Volume 4, Chapter 6 .doc

Volume 4, Chapter 6: Dictionary of Left-Hand Symbols da(4) (lit. “big”). This is the so-called chief finger of Mencius. It is the first finger of the hand. 食 shi(2). According to the Zuo-chuan (左傳), this is Zi-gongs motion of the eating finger. That is, the second finger of the hand. 食 shi(2) is at times used in the tablature. zhong(1) (lit. “middle”). It is called the leading finger. This is the third finger of the hand. 名ming(2) (lit. name). Mencius said: Now we have the no-name finger. This is the fourth finger of the hand. 跪 gui(4) (lit. to kneel). The two joints of the ring finger are bent so that the last digit of the finger kneels to press a qin string down. This is used from the seventh hui up (towards the bridge). When the hui are too close together, and gui presses down two strings, one may have flesh on one and fingernail on the other. The technique of pressing a string with gui should be well practiced. Practice it long enough so that there is no pain and so that no weak rough sounds are made. yi(1). The first hui. er(2). The second hui. san(1). The third hui. si(4). The fourth hui. wu(3). The fifth hui. liu(4). The sixth hui. qi(1). The seventh hui. ba(1). The eighth hui. jiu(3). The ninth hui. shi(2). The tenth hui. shi(2)-yi(1). The eleventh hui. shi(2)-er(4). The twelfth hui. shi(2)-san(1). The thirteenth hui. In qin tablature, these positions marking the thirteen harmonics are written out in a normal way, but are not usually considered to be part of the set of qin (tablature) symbols. However we list them here. Twelfth hui, sixth fen, second li. Ninth hui, sixth fen, second li. Seventh hui, sixth fen, second li. Sixth hui, third fen, seventh li. Fourth hui, third fen, seventh li. First hui, third fen, seventh li. These six harmonic positions, up to now have not been put in old qin handbooks. I have examined the string notes and determined them. Details may be found in Volume 1, Examination of the String T