Quick Answer: What Is Guqin Jianzipu?
Jianzipu (减字谱, jiǎnzìpǔ) is abbreviated-character tablature for the guqin, a seven-string Chinese zither. A sign can tell the player which string to use, where to place a finger and how to pluck. Traditional scores give much less detail about exact timing than they do about hand actions.[1][2]
- Left hand: A component can identify a finger and a position marker.[1]
- Right hand: Another component can identify a string and a type of stroke.[1]
- Timing: A player draws on interpretation and performance practice to shape the phrase.[1][4]
The sign makes sense in relation to the instrument and its tuning.[1]
A single qin sign can give directions for both hands. To make sense of it, first identify which number belongs to the string and which one belongs to the position on the instrument.[1]
Read One Sign in Two Parts
Example 4.1 in the Hong Kong Education Bureau’s Listening to Chinese Music gives two instructions within one compound sign. The upper part tells the player to place the ring finger at the tenth marker. The lower part tells the right middle finger to pluck the second string inward.[1]
Read each number next to its hand instruction. Ten identifies a marker along the length of the playing surface. Two names the string the player sounds. The plucking sign adds the direction of the stroke. If you want the resulting note, you also need to know how the instrument is tuned and how the string is being stopped.[1]
What a Qin Handbook Preserves
The Tokyo National Museum holds a seventh- or eighth-century scroll for Elegant Orchid in the Stone Tablet Mode. It describes finger movements in full written instructions. The scroll and the early court flutes preserved in Japan are two different kinds of evidence for early East Asian music.[5]
The Shenqi Mipu, compiled by Zhu Quan in 1425, is an early surviving collection of guqin music. A collection like this puts the playing instructions for many pieces in one place, so a later musician can compare versions or reconstruct a piece from the printed instructions. The date describes the compilation, and a surviving edition may be a later copy.[1][3][4]
In the traditional layout described by the Education Bureau, the signs read down the column and the columns proceed from right to left. Looking at the column direction is a good first step before interpreting a printed page. For the distinction between qin and pipa sources, see Chinese instrumental tablature.[1][3]
How Players Work Out Timing and Phrasing
Dapu (打谱, dǎpǔ) is the work of interpreting a qin score into a playable version. Guqin musician John Thompson documents his project working from the Shenqi Mipu. He explains that the tablature provided details of finger position, stroke and ornament, while he needed to determine possible note lengths for a staff transcription.[4]
A modern edition can print tablature alongside staff notation or jianpu numbered notation. The added line can preserve the durations and pauses of a specific interpretation. In another edition, those details may follow another player’s reading. The older signs still show choices a pitch line may omit, such as which finger or string produces a note.[1][4]
FAQs About Guqin Jianzipu
Does a string number tell you the pitch?
It identifies which string to play. Tuning and the way the string is stopped or touched help determine the pitch.[1]
Can two players read the same score differently?
Yes. They can follow the same written gestures and make different decisions about durations or pauses, especially where a source gives little timing detail.[1][4]
Источники
[1] Hong Kong Education Bureau. Listening to Chinese Music, Guqin Notation
[2] UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Guqin and Its Music
[3] University of Hamburg Dissertation Repository. Peilei Shang’s Study of Qin Tablature
[4] John Thompson. Reconstructing the Music of the Shen Qi Mi Pu
[5] Tokyo National Museum, e-Museum. Elegant Orchid in the Stone Tablet Mode