长吟long vibrato
Pinyin: cháng yín
Vibrato and glidesA yin with more swings and a longer duration, still finished with a ding yin.
How it is played
The same as yin, only drawn out: the old handbooks say “a doubled yin” or “a long-lasting yin”, and a Ming source limits it to nine swings. Begin at leisure and do not speed up as it goes; finish as usual with a ding yin.
How it sounds
The ring rises and falls over a longer stretch, expansive and sustained, usually at phrase ends or on long notes that need to linger.
In the classical handbooks
吟之加倍，仍用定吟方止。Gist: A doubled yin, still finished with a ding yin.
吟之久也。Gist: A long-lasting yin.
長吟徃來作之，不過九聲。Gist: Long yin is done to and fro, no more than nine sounds.
Where sources disagree
What is “long”: the count, the duration or the width
- It is an ordinary yin doubled, finished with a ding yin; whether the doubling is of count or width is not said. Source: Wuzhizhai Qinpu(opens in a new window) · View the original page
- Simply a yin that lasts long, looking at duration. Source: Qinxue Rumen (Introduction to Qin Studies)(opens in a new window) · View the original page
- When the right hand plays heavily, the left finger moves in large sweeps and the hand opens naturally: this is long yin, looking at width and force. Source: Chen Zhuo’s fingering (Tang dynasty; in Qinshu Daquan (Great Compendium of Qin Writings), vol. 8）(opens in a new window)
- Widen the swing: four or five fen up and down after the note, where an ordinary yin takes only two or three. Source: Yang Zongji, Qin Jing (Mirror of the Qin) (as paraphrased by Zhang Huaying)(opens in a new window)
Easily confused with
- 长猱cháng náo· long wide vibratoChang nao is the lengthened nao, wider and stronger than chang yin and more vigorous in sound.
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
- 章华英《管平湖古琴打谱艺术探窥（中）》（华音网，谈杨宗稷一系吟猱的分类）(opens in a new window)Qin community