Instrumental Archaeology, Issue 7

The Pipa

An eighteenth century pipa from Guangzhou, China made by Jiu-cheng. Note the pegbox carved into a bat, representing good luck. Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Throughout the centuries, merchants and travelers brought with them many valuable objects and ideas along the Silk Road. Among these items were instruments that would become the pipa.

History

Appearing in China during the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534 AD), the pipa evolved from the instruments brought via the Silk Road from central Asia. The pipa is most likely one of the many descendants of the Arabic oud as they have similar forms and the ancestors of the pipa come from the general regions of the oud. The pipa has since spread to Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Fuji, each with their own version.

Historically, the pipa was played by scholars in solo and ensemble performances, but over time it began to be played by more and more people and used in songs and operas. It has also been frequently associated with Buddhism and is featured in Buddhist narrative songs and iconography. Some pipas are carved with Buddhist decorations.

The Pipa

The pipa is a very dynamic and expressive instrument. Its name refers to the plectrum strokes once used to play the instrument. Pi meaning “to play forward” and pa “to play backward.”

The neck of the pipa is traditionally made of teak and the soundboard from the wutong tree. The pipa can have between 29-31 frets in total, with six frets located on the neck while the rest spill out onto the body. Interestingly, the frets located on the neck are made of a soft stone, and bamboo is commonly used for those on the body. The frets on modern pipas allow for chromatic scales, however older models were set up to play diatonic scales. The pegbox of pipas is usually carved into bats, dragons, a phoenix tail, or adorned with decorative inlays.

Originally, the pipa was held horizontally and played like a guitar with a large plectrum, but at some point during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) the pipa began to be played upright. Whenever this switch happened, the plectrum went out of fashion and fingernail began to be used, which has led to fingerpicks being used today. There are many strumming and plucking techniques to play the pipa, which can involve up to all five fingers. In the image below, you can see the figure on the right is playing a pipa horizontally with a plectrum.

Seated Female Musicians. Seventh century earthenware sculpture from the Tang Dynasty (618-906). Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Unlike the other stringed instruments we’ve looked at, the pipa’s strings were traditionally made of silk, and not animal gut. Because of this, the pipa is classified as a silk instrument in the Chinese bayin classification system. The bayin classification system dates to the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BC) and organizes instruments based on their resonating material. The eight materials are silk, bamboo, stone, gourd, wood, hide, metal, and clay. Nylon strings, which are cheaper and more reliable than silk, are commonly used today.

The Sound

Below is Vivian Liu performing “Ambush on Ten Sides,” a traditional Chinese piece that tells the story of a battle between the Chu and Han armies in 202 BC.

Here is pipa virtuoso Wu Man performing “White Snow in Spring.”

I’ve created a YouTube playlist of all of the videos I’ve featured in Instrumental Archaeology which will be updated with each new issue. You can listen to it here.

Sources

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Pipa. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/pipa-musical-instrument.

Moore, J. Kenneth. Music and Art of China. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. September 2009, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/much/hd_much.htm.

Moore, J. Kenneth. The Pipa. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. October 2003, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pipa/hd_pipa.htm.

Vetter, Roger and Toby Austin. Pipa. Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection.

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