Historical background of a Pipa
In the Qin Dynasty (222-207 BC), there hadbeen a kind of pluck-instrument, known as xiantao,
with straight neck and a round sound-body played
horizontally. In the preface to his verse Ode to Pipa,
Xuan Fu of the Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD) wrote:
"...the 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". By Han Dynasty (206 BC -- 220 AD),
the instrument developed into a form of four strings
and twelve frets, plucked with fingernails and known
as pipa or qin-pipa. In the Western Jin Dynasty (256-
316), the qin-pipa was named after the famous
scholar, Ruan Xian, who was a virtuoso in such an
instrument. The instrument is still called ruan till
present day. During the Northern and Southern
Dynasty (420-589 AD), a similar instrument with a
crooked neck and four or five strings was introduced
through the Silk Road from little Asia, known as the
Hu Pipa (Hu stands for "foreign" in Chinese), which
was played horizontally with a wooden plectrum. By the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), the pipa
was one of the most popular instruments, and has maintained its appeal in solo as well as
chamber genres ever since.
Source: http://pgh-net.com/pipa/pipa.pdf
posted by Jael™ @ 2:47 AM
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