古典乐器-中英文对照-琵琶

A brief history of the pipa, a traditional

Chinese music instrument

The

pipa

(pronounced

oldest Chinese musical instruments with over 2000 years of history.

The term

pipa

(

) consists of two Chinese characters

symbolizing two playing techniques (denoted as

today) while their pronunciations

p'i

and

p'a

are imitations of the

sounds produced accordingly. The latter fact is however not often

mentioned in the literatures about the

pipa

(see Note

)

The historical development of the

pipa

has been a progressive process

from its very beginning with few major fusions. The earliest Chinese

written texts about the

pipa

dated back at least to the second century

BC. For instance, Xi Liu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD)

described in his book,

The Definition of Terms - On Musical

Instruments

, that the name of the instrument

pipa

originally referred

to two finger techniques. The two Chinese characters

p'i

and

p'a

stood

originally for the two movements, i.e. plucking the strings forwards

and backwards, respectively. It is commonly known now that the term

the ancient times. For instance, in the Qin Dynasty (222-207 BC),

there had been a kind of plucked- instrument, known as

xiantao

, with

a straight neck and a round sound-body played horizontally, which is

considered one of the predecessors of the

pipa

. In the preface to his

verse Ode to

Pipa

, Xuan Fu of the Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD) wrote:

pipa

appeared in the late Qin period. When the people suffered

from being forced to build the Great Wall, they played the instrument

to express their resentment

the instrument developed into its form of four strings and twelve frets,

plucked with fingernails and known as

pipa

or

qin-pipa

(see Fig.1[

1

]. In the Western Jin Dynasty (256-316), the

qin-pipa

was named after the famous scholar, one of

Bamboo Grove

Ruan Xian

, who was a great master on this

instrument. (Note that

Ji Kong

, grand master of the seven stringed

zither

qin

, was among the seven sages who often met for music and

wine). The instrument has been to this day called the

ruan

(

)

whereas the name

pipa

specifically referred to a new version in the

same family of instruments, which developed as follows:

Fig.1:

Historical development of the pipa, a Chinese four

stringed lute - an illustration of the time evolution from

(See the

Note

on the right panel for detailed

explanation of the major fusion).

During the Northern and Southern Dynasty (420-589 AD), a similar

pluck string instrument, called

oud

or

barbat

with a crooked neck and

four or five strings was introduced through the Silk Road from Central

Asia, known as the

Hu Pipa

(

Hu

stands for

which was played horizontally with a wooden plectrum (see the

picture below for the Tang Dynasty

pipa

player). During the early

Tang Dynasty, foreign music became very popular. A fusion of the

original Chinese

pipa

and the

Hu pipa

instrument gradually became what the present

pipa

looks like toward

the middle of the Tang Dynasty (see the above

Fig.

1 [1]-[4]

and the

Note

on the right panel). Meanwhile the playing method has been

developed and repertoire increased. One of the greatest

developments was that the left hand became totally free by holding

the instrument vertically, i.e. the

pipa

rests on the thigh of the

instrumentalist in an upright position, and was played vertically with

five fingers of the right hand instead of horizontally with a plectrum

(see the photo at the top of this page).

During the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), the

pipa

was one of the most

popular instruments, and it has maintained its appeal in solo as well

as chamber genres ever since

Another big change (fusion) occurred to the pipa during the first half

of the last century: the traditional pipa with silk strings and pentatonic

tuning has developed into the modern pipa with steel strings and

chromatic tuning (by increasing the number of frets). The modern

instrument is half-pear-shaped, with a short, bent neck, and has 30

frets which extend down the neck and onto the soundboard, giving a

wide range and a complete chromatic scale. The usual tuning is A - E

- D - A (La - Mi - Re - La). Since early last century, steel strings began

to be used by some musicians while most still kept using silk strings.

Since the 1950s, the making of the pipa has become standardized in

measure and the strings are made of steel wrapped with nylon. Thus

using the real nail becomes almost impossible. Instead, a little

plectrum (or fake nail) is attached to each finger of the right hand. The

plectrums are usually made of turtle shell or special plastics.

Notation

for the pipa combines symbols for pitch (Kung-ch'e system)

with abbreviated characters for special finger techniques. Today, a

simplified version of music scores are commonly used in which

numbers representing pitches and symbols representing finger

techniques are used. Meanwhile, the standard Western music score

has been used increasingly because it has advantages in ensemble

pieces and in particular for

pipa concertos

There was a huge

repertoire

of pipa music in Chinese history,

particularly during the Tang dynasty. But most of the pieces were lost.

Fortunately, there are precious pipa pieces handed down from one

generation to another by individual artists and scholars. Some pieces

have been preserved in Japan and other musical scores were

discovered along the Silk Road in Gansu Province, China, around 1900.

These musical notations, known as the Dunhuang scores from the

Tang Dynasty (7-9th century) triggered great concern and interest

within China as well as abroad. However, they remained a mystery

until the early 1980s, when the scholar, Prof. Ye Dong from the

Shanghai Conservatory of Music, successfully

pieces. The beauty and elegance of these pieces has thus first been

revealed to the public after having slept for a thousand years.

Pipa music has been loved by Chinese people through the centuries.

During the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1645-1911) dynasties,

various pipa schools with different styles flourished in the South,

centered in Wuxi, Suzhou and Shanghai, and the North, centered in

Beijing. The development of finger techniques for both hands

achieved a high standard by the masters from each school. The

present day pipa techniques are mostly the fusion of those different

schools. Now the pipa is one of most popular instruments in China.

Many of the compositions that make up the traditional repertoire,

which were handed down from generation to generation through

individual artists and scholars, date back hundreds of years, while

others are part of a body of compositions that are dynamic and

growing. In more recent times, composers have explored the

possibilities for the pipa and other Chinese and Western instruments,

even with orchestra. Nowadays, there are a number of celebrated

pipa concerti.

The playing

technique

consists of the right hand fingers plucking the strings

and the left hand fingers touching the strings in a variety of ways to create

melodies, ornaments and special effects. The fingers that pluck the strings

move outwards, just the opposite to guitar techniques. The frets are pretty high,

which allows the string to be pushed, twisted, and pressed. There are over 60

different techniques that have been developed through the centuries.

The pipa's technique is characterized by spectacular finger dexterity

and virtuosic programmatic effects. Rolls, slaps, pizzicato, harmonics,

and noises are often combined into extensive tone-poems vividly

describing famous battles or other exciting scenes, such as the

Ambush

(see the demo video #2 below). This type is called

(martial style). This example describes the decisive battle fought in

the second century BC between Chu (Xiang Yu) and Han (Liu Bang).

The instrument is also capable of more lyric effects, in the category of

(

Swirling snow decorates the evergreen

, see the demo video #1

below) or

Sai Shang qu

(

Songs from the other side of the border

).

The former uses a scene in nature as metophor to describe human

feeling. The latter is said to represent the sorrowful song of a Han

dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) noblewoman, who was compelled for

political reasons to marry a barbarian prince. This story appears in

several versions connected with the origin of the pipa. There are also

a lot of written texts and famous poems about the pipa music played

by virtuoso performers in history. For instance, the following

comments can be found in the texts from the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907)

describing the intensity of the Ambush played by artists of that time :

field, as if the earth is torn and the sky is falling

Pipa Song

, Bai Juyi, one of the leading poets in the Tang Dynasty,

described vividly the pipa music performed by an artist:

thicker strings rattled like splatters of sudden rain, the thinner ones

hummed like a hushed whisper. Together they shaped strands of

melody, like larger and smaller pearls falling on a jade plate.

中文对照

-

琵琶艺术的发展简史

“琵琶”之名是古人巧妙地结合音、形、意的造字手法产生出来的，为

汉语中特有，并 非外来词。其最初是对所有类似的弹拨乐器的指称。有