Yize Yi

"Yize" ("exotic standard") is the 9th of the 12 Chinese tones. It is used here with only two melodies, Chu Tai Yin and Yuan You. The accompanying commentary mentions it together with two other mode titles that use the same tuning: Man'gong in Shen Qi Mi Pu, and Nanlü ("southern tube"), #134 here in Xilutang Qintong (associated only with #135 Jin Wei (Respectful and Polite). Nanlü is the name of the 10th of the 12 tones, while mangong literally means "lowered gong" (probably meaning "lowered first string"). It is not clear what modal significance these names have, but the tunings are identical.

The title Yize Yi survives only in Xilutang Qintong.⁴ There is no preface, but there is commentary just under the heading at the front of the mode that explains the tuning in detail (translated here)

The melody of #135 Jin Wei is the same as that of Huo Lin in Folio I of Shen Qi Mi Pu, which calls the tuning mangong. However, although yize, mangong and nanlü are identical tunings, and the above statement from Xilutang Qintong makes no effort to distinguish between them, there may in fact be some modal differences.

Looking at the tonal centers of melodies in yize mode, based on the closing notes these three (#113-115) pieces in yize mode have their overall tonal center on 1 (do) with the secondary on 5 (sol). However, the tonal center often changes to center on 6 (la), with 3 (mi) as a secondary; in particular, with Yuan You 6 and 3 are the predominant tonal centers except at the beginning and end. The one melody in nanlü, Huolin - Jin Wei, also seems to have 1 as its primary tonal center, but for most of it 6 also seems to be the most important tonal center. Melodies with tonal centers on 1 and 5 might be compared in Western terms to a major mode, while those with tonal centers on 6 and 3 might be compared to a Western minor mode. However, in Huo Lin the tonal center most commonly seems to shift between 1 and 3.

As for themes, the two melodies using yize tuning have themes related to Qu Yuan and the state of Chu. Melodies with that connection generally use a raised fifth string tuning: most often raised fifth (ruibin) or raised second and fifth (qiliang), but also raised second, fifth and seventh (Guxian). Although yize tuning is said to be achieved by lowering the first, third and sixth strings, the same relative tuning can be reached by raising the second, fourth, fifth and seventh strings.

However, the theme of Huolin - Jinwei does not concern the state of Chu: it is a story about Confucius.

Preface

None

Music
One Section; timings follow my recording 聽錄音 (go to Chutai Yin)

00.00 1.
00.57 harmonic coda
01.18 end

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Yize references (III/209 )
39908.203 discusses it only in terms of the 12 pitches. Tuning instructions are below.
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2. Yize: same as man'gong and nanlü
See further comment below.
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3. Original tablature as copied from Xilutang Qintong in QQJC III/209
Below the mode title (夷則調曲譜 Melodies in Yize Mode) is the following explanation (from QQJC III/207):

慢一三六個一徽。此古夷則絃也俗謂之慢宮調。按夷則、南呂以四為宮。故散六應十二徽之四。
(From standard tuning) lower the first, third and sixth strings one position (i.e., semitone). This old yize stringing is commonly called mangong (lowered third) mode. Yize and nanlü (see #134 Nanlü Yi and #135 Jin Wei) use the fourth string as gong (do or 1; hence the relative tuning 3 5 6 1 2 3 5). Thus the open 6th string has the same sound as the 4th string stopped in the 12th position."

The last statement is clearly a misprint: if one follows the instructions regarding the tuning method, the open 6th string will have the same sound as the 4th string stopped in the 11th position, not the 12th. Further confusion has apparently resulted from certain other factors regarding this tuning.

For example, a harmonic played on the 11th position will give a just intonation tuning, so some people have argued that this mode uses just intonation tuning. However, this claim has no foundation: the instructions clearly call for a stopped sound, not a harmonic. Perhaps this mistake comes from someone who doesn't realize that in the old tuning system position "11" was used for what in the modern decimal system was written as 10.8 (see chart). For examples of this see the original tablature for Yize Yi from QQJC III/207 as copied above - lines 3, 4 and 6 of the tablature each has stopped position 11. Furthermore, in the third section of the next melody, Chutai Yin a harmonic is played at position 11 on the fourth string, producing a mi, but a mi in harmonics is also played in the same section on the 12th position of the 3rd string. As shown here, the only way these two notes could be identical would be to change the tuning, but in that case there this would produce dissonances elsewhere.
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4. Tracing Yize Yi
Zha: 21/--/-- . At p. 21 it says Yize Yi only occurs here.
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Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.