虚撞knock away from home

Pinyin: xū zhuàng

Left hand, sliding

After the pluck, first move up, down or up-and-back to another position, then knock there without plucking again.

How it is played

After the right hand plucks, the left finger first travels elsewhere (one position up or down, or a jin fu or tui fu); the right hand does not pluck again, and the finger knocks at the place it has reached. Because the knock is not at the position just plucked, it is called “empty” (xu).

How it sounds

The knock's ripple falls on the residual vibration and sounds lighter.

In the classical handbooks

皆按彈之後，於上下取音而後撞也，故名虛撞。

Gist: All of these knock after the pluck, at a note taken above or below; hence the name xu zhuang.

Qinxue Rumen (Introduction to Qin Studies) · 卷上·左指按法字母 · Qing dynasty, 1864 · View the original page · View source(opens in a new window)

Easily confused with

  • 撞zhuàng· knockZhuang knocks at the position just plucked; xu zhuang moves elsewhere first, then knocks.
  • 使shǐ· driven knock after vibratoShi is a forceful knock and return by the left hand after vibrato with no right-hand pluck; Qinxue Rumen insists it is not xu zhuang.

References

  1. 《琴学入门》国家图书馆藏刻本第 2 册（Wikimedia Commons 扫描）(opens in a new window)Primary source
  2. 颐和琴社《减字谱·指法符号简释》(opens in a new window)Qin community