Pipa 琵琶

The pipa (Chinese: 琵琶) is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 26.

The pipa is one of the most popular Chinese instruments and has been played for almost two thousand years in China. Several related instruments in East and Southeast Asia are derived from the pipa; these include the Japanese biwa, the Vietnamese đàn tỳ bà, and the Korean bipa.

The instrument's most distinctive technique is a flurry of repeated notes produced by rapid plucking with all five fingers of the right hand in rotation. But that is only one of the resources in the pipa player's arsenal, which also include strummed chords, slow floating melodies (often bending individual notes), string harmonics and the occasional percussive rap on the instrument's body. Learn more

Pipa's classical tradition

Two sides of the pipa's classical tradition: the lyrical style, exemplified by the delicately beautiful tone-painting of "Flute and Drum Music at Sunset.' " and the fierce martial style of "Ambush on Ten Sides, which she described as the most famous piece in the pipa repertoire.