Transcript The definition of Terms- On Musical Instruments

Pipa 琵琶
Chinese Lute
- Four string plucked instrument
- Original Country: China
Name
批把: hands/ fingers, implying action with fingers
枇杷: made from the wood
琵琶: string instrument
History, evolution, and construction:
Second century B.C
 Started from Qin Dynasty and developed by the Han
Dynasty.
 Xi Liu of the Eastern Han Dynasty described in his book,
The definition of Terms- On Musical Instruments
The name of the instrument pipa originally referred to
two finger techniques. The two Chinese characters p’I
and p’a stood originally for two movements, plucking
strings forwards and backwards.

Xainto
 Qin Dynasty
 Plucked- instrument.
 Straight neck, rounded
Body
 Played horizontally.
Qin pipa
• Han Dynasty
• Four strings, twelve frets.
• Plucked with finger nails.
Hu (Foreign)Pipa
 Northern and Southern
Dynasty
 Oud or Barbat
 Persian origin.
 Crooked neck and four or
five strings, plucked with
plecturm.
 Introduced through the
Silk Road from Central Asia
Tan Pipa
Straight neck and bent neck.
• Body shape changed from
round- shaped to pear- shaped.
• Finger nails technique, instead
of using plectrum.
• 4 to 5 silk strings, and 5 to 6 frets.
•
Modern Pipa
30 frets. Pipa has as a
complete chromatic scale.
 4 steel strings.
 5 finger plectra(faked nails)
 Four feet long a foot across
the belly. The neck, six
ledges made of wood, horn
or ivory.
 Pear-shaped body made of
hard wood and its surface is
covered with paulowania.
 Tuning A-D-E-A. Over three
and a half octaves.
Playing technique
• “pi” push the fingers of the right hand from
right to left.
• “pa” pull the thumb of the right hand from
left to right.
• Rolls, slaps, pizzicato, harmonics.
• “Wu qu” (Material Style)
•“Wen qu” (Civil or lyrical Style)
Notation
Kung-Ch’e System
工尺譜
Pipa Concerto – pipa and orchestra
• Traditionally, pipa is a solo instrument.
Sometimes, used in “silk and bamboo
ensemble” which often found in South-East
China.
• Nowadays, pipa used in contemporary
composition for ensembles or orchestras with
combination of both Chinese and western
instrument.
• Tan Dun’s pipa concerto “Ghost Opera.”
Biwa
Japanese lute
• Pipa came to Japan
as a gift from Chinese Tang
Dynasty(618-907 AD).
• Five main varieties of biwa,
each with its own history,
function and, shape, and
technique. (Gagaku biwa,
Gogenbiwa, Mōsō biwa, Heike biwa,
Satsuma biwa)