players for these melodies, it is not clear how he assigned the mode names.
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38. For example, 入商泛曲終 means "Play the harmonic (ending) of the shang mode, then the melody ends". The following melodies have such instructions at the end. Only the initials of the Chinese title and its number within Shen Qi Mi Pu are given here:

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