飞吟flying vibrato
Pinyin: fēi yín
Vibrato and glidesAfter a brief hold on the note, leap up and down through one or two neighboring positions, like a bird beating its wings.
How it is played
After the note, the finger first checks briefly, then moves above and below the stopped position: either one up and two down (taking the ninth hui as example: up to the eighth, back to the ninth, down to the tenth), or two up and two down before returning to the position. Scores usually say which; otherwise judge from context and rhythm.
How it sounds
The note shivers continuously through several neighboring positions, light and fleeting; the old handbooks compare it to a cicada's cry passing through the branches.
In the classical handbooks
得音略迎住，或上或下，如飛鳥之翼，其音連綿震動，所謂鳴蟬過枝。Gist: Take the note, hold it briefly, then go up or down like a bird's wing, the sound continuous and vibrating: what is called “the singing cicada passing the branch”.
其說有二，以按位論，或一上二下者，從按處上一位，卽下按處，復下一位也。Gist: There are two accounts. In terms of the stopping position, one up and two down means from the stopping place up one position, back down to the stopping place, and down one more position.
Where sources disagree
How many moves up and down
- One up and two down: from the position up one, back to the position, then down one. Source: Qinxue Rumen (Introduction to Qin Studies), first explanation given(opens in a new window) · View the original page
- Two up and two down: from the position twice up and twice down, always ending back on the position. Source: Qinxue Rumen (Introduction to Qin Studies), second explanation given; Wuzhizhai Qinpu agrees(opens in a new window) · View the original page
Easily confused with
- 往来吟wǎng lái yín· to-and-fro vibratoWang lai yin moves between two positions and vibrates at one of them; fei yin leaps quickly up and down after the note.