Shou Yi 守一

It begins around C sharp with bare octaves and open fifths, a note with the note five steps above it and nothing between (C sharp and G sharp), and with suspended chords, which swap a chord's middle note for its neighbour (C sharp sus 2 is C sharp, D sharp and G sharp).

In the middle it moves through D sharp minor and G sharp minor, with E major 7 over G sharp in the bass. Near the end it leaves the key, adding C and F natural in soft clusters of close notes too crowded for Chordie to name, and it ends softly.

The chord names and the staff on screen show each chord as it sounds. Put it on to rest or to listen closely.

After the crane intro, 守一 (shǒu yī) is written stroke by stroke beside the playing. In Daoism, Taijiquan and Qigong it means to be mindful and abide by the One: cultivating the Dao by keeping body, breath and mind as one whole.

Two quiet passages carry words over the playing: that meaning, and Oliver Burkeman on the trap of productivity. Quoted: Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks (2021).