History of the Pipa (琵琶)
The Chinese pipa, a four-string plucked lute, descends from West and Central Asian prototypes and appeared in China during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534). Traveling over ancient trade routes (such as the Silk Road), it brought not only a new sound but also new repertoires and musical theory. Originally it was held horizontally like a guitar, and its twisted silk strings were plucked with a large triangular plectrum held in the right hand. The word pipa describes the plectrum’s plucking strokes: pi (琵), “to play forward,” pa (琵), “to play backward.”
During the Tang dynasty (618–907), musicians gradually began using their fingernails to pluck the strings, and to hold the instrument in a more upright position. First thought to be a foreign and somewhat improper instrument, it soon won favor in court ensembles but today it is well known as a solo instrument whose repertoire is a virtuosic and programmatic style that may evoke images of nature or battle.
-J. Kenneth Moore
Department of Musical Instruments, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Modern Pipa
Pipa Through the Ages
Five-string Pipa / 五絃琵琶
The five-string pipa was first introduced to China from India via the Silk Road by musicians in the Western Regions by the end of the Han Dynasty, which then spread to the Central Plains in the 5th century and southern part of China later. During the 500 years from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the five-string pipa was very popular and became the primary musical instrument used in the court music of Western Liang, Kucha, India, Shule Kingdom and Goryeo among the Ten Kinds of Music / 十部樂 in the Tang Dynasty. It was almost identical to the ancient crook-necked four-string pipa in structure, and was replaced by the latter one in the Song Dynasty.
The five-string pipa was introduced to Japan from China along with others during the Tang Dynasty, among which a spiral rosewood pipa owned by Emperor Shōmu / 聖武天皇 is a rare treasure. Decorated with raden / 螺鈕 on the whole body, this pipa has a pattern of camel ridder playing the pipa drawn on its front panel. It was brought to Japan in 756 AD and is now stored at Shōsōin of Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara, Japan.
In the 1930s, the Datong Music Club / 大同樂會 in Shanghai once made a five-string pipa, with three tuning pegs on the right and two on the left of the head, yet it has been lost due to WWII. Nonetheless, there have been attempts at reducing the spacing of strings on a four-string pipa and adding a bass string to form a five-string pipa. To maintain the traditional shape of the pipa, the newly added bass D (or E) string is tied to a pin on the central axis of the head. This five-string pipa has expanded the bass range, enriched the timbre and allowed more techniques, thus opening up new opportunities for pipa music.
2. Nanyin pipa / 南音琵琶
The Nanyin pipa is named after the Nanyin (literally meaning the “southern music”), a traditional culture in Quanzhou / 泉州, Fujian that comprises three kinds of music, viz. “zhi / 指”, “pu / 譜” and “qu / 曲”. During performances, players still hold the neck of a Nanyin pipa horizontally, which is different from other kinds of pipa today.
The Nanyin pipa is popular in the area of Southern Fujian Province and Taiwan, and serves as the mainstay of Nanyin musical instruments. It leads the orchestra and very often plays the melody together with the nanxiao / 南簭, both of which renders the music a light and euphemistic style that is rich in local flavors.
The Nanyin pipa is identical to a normal pipa in structure: its body is around 93 – 104 cm in length and its head resembles a phoenix’s tail. It also has a crooked neck and a pear-shaped sound box, yet with a wider belly. Previously made of hollowed-out pipe, the back panel is now usually made of hard wood; whereas the front panel is likewise made of Chinese parasol tree. There are 4 ledges to the front of the neck, and 10 frets on the upper and middle parts of the front panel. Nevertheless, there are also the models of 6 ledges with 18, 24, 25 or 28 frets. Nicknamed “yinzhi / 音子”, the frets can be made of ivory, Hawksbill shells or bamboo. Beside them, two sound emitting holes / 箐孔 in the shape of a crescent can be found on both sides. The four strings of the Nanyin pipa, in the ascending order of pitch, are named the mu / 母, san / 三, er / 二 and zhi / 子, and tuned at d, g, a, and d1 by default. They are all anchored to a larger tailpiece than a normal pipa.
The performance of Nanyin pipa has a simple and unique style, and its timbre sounds like striking a bell. Its major techniques include tan, tiao, rapid tan-tiao, index finger pointing down (dian), thumb pointing up (ta), combinations of dian-ta, as well as fast and slow pinpointing the strings.
3. Xiangpa / 響琶
The xiangpa, literally meaning the “resounding pipa”, is developed based on the ordinary pipa yet with certain modifications. Its back panel gets thinned so that it no longer reflects sound only, but can also vibrate together with the front panel; moreover, its tailpiece is no longer fixed but can be moved upward or downward, while the strings are tuned with respect to that of the cello. These all contribute to louder sounds and stronger penetrating power of the xiangpa, which outweighs many other musical instruments in the Chinese orchestra and thus suits for playing modern orchestral music. Albeit these merits, the xiangpa is not common in use.
4. Yuepa / 月琶
The yuepa, as shown in the picture below, signifies the “moon pipa” in English. It is a combination of the yueqin / 月琴 and pipa that possesses the advantages of both instruments. While it can be tuned and played in the way of a traditional pipa, violin strings can also be affixed to it and tuned with respect to that of the violin. It is more sonorous than the yueqin, with a loud volume of sound, clear tone, crisp and bright timbre, thus very suitable for playing together with the jinghu / 京胡 as accompaniment to the Peking opera.
5. Soprano pipa / 高音琵琶 and bass pipa / 低音琵琶
The pipa we normally play can actually be considered an “alto” pipa, as its range lies in the alto section. To complement the other sections in the orchestra, the liuqin / 柳琴 and ruan / 阮 are often used. However, given the timbres and techniques of these instruments are quite different from the pipa, there have been calls for the “soprano” and “bass” pipas so as to standardize the timbre as well as enhance the visual and auditory effects. As a result, these two kinds of pipa are created, whose techniques are basically the same as the conventional pipa, so we can readily play them without any notable difficulty.
The soprano pipa is almost the same as the alto pipa in structure, also comes along with 6 ledges and 24 frets, but of a crescent-shaped head and sound holes craved on the belly. Unlike the ordinary pipa, the sound pillars inside its body can be relocated. Its range is at 4 tones (D3, G4, A4, D4) or an octave (A3, D4, E4, A4) above that of the ordinary pipa, which is pleasant to hearing thanks to its balance of high and low notes.
The prevailing model is the “heteromorphic” soprano pipa, whose body is only 820 mm in length (the effective acoustic length of strings being 530 mm), shorter than the alto pipa by 200 mm; 230 mm in width, shorter than the alto pipa by 90 mm. Since the total length of the strings are 20 cm shorter, an extra D-string has been added to the bass register, which makes up for the missing length, to enrich the harmony effects and allow more combinations of chords. Apart from this peculiarity of having five strings, several parts of the “heteromorphic” soprano pipa have been specially designed to cater for performance needs:
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Its belly is asymmetric to facilitate easier movement of our left hand at high register;
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A wooden base is mounted at the bottom to stabilize the pipa at the center, as well as prop up the body to compensate for its shorter length, so that our left hand can be on the same level as the ledges rather than the tuning pegs;
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Mechanical pegs are used instead of traditional ones, which increase the friction to smooth the process of tuning the strings; and
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The tailpiece is equipped with fine tuners to enhance the accuracy of tuning.
Albeit the said merits, the “heteromorphic” soprano pipa has a number of drawbacks as follows:
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The notes produced by the open strings are not stable, especially when the weather and temperature change. This will affect the intonation of the notes at each ledge and fret subsequently. In the worst scenario, the deviation from the correct pitch can be as great as a minor second, necessitating rearrangement of the frets;
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Strings of the soprano pipa require special processing, yet their artisanship is not mature enough. They will break easily when subject to tension that is slightly higher than normal; and
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The soprano pipa has a shriveled timbre and lacks aftersounds, thus resulting in a weaker penetrating power.
Consequently, a new model has been developed based on the “heteromorphic” soprano pipa, which has the same dimensions but several amendments that aim to address the said issues:
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The symmetric belly is restored and a smaller tailpiece (10 mm less) is chosen, which ensure that the effective length of each string can vibrate evenly and the open strings will produce stable notes;
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The 1st (zi) string is now made of imported steel to reinforce its strength, whereas the remaining (2nd, 3rd and 4th) strings have been tuned accordingly to reduce errors;
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The distance between each string has been lengthened from 25 mm to 28 mm, so the strings can be plucked with less effort;
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If the front panel is too thin, the timbre will become hollow and shriveled. As such, the front and back panels have both been thickened to render a brighter timbre, as well as sound with higher penetrating power;
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Since the strings are always subject to high tension, the interior components of mechanical pegs prone to wear as time passes, and the strings will loosen spontaneously. Therefore, wooden tuning pegs are re-employed in consideration of their flexibility during the tuning process;
The new model has a range at an octave above that of the alto pipa, and the wooden base has been removed for the sake of overall appearance. Hence, we must cross our legs to raise the left thigh, as if playing a liuqin, so that our left hand is on a par with the ledges.
On the other hand, the bass pipa also has the same structure as the alto pipa, yet with a larger belly (more than 5 cm in width) and longer distance between the frets (around 1 – 5 mm, which gradually decreases as the pitch increases). Its strings are specifically made and tuned at E1, A2, B2 and E2, lower than the alto pipa by 4 tones. As its strings are thicker, we must pluck them with thicker false nails, which gives rise to larger resistance and thus requires us to exert greater force from the right hand. Hence, we must step up training in the vigor and endurance of our left-hand fingers.
The bass pipa produce solid and harmonious low notes, behaving brilliantly in the low register, but its high notes are, withal, weaker and indistinct when compared with their counterparts by the alto pipa.
6. Electric pipa / 電琵琶
The electric pipa retains the cultural elements of the original pipa in its appearance, but with the addition of some electronic components on the front panel, as well as a pickup below the strings near the tailpiece. Through electromagnetic induction, string vibrations are converted into electronic signals, and further into sound waves by the amplifier and loudspeaker. The front panel has been thickened while the volume of the sound box reduced to avoid the aftersounds due to resonance, which renders the pipa a purer tone.
- Excerpts from "How to Play the Pipa, the Chinese Lute", H.H. Lee