Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Clusters
In qin tablature a "cluster" puts together the shorthand forms of different elements that describe the techniques used; thus, for 6A in the page above, 艹 , the upper left part of 散, represents 散 itself; and 乚, an element on the right side of 挑 represents 挑 itself. This may look complicated, but if you learn to play the melody in the traditional way, by copying your teacher, then you already know what the different elements mean and and so can easily decipher the clusters: they always contain an element of the original character.

These clusters were originally written out in Wenzipu, a form of longhand writing that used standard characters, most if not all of the time, perhaps with special meanings. There is a further example of how this is done in this passage from Wu Ye Ti
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