Jianzipu (Qin Tablature)
Qin tablature that fuses abbreviated characters into one sign for string, position and finger
Related
Jianzipu is the tablature made for the qin, traditionally credited to Cao Rou of the Tang: from the older prose tablature it took the string number, the hui position and the left- and right-hand fingerings, compressed each to a stroke or radical, and packed them into one square sign. One character is one action.
It records how to play, not rhythm or note length, so a jianzipu must be realized through dapu before it becomes a piece. It is not a variant of gongche notation: gongche fixes relative pitch, jianzipu fixes hand positions; one gives the melodic skeleton, the other the route over the strings.
Read deeper → Dapu (Realizing Qin Tablature)
Sources
- 减字谱的构成、曹柔旧说与记指法不记节奏的特点，参《中国音乐词典》与 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "China" 相关条目；本文为原创表述
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