间勾tiao and gou across separated strings
Pinyin: jiàn gōu
Right hand, compoundAlso written: 閒勾, 大间勾, 小间勾
Two strings with others between them are plucked one after the other, tiao then gou (or gou then da), usually a stopped note answering an open one.
How it is played
According to Jinyu Qinkan: the two strings have one or two strings between them, one stopped and one open; tiao first and then gou, the two notes slow and connected, answering each other. With one string between it is the small jian gou, with two the large. Players often use these intervals to check tuning.
How it sounds
Two matching notes (usually a unison or an octave), one after the other, in harmony yet distinct.
In the classical handbooks
間勾也，勾五打四挑所按弦。Gist: Jian gou: gou on five, da on four, tiao on the stopped string.
上生者撮三弦，中隔一弦，名小間勾；下生者撮四弦，中隔二弦，名大間勾。Gist: For the upward generation, cuo across three strings with one between is the small jian gou; for the downward generation, cuo across four strings with two between is the large jian gou.
Where sources disagree
Two successive notes, or a simultaneous cuo
- Separated strings, one stopped and one open, tiao first and then gou, the two notes in harmony. One string between is the small jian gou, two between the large; it is the origin of da yuan. Source: Jinyu Qinkan (via the Guoqinwang technique database)(opens in a new window)
- A Ming ritual-music treatise calls the cuo spanning one and two intervening strings the small and large jian gou respectively. Source: Pangong Liyue Shu, vol. 5(opens in a new window)
- The middle finger stops the shang string and the ring finger the gong string; the middle finger hooks shang first and the ring finger immediately plucks da on gong. Source: Qinshu Daquan (Great Compendium of Qin Writings) (via the Guoqinwang technique database)(opens in a new window)
Easily confused with
- 撮cuō· two-string chordCuo sounds the two strings together; jian gou, in the modern account, sounds them one after the other.
- 打圆dǎ yuán· circling two stringsDa yuan repeats the jian-gou alternation into a run of about seven notes.
References
- 管平湖《古指法考》（北京古琴文化研究会 编，中国书店出版社 2019；据 1963 年中国音乐研究所油印本整理，依《琴用指法》《乌丝栏》《太音大全》《琴书大全》考订古指法）Scholarship
- 国琴网指法库「间勾——今虞琴刊」(opens in a new window)Qin community
- 国琴网指法库「间勾——琴学丛书」(opens in a new window)Qin community