The origin of "pipa"?

Historically, the so-called pipa, does not only refer to the pear-shaped **** sound box of the curved lute, but a variety of plucked instruments, the name "Bi", "Pa" is based on the right-hand technique to play these instruments. That is to say, pipa and pazhou was the name of two playing techniques, pipa is the right hand forward, pazhou is the right hand backward pick.

So that the "pipa" shape similar to the size of the difference, such as the moon, Ruan, etc., can be said to be pipa type instruments. The pipa is a major plucked instrument with a long history in China. The pipa is a four-stringed lute with six phases and twenty-four articles, which has been improved by generations of players and has now become a uniform instrument. The pipa has a wide range of tones, and its playing techniques are the most expressive of all folk instruments.

When the pipa is played, each finger of the left hand presses the string at the corresponding grade, and the right hand wears false nails made of celluloid (or tortoiseshell) to pluck the strings and pronounce the sound.

A round instrument with a long handle began to circulate around the Qin Dynasty. Because it was played in two ways: by playing it forward, it was called a "batch," and by picking it up, it was called a "handle," and so it was called a "batch handle. Later, the name was changed to pipa in order to harmonize the writing with that of the qin and serpent.

During the North and South Dynasties, a pear-shaped sound box with a curved neck and four strings came from the West, and some people combined it with the Chinese pipa to make a new type of pipa. In the method of playing, the horizontal embrace style was changed to vertical embrace style, and the plucking of the plectrum was changed to playing with five fingers of the right hand. It has been improved by an unknown number of artists to become the two types of pipa of four phases and thirteen items and six phases and twenty-four items today.

The pipa, also known as the "batch handle", first seen in history is the Han Dynasty Liu Xi "interpretation of the name - interpretation of musical instruments": "batch handle this out of the Hu, the drums on the horse. Push the hand before said batch, lead hand but said put, like its drum time, because of the name also." Means that the batch is riding on a horse playing the instrument, forward playing called as a batch, backward pick into called as a handle; according to the characteristics of its performance and named "batch handle".

In ancient times, the drums were called drums when they were played, struck, played and played. At that time, nomads rode on horses and played the pipa well, so it was called "the drum on the horse". South Dynasty, Wang Sinqi "Technology Record": "Wei Wende Queen elegant good pipa. Emperor Ming tasted cited the Queen's clothes begging for music, when Yang Fu in the side, asked the emperor said: 'Empress Dowager, His Majesty's first mother, Jun Li is not in the evil?' The emperor was ashamed to shrink his hand, the queen was out.

Tilting, the emperor said Fu said: 'I know that Qing respect section, but honestly because of my mind is not calm, this time from the words of the Secretary, shall not be vast Xiangshui, see Iren? After this statement, the sound is highly skillful." It can be seen in the Wei and Jin dynasties, "pipa" of the name of the formal entry into the court.

The pipa evolved from the historical straight pipa and curved pipa, according to historical records, the straight pipa appeared earlier in China, the Qin and Han Dynasties, "Qin Hanzi", is a straight handle round *** sound box straight pipa (*** sound box on both sides of the masked leather), which was developed from the late Qin string drum.

"Ruan Xian" or "Ruan" is a straight-handled wooden round *** sound box, four strings and twelve columns, the vertical embrace of the hand-played lute. Jin Dynasty Ruan Xian good at playing this instrument, so called by its name, that is, today's Ruan.

North and South Dynasties, through the Silk Road and the western region for cultural exchanges, the curved lute from Persia through today's Xinjiang into China. The Qu Xiang Pipa is a four-stringed, four-phase (pillarless) pear-shaped instrument, held horizontally and played with a plectrum. It flourished in the Northern Dynasties and spread to the south around the Yangtze River Valley in the first half of the 6th century AD.

In the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., with the strengthening of commercial and cultural exchanges between China and the peoples of the Western Regions, a kind of lute with a curved neck was imported from Central Asia, which was then called the "hu lute."?

The shape of the lute is a curved neck, pear-shaped sound box, with four columns and four strings, much like the Oud or Ud, which is common in the Arab countries, or the Barbat of ancient Persia. The lute is held horizontally and played with a plectrum. The modern lute evolved and developed from this curved lute.

From the Northern Qi Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty is the first peak of the pipa's development history, the Cao pipa family, originally from Cao (now in the northeast of Samarkand, Uzbekistan), is one of the outstanding representatives of the pipa family, such as Cao Miaoda from the Northern Qi Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, because of the pipa's goodness in the Northern Qi Dynasty, he was made the king of the Sui Dynasty, and then appointed as a music official of the palace in Sui Dynasty, in the taile to teach and learn the pipa skills.

In the Sui and Tang dynasties nine, ten music, Qu Xiang pipa has become the main instrument, the development of song and dance art in the Tang Dynasty played an important role. From Dunhuang murals and Yungang stone carvings, you can still see its position in the band at that time.

Extended information:

Pipa, is the first of the plucked instruments, plucked strings stringed instruments. Wooden, the speaker is half pear-shaped, on the four strings, the original is made of silk, now more steel wire, steel rope, nylon. Neck and panel set to determine the pitch of the "phase" and "product". It is an important national musical instrument that can be played solo, accompanied by accompaniment, repertoire and ensemble, with the left hand pressing the strings and the five fingers of the right hand playing.

The pipa is a traditional East Asian plucked instrument with a history of more than 2,000 years. The earliest known instrument, the pipa, appeared in China around the time of the Qin Dynasty. The word "jue" in the word "pipa" means "two jades touching each other, making a pleasant clanking sound," indicating that it is a musical instrument that produces sound by touching the strings of the instrument. The name "Pi", "Pa" is based on the right-hand technique of playing these instruments.

That is to say, pipa and pazhou is the name of two playing techniques, pipa is the right hand forward, pazhou is the right hand backward pick. Before the Tang Dynasty, the pipa is also the Chinese language to all the lute qin (also known as the genus lute) plucked instruments in general. The Chinese pipa spread to other parts of East Asia, developing into the current Japanese pipa, Korean pipa and Vietnamese pipa.

In the history of modern Chinese folk music, there are two major schools of pipa, the "Hai School" (Pudong School) and the "Zhe School" (Pinghu School). The pipa art of Pinghu School has considerable historical value for the study of national music history.

Basic structure of the pipa:

The pipa consists of a head and a body, with the head consisting of a string groove, a string shaft and a mountain pass. The head consists of string grooves, string shafts, and mountain passages. The body consists of phases, tastes, speakers, and overhands.

The head of the pipa consists of the string groove, the four "carabiners" (string shafts), and the "mountain pass".

The body of the pipa is called the "neck" at the upper end, where the "phase" is located, and the upper end of the neck is called the "cushion", and the lower part of the neck is called the "taste". The middle and lower part of the neck is the "taste", and both the phase and the taste are called "pillar" in ancient times, which is a kind of phonemic device. The body of the lower part of the body of the middle part of the narrow bottom, the bottom of the semicircular, hollow, that is, the speaker.

The taste is glued to the "panel" made of paulownia board, four strings are tied to the lower end of the "overhand" of the four small holes in the center of the overhand panel, there is a small hole, known as the "Nayin" or "out". There is a small hole in the panel at the center of the hand, which is called the "nayin" or "sound hole". The back of the body, called the "pipa back," has the upper end of the back connected to the head, the middle and lower part of the back bonded to the panel, and there are two crosspieces and a few tone pillars in the belly, which are placed in a certain area.

Back material with rosewood, black material, old mahogany, rosewood, mahogany, etc. is made of top quality, made of white wood is popular, because rosewood, mahogany and other wood is good at playing the natural overtones to.

The pipa consists of six phases and twenty-four products that make up the twelve equal temperaments with a wide range of tones. The first string is made of steel wire, and the second, third and fourth strings are made of steel rope and nylon. Pipa sound is very special, its overtones in the ancient and modern Chinese and foreign all kinds of musical instruments in the first place, not only the volume of sound, and the sound quality is crisp and bright.

At the same time, the pipa's fundamental sound is accompanied by rich overtones, which make the sound of the pipa less attenuated and more penetrating, and the sound of the pipa's heavy and strong tones can be heard up to two or three miles away when it is played in a calm, open space.

The sound of a high-quality pipa is highly penetrating (small attenuation, far-reaching). The high register is bright and rigid, the middle register is soft and moist, and the bass register is simple and rich. As depicted in Bai Juyi's poem "Pipa Xing", "the big strings are as noisy as the rain, the small strings are as cutting as the whispers, the noisy and cutting are mixed up, and the big and small pearls fall down from the jade plate", "the silver bottle is broken at first, and the iron horsemen protrude from the swords and spears.

At the end of the song, when the plucking is done, the four strings sound like cracking silk" is no longer the poet's artistic exaggeration, but the real effect of the contemporary pipa's performance.

The pipa's "head" and "body" as well as the "square" are made of hardwood, color wood, iron pear wood, pear wood, chicken wing wood, sour wood, ebony, rosewood as the main material. Material. The high-grade pipa shaft is also made of cow horn, cow bone and ivory. The panel is made of tung wood from Lankao, Henan Province, and the armrests are mostly made of perennial bamboo.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Pipa