反撮reversed chord
Pinyin: fǎn cuō
Right hand, compoundAlso written: 背撮
A chord with the fingers moving opposite to cuo: the middle finger flicks outward while the other finger plucks inward, both strings sounding together.
How it is played
Where cuo uses gou and tiao, fan cuo uses the middle finger's ti and the index finger's mo. Reversing da cuo's tuo and gou gives the middle finger's ti with the thumb plucking inward. The two fingers open in opposite directions but still sound together. Often alternated with cuo so that the hand moves one way and then the other.
How it sounds
Like cuo, a two-string chord; only the hand motion is reversed, which avoids repeating the same movement in a run of chords.
In the classical handbooks
反撮也，兩絃同得一聲也。用句挑為撮，反之則用抹剔；若句托反之，則用擘剔，取聲與撮同。Gist: Fan cuo: two strings yield a single sound. Where gou and tiao make cuo, reversing them uses mo and ti; where gou and tuo are reversed, use bo and ti. The sound is the same as cuo.
撮用勾挑者，反之則抹與剔也；用擘勾，反之則托與剔也。用指之法與正撮同。Gist: Where cuo uses gou and tiao, the reverse is mo and ti; where it uses bo and gou, the reverse is tuo and ti. The fingering follows the same rules as the normal cuo.
Where sources disagree
When da cuo is reversed, whether the thumb stroke is called bo or tuo
- Reversing gou-tuo uses bo and ti. Source: Qinxue Rumen (Introduction to Qin Studies), vol. 1(opens in a new window) · View the original page
- Reversing bo-gou uses tuo and ti. The motion is identical; the written form differs only because tuo and bo are named the other way round. Source: Chengjiantang Qinpu, “Qinpu Zhifa” section(opens in a new window) · View the original page
Which two fingers fan cuo uses
- The middle finger's ti with the index finger's mo, or the middle finger's ti with the thumb. Source: Qinxue Rumen (Introduction to Qin Studies), vol. 1(opens in a new window) · View the original page
- The index finger plucks mo on string five and the ring finger plucks zhai on string three as one sound, using the ring finger for the outward stroke. Source: Fengxuan Xuanpin (via the Guoqinwang technique database)(opens in a new window)
Easily confused with
- 撮cuō· two-string chordIn cuo the middle finger plucks inward and the index finger outward; fan cuo swaps the two.
References
- 国琴网指法库「反撮——澄鉴堂琴谱」(opens in a new window)Qin community
- 国琴网指法库「反撮——邻鹤斋琴谱」(opens in a new window)Qin community
- 国琴网指法库「反撮——古指法考」(opens in a new window)Qin community