![]() ![]() ![]() The back is usually plain since it is unseen by an audience, but the extraordinary pipa illustrated here ( 50.145.74) is decorated with a symmetrical “beehive” of 110 hexagonal ivory plaques, each carved with a Daoist, Buddhist, or Confucian symbol. Pipas have frets that progress onto the belly of the instrument, and the pegbox finial may be decorated with a stylized bat (symbol of good luck), a dragon, a phoenix tail, or decorative inlay. However, today many performers use nylon strings instead of the more expensive and temperamental silk. 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.īecause of its traditional association with silk strings, the pipa is classified as a silk instrument in the Chinese bayin (eight-tone) classification system, a system devised by scholars of the Zhou court (1046–256 B.C.) to divide instruments into eight categories determined by materials. In the Museum’s collection, a late seventh-century group of female musicians sculpted in clay ( 23.180.4-7) illustrates the guitar style of holding the instrument. ![]() The word pipa describes the plectrum’s plucking strokes: pi, “to play forward,” pa, “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. 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. Traveling over ancient trade routes, it brought not only a new sound but also new repertoires and musical theory. 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). ![]()
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