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The pipa () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of Fret ranging from 12 to 31. Another Chinese four-string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa. The pear-shaped instrument may have existed in China as early as the Han dynasty, and although historically the term pipa was once used to refer to a variety of plucked , its usage since the Song dynasty refers exclusively to the pear-shaped instrument.
The pipa is one of the most popular Chinese instruments and has been played for almost two thousand years in China. Several related instruments are derived from the pipa, including the biwa and bipa in East Asia, and the đàn tỳ bà in Southeast Asia. The Korean instrument is the only one of the three that is no longer widely used.
The earliest mention of pipa in Chinese texts appeared late in the Han dynasty around the 2nd century AD. According to Liu Xi's Eastern Han dynasty Shiming, the word pipa may have an Onomatopoeia origin (the word being similar to the sounds the instrument makes), Chinese Text Project – 《釋名·釋樂器》 Shiming by Liu Xi (劉熙). Original text: 枇杷，本出於胡中，馬上所鼓也。推手前曰枇，引手卻曰杷。象其鼓時，因以為名也。 Translation: Pipa, originated from amongst the Hu people, who played the instrument on horseback. Striking outward with the hand is called "pi", plucking inward is called "pa", sounds like when it is played, hence the name. (This ancient way of writing pipa (枇杷) also means "loquat".) although modern scholarship suggests a possible derivation from the Persian language word "barbat", the two theories however are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Liu Xi also stated that the instrument called pipa, though written differently ( or ) in the earliest texts, originated from amongst the Hu people (a general term for non-Han people living to the north and west of ancient China).
Another Han dynasty text, Fengsu Tongyi, also indicates that, at that time, pipa was a recent arrival, although later 3rd-century texts from the Jin dynasty suggest that pipa existed in China as early as the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). An instrument called xiantao (弦鼗), made by stretching strings over a small drum with handle, was said to have been played by labourers who constructed the Great Wall of China during the late Qin dynasty. 《琵琶錄》 Records of Pipa by Duan Anjie (段安節)] citing Du Zhi of Jin dynasty. Original text: 樂錄雲，琵琶本出於弦鼗。而杜摯以為秦之末世，苦於長城之役。百姓弦鼗而鼓之 Translation: According to Yuelu, pipa originated from xiantao. Du Zhi thought that towards the end of Qin dynasty, people who suffered as forced labourers on the Great Wall, played it using strings on a drum with handle. (Note that for the word xiantao, xian means string, tao means pellet drum, one common form of this drum is a flat round drum with a handle, a form that has some resemblance to Ruan.) 《舊唐書·音樂二》 Jiu Tangshu Old Book of Tang. Original text: 琵琶，四弦，漢樂也。初，秦長城之役，有鞀而鼓之者。 Translation: Pipa, four strings, comes from Han dynasty music. In the beginning, forced labourers on the Qin dynasty's Great Wall played it using a drum with handle. This may have given rise to the Qin pipa, an instrument with a straight neck and a round sound box, and evolved into ruan, an instrument named after Ruan Xian, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and known for playing similar instrument. 杜佑 《通典》 Tongdian by Du You. Original text: 阮咸，亦秦琵琶也，而項長過於今制，列十有三柱。武太后時，蜀人蒯朗於古墓中得之，晉竹林七賢圖阮咸所彈與此類同，因謂之阮咸。}} Translation: Ruan Xian, also called Qin pipa, although its neck was longer than today's instrument. It has 13 frets. During Wu Zetian period, Kuailang from Sichuan found one in an ancient tomb. Ruan Xian of The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove from the Jin dynasty was pictured playing this same kind of instrument, it was therefore named after Ruan Xian. Yet another term used in ancient text was Qinhanzi (秦漢子), perhaps similar to Qin pipa with a straight neck and a round body, but modern opinions differ on its precise form. 《舊唐書·音樂二》 Jiu Tangshu Old Book of Tang. Original text: 今《清樂》奏琵琶，俗謂之「秦漢子」，圓體修頸而小，疑是弦鞀之遺制。其他皆充上銳下，曲項，形制稍大，疑此是漢制。兼似兩制者，謂之「秦漢」，蓋謂通用秦、漢之法。 Translation: Today's "Qingyue" performance pipa, commonly called the Qinhanzi, has a round body with a small neck, and is suspected to be descended from Xiantao. The others are all shaped full on top and pointed at the bottom, neck bent, rather large, and suspected to be of Han dynasty origin. Being composite of two different constructions, it's called "Qinhan", as it is thought to use both Qin and Han methods. (Note that the description of the pear-shaped pipa as being "full on top and pointed at the bottom", an orientation that is inverted compared to modern instrument, and refers to the way pipa was often held in ancient times). 杜佑 《通典》 Tongdian by Du You citing Fu Xuan of Jin dynasty. Original text: 傅玄云：「體圓柄直，柱有十二。」 Translation: Fu Xuan said: "The body is round and the handle straight, and has twelve frets." 25, Tang dynasty]]The pear-shaped pipa is likely to have been introduced to China from Central Asia, Gandhara, and/or India. As people traveled along the Silk Road, the "oval" or oval-shaped pipa traveled through Central Asia and was introduced to China, where it became known as the "pipa."
Pear-shaped lutes have been depicted in Kushan Empire sculptures from the 1st century AD. The pear-shaped pipa may have been introduced during the Han dynasty and was referred to as Han pipa. However, depictions of the pear-shaped pipas in China only appeared after the Han dynasty during the Jin dynasty in the late 4th to early 5th century. Pipa acquired a number of Chinese symbolisms during the Han dynasty - the instrument length of three feet five Inch represents the three realms (heaven, earth, and man) and the five elements, while the four strings represent the four seasons. 應劭 -《風俗通義·聲音》 Fengsu Tongyi (Common Meanings in Customs) by Ying Shao. Original text: 批把: 謹按： 此近世樂家所作，不知誰也。以手批把，因以為名。長三尺五寸，法天地人與五行，四弦象四時。 Translation: Pipa, made by recent musicians, but maker unknown. Played "pi" and "pa" with the hand, it was thus named. Length of three feet five inches represents the Heaven, Earth, and Man, and the five elements, and the four strings represent the four seasons. (Note that this length of three feet five inches is equivalent to today's length of approximately two feet and seven inches or 0.8 meter.)
Depictions of the pear-shaped pipas appeared in abundance from the Southern and Northern dynasties onwards, and pipas from this time to the Tang dynasty were given various names, such as Hu pipa (胡琵琶), bent-neck pipa (曲項琵琶, quxiang pipa), some of these terms however may refer to the same pipa. Apart from the four-stringed pipa, other pear-shaped instruments introduced include the five-stringed, straight-necked, wuxian pipa (五弦琵琶, also known as Kucha pipa (龜茲琵琶)), a six-stringed version, as well as the two-stringed hulei (忽雷). From the 3rd century onwards, through the Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty, the pear-shaped pipas became increasingly popular in China. By the Song dynasty, the word pipa was used to refer exclusively to the four-stringed pear-shaped instrument.
The pipa reached a height of popularity during the Tang dynasty, and was a principal musical instrument in the imperial court. It may be played as a solo instrument or as part of the imperial orchestra for use in productions such as daqu (大曲, grand suites), an elaborate music and dance performance. During this time, Persian and performers and teachers were in demand in the capital, Chang'an (which had a large Persian community).See also The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics, by Edward H. Schafer; University of California Press, 1963. Some delicately carved pipas with beautiful inlaid patterns date from this period, with particularly fine examples preserved in the Shosoin Museum in Japan. It had close association with Buddhism and often appeared in mural and sculptural representations of musicians in Buddhist contexts. One of the Buddhist Four Heavenly Kings, the Eastern Dhṛtarāṣṭra, is often depicted with a pipa. Additionally, masses of pipa-playing Buddhist semi-deities are depicted in the wall paintings of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang. The four and five-stringed pipas were especially popular during the Tang dynasty, and these instruments were introduced into Japan during the Tang dynasty as well as into other regions such as Korea and Vietnam. The five-stringed pipa however had fallen from use by the Song dynasty, although attempts have been made to revive this instrument in the early 21st century with a modernized five-string pipa modeled on the Tang dynasty instrument.
During the Song dynasty, pipa fell from favour at the imperial court, perhaps a result of the influence of neo-Confucian nativism as pipa had foreign associations. However, it continued to be played as a folk instrument that also gained the interest of the literati. The pipa underwent a number of changes over the centuries.
By the Ming dynasty, fingers replaced plectrum as the popular technique for playing pipa, although finger-playing techniques existed as early as Tang. 杜佑 《通典》 Tongdian by Du You Original text: 舊彈琵琶，皆用木撥彈之，大唐貞觀中始有手彈之法，今所謂搊琵琶者是也。《風俗通》所謂以手琵琶之，知乃非用撥之義，豈上代固有搊之者？手彈法，近代已廢，自裴洛兒始為之。 Translation: The olden ways of playing pipa all used a wooden plectrum for playing. During the reign of the Tang dynasty's Emperor Taizong, there began the use of a finger-playing technique, which is what's called plucked pipa today. What's referred to in Fengsu Tongyi as playing pipa by hand is thus understood to be played without plectrum, but how are we sure that there were those who played by plucking in this early period? The use of this technique has fallen away in recent times, but it was started by Pei Luoer. (Note that Pei Luoer is also known as Pei Shenfu (裴神符)). Extra Fret were added; the early instrument had 4 frets (相, xiāng) on the neck, but during the early Ming dynasty extra bamboo frets (品, pǐn) were affixed onto the soundboard, increasing the number of frets to around 10 and therefore the range of the instrument. The short neck of the Tang pipa also became more elongated.
In the subsequent periods, the number of frets gradually increased, from around 10 to 14 or 16 during the Qing dynasty, then to 19, 24, 29, and 30 in the 20th century. The 4 wedge-shaped frets on the neck became 6 during the 20th century.
The 14- or 16-fret pipa had frets arranged in approximately equivalent to the western Musical 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 of frets was increased to 24, based on the 12 tone equal temperament scale, with all the intervals being semitones. The traditional 16-fret pipa became less common, although it is still used in some regional styles such as the pipa in the southern genre of nanguan music/nanyin. The horizontal playing position became the vertical (or near-vertical) position by the Qing dynasty, although in some regional genres such as nanguan the pipa is still held guitar fashion.
During the 1950s, the use of metal strings in place of the traditional silk ones also resulted in a change in the sound of the pipa which became brighter and stronger.
There are many references to pipa in Tang literary works, for example, in A Music Conservatory Miscellany Duan Anjie related many anecdotes associated with pipa. The pipa is mentioned frequently in the Tang poetry, where it is often praised for its expressiveness, refinement and delicacy of tone, with poems dedicated to well-known players describing their performances. A famous poem by Bai Juyi, "Pipa xing" (琵琶行), contains a description of a pipa performance during a chance encounter with a female pipa player on the Yangtze: 琵琶行 The "Pipa Song" by Bai Juyi, translation here
The encounter also inspired a poem by Yuan Zhen, Song of Pipa (琵琶歌). Another excerpt of figurative descriptions of a pipa music may be found in a eulogy for a pipa player, Lament for Shancai by Li Shen: 李紳 《悲善才》 Lament for Shancai by Li Shen. The name Shancai is also used to mean virtuoso or maestro in the Tang dynasty.
During the Song dynasty, many of the literati and poets wrote ci verses, a form of poetry meant to be sung and accompanied by instruments such as pipa. They included Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, and Su Shi. During the Yuan dynasty, the playwright Gao Ming wrote a play for nanxi opera called Pipa ji (琵琶記, or "Story of the Pipa"), a tale about an abandoned wife who set out to find her husband, surviving by playing the pipa. It is one of the most enduring works in Chinese theatre, and one that became a model for Ming dynasty drama as it was the favorite opera of the Hongwu Emperor. The Ming collection of supernatural tales Fengshen Yanyi tells the story of Pipa Jing, a pipa spirit, but ghost stories involving pipa existed as early as the Jin dynasty, for example in the 4th century collection of tales Soushen Ji. Novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties such as Jin Ping Mei showed pipa performance to be a normal aspect of life in these periods at home (where the characters in the novels may be proficient in the instrument) as well as outside on the street or in pleasure houses.
In addition, there are a number of techniques that produce sound effects rather than musical notes, for example, striking the board of the pipa for a percussive sound, or strings-twisting while playing that produces a cymbal-like effect.
The strings are usually tuned to although there are various other ways of tuning. Since the revolutions in Chinese instrument-making during the 20th century, the softer twisted silk strings of earlier times have been exchanged for nylon-wound steel strings, which are far too strong for human fingernails, so false nails are now used, constructed of plastic or tortoise-shell, and affixed to the fingertips with the player's choice of elastic tape. However, false nails made of horn existed as early as the Ming period when finger-picking became the popular technique for playing pipa.
The pipa is held in a vertical or near-vertical position during performance, although in the early periods the instrument was held in the horizontal position or near-horizontal with the neck pointing slightly downwards, or upside down. Starting about the 10th century, players began to hold the instrument "more upright", as the fingernail style became more important. Through time, the neck was raised and by the Qing dynasty the instrument was mostly played upright.
The pipa pieces in the common repertoire can be categorized as wen (文, civil) or wu (武, martial), and da (大, large or suite) or xiao (小, small). The wen style is more lyrical and slower in tempo, with softer dynamic and subtler colour, and such pieces typically describe love, sorrow, and scenes of nature. Pieces in the wu style are generally more rhythmic and faster, and often depict scenes of battles and are played in a vigorous fashion employing a variety of techniques and sound effects. The wu style was associated more with the Northern school while the wen style was more the Southern school. The da and xiao categories refer to the size of the piece – xiao pieces are small pieces normally containing only one section, while da pieces are large and usually contain multiple sections. The traditional pieces however often have a standard metrical length of 68 measures or beat, and these may be joined to form the larger pieces dagu.
Famous solo pieces now performed include:
Most of the above are traditional compositions dating to the Qing dynasty or early 20th century, new pieces however are constantly being composed, and most of them follow a more Western structure. Examples of popular modern works composed after the 1950s are "Dance of the Yi People" and "Heroic Little Sisters of the Grassland" (草原英雄小姐妹). Non-traditional themes may be used in these new compositions and some may reflect the political landscape and demands at the time of composition, for example "Dance of the Yi People" which is based on traditional melodies of the Yi people, may be seen as part of the drive for national unity, while "Heroic Little Sisters of the Grassland" extols the virtue of those who served as model of exemplary behaviour in the People's commune.
There were originally two major schools of pipa during the Qing dynasty—the Northern (Zhili Province, 直隸派) and Southern (Zhejiang, 浙江派) schools—and from these emerged the five main schools associated with the solo tradition. Each school is associated with one or more collections of pipa music and named after its place of origin:
These schools of the solo tradition emerged by students learning to play the pipa from their master, and each school has its own style, performance aesthetics, notation system, and may differ in their playing techniques. Different schools have different repertoire in their music collection, and even though these schools share many of the same pieces in their repertoire, a same piece of music from the different schools may differ in their content. For example, a piece like "The Warlord Takes off His Armour" is made up of many sections, some of them metered and some with free meter, and greater freedom in interpretation is possible in the free meter sections. Different schools however can have sections added or removed, and may differ in the number of sections with free meter. The music collections from the 19th century also used the gongche notation which provides only a skeletal melody and approximate rhythms sometimes with the occasional playing instructions given (such as tremolo or string-bending), and how this basic framework can become fully fleshed out during a performance may only be learnt by the students from the master. The same piece of music can therefore differ significantly when performed by students of different schools, with striking differences in interpretation, phrasing, tempo, dynamics, playing techniques, and ornamentations.
In more recent times, many pipa players, especially the younger ones, no longer identify themselves with any specific school. Modern notation systems, new compositions as well as recordings are now widely available and it is no longer crucial for a pipa players to learn from the master of any particular school to know how to play a score.
Texts from Tang dynasty mentioned many renowned pipa players such as He Huaizhi (賀懷智), Lei Haiqing (雷海清), Li Guaner (李管兒), and Pei Xingnu (裴興奴). 元稹 《琵琶歌》 Pipa Song by Yuan Zhen.Note that some people claimed Pei Xingnu to be the female player described in the poem Pipa Xing, there is however no definitive proof of that claim. Duan Anjie described the duel between the famous pipa player Kang Kunlun and the monk Duan Shanben (段善本) who was disguised as a girl, and told the story of Yang Zhi (楊志) who learned how to play the pipa secretly by listening to his aunt playing at night. Celebrated performers of the Tang dynasty included three generations of the Cao family—Cao Bao (曹保), Cao Shancai (曹善才) and Cao Gang (曹剛), Duan Anjie – A Music Conservatory Miscellany (Yuefu zalu 樂府雜錄) Original text: – 貞元中有王芬、曹保，保其子善才其孫曹綱皆襲所藝。次有裴興奴，與綱同時。曹綱善運撥，若風雨，而不事扣弦，興奴長於攏撚，不撥稍軟。時人謂：「曹綱有右手，興奴有左手。」 Note that Shancai was used as a word to mean virtuoso or maestro during the Tang dynasty. 琵琶行 (Pipa xing) Original text: – 曲罷曾教善才伏，妝成每被秋娘妒。 Translation: Her art the admiration even of master Shancai, Her beauty the envy of all pretty girls. whose performances were noted in literary works. 劉禹錫 《曹剛》 Cao Gang by Liu Yuxi Original text: 大弦嘈囋小弦清，噴雪含風意思生。一聽曹剛彈薄媚，人生不合出京城。
During the Song dynasty, players mentioned in literary texts include Du Bin (杜彬). Houshan Shihua《後山詩話》 by Chen Shidao (陳師道), relating a story about Ouyang Xiu listening to Du Bin. Original text: 故公詩雲：座中醉客誰最賢？杜彬琵琶皮作弦。自從彬死世莫傳。 Translation: So Master (Ouyang Xiu) in his poem says: "Who amongst the drunken guests in their seats was the most worthy? It's Du Bin who played the pipa with animal hide for strings. Ever since Du Bin's death such skill is lost to the world". From the Ming dynasty, famous pipa players include Zhong Xiuzhi (鍾秀之), Zhang Xiong (張雄, known for his playing of "Eagle Seizing Swan"), the blind Li Jinlou (李近樓), and Tang Yingzeng (湯應曾) who was known to have played a piece that may be an early version of "Ambushed from Ten Sides". 《湯琵琶傳》 Original text: 而尤得意於《楚漢》一曲，當其兩軍決戰時，聲動天地，瓦屋若飛墜。徐而察之，有金聲、鼓聲、劍弩聲、人馬辟易聲。俄而無聲。久之，有怨而難明者，為楚歌聲；淒而壯者，為項王悲歌慷慨之聲、別姬聲；陷大澤，有追騎聲；至烏江，有項王自刎聲、餘騎蹂踐爭項王聲。
During the Qing dynasty, apart from those of the various schools previously mentioned, there was Chen Zijing (陳子敬), a student of Ju Shilin and known as a noted player during the late Qing dynasty.
Lin Shicheng (林石城; 1922–2006), born in Shanghai, began learning music under his father and was taught by Shen Haochu (沈浩初; 1899–1953), a leading player in the Pudong school style of pipa playing. He also qualified as a doctor of Chinese medicine. In 1956, after working for some years in Shanghai, Lin accepted a position at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Liu Dehai (1937–2020), also born in Shanghai, was a student of Lin Shicheng and in 1961 graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Liu also studied with other musicians and has developed a style that combines elements from several different schools. Ye Xuran (叶绪然), a student of Lin Shicheng and Wei Zhongle, was the Pipa Professor at the first Musical Conservatory of China, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He premiered the oldest Dunhuang Pipa Manuscript (the first interpretation made by Ye Dong) in Shanghai in the early 1980s.
Other prominent students of Lin Shicheng at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing include Liu Guilian (刘桂莲, born 1961), Gao Hong and Wu Man. Wu Man, probably the best known pipa player internationally, received the first-ever master's degree in pipa and won China's first National Academic Competition for Chinese Instruments. She lives in San Diego, California and works extensively with Chinese, cross-cultural, new music, and jazz groups. Shanghai-born Liu Guilian graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music and became the director of the Shanghai Pipa Society, and a member of the Chinese Musicians Association and Chinese National Orchestral Society, before immigrating to Canada. She now performs with Red Chamber and the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble. Gao Hong graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music and was the first to do a joint tour with Lin Shicheng in North America. They recorded the critically acclaimed CD "Eagle Seizing Swan" together.
Noted contemporary pipa players who work internationally include Min Xiao-Fen, Zhou Yi, Qiu Xia He, Liu Fang, Cheng Yu, Jie Ma, Gao Hong, Yang Jing, Yang Wei (杨惟), Yang Jin (杨瑾), Guan Yadong (管亚东), Jiang Ting (蔣婷), Tang Liangxing (湯良興), and Lui Pui-Yuen (呂培原, brother of Lui Tsun-Yuen). Some other notable pipa players in China include Yu Jia (俞嘉), Wu Yu Xia (吳玉霞), Fang Jinlong (方錦龍) and Zhao Cong (赵聪).
Cheng Yu researched the old Tang dynasty five-stringed pipa in the early 2000s and developed a modern version of it for contemporary use. Cheng Yu : 5 string pipa (retrieved 13 July 2016 It is very much the same as the modern pipa in construction save for being a bit wider to allow for the extra string and the reintroduction of the soundholes at the front. It has not caught on in China but in Korea (where she also did some of her research) the bipa was revived since then and the current versions are based on Chinese pipa, including one with five-strings. The 5 String Pipa is tuned like a Standard Pipa with the addition of an Extra Bass String tuned to an E2 (Same as the Guitar) which broadens the range (Tuning is E2, A2, D3, E3, A3). Jiaju Shen from The Either also plays an Electric 5 String Pipa/Guitar hybrid that has the Hardware from an Electric Guitar combined with the Pipa, built by an instrument maker named Tim Sway called "Electric Pipa 2.0".
A number of Western pipa players have experimented with amplified pipa. Brian Grimm placed the contact mic pickup on the face of the pipa and wedged under the bridge so he is able to plug into pedalboards, live computer performance rigs, and direct input (DI) to an audio interface for studio tracking. In 2014, French zhongruan player and composer Djang San, created his own electric pipa and recorded an experimental album that puts the electric pipa at the center of music. He was also the first musician to add a strap to the instrument, as he did for the zhongruan, allowing him to play the pipa and the zhongruan like a guitar.
In 2014, an industrial designer residing in the United States Xi Zheng (郑玺) designed and crafted an electric pipa – "E-pa" in New York. In 2015, pipa player Jiaju Shen (沈嘉琚) released a mini album composed and produced by Li Zong (宗立), with E-pa music that has a strong Chinese flavor within a modern Western pop music mould.
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