Pipa 琵琶

A brief history of the pipa, a traditional Chinese music instrument

Pipa playing today The pipa (pronounced "pee-paa") is a four-stringed lute, one of the oldest Chinese musical instruments with over 2000 years of history. The term pipa () consists of two Chinese characters symbolizing two playing techniques while their pronunciations p'i and p'a are imitations of the sounds produced accordingly. The latter fact is however not often mentioned in literature about the pipa (see [note 2]) The historical development of the pipa has been a progressive process from its very beginning with few major fusions. The earliest Chinese written texts about the pipa dated back at least to the second century BC. For instance, Xi Liu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) described in his book, The Definition of Terms - On Musical Instruments, that the name of the instrument pipa originally referred to two finger techniques. The two Chinese characters p'i and p'a stood originally for the two movements, i.e. plucking the strings forwards and backwards, respectively. It is commonly known now that it is the generic name for all pluck-string instruments of the ancient times. For instance, in the Qin Dynasty (222-207 BC), there had been a kind of plucked-instrument, known as xiantao, with a straight neck and a round sound-body played horizontally, which is considered a predecessor of the pipa. In the preface to his verse Ode to Pipa, Xuan Fu of the Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD) wrote: "...the pipa appeared in the late Qin period. When the people suffered from being forced to build the Great Wall, they played the instrument to express their resentment". By the Han Dynasty (206 BC -- 220 AD), the instrument developed into its form of four strings and twelve frets, plucked with fingernails and known as pipa or qin-pipa (see Fig.1[1]. In the Western Jin Dynasty (256-316), the qin-pipa was named after the famous scholar, one of "the seven sages of the Bamboo Forest", Ruan Xian, who was a virtuoso on this instrument. (Note that Ji Kong, the grand master of the seven stringed zither qin, was among the seven sages who were great friends and often met for music and wine). The instrument has been to this day called the ruan () whereas the name pipa specifically referred to a new version in the same family of instruments, which developed as follows: [1] pipa (pre-Tang Dynasty) [2] Tang pipa (straight neck) [3] Tang pipa (bent neck) [4] modern pipa Fig.1: Historical development of the pipa, a Chinese four stringed lute (See the Note[1] in the right panel for detailed explanation of the major fusion).

Playing the pipa horizontally with a wooden plectrum was introduced during the Northern and Southern Dynasty (420-589 AD) During the Northern and Southern Dynasty (420-589 AD), a similar pluck string instrument, called oud or Barbat with a crooked neck and four or five strings was introduced through the Silk Road from Central Asia, known as the Hu Pipa (Hu stands for "foreign" in Chinese), which was played horizontally with a wooden plectrum (see the picture below for the Tang Dynasty pipa player). During the early Tang Dynasty, foreign music became very popular. A fusion of the original Chinese pipa and the "Hu pipa" took place such that the instrument gradually became what the present pipa looks like toward the middle of the Tang Dynasty (see the above Fig.1 [1]-[4] and the following Note 1). Meanwhile the playing method has been developed and repertoire increased. One of the greatest developments was that the left hand became totally free by holding the instrument vertically, i.e. the pipa rests on the thigh of the instrumentalist in an upright position, and was played vertically with five fingers of the right hand instead of horizontally with a plectrum (see the photo at the top of this page). Pipa was played horizontally with a wooden plectrum during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) During the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), the pipa was one of the most popular instruments, and it has maintained its appeal in solo as well as chamber genres ever since. The Tang pipa (Fig. 1[3]) was larger than the modern instrument. It usually had four or five strings and fewer frets (compared to the present day pipa). Probably influenced by the Hu pipa, the Tang pipa was often played with a wooden plectrum, a technique still used by its Japanese descendent, the biwa. Since the mid Tang Dynasty, and particularly since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the instrument was gradually developed into the present form of a lute played with fingernails, while the techniques with the plectrum were totally abandoned. The strings of the instrument were made of silk. Musicians used their real nails of the right hand to pluck the strings. An exception to this is the Nanguan pipa which is popular in Fujian Province (South-East China) and Taiwan in a particular kind of traditional music called Nanguan which can be traced back to at least the Song Dynasty. Pipa players in the Nanguan tradition play the pipa horizontally and use a one piece plectrum just like the Tang pipa.