慢slow
Pinyin: màn
Terms and marksAlso written: 渐慢
Play slowly: relax the tempo; often paired with jin (tight).
How it is played
Asks for a slower tempo at this point or section, without changing the fingering. In scores, man mostly appears paired with jin: Ming players describing the layout of a piece say slow at the start, tight in the middle, easy at the end, moving from slow into tight and from tight into easy to create ebb and flow. Slow down with regard to the music's climate, not only after things have already gone astray. Wuzhizhai Qinpu also records a separate character jian man (“gradually slower”), explained as slowing step by step as after a da yuan; to mark a shift into slow playing from a given point, write ru man.
In the classical handbooks
若不知氣候兩字。指一入弦。惟知忙忙連下。迨欲放慢。則竟索然無味矣。Gist: If one does not know the two words “climate and timing”, once the finger touches the string one only knows to hurry on, and by the time one wishes to slow down the flavor is already gone.
漸慢也。如打圓之後，漸漸慢之，二次慢也。Gist: Jian man: as after da yuan, grow gradually slower, slowing twice over.
Easily confused with
- 紧jǐn· tightJin tightens and quickens slightly, the opposite of man.
- 入慢rù màn· entering the slow sectionRu man shifts into a slow passage from this point, mostly at the end or a transition; man only asks for slowing here.
- 缓huǎn· slow, at easeHuan and man both mean slowing and are used alike; Xilutang Qintong, describing a piece in three sections, distinguishes the opening “man” from the closing “huan”.
References
- 颐和琴社《减字谱·指法符号简释》（第五部分「速度、节奏符号及其它」）(opens in a new window)Qin community
- 国琴网《干货︱教你一张图学完古琴54种指法》(opens in a new window)Qin community