Pipa.

Pear-shaped plucked lute of China and Korea. It corresponds to the Japanese Biwa and is related to the Vietnamese đàn ty ba.

1. The Chinese ‘pipa’.

There are two different theories on the origin of the term pipa. Some Han dynasty sources state that ‘pipa’ originally referred to two different plucking techniques of the right hand: pi meant ‘to play forward’ (to the player's left) with the right hand, while pa meant ‘to play backward’ (to the player's right), equivalent to the modern terms tan and tiao. But since these etymologies have not been found in any other context, and it is believed that this kind of instrument was introduced into China from a foreign country, some other scholars think pipa may be a transliteration of a foreign term for the instrument's name.

Pipa was a general name for various types of plucked lutes from the Han to the Tang dynasties (roughly from the 2nd century bce to the 9th century ce), including plucked lutes with long or short neck and round or pear-shaped soundbox. According to historical literature, a long straight-necked lute called pipa appeared in the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce). It had a round soundbox with four strings and 12 frets. Later, it was called Han pipa, or ruanxian after the name of an outstanding performer in the 3rd century bce. The earliest image of a musician playing this straight-necked lute is on a miniature ceramic vessel dated 260 ce. The modern ruan is basically the same in shape.

According to a legend described in the poem Pipa fu by Fu Xuan (217–78 ce), another type of pipa called xiantao with a long straight neck and small round soundbox appeared even earlier. Also called Qin pipa, the xiantao (‘string tao’) was said to have been developed under the Qin dynasty (221–207 bce) by fixing strings on to a small drum called tao, struck by two beads attached by strings to either side of the drum and moved by means of a long handle. But the source was written over 400 years after the Qin dynasty, and there is no supporting archaeological or iconographical evidence for the xiantao. Another type called the Qin-Han pipa or Qin-Hanzi, which appeared in the Sui dynasty (581–618 ce), may be seen as a variation on the straight-necked Han-pipa, with a smaller round soundbox and a longer neck. This is considered the ancestor of the modern qinqin (‘Qin instrument’).

The archetype of the modern pipa, which has a pear-shaped soundbox, was introduced into China from India in 346–53 ce, but its origin was in ancient Persia. In China this type of pipa was known as the quxiang pipa (‘pipa with a crooked neck’ – actually a short-necked lute with reversed pegbox). This instrument had four strings and four frets, and was held transversely and plucked with a plectrum. It appears in much early iconography in China, such as the celestial deva-musician playing the pipa in a fresco of the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 ce) in cave no.435 at Dunhuang. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the quxiang pipa was used in various courtly ensembles to accompany singing and dancing, as well as for solo music. Another similar instrument popular in courtly ensembles of the Sui and Tang dynasties was the wuxian pipa (‘five-string pipa’), also known as wuxian. It was similar in shape to the quxiang pipa, but smaller. It is thought to have been developed in India (rather than Persia: see Lin, 1962), and was introduced to China from there in the 4th century ce. Some early iconographical representations may also been seen, such as the celestial deva-musician in a Northern Wei fresco from Dunhuang (Liu and Yuan, 1988, p.62). It disappeared gradually after the Tang dynasty. Versions of the ruanxian, quxiang pipa and wuxian pipa were introduced to Japan during the Tang dynasty.

After the Tang dynasty the instrument commonly known as pipa was the four-string quxiang pipa. Gradual changes occurred throughout the succeeding millennium: the playing position changed from horizontal to vertical; fingernails, real or false, replaced the plectrum; the number of frets increased from 4 to 14 or 16, and in the 20th century to 17, 24, 29 or 30. Contexts, too, changed: since the Song dynasty, the pipa was extensively used among folk musicians and the common people to accompany emerging genres of narrative singing and regional opera. (For living traditions see China, §IV, 4(ii).)

The back body of the modern pipa is made of teak and the soundboard of wutong wood (Firmiana platanifolia). The upper frets (on the neck) and the tuning pegs are of ivory, buffalo horn or wood; the lower frets (on the body) are usually of bamboo. The head of the pipa is slanted slightly: its middle part is always bent backwards and its top part can be bent either forwards or backwards. The head is usually in the form of a symbolic object (such as a dragon's head, a phoenix's tail or a bat's head) and its middle part is sometimes inlaid with a piece of jade for decoration. The strings were traditionally made of twisted silk and now often of metal or nylon.

A series of manuscripts dated 933 ce, found in Dunhuang at the beginning of the 20th century and now in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, is considered to contain 25 melodies in pipa tablature, although their interpretation remains controversial. Most traditional pipa scores surviving today use the standard gongche notation. Since the 1920s pipa music has also been notated in the cipher notation widely adopted in China since then.

Traditionally, the range of the pipa is about three octaves (normally from A to f'' or a'') with 14 or 16 frets. The 16-fret pipa has two more high-pitch frets than the 14-fret one. Most of these frets produce intervals approximately equal to Western whole tones (W) and semitones (S), although two frets, the 11th and the 15th (or the 7th and the 11th lower frets), produce ¾ tones or ‘neutral tones’. The scheme from the open string upwards is: W S S S W S S S W W ¾ ¾ W W ¾ ¾. Traditionally, there are several different tunings for the four open strings of the pipa. The most common is called zhengdiao or xiaogong diao. The intervals between the four strings are a 4th, 2nd and 4th; today the four strings are normally tuned as A, d, e, a. In this tuning, the strings on the 16-fret pipa have the series of pitches shown in Table 1. Although the fretting and tuning systems represent the basic pitches available on the instruments, microtonal changes of pitch of up to a semitone are often effected by pulling or pushing the string sideways. In the 1920s and 30s some musicians rearranged the frets of the pipa based on the 12-tone equal temperament, making a 24-fret pipa. Since the 1950s this kind of pipa has become popular, and the number of the frets increased to 29 or 30, with a range from A to d''' or e'''. Intervals between all frets are semitones, except that between the 29th and 30th which is a whole tone. Although factory-made forms are increasingly common, traditional regional forms are still played, such as the pipa of nanguan in Fujian and that of balladeers in northern Shaanxi.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

S. Kishibe: ‘The Origin of the P'i-p'a’, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 2nd ser., xix (1941), 260–304

L.E.R. Picken: ‘The Origin of the Short Lute’, GSJ, viii (1955), 32–42

Chang Renxia: ‘Han-Tang shiqi xiyu pipa de shuru he fazhan’ [The introduction and development of the pipa of the western regions in the Han and Tang periods], Minzu yinyue yanjiu lunwenji, i (Beijing, 1956), 14–20

[Lin Qiansan] K. Hayashi: Dongya yueqi kao [Study of musical instruments in East Asia] (Beijing, 1962/R)

Yang Yinliu: Zhongguo gudai yinyue shigao [Draft history of ancient Chinese music] (Beijing, 1981)

R. Wolpert: ‘The Five-Stringed Lute in East Asia’, Musica asiatica, iii, ed. L. Picken (1981), 97–106

Wu Ben: ‘Chuantong pipa de teshu pinwei jiqi dui yuequ de yingxiang’ [The special frets of the traditional pipa and their influence on its music], Zhongguo yinyue (1986), no.2, pp.50–52

Liu Dongsheng and Yuan Quanyou, eds.: Zhongguo yinyue shi tujian [Pictorial guide to the history of Chinese music] (Beijing, 1988) [YYS pubn]

Liu Dongsheng, ed.: Zhongguo yueqi tujian [Pictorial guide to Chinese instruments] (Ji'nan, 1992) [YYS pubn]

Zheng Zurang: ‘Handai pipa'qiyuan shiliao jiqi fenxi yanjiu kaozheng’ [Analysis and textual criticism of sources on the origin of the Han dynasty pipa], Zhongguo yinyuexue (1993), no.4, pp.43–8

2. The Korean ‘pip’a’.

There were two types of pip’a in Korea, both now obsolete: the four-string tang-pip’a (‘Chinese pip’a’) and the five-string hyang-pip’a (‘native pip’a’, also known as ohyŏn: ‘five strings’). According to the treatise Akhak kwebŏm (1493), the tang-pip’awas about 128 cm long and had a neck which bent backwards at the pegbox; there were four large convex frets on the neck and eight thin ones on the soundtable (see fig.2). In performances of tangak (‘Chinese music’) the player used a fan-shaped wooden plectrum and only the four frets on the neck; in hyangak (‘native music’) he used finger-picks and the frets on the soundtable as well as those on the neck. Tunings were various, but an example of a tangak tuning is A–d–G–g and of a hyangak tuning B–e–e–b.

The tang-pip’a was used only for tangak during the Koryŏ period (918–1392), but in the 15th century it was adapted for hyangak as well. The Akhak kwebŏm demonstrates various tunings and modes, plus a certain number of tablature symbols; pieces notated in pip’a tablature occur as early as the An Sang kŭmbo (‘An Sang’s zither book’) of 1572. Surviving instruments differ in a few details from the description in the Akhak kwebŏm.

The hyang pip’a, according to the Akhak kwebŏm, was 104 cm long and had a straight neck tapering gradually from the body. There were ten frets. Players used a pencil-shaped plectrum (sultae), as on the zither kŏmun’go, and nearly all the frets. As with the tang-pip’a, various tunings were used, a typical one being A–e–e–a–c'. The hyang-pip’a was one of the three main string instruments (together with kŏmun’go and kayagŭm) of the Unified Silla period (668–935). The Chinese Sui shu (‘History of the Sui dynasty’) indicates that the Korean ensemble at the Sui court in the late 6th century included a five-string instrument. A five-string biwa (gogenbiwa) of the 8th century, in the Shōsōin repository in Nara, Japan, fits the description of the hyang-pip’a in the Akhak kwebŏm.

The hyang-pip’a tradition was marginally preserved by kŏmun’go players until 1930, but the instrument subsequently fell into disuse.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sōng Hyŏn, ed.: Akhak kwebŏm [Guide to the study of music] (Seoul, 1493/R), 7.4b–7b and 7.21a–23b

S. Kishibe: ‘On the Origin of the P’i-p’a’, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 2nd ser., xix (1940), 259–304

L.E.R. Picken: ‘The Origin of the Short Lute’, GSJ, viii (1955), 32–42

Chang Sahun: Han’guk akki taegwan [Korean musical instruments] (Seoul,1969), 91ff

Song Bang-song: ‘The Korean Pip’a and its Notation’, EthM, xvii (1973), 460–93

Cheung Sai-bung: Zhongguo yinyue shilun shugao [Draft examinations into Chinese music history] (Hong Kong, 1974–5), 246ff

TSUN-YUEN LUI/WU BEN (1), ROBERT C. PROVINE (2)