pipa - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

5/10/2018 Pipa - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia - slidepdf.com

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/pipa-wikipedia-the-free-encyclopedia 1/6

PipaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thepipa (Chinese: ~~; pinyin:pipa, [ph jphaD is a fuur-

stringed Chinese musical instnunent, belonging to the plucked

category of instnnnents (5J' I l~*~/5!i ' !~~~). Sometimescalled the Chinese lute, the instnunent has a pear-shaped

wooden body with a vary ing rnnnber of frets ranging from 12-

26. Another Chinese 4 string plucked lute is the l iuqin, which

looks like a smaller version of the pipa.

The pipa is one of the most popular Chinese instruments and

has been played fur nearly two thousand years inChina.

Several related instnnnents inEast and Southeast Asia are

derived from the pipa; these include the Japanese biwa, the

Vietnamese dim ty ba, and the Korean bipa. The Koreaninstnnnent is the only one of the three that is no longer used.

Attempts to revive the instnnnent have failed, although

examples survive inmuseums .

Contents

• 1 Playing and performance

• 2 Development and construction

• 3 Repertoire

• 4 Use in contemporary classical music

• 5 Performers

• 6 Use inother genres

• 7 Electric pipa

• 8 See also

• 9 References

• 10 Further reading

• 11Externallinks

Playing and performance

The name 'pfpa" is made up of two Chinese syllables, "p i" (~ )

and "pa" (~). These are the two most common ways of

playing this instnnnent. ''Pf'is to push the fingers of the right

hand from right to left, thus more than one finger can be used

at a t ime striking muhiple notes, and 'pa" is to pull the thumb of

the right hand from left to r ight, in the opposite direction. The

strings were originallyplayed using a large plectrum in the Tang

Dynasty, then gradually replaced by the :fingernailsof the right

Pipa

Classification

• Necked bowl lutes

• String instruments

Related instruments

• Angelique (instrument)

• Archlute

• Balalaika

• Barbat (lute)

• Baglama

• Biwa

• Bouzouki

• Charango

• Chitarra Italiana

• Daguangxian

• D a n t y ba

• Dombra

• Domra

• Dutar

• Electric pipa

• Erhu

• Irish bouzouki

• Liuqin

• Lute

• Mandocello

• Mandola

• Mandolin



hand. Since the revolutions in Chinese instrument making

during the 20th century, th e softer twisted silk strings of earlier

times have been exchanged for nylon-wound steel strings,

which are fu r too strong for hwnan fingernails, so false nails are

now used, constructed of plastic or tortoise- shell, and affixed

to the fingertips with th e player's choice of elastic tape.

Half-section of the Night Revels of Han Xizai, by Gu

Hongzhong, 10th century. One lady is seen entertaining guests

with a pipa and another lady is seen holding onto one.

Has Five strings.

Development and construction

• Oud

• Pandura

• Pipa

• Rubab

• Setar

• Sitar

• Surbahar

• Tanbur

• Tanbur (Turkish)

• Tembilr

• Theorbo

• Tiorbino

• Tiqin

• Topshur

• Veena

• Zhonghu

Prototypes of the pipa already existed in China in the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC). At that time, there were two

types ofpipa. One was straight-necked, with a round sound box constructed from lacquered Paulownia wood, and

two faces mounted with leather. The other was believed to be inspired by the primitive forms of zheng, konghou,

and zou. Italso has a straight neck, a round sound box, and also four strings, along with twelve standards of notes.

This model was later developed into the instrument known today as the ruan named after Ruan Xian, one of the

Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. By the Tang era, the pipa had becorre popular in the imperial court. It had a

crooked neck, 4 or 5 silk strings, and 5 or 6 frets, and was played with a plectrum in a horizontal position As the

ages went by, the crooked neck was replaced by a straight onep] the number of frets increased to between 14 or

16, and to 17, 24, 29, or 30 in the 20th century. The 14- or 16- fretpipa had frets arranged in approximately

equivalent to the western tone and semitone, starting at the nut, the intervals were T-S-S-S- T-S-S-S- T-T-3/4-3/4-

T-T-3/4-3/4, (some frets produced a 3/4 tone or ''neutral tone''). In the 1920s and 1930s, the number offrets was

increased to 24, based on th e 12 tone equal temperament scale, with all the intervals being semitones. Since then the

number offrets has been extended to 29 or 30. The traditional 16-fretpipa is becoming less connnon, ahhough it is

stillused in some regional styles such as the pipa in the southern genre ofnanguan/nanyin. The plectrum was

replaced by fingernails and the horizontal playing position was replaced by the vertical (or near-vertical) position.

Dur ing this time, the five-stringed pipa became lost, although in the early 21 st century it was revived by the Chinese-

born, London-resident pipa performer Cheng Yu, who performs on a modernized five-stringpipa modeled on the

Tang dynasty instrument, which she researched and connnissioned to be made. [2]



The pipa becam e a fuvourite in th e Tang Dynasty, du ring w hich time

Persian and Kuchan perform ers and teachers w ere in dem and in the

capital, Chang 'an (w hich h ad a large Pers ian com rm mity). [3] Many

d el ic ate ly c ar ve d pipas wi th b e au ti fu l inlaid patterns date from this

per iod. M asses of pip a-playing B ud dh is t s em i-d eitie s are d ep icte d

in the w all painting s of th e M ogao Caves near Dunhuang .

The pipa is referred to frequently in T ang Dynasty poetry, w here it

is often praised fu r it s refinem ent and delicacy of tone. Bai Juyi's

famous ''Pipa Xing" (pipa Song )[4] descr ibes a ch ance encounter

w ith a fem ale pipa player on th e Y ang tze River :

A~III III ~Q~~J C ! . J ' " I"I~

IJ\~tJ]tJ]~Q

~b~I I I I I ItJ] tJ]M

* l~A~/J\~1i_ : r r m t

The bold s tr ing s rattled like splatte rs of

s ud de n rain ,

The : f i n e s tr ing s h um m ed like lovers '

whi spers .Ch atte ring and patte ring , patte ring and

chattering,

As pearls , larg e and small , on ajade plate

full

Back of a Tang

Dynasty five-

stringed pipa

Tang Dynasty five-

stringed pipa

The instrument w as im ported in to Japan during th e Tang Dynasty as w ell as into oth er reg ions such as Korea and

Vietnam.

Note th at th e frets on all Ch inese lu tes are high so that the fingers and str ing s never touch th e fing erboard in betw een

th e fr ets , this is d iffe re nt fro m w es ter n fr etted ins tru m ents . This allow s for a g reater contro l over tim bre and intonationthan th e ir w e st er n counterparts[citation needed], bu t m akes chordal playing m ore difficult[citation needed].

Repertoire

T here are m nnerous pipa pieces in the corrnnon reperto ire w hich can be split in to fuur dis tinctive s ty les : I X J w en

(civi l) , IfftJ wu(mart i a l ) , IA J da(su ite ), and 1/j-'J x ia o ( so lo ).

Fam ous pieces inclu de:

T raditional S im plifiedPinyin Eng lish (translation)

Chinese Ch inese

+W :I;!I!{ j\ +W :I;!I!{ j\ S ill M ian M affiiA mbushed from Ten

Sides

6J~.iX 6 J 1 m . i X Xiyang X lao G ilFlute and Drum at

Sunset

~~B~ Im~B~Yangch iin W hite Snow in Spring

Bafxue Sunl ight

~..- ._ "_



1f~~S )1;~S Longchuan Dragon Boat

~Mc.!lt! ~Mc.!lt! Y iai WUq_UDance of th e Y i

People

: A ¥ ~ ~ ¥ Y : A ¥ ~ ~ ¥ Y D alang T ao Sh aB ig W aves Pu sh ing th e

Sand

ag ttl± !~ a g ttl±!~ Zhaojiin CM Zhaojun Outside th eSai Frontier

i J E E l E P E ¥ i!IlfP E ¥ B aw ang X ie J i l l .K ing T akes O ff H is

A rmou r

~~ ~~ Lftyao Green Waist

~ r r 1 - E j j ~ ~ r r 1 - E j j ~ChUnjiang Hua Moonlit R iver in

Yueye Spring

O n top of th ese traditional m elodies , new pieces are constantly being com posed, m ost of w hich follow a m ore

We s te rn s tr u ctu r e

Use in contemporary classical music

In th e late 20th centu ry, larg ely th rou gh th e efforts ofW u M an, M in X iao- F e n, and oth er perfu rm ers , C hinese and

W estern contem porary com posers beg an to create new w orks for the pipa ( both s olo an d in com bin ation w ith

ch am ber ensem bles and orch estra) . M ost prom inent am ong th ese are T erry R iley, Ph ilip G lass, L ou H arrison, T an

Dun, B rig ht Sh eng , C hen Y i, Z hou L ong , B un-C hing L am , and C arl Stone. [5 J

Performers

In th e 20th centu ry, tw o of th e m ost prom inent pipa players w ere Sun Y ude (Jtj,*'{H~;1 904-1 981 ) and L i T ing song

r~~t~; 1 906-1 976) . B oth w ere pu pils of W ang Y uting (1 872-1 95 1), and both w ere active in es tablish ing and

promoting guoyue ( f f i I " * ; l ite ra ll y ' 'n ati on al mu s ic " ) , a c omb in ati on o f tr ad iti on al r eg i on al mu s ic s a nd We s te rn mu s ic al

practices . Su n perform ed in th e U nited States , A s ia, and E urope, and in 1 95 6 becam e depu ty director of th e

Shanghai minzu yuetuan (_t#lt B . :. M c " * r n ; Sh ang hai Folk O rch es tra). A s w ell as being one of th e leadingpipa

p lay ers o fh is g en er atio n, L i h eld many acad em ic p os itio ns an d also carr ie d o ut r ese ar ch o n pipa s ca le s a nd

tem pe ram en t. W e i Z h on gle (~{If! " * ; 1 90 8 o r 1 90 9-1 998 ) p lay ed m an y in stn un en ts , in clu din g th e guqin. In th e

ear ly 1 95 0s , h e fu un de d th e tr aditio nal in str um en ts d ep artm en t at th e S han gh ai C on se rvato ry o f M u sic.

L in Sh i cheng ( f * = - E " ~ ; 1 922-2006), born in Sh ang hai, beg an learning m usic u nder h is fath er and w as taug ht by Sh en

Haochu (tt~f)]; 1 899-1 95 3), a leading player in th e Pu dong (wlt*) s ch oo l s ty le o f pip a p la yi ng . H e a ls o q ua li fi ed

as a doctor of C hinese m edicine. In 1 95 6, after w orking for som e years in Sh ang hai, L in accepted a position at th eC en tr al C on se rv ato ry o f M u sic in B eijin g. L iu D eh ai e M ~ ~ ~ ; b. 1 937) also born in Sh angh ai, w as a s tudent of Lin

Shicheng and in 1 961 g radu ated from th e C entral C onservatory of M usic in B eijing . L iu also s tu died w ith oth er

music ians and h as d ev elo pe d a s ty le th at comb ine s ele me nts fr om s ev eral d iffe ren t sch oo ls .

P rom in en t s tu de nts o f L in S hi ch en gi nc lu de L iu G u il ia n ()(UfEJ4, b. 1 961 ), W uM an (3H€ , b. 1 963) and Gao Hong

( iW J ! I I T , b. 1 964) . W u, w ho is probably th e bes t knownpipa p la ye r i nt er na ti on al ly , r ec ei ve d th e f ir st- ev er ma st er 's

deg ree inpipa an d w on C hin a's fir st N atio nal A c ad em ic C om pe titio n fo r C h in ese I ns tr um e nts . S he liv es in S an

D ie go , C al ifu rn ia a nd wo rk s e xte ns iv ely w i th C h in es e, c ro ss -c uh u ra l, n ew mu sic , a nd ja zz g ro up s. S ha ng h ai -b or n



L iu G uilian g rad uate d fr om th e C en tr al C on se rv ato ry o f M u sic an d

becam e th e director of th e Sh ang hai P ipa Socie ty, and a m em ber of th e

C h in es e Mu si ci an s A s so ci ati on a nd Ch in es e N ati on al O r ch e str al S oc ie ty ,

before imm ig rating to C anada. S he n ow perform s w ith R ed C ham ber and

th e V ancou ver C hinese M u sic E nsem ble . G ao H ong g radu ated from th e

C entral C on servatory of M usic an d w as th e firs t to do a joint tou r with Lin

S hich en g in N or th Am e rica. T h ey r eco rd ed th e cr itica lly ac cla im e d CDHunting Eagles Catching Swans together .

O th er co nte m po rar y p lay ers w h o h av e in tr od uce d th e pipa to N o rth

A m erica, E urope, or J apan inclu de M in X iao- F e n, Z hou Y i ( m J ~ ) , Yang

W ei (f~Hl),uan Y adong (1 f_ illZ* ), T ang L iang xing (~ ~~ ), J iang

T ing , Q iu X ia H e, L iu Fang (~U~), Y an g J in g

(h t tp : / /www.yangj ingmus ic .com) (mW), T in g T in g ( Zo ng T in gti ng ), C h en g

Yu, Ji e Ma (!btl), and Chang l u Wu ( ~ * $ ).

Prominentpipa p la ye rs i n C h in a i nc lu de Y u Jia ( -@J~) , Wu Y uX ia (~3i

~ ), Zh ang Q iang (~~~O,F an g J in Lu ng (1J~!lHf~),nd Fan W ei (~fr&).

Use in other genresA Sui Dynasty (581-618) terracotta

pipa-player in a suit of armor

Th e pipa h as also bee n u se d in rock m usic; th e C alifu rn ia- based b and In cu bu s featu red o ne, bo rro we d from

le ge nd ary g uitar is t S te ve V ai, in th eir 2 00 1 s on g " A qu eo us T ran sr nis sio n," as p lay ed b y th e g ro up 's g uitar is t, M ik e

Einziger . [6][7] T he S hang hai prog ress ive/folk- ro ck band C old F airy lan d, w h ich w as form ed in 20 01 , also u se pipa

( play ed b y L in D i) , s om e tim e s m u lti-tr ack in g it in th eir r eco rd in gs . A u str alian d ar k r ock b an d T h e E te rn al u se th e

pipa in th eir s on g 'B lo od ' as p lay ed b y s in ge r / g uitar is t M a rk K els on o n th eir a lb um 'K ar tik a'.

Electric pipa

T h e e le ctr ic p ip a w as d ev e1 0p ed in th e late 2 0th ce ntu ry b y ad din g e le ctr ic

g u ita r-s ty le m a g ne ti c p ic ku ps to a r eg u la r a co us ti c pipa, a ll owing t h e

in stn nn en t to b e am p lifie d th ro ug h an in stn nn en t am p lifie r o r P A s ys te m

See also

• T ra di ti on al C h in es e m u si ca l i ns tr um e nts

• B iw a

• Lu te

References

An electric pipa

1. A [1] (http://www.philmultic.com/pipa.html)

2. A [2] (http://www.ukchinesemusic.com/5-string-pipa.htm)

3. A See also The Golden Peaches oj Samarkand: A Study oj T'ang Exotics (http://books.google.comlbooks?

id=QerLX9x8plkC&printsec=Jrontcover& dq=golden +peaches+oJ +samarkand&sig= 30TVyia _ UjpX6w _XF7n6X9u-

vjQ) , by Edward H Schafer; University of California Press, 1963.

4. A [3] (http://liufangmusic.net/English/pipa_song.html) The Pipa Song by Bai Juyi



5. A L 4 J (http://www-icmtalent.com/musperti.profiles/60299.html)

6. A [5] (http://incubus-online-view.com/iframe/faqs.php)

7. A [6] (http://www.stanforddaily.com/article/2002/4/5/theNiceGuysOfRock)

Further reading

• New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and JohnTyrrell (London, 2001).

External links

• An article on the historical development of pipa (http://www.philmultic.comlpipa.html)

• The Pipa (http://www.metmusemnorWtoah/hd/pipa/hd_pipa.htm) on the HeiIbnmn Timeline of Art

History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Youtube music videos: Pipa music performed by renowned pipa masters from China, Hong Kong and

Taiwan (http://www.youtube.comlresults?search query=pipa+master&aq=f)

Retrieved from ''http://en.wikipedia.orWwikiIPipa''

Categories: Chinese musical instnnnents I Necked bowl lutes

• Th is page was last modified on 29 September 2011 at 10:11.

• Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may

apply. See Terms of use for details.

Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

pipa - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Documents