At the turn of the Han and Wei Dynasties, musicians from the western regions were introduced to China from India through the Silk Road. The earliest records can be found in Sui Shu's music records. It prevailed in the Central Plains in the 5th and 6th centuries. Later it spread to the south of China.
During the five hundred years from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the five-stringed pipa became popular and became the main musical instrument of Xiliang, Qiuci, Tianzhu, Shule, Anguo and Koryo in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the works of many poets such as Zhang Hu and Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty, there are descriptions about banjo. The structure of the five-stringed pipa is roughly the same as that of the ancient four-stringed pipa, but it was no longer used in the Song Dynasty and replaced by the four-stringed pipa.
In the Tang Dynasty, many kinds of musical instruments were introduced to Japan from China. Among them, the mother-of-pearl rosewood pipa, which was introduced to Japan in 756 AD, is hidden in the Masakura Yard of Toda Temple in Nara, Japan. This five-stringed pipa made of rosewood is decorated with mother-of-pearl, and its belly is embedded with the pattern of camel rider touching the pipa. Become a rare treasure in the world art treasure house.
In 1930s, Shanghai Datong Music Club made a five-string pipa, with three frets on the right and two frets on the left, and changed the harmony of chords and added a bass string. Because of the war and other reasons, this five-string pipa has been lost. In the aspect of pipa reform, there are explorations to reduce the chord distance on the four-string pipa and increase the bass string on the five-string pipa. In order to keep the traditional shape of the pipa, the newly added bass D (or E) string is tied to the head of the instrument (the center above the string groove). This five-string pipa has expanded the bass range, enriched the timbre, improved the playing skills, and opened up new prospects for the creation and performance of pipa music.
(Note: Today, Mr. Fang Jinlong is good at playing the five-string pipa. )
Second, four-stringed pipa
In Japan, it is called Le Pipa.
Third, Nanyin Pipa
Nanyin is the traditional culture with the most cultural charm in Quanzhou and the representative of the world intangible cultural heritage. Nanyin, also known as Nanqu, Nanle, Nanguan and Xianguan, is mainly composed of "Zhi", "Spectrum" and "Qu".
Large-scale composition is a large category that preserves the richness and integrity of ancient Chinese music.
Pipa has been passed down through the ages, and has changed in appearance, specifications and playing posture to varying degrees. Nanyin Pipa is named after playing the folk music Nanyin. Pipa has developed into a vertical embrace since the Tang Dynasty, but Fujian Nanyin has always maintained an ancient horizontal embrace posture, so it is also known as the "horizontal embrace pipa".
Nanyin Pipa is popular in southern Fujian and Taiwan Province Province. It is one of the main musical instruments playing Nanyin and plays a leading role in the band. It is often matched with Nanyin Dong Xiao to play the melody of the music together, which makes the light and euphemistic Fujian Nanyin full of strong local characteristics.
The structure of Nanpa is exactly the same as that of Pipa. The length of the piano is 93 ~ 104 cm, the lute head is phoenix-tailed, the neck is curved, and the sounding box is pear-shaped, but the abdomen is wide. The backboard used to be hollowed out of pine, but now it has been made of harder wood. The panel is made of paulownia, which is called "spring plate" locally. There are four accessories on the front of the neck, and the middle and upper parts of the panel are horizontally glued with 10 notes, mostly made of ivory, hawksbill or bamboo, which are called "notes". There is a crescent-shaped sound hole on both sides of the product, which is called "spring hole". The string under the panel is relatively large. With four strings, from low to high, they are called bus, three-wire, two-wire and sub-wire. General tuning is (d, g, a, d 1).
Nanpa's playing style is simple and unique, and its rhyme has the taste of ringing a bell. Playing skills mainly include playing, plucking, flicking (fast plucking), fingering, tapping, backward, half-jumping, pressing the sound, nailing the finger (equivalent to holding the pipa vertically), falling the finger quickly and falling the finger slowly.
There are also many popular pipa varieties, which are divided into advanced, intermediate and popular pipa according to material, technology and sound quality. The number of periods and products can be divided into four 10 products, six 18 products, 24 products, 25 products and 28 products.
Fourth, bang.
On the basis of pipa, the back plate which only plays the role of acoustic reflection is thinned to make it vibrate, and the string binding is changed to move up and down to increase the volume of the piano, and the cello plucking method can be adopted. You can participate in band performance, which is most suitable for playing large-scale national orchestral works with modern themes. Strong penetrating power, extremely difficult to be concealed by other musical instruments. But it is not widely known.
Five, the moon.
It has the advantages of Qin Yue and Pipa, and can be set and played in the traditional way of Pipa, or with violin. The pronunciation of "Yuepa" is more powerful than that of Yueqin, with its loud volume, pure sound quality, crisp, full and bright voice, which is most suitable for Beijing opera accompanied by Jinghu.
Six, high-pitched pipa
The right upper part of the piano body is crescent-shaped, and there are sound holes and windows on the ventral surface. The sound column in the piano is adjustable, the pronunciation is one octave higher than that of the ordinary pipa, the high and low tones are balanced and the timbre is beautiful.
Seven, electronic pipa
Externally, the national style of the original pipa is maintained, but some electrical components are installed on the piano box panel, and the pickup is placed under the strings close to the strings. The vibration of the strings is converted into electrical signals by electromagnetic induction, and then sounds are produced by power amplifiers and speakers. In order to avoid reverberation caused by * * * vibration, the electric pipa increases the thickness of the panel, reduces the volume of the * * * speaker, and has a purer sound quality. The electronic pipa is soft, beautiful, crystal clear and expressive.
Eight, crystal pipa
It originated in Zhao Cong and has been patented, which shocked the music industry. It is made of high-grade glass, and an electric speaker is installed on the piano panel. The timbre is clear and bright, but the aftersound is not long.