Gongche Notation
Traditional Chinese pitch notation written with characters
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Gongche notation is one of China's traditional notation systems: characters such as he, si, yi, shang, chi, gong, fan, liu, wu, yi mark pitches, usually with ban-yan marks for rhythm. It records relative pitch: start the same score on another note and the whole piece moves to another key.
It was widely used in opera, instrumental music, narrative song and ritual, and each genre had its own reading and ornamentation. Gongche is not "an ancestor of the staff" but a complete oral-aided system: the score gives the skeleton, while ornament, breath and flavour pass from teacher to student.
Read deeper → Gongche Notation
Sources
- 工尺谱的谱字、相对音高与使用场合，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "China" 与《中国音乐词典》相关条目；本文为原创表述
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