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The Pipa: An Introduction
By Mack Hagood

When it comes to Bruno Nettl’s (1985) concept of instruments as national symbols, the Chinese qin stands as an example par excellence. First referred to in texts of the Zhou dynasty (1027-221 BCE), this instrument is at least as old as accurately dated Chinese history itself. The ability to play the qin was a requirement for the “cultivated man,” the gentleman scholar who defined the very best of his society. One such sage, Hsi K’ang, wrote the famed Poetical Essay on the Qin, one of scores of ancient texts on the instrument (Thrasher, 28). Today, in volumes on Chinese instruments, it is common for the qin to get a chapter all to itself, an indicator its role as the central musical instrument of Chinese culture. The subject of this paper, the pipa, does not hold quite the same cultural cache as the qin. Even though its distinctive sound, performance style and repertoire are signifiers of the greatness of Chinese music, its origins, though more recent, are less certain. Today, most agree that the pipa came from outside China, most likely by way of the Silk Road. In contrast to the cultural purity of the qin, the pipa reflects the interconnectedness of musical cultures, the difficulties involved in tracing organological roots, and the ability of cultures to incorporate the new and make it “traditional.”

Classification

The pipa is classified as a “necked bowl lute” (321.321) in the Hornbostel-Sachs system. In his book Chinese Musical Instruments, Alan R. Thrasher writes that imported instruments such as the pipa may be called common practice instruments “to differentiate these from the ritual instruments of the court” (36). In addition to classifying the pipa by the source of its vibrations (Hornbostel-Sachs) or function in society (common practice), we may also use the Chinese Bayin (“eight-tone”) method of classification, which divides instruments according to the materials used in their construction. Within this system, the pipa is considered a “silk” instrument, as this is what its strings were traditionally made of (Moore).

Origins and Distribution

The treatment of the pipa’s origins in scholarly literature varies widely. Early twentieth-century Japanese (Kishibe) and European (Abraham and Hornbostel) scholars painstakingly drew connections between the instrument and Central Asian antecedents such as the Arab oud and Persian barbat, while Thrasher notes the similarity between the name of the pipa and that of the ancient Indian vina (39). As for contemporary Chinese scholars, Yang Mu describes the matter as “highly controversial” but judges the theory of Indian derivation as “the more reliable opinion” (33). Another recent book on musical instruments by Chinese scholars (Lee and Shen) does not address the subject of origins at all. Whatever the original source, the pipa has been documented since the Han dynasty (206 BCE-221 CE) and is certainly considered a traditional Chinese instrument by Chinese people (Thrasher, 39). Though it may be considered a common practice instrument, it has also served as a court instrument, as well as an integral part of most regional Chinese ensemble styles (ibid.). Therefore, the instrument is not associated with any particular ethnic minority or region and is played throughout China. The pipa is itself the direct ancestor of the Japanese biwa.

Construction

Though there have been variations, the instrument referred to as the pipa today may be described as a four-stringed lute with a body like a halved pear (round in back, flat in front); a neck studded with deep, triangular frets; and a tuning peg head that bends back away from the neck. The tuning pegs are quite large. In addition to the six deep frets on the neck, there are 24 strips of bamboo on the soundboard of the pipa that also function as frets. Each of the 30 total frets is spaced a semitone from its neighbors; today, the open tuning of the strings is typically A-D-E-A, with the highest A being below middle C. Although it is traditionally strung with silk, many players now prefer nylon strings. A more significant change occurred, perhaps during the Tang dynasty (618-906 CE), when players began to forgo the use of a plectrum (pick), moving the pipa from its horizontal position to vertical and using their fingernails to produce a rolling tremolo effect still used today (Moore; Lee, 115). As for decorative touches in the pipa’s construction, Moore notes that “the pegbox finial may be decorated with a stylized bat (symbol of good luck), a dragon, a phoenix tail, or decorative inlay.” There seems to be little information in English on the pipa construction process. One video production documents a state-run Chinese instrument factory in the early 1980s, where workers crafted instruments by hand and played in amateur ensembles after work—however, the pipa was not shown and China has gone through major economic changes since that time.

Context

As a common practice instrument, the pipa was first a folk instrument, played for enjoyment, not ritual use. As time went on, the instrument moved into many different genres and performance contexts, perhaps due to its expressiveness, melodic flexibility, ability to play chords, and high volume. The instrument found its way into court music ensembles, but also became known as a highly expressive solo instrument after the change was made to the finger-plucked style, allowing performers to simulate sounds of nature and battle. There is an extensive repertoire of solo pipa compositions. According to pipa player Cheng Yu, there are four styles of solo pipa composition: civil, martial, suite and individual. “Civil pieces are often slow, poetic and refined, expressing intimate feelings and the beauty of nature; martial pieces are frenetic and dramatic, often vividly depicting a battle or other historical event; the suite style moderates both the civil and martial characteristics and is often lively and rhythmic; individual pieces are short, usually with 68 beats” (http://www.ukchinesemusic.com).

The pipa is also an important part of the modern Chinese orchestra as well as Chinese opera and various types of narrative song ensembles. Composers such as Tan Dun and virtuoso performers like Wu Man have brought the pipa into the avant-garde by collaborating with groups such as the Kronos Quartet. Meanwhile, Twelve Girls Band, which features three pipa players, has combined traditional Chinese music, electronic beats and sex appeal to top the Japanese pop charts and tour the United States and Europe.

Transmission

China established perhaps the world’s earliest music conservatory during the Zhou dynasty, and has had institutions of musical study ever sense (Mark and Zhang, 391). In addition, two types of master-apprentice relationships emerged—wealthy amateurs would pay for instruction with money, while young would-be professionals would undergo years of servitude (394). After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the government centralized most forms of music education, but market reforms in the late 1970s opened up work for freelance music teachers (397-9). In general, learning tends to take place through listening and repetition, though the Chinese do have a system of music notation. I found no literature on Chinese music pedagogy that mentions the pipa in particular, but it seems likely that transmission has taken place through all the aforementioned means.

Cultural Meaning

As a guitarist living in Taiwan, I became interested in the possibility of studying the pipa and decided to ask some friends about it. I was surprised at the response: “Why do you want to study pipa? That’s a girl’s instrument.” At the time, I was unfamiliar with the concept of an instrument having a particular gender role and was thrown off enough not to pursue it. Later I learned that some men do play pipa, though women seem to be the norm. Of the famous virtuoso performers I am aware of, all are women; the same is true of all art images (paintings and sculpture) of pipa players that I have encountered. One of China’s greatest poets, Bai Juyi (772-846 CE), wrote “Pipa Song,” a bittersweet poem about a faded beauty playing her instrument by moonlight. But for all this anecdotal evidence, none of the sources I have found mention gender in reference to the pipa.

Scholarly Treatment

Clearly, a theme has emerged here—there seems to be a lack of information, at least in English, about the pipa. This seems ironic, as China has thousands of years of written records and highly developed musical aesthetics. Perhaps, when it comes to ethnomusicological scholarship, Chinese music has been a victim of its own success—the large amount of emic written scholarship may have been off-putting to early western scholars, whereas the oral cultures of other societies seemed to them a blank slate for their own ideas. Whatever the reason, China is not as well-represented in western ethnomusicology as Indonesia or Africa, for example. In his book The Way of the Pipa, John E. Meyers examines a collection of woodblock-printed pipa scores from 1918, transcribes them into western notation and discusses their aesthetics, musical devices and relationship to Chinese culture. This is the only book-length pipa monograph I have found.

As for Chinese scholarship, as stated earlier, there is not nearly as much literature concerning the pipa as the qin, and even the dizi (flute), another common practice instrument, is slightly better documented (Thrasher, 40). However, there is an extensive repertoire for the instrument available in a pipa tabulature, and Yang lists thirteen terms for performance techniques (32). The earliest written music I have learned of is dated to 933 CE in Dunhuang and contains 25 melodies (Lui and Wu). The techniques and compositions are highly refined in court music and solo pieces.

Audio/Film Treatment

The Pipa is well represented in commercial recordings. One of its best-known players, Wu Man, has at least 29 albums to her credit. As the pipa is still a popular Chinese instrument, it is featured in countless recording in China and throughout the Chinese diaspora. These recordings include traditional solo compositions, regional opera and ensemble styles, modern Chinese orchestra, “traditional” pieces recorded in contemporary settings, experimental styles, and pop music, where the pipa can add a feeling of nostalgia or “Chinese-ness” to a contemporary song. To my knowledge, the pipa’s use in film has been limited to soundtracks such as Ang Lee’s Eat, Drink, Man, Woman and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; in both films, the presence of the pipa in the score signifies Chinese identity. Although the pipa may not be the central instrument of China’s musical identity, it definitely is a distinctive sound that signifies China to insiders and outsiders alike.

Annotated Bibliography for Pipa

Abraham, Otto and Von Hornbostel, "Studies on the Tonsystern and Music of the Japanese," Hornbostel Opera Omnia, Volume I (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1975).

Abraham and Hornbostel trace connections between the Persian oud and the Japanese biwa, a version of the Chinese pipa.

Kishibe, Shigeo, “The Origin of the P'i-p'a,” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Second Series, XIX (1941), 261–304

Kishibe asserts that the Persian barbat became the Arab oud and made its way to China via the Silk Road, where it became the pipa.

Lee Yuan-yuan and Shen Sin-yan, Chinese Musical Instruments (Chinese music Monograph Series) (Chicago: Chinese Music Society of North America, 1999).

I have some trouble with this book’s central idea of “cultural acoustics,” which seems to conflate the ideas of harmonic intervals and acoustics, though the English is too confusingly written for me to be sure. Nonetheless, this book provides good information on bianzhong, lutes (such as pipa) and zithers. Better diagrams than in Thrasher (see below).

SECTIONS:

THE CULTURAL ACOUSTICS OF CHINESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
HISTORICAL TRENDS IN PREFERENCES FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
MUSICAL BELLS AND CHIMES
REEDED WINDS - THE SOUNDS OF THE GUANYUE
QIN: TIMELESS MUSIC
FINGERBOARD AND FRETTED LUTES: XIANZI AND PIPA
YANGQIN – THE BUTTERFLY HARP
THE TRUE FIDDLES OF CHINESE MUSIC: A COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY

Lui Tsun-wen and Wu Ben, “The Chinese Pipa,” Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2-20-2006),

Moore, Kenneth J., “The Pipa” Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accessed 2-20-2006)

This brief online article does what many other sources do not—it places the pipa within the Chinese Bayin classification system.

Myers, John, The Way of the Pipa: Structure and Imagery in Chinese Lute Music (Kent: Kent State University Press, 1992).

Meyers uses a set of nineteenth century printed pipa scores as a starting point to examine melody, aesthetics and the instrument’s cultural significance. Originally presented as the author’s PhD thesis, this book is all the more valuable due to a scarcity of English-language volumes on the pipa.

Thrasher, Alan R, Chinese Musical Instruments (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2000).

In this slim volume, Thrasher first discusses early history, aesthetics and materials, then gives the qin a chapter of its own. Common practice instruments include non-ritual, imported instruments (such as pipa) and are the focus of chapter three. The next two chapters examine specific ensembles and the postscript briefly discusses modern Syncretic ensembles of the concert hall. There are many color pictures and illustrations, including a map of China.

SECTIONS:

THE ANCIENT HERITAGE
HAN LITERATI AND THE QIN
COMMON-PRACTICE INSTRUMENTS IN HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE
SIZHU INSTRUMENTS
CHUIDA INSTRUMENTS
POSTSCRIPT: TWENTIETH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS

Wu Ben, “Archeology and History of Musical Instruments in China,” The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (New York: Garland, 1998), 105-114.

“This article is a brief survey focusing on some of the most important instruments. Its three major sections correspond to three large historical periods, beginning with the earliest” (105). This is a very helpful reference for finding and dating origins of Chinese instruments.

SECTIONS:

REMOTE ANTIQUITY TO PERIOD OF WARRING STATES (BEFORE 221 BCE)
FROM QIN TO FIVE DYNASTIES (221 BCE-960 CE) [The pipa is in this section.]
FROM SONG TO QING (960-1911)

Yang Mu, Chinese Musical Instruments: An Introduction (Canberra: Coralie Rockwell Foundation, 1993)

Though it is light on history and cultural analysis, this book presents clear photos, diagrams, scales and information on numerous commonly played Chinese instruments. This unpretentious book succeeds at its goal of providing concise explanations of instruments to non-Chinese students and scholars.

SECTIONS:

CHUIGUAN YUEQI: WIND INSTRUMENTS
TANBO YUEQI: PLUCKING-STRIKING INSTRUMENTS
GONGXIAN YUEQI: BOW-STRING INSTRUMENTS
DAJI YUEQI: PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS
INSTRUMENTS USED IN ANCIENT TIMES
ORCHESTRAS AND ENSEMBLES

Yang Mu, Chinese Musical Instruments Sound Cassettes (Canberra: Coralie Rockwell Foundation, 1993)

These excellent cassettes are at least as helpful as the book which they supplement. Yang demonstrates tunings, scales, techniques and sample pieces for each instrument. The pipa section is very good. Unfortunately, the copy in the Music Library at Indiana University has severely degraded sound quality.