Pianyin (Altered Notes)
The four notes outside the Chinese pentatonic core: biangong, bianzhi, qingjiao and run
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Pianyin are the four notes commonly used outside the five-note core: biangong, a semitone below gong; bianzhi, a semitone below zhi; qingjiao, a semitone above jue; and run, a whole tone below gong. They leave the pentatonic frame intact and add colour and tendency to the melody.
Which of them are used determines the name of the three heptatonic scales: bianzhi and biangong give the yayue scale, qingjiao and biangong the qingyue scale, qingjiao and run the yanyue scale. Pianyin are not "wrong notes", nor mere passing tones; in opera and instrumental music they often carry modal shifts and regional flavour.
Read deeper → Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, Yu
Sources
- 变宫、变徵、清角、闰四个偏音与三种七声音阶，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
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.