The pipa is a traditional plucked musical instrument in East Asia with a history of more than 2,000 years. The earliest musical instrument known as the "pipa" appeared around the Qin Dynasty in China. The word "pipa" in the word "pipa" means "two jades collide and make a pleasant sound", indicating that this is a musical instrument that makes sound by playing the strings. "Than" means "string ranking". "Ba" refers to the fact that this instrument is always attached to the player's body, unlike the qin that does not touch the human body. Before the Tang Dynasty, pipa was also the general term for all plucked musical instruments of the Lute Qin family (also known as the Lute genus) in Chinese. The Chinese pipa spread to other parts of East Asia, where it developed into the current Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese pipa.

Pipa, also known as "criticism", was first seen in history in the Han Dynasty Liu Xi's "Interpretation of Names, Interpretation of Musical Instruments": "Criticism is originally from Huzhong, and it is immediately drummed." Before pushing the hand, it is said to be criticized, but the lead is said to be handled, like its drum, because it is also famous. That is to say, the loquat handle is a musical instrument played on a horse, and the forward ejection is called the batch, and the backward pick is called the handle, and it is named "the batch handle" according to the characteristics of its performance. In ancient times, percussion, percussion, strumming, and playing were all called drums. At that time, the nomads rode on horses and played the lute, so they were "drummed on horses". Around the Wei and Jin dynasties, it was officially called "pipa".

According to historical records, the straight pipa appeared earlier in our country, the "Qin Hanzi" of the Qin and Han dynasties was the straight pipa of the straight-handled circular resonance box (the resonance box was covered on both sides), and it was developed from the strings at the end of the Qin Dynasty. "Ruan Xian" or "Ruan" is a straight-handled wooden circular resonance box, four strings and twelve columns, and a pipa played by hand in a vertical hug. Ruan Xianshan of the Jin Dynasty played this instrument, so it is called by its name, that is, today's Ruan.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, cultural exchanges were carried out with the Western Regions through the Silk Road, and the Quxiang pipa was introduced to China from Persia through present-day Xinjiang. The pipa is a four-string, four-phase (columnless) pear-shaped, and is played horizontally with a plucked play. It flourished in the Northern Dynasties and spread to the Yangtze River basin in the south in the first half of the 6th century AD.

In the ninth and tenth pieces of music of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the quxiang pipa has become the main musical instrument and has played an important role in the development of song and dance art in the Tang Dynasty. From the Dunhuang murals and Yungang stone carvings, you can still see its status in the band at that time.

In the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., with the strengthening of commercial and cultural exchanges between China and the Western Regions, a kind of quxiang pipa was introduced from Central Asia, which was called "Hu Pipa" at that time. It has a curved neck, pear-shaped speaker with four pillars and four strings, much like the Oud or Ud or the Barbat of ancient Persia, which are common in Arab countries today. The horizontal hug lute is played with a plectrum. The modern pipa evolved from this kind of curved lute.

pipa

By the Tang Dynasty (7th-9th centuries AD), there was a peak in the development of pipa. At that time, the pipa was indispensable for court bands and folk singing, and it became a very popular instrument at that time, and it was in a leading position in the orchestra. This kind of pomp and circumstance is recorded in a large number of ancient Chinese poems. For example, the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi vividly described the performance of the pipa and its acoustics in his famous poem "Pipa Xing": "The big strings are noisy like torrential rain, and the small strings are like whispers. Noisy and staggered, big beads and small beads fall on the jade plate".

In the late Tang Dynasty, the pipa had been greatly developed in terms of performance techniques and production structure. The most prominent reform in playing technique is the change from horizontal to vertical playing, and playing with fingers instead of playing with a plectrum. The most obvious change in the structure of the lute is the increase in the number of four phonemes to sixteen (i.e., four phases and twelve frets). At the same time, its neck is widened, and the lower resonance box is narrowed from wide to make it easier for the left hand to lower the lower phoneme. As a result of these two reforms, the technique of playing the pipa has developed unprecedentedly. According to statistics, there are fifty or sixty kinds of fingering on the lute. To sum up, the right finger method is divided into two systems: first, the wheel finger system, and second, the spring pick system. The left finger method is also divided into two systems: first, the finger pressing system, and second, the push-pull system.

By the 15th century AD, Pipa already had a number of martial arts songs represented by "Ambush on All Sides" and "Overlord Unloading the Armor", as well as literary songs represented by "Yue'er Gao", "Sichun" and "Zhaojun's Resentment". The so-called martial arts are characterized by realism and the use of right-handed techniques, while the so-called literary songs are characterized by lyricism and the use of left-handed techniques. These pieces have become the treasures of Chinese national music and the treasures of pipa art.

The lute is traditionally a pentatonic scale. In the period of the Republic of China, it has begun to increase the piano stake according to the twelve equal laws, and the current standard pipa has eight phases and thirty frets, and the expressiveness and adaptability of the pipa have been greatly strengthened, which can not only play traditional music, but also can play Western and modern works, and is conducive to cooperation with symphony orchestras. Conditions were created for further development later. In the mid-to-late twentieth century, there was a new development in the art of pipa, and in the production of pipa, the original silk strings were changed to nylon steel strings, and some even used silver strings, which increased the volume and resonance of the pipa. In terms of technique, the left thumb and the use of chords greatly improve the expressiveness of the pipa. This has led to a large number of excellent solo works that combine traditional music and modern compositional theory, as well as ensembles with various instruments and pipa concertos with small orchestras and symphony orchestras. In the 21st century, the pipa not only showed a return to the Tang Dynasty in China, but also attracted more and more attention from music lovers from all over the world. Many traditional music and contemporary works are loved by Chinese and foreign audiences. It can be said that the pipa has begun to move towards international music.

Play stringed instruments. Liu Xi's "Interpretation of the Name" called it "criticism": "The criticism is originally from Huzhong, and the drum is also immediately promoted, and the hand is said to be criticized, but the hand is said to be handled, like when the drum is used, because it is famous." After the batch, it was rewritten as pipa. From this point of view, the pipa is derived from onomatopoeia.

pipa

About the fourth century A.D., there is a kind of pear-shaped speaker, curved neck, four pillars (now called phase or product), four strings, played stringed instruments played with a plectrum from India through the Western Regions to the north, because of its head bent backwards, in order to distinguish it from the straight-necked round Qin pipa that circulated at that time, so it is called Quxiang pipa. "Sui Shu Music Chronicles": "Today's song Xiang Pipa, the disciple of the vertical head Gonghou, and from the Western Regions, not the old Chinese instrument." And because it passed through Qiuzi, it is also called Qiuzi pipa, Hu pipa or Huqin. After the Song Dynasty, it was called pipa. In modern times, the old-style four-phase ten-pin, twelve-fret, and thirteen-fret pipa have been basically disused, and have been replaced by six-phase eighteen-pin, twenty-fourteen, twenty-five, and twenty-eighth-fret pipa. Arranged according to the law of twelve. The back plate of the pipa is made of rosewood, mahogany, and rosewood, and there are two transverse beams and three sound columns built into the belly, which are bonded to the panel. The hand is made of mahogany, horn, ivory or old bamboo, and the inner side is made of sound holes, also known as "Nayin". The headstock is carved with the word longevity, the word music, the bat, the ruyi, the phoenix tail and other styles, and some are inlaid with jade gems. The neck of the piano is called the phoenix neck, the string groove and the mountain pass are connected on the front, and the phoenix pillow (also known as the phoenix platform) is attached on the back. It is made of horn, mahogany, ivory or jade. Bamboo, mahogany, horn, ivory, is the symbol of the phoneme. The total length is about 96 cm.

There are 12 ways to set the strings of the lute, and the commonly used strings are A, D, E, and A. Six-phase twenty-eight frets of pipa range A-g3. The right hand has fingering techniques such as playing, picking, pinching, rolling, double playing, double picking, dividing, hooking, wiping, folding, buckle, brushing, sweeping, wheel, half wheel, etc., and the left hand has kneading, groaning, bringing up, slapping, virtual pressing, twisting, overtones, pushing, pulling, squeezing, note and other skills. It can play a variety of harmonies and chords. It is widely used in national bands and a variety of local opera and opera accompaniment. Famous pieces include "Ambush on All Sides", "Overlord Unloading Armor", "Hanyang Moonlit Night", "Yangchun White Snow", "Moon Rise", concerto "Little Sisters of Prairie Heroes" and so on.

The biwa is composed of a "head" and a "body", and the head includes string grooves, string shafts, mountain passes, etc. The body includes phase, taste, speaker, hand cover and other parts.

The head of the biwa is composed of "string grooves", four "string shafts", and "yamaguchi".

The upper end of the pipa is also called the "neck", that is, the "phase", the upper end of the neck is called the "pillow", and the middle and lower parts are the "taste", and the phase and the product are called "columns" in ancient times, which is a phonemic device. The middle and lower parts of the body are narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, and the bottom is semicircular and hollow, that is, the speaker; the grade is glued to the "panel" made of sycamore board, and the four strings are tied to the four small holes at the lower end of the "covering hand", and there is a small hole in the panel in the center of the covering hand, which is called "Nayin" or "sound hole". The back of the body, called "pipa back", the upper end of the back is connected with the head, the middle and lower part of the back is bonded with the panel, there are two rungs and several sound columns in the abdomen, which are placed at a certain part; the back material is made of red sandalwood, black material, old mahogany, rosewood, fragrant mahogany, etc., and it is a popular product made of white wood, because the wood such as red sandalwood and mahogany is good at making natural overtones in playing.

The pipa consists of six phases and twenty-five frets to form a wide range of twelve equal temperaments. The first string is steel wire, and the second, third and fourth strings are steel rope nylon winding strings. The sound of the pipa is very special, and its overtones are in the first place among all kinds of musical instruments in ancient and modern China and foreign countries, not only with large volume, but also with crisp and bright sound quality. At the same time, the fundamental tone emitted by the pipa is accompanied by rich overtones, which can make the sound of the piano attenuate in the propagation, and has strong penetrating power.

The pronunciation characteristics of a good quality pipa are:

Strong penetration (attenuation, spread far). The treble is bright and rigid, the midrange is soft and moist, and the bass is rich. "Pipa Xing" depicts "the big strings are noisy like torrential rain, the small strings are cut like whispers, the noisy and cut the miscellaneous bullets, and the big beads and small beads fall on the jade plate", "the silver bottle bursts through the water slurry, and the iron horse highlights the sound of knives and guns." At the end of the song, be careful to stroke, and the four strings sound like cracked silk", which is no longer the poet's artistic exaggeration, but a veritable performance effect of contemporary pipa.

At the turn of the Han and Wei dynasties, the music people of the Western Regions were introduced to China from India through the "Silk Road". The earliest record is found in the Sui Book of Music. It was prevalent in the Central Plains in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Later, it spread to the south of our country. During the 500 years from the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties, the five-string pipa flourished and became the main instrument of the music of Xiliang, Qiuzi, Tianzhu, Shule, Anguo and Goryeo in the nine and ten parts of the Sui and Tang dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Hu, Bai Juyi and many other poets have depicted the five-string pipa, the structure of the five-string pipa is roughly the same as the ancient four-string song Xiang pipa, and in the Song Dynasty the teaching workshop has disappeared, but was replaced by the four-string pipa.

pipa

In the Tang Dynasty, there are a variety of musical instruments introduced into Japan in our country, among which in 756 A.D., the Luodian rosewood pipa introduced into Japan, hidden in the Shosoin of Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan, this five-string pipa made of rosewood, fine craftsmanship, the whole body is decorated with luodian, and there is also a picture of a camel rider stroking the pipa on the ventral surface, it has become a rare treasure in the world's art treasure house.

In the 30s of the 20th century, the Shanghai Datong Music Association made a five-string pipa, with three pips on the right side of the headstock and two on the left side, and the chord was changed to the same tone to add a bass string. Due to war and other reasons, this five-stringed lute has been lost. In recent years, in the reform of the pipa, there has been an exploration of reducing the string spacing on the four-string lute and adding a bass string to the five-string lute. In keeping with the traditional shape of the lute, a new bass D (or E) string is attached to the shaft at the headstock (in the center above the string groove). This five-string lute expands the bass range, makes the timbre richer, improves the playing technique, and also opens up new prospects for the creation and performance of pipa music.

Nanyin Pipa:

After the spread of the pipa through the generations, there are different degrees of changes in the appearance, specifications, and playing postures. The Nanyin pipa is named after the folk music "Fujian Nanyin". Since the Tang Dynasty, the pipa has developed into a vertical hug, but Fujian Nanyin has always maintained the ancient horizontal hugging posture, so it is also known as "horizontal hugging pipa".

Nanyin pipa is popular in southern Fujian and Taiwan. It is one of the main instruments playing Fujian Nanyin and plays a conducting role in the orchestra. It is often paired with the Nanyin Dong Xiao to play the melody of the music together, so that the light and euphemistic Fujian Nanyin is rich in strong local characteristics.

The structure of the namwa is exactly the same as that of the pipa. The body length of the piano is 93~104 cm, the pipa head is phoenix-tailed, the neck is curved, and the resonance box is pear-shaped, but the abdomen is broad. The backboard was previously hollowed out of pine wood, but is now mostly made of harder wood. The panels are made of paulownia wood, locally known as "spring plates". There are 4 attached on the front of the neck of the piano, and 10 frets are glued horizontally on the top and middle of the neck, mostly made of ivory, tortoiseshell or bamboo, which is called "tone". On both sides of the fret, there is a moon-shaped sound hole, called a "spring hole". The bindings under the panel are larger. Four wire strings are used, which are called busbar, third wire, second wire and sub wire from low to high. Generally, the chord is mostly (d, g, a, d1).

The playing style of Nanpa is simple and unique, and the rhyme has the flavor of striking the bell chime. The main playing techniques include playing, picking, finger pinching (fast picking), finger pointing, tart fingering, going down, half jumping, pressing the tone, nail finger (equivalent to the "buckle" of holding the pipa vertically), fast finger drop and slow finger drop, etc.

There are also many popular varieties of pipa, which are divided into high-level, intermediate-grade and popular pipa according to the quality of materials, craftsmanship and sound quality. From the number of phases and products, it can be divided into four phases 10 products, six phases 18 products, 24 products, 25 products and 28 products.

Hibic:

On the basis of the lute, the back plate, which used only to play the role of acoustic reflection, was thinned so that it could vibrate, and the strings were changed to be able to move up and down to increase the volume of the piano, and the cello string method was adopted. It can participate in orchestra performances, and is most suitable for playing large-scale national orchestral works with modern themes. It is highly penetrating and extremely difficult to be concealed by the rest of the instruments. But the popularity is not widespread.

Moonpa:

It has the advantages of two instruments, the moon qin and the pipa, and can be set and played according to the traditional method of the pipa, and can also use the violin stringing method and the use of violin strings. The pronunciation of "Yuelu" is more sonorous and powerful than that of Yueqin, the volume is grand, the sound quality is pure, the timbre is crisp, full and translucent, and it is most suitable for cooperating with Jinghu to accompany Peking Opera.

Soprano lute:

The upper right part of the body is crescent-shaped, with sound holes and sound windows on the ventral surface, the sound column in the piano is adjustable, the pronunciation is one octave higher than that of the general pipa, the high and low tones are balanced, and the timbre is beautiful.

Electric Pipa:

The shape maintains the national style of the original pipa, only some electrical components are installed on the panel of the piano case, and the pickup is placed under the strings close to the bound strings, and the vibration of the strings is converted into a telegraph signal through electromagnetic induction, and then the sound is emitted by the amplifier and the speaker. In order to avoid reverberation due to resonance, the electric lute increases the thickness of the panel, reduces the volume of the resonance box, and makes the sound quality more pure. The timbre of the electric pipa is soft and beautiful, crystal clear, and rich in expressiveness

Crystal Pipa:

It was pioneered by Zhao Cong and has applied for a patent, shocking the music industry. Made of high-grade glass, an electric speaker is installed on the piano panel, and the sound is clear and translucent, but the aftermath is not long.

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