Pipa is miserable, and the strings are cold and dark.

Tears are moist and exquisite, and affectionate flowers are everywhere.

Pipa is rich in connotation and full of personality, which is suitable for artists who wander around the world, people who travel all the way, lonely smoke in the desert and people with temperament in the world of mortals.

Pipa and arpeggio are the names of two playing techniques. Pipa right hand plays forward, arpeggio right hand plays backward. Pipa is the main plucked instrument with a long history in China. After the improvement of the performer, the shape tends to be unified, and it has become a four-string pipa with six phases and twenty-four products. Pipa has a wide range, diverse playing skills and rich expressive force. When playing, each finger of the left hand presses the strings of the corresponding grade, and the right hand wears a celluloid fake nails to pluck the strings.

The history of pipa

In history, the so-called pipa not only refers to the musical pipa with pear-shaped sound box, but also refers to various plucked instruments with similar shapes and sizes, such as, yueqin and Ruan, all of which can be said to be pipa instruments. Its names "Pi" and "Pa" are based on the right-handed skills of playing these instruments.

Pipa, also known as "Pipa", was first recorded in the history of Liu Xi's Interpretation of Names and Musical Instruments in the Han Dynasty: "Pipa originated in Hu Zhong, and then drummed. Say yes when you push your hand, and say yes when you pull it, just like when you drum, because you feel famous. " In other words, the pipa is a musical instrument that is played on a horse. It is called a batch when it is ejected forward and a handle when it is picked back. According to its performance characteristics, it is named "batch handle". In ancient times, knocking, striking, bouncing and beating were all called drums. At that time, nomadic people were good at playing pipa on horseback, so they "immediately beat drums." It was not until the Wei and Jin Dynasties that it was officially called "Pipa".

Pipa evolved from straight-necked pipa and curved-necked pipa in history. According to historical records, the straight-necked pipa appeared earlier in China. "Qin Hanzi" in Qin and Han Dynasties is a kind of pipa with a straight handle and a straight neck, which was developed from the cymbals at the end of Qin Dynasty. Ruan is a round wooden musical instrument with four strings and twelve columns, which is played vertically by hand. Ruan Xianshan played this instrument in the Jin Dynasty, so it is commensurate with its name, which is today's Ruan.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, cultural exchanges were conducted with the western regions through the Silk Road, and the music pipa was introduced from Persia to China via today's Xinjiang. Qupipa is pear-shaped, with four strings and four phases (without columns), and it is played horizontally with a pick. It prevailed in the Northern Dynasties and spread to the southern Yangtze River basin in the first half of the 6th century.

Among the nine or ten pieces of music in Sui and Tang Dynasties, pipa became the main musical instrument, which played an important role in the development of song and dance art in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. From Dunhuang murals and Yungang stone carvings, we can still see its position in the band at that time.

In the 5th and 6th centuries, with the strengthening of commercial and cultural exchanges between China and western countries, a musical pipa was introduced from Central Asia, which was then called "Hupipa". Its shape is a curved neck, pear-shaped speaker, with four pillars and four strings, much like Ud or UD common in Arab countries now, or Barbat in ancient Persia. Hold the pipa horizontally and play it with a pick. Modern pipa evolved from this kind of music.

In the Tang Dynasty (7th-9th century), the development of pipa reached a peak. At that time, pipa was indispensable from court band to folk singing, and it became a very popular musical instrument at that time, and it was in a dominant position in the band. This grand occasion is recorded in a large number of China's ancient poems. For example, Bai Juyi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, vividly described the performance and acoustic effect of pipa in his famous poem Pipa: "The big strings are like rain, and the small strings are like secret words. Buzzing, whispering-then mixing together, like pouring large and small pearls into a plate of jade. "

By the late Tang Dynasty, the pipa had made great progress from playing techniques to production structure. The most outstanding innovation in playing techniques is that the horizontal grip is changed to the vertical grip, and the finger playing directly replaces the pick playing. The most obvious change in the structure of pipa is the increase from four phonemes to sixteen (that is, four phases and twelve tones). At the same time, its neck is widened, and the lower box is narrowed from wide to narrow, which is convenient for the left hand to press the phoneme. Due to the above two reforms, pipa playing technology has been developed unprecedentedly. According to statistics, there are fifty or sixty fingerings of pipa. To sum up, the right-hand fingering is divided into two systems: one is the wheel fingering system, and the other is the snapping system. Left-handed fingering is also divided into two systems: one is shiatsu system, and the other is push-pull system.

By the 5th century A.D./KLOC, a number of Wu Qu, represented by House of Flying Daggers and Farewell My Concubine, and Wen Qu, represented by Moon High, Love in Spring and Revenge for Your Majesty, had appeared in Pipa. The so-called Wu Qu is characterized by realism and the use of right-handed skills; The so-called Wen Qu is characterized by lyricism and the use of left-handed skills. These pieces of music have become the treasures of China national music and pipa art.

Pipa is traditionally pentatonic. By the time of the Republic of China, the piano code had been increased according to the law of twelve averages. At present, the standard pipa has 30 pieces in eight phases, and its expressive force and adaptability have been greatly strengthened. It can play not only traditional music, but also western and modern works, which is conducive to cooperation with symphony orchestras. This has created conditions for further development. In the middle and late 20th century, the art of pipa had a new development. In the production of pipa, the original silk strings were changed into nylon steel strings, and some even used silver strings, which increased the volume and * * * degrees of pipa. In terms of techniques, the use of left thumb and chords has greatly improved the expressive force of pipa again. As a result, a large number of excellent solo works combining traditional music and modern composition theory have emerged, as well as duets of various instruments and pipa concertos of small bands and symphony orchestras. Entering the 2 1 century, the pipa not only returned to its heyday in China, but also attracted more and more attention from music lovers all over the world. Many traditional music and contemporary works are loved by Chinese and foreign audiences. It can be said that the pipa has begun to move towards the international music scene.

Play stringed instruments. Liu Xi's explanation of the name is called "Pai Handle": "Pai Handle originated in the middle of the lake and was immediately drummed. Pushing hands was approved before, and when you hold hands, it is called a handle, just like its drum, because of its name. " After approval, it was rewritten as a pipa. From this point of view, pipa is derived from pictophonetic characters.

About the 4th century AD, there were pear-shaped speakers, curved necks, four pillars (now called phase or product) and four strings. String instruments played with plectrum were introduced to the north from India through the western regions. Because its head is bent back, it is different from the straight neck round neck lute that was circulated at that time, so it is called the famous piano. "Sui Shu Qinpu" records: "Today's music is a pipa, tall and graceful, from the western regions, not an ancient China." Because it comes from Qiuci, it is also called Qiuci Pipa, Tiger Pipa or Huqin. After the Song Dynasty, it was called Pipa.

In modern times, the old four-phase pipa with 10, 12 and 13 grades was basically not used, and it was replaced by six-phase pipa with 18, 24, 25 and 28 grades. Arrange according to the law of twelve averages. The back of the pipa is made of rosewood, rosewood and rosewood, and two transverse sound beams and three sound columns are built in the abdomen, which are bonded to the panel. The hand mask is made of mahogany, ox horn, ivory or old bamboo, and there is a sound hole inside, also called "Yin Na". The first part of the piano is engraved with words such as longevity, music, bat, ruyi and phoenix tail, and some of them are inlaid with jade and precious stones. The neck of the piano is called the phoenix neck, which is connected with the chord groove and the mountain pass. Stick a phoenix pillow on the front and a phoenix pillow on the back. It is made of horn, mahogany or ivory and bamboo, and bamboo is the symbol of phoneme. The total length is about 96 cm.

There are twelve kinds of pipa tunes. The commonly used tunes are A, D, E, A .. Pipa ranges from A to A-G3, with six phases and twenty-eight notes. The right hand has fingering such as playing, picking, pinching, rolling, double-playing, double-picking, dividing, hooking, wiping, rubbing, buckling, brushing, wheel and half-wheel, while the left hand has skills such as rubbing, reading, taking, patting, virtual pressing, twisting strings, overtones, pushing, pulling, pulling and filling. You can play various chords and chords. It is widely used to accompany national bands and various local operas and quyi. Well-known music includes House of Flying Daggers, Overlord Dismantling, Hanyang Moonlight, Chun Xue, Moon Up, Concerto "Little Sisters of Prairie Heroes" and so on.

Types of pipa

First, the five-stringed pipa >; & gt

Second, Nanyin Pipa >>

Three. Xiangpa, Yuepa, Tenor Pipa and Electric Pipa >; & gt

Five-string pipa:

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 Music Records. It prevailed in the Central Plains in the 5th and 6th centuries. Later it spread to the south of our country.

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 not used in the Song Dynasty and was 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 recent years, 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.

Nanyin pipa:

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 folk music "Fujian 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 instruments for playing Fujian 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.

Ring pa:

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. Can participate in band performances, most suitable for playing large-scale national orchestral works with modern themes.

Joppa:

It has the advantages of both 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.

Treble 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.

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.

The spread of pipa

Wuxi school

In the early Qing Dynasty, pipa was divided into southern school and northern school. The Southern School, namely the Zhejiang School, is represented by Chen Mufu. He is good at music such as Christina, Removing Armor, Moon Height, Puan Mantra, Your Legend, Water Army Exercise, Sui Chen, Wulin Yi Yun, etc. The Northern School, namely the Zhili School represented by Wang Junxi, used wheels. He is good at music such as House of Flying Daggers, Flute and Drum at Sunset, Little Puan Mantra, The Voice of Yan Le Zheng, etc. Wuxi Hua and Hua Zitong compiled three volumes of Pipa, which is the earliest published prose of Pipa in China. The school that Fahrenheit teaches is called Wuxi School.

The secret book Pipa Story of the North-South School was published three times before and after, which had a great influence on later scholars and provided valuable information for the study of ancient pipa. Although there are not many descendants of Wuxi School. At present, few people play according to Fahrenheit's original music, but other schools have more or less adopted some of Fahrenheit's music and sorted out popular playing words. Therefore, Wuxi School played a connecting role in the middle of Qing Dynasty and made due contributions to the development of pipa.

Pinghu school

Pinghu school thought that the Li family was a pipa family who played the piano for five generations. Li Fangyuan's father often makes friends with the piano and visits famous artists all over the world. Under the influence of his family, Li Fangyuan claimed to be the "Pipa God", which was not only superb in skill, but also compiled a New Pipa Score of Nanbei Daqu, which was published in the 21st year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty. Later, it was called Li's score, and Li's school was called Pinghu School.

Pinghu School was handed down from generation to generation by Li Qiyu, Li Fangyuan, Wu Mengfei, Wu Baijun and Zhu Youqing (Zhu Ying), and there are three sets of new pipa, Yi Yishi Pipa and Zhu Ying Pipa 13.

Wu Mengfei studied under Li Fangyuan, and later Zhang Ziliang, a student of Li Qiyu, performed in Shanghai. His artistic activities are quite extensive, and he has made positive contributions to the promotion of Pinghu School.

Under the guidance of Li Fangyuan and Wu Baijun, Zhu Youqing initiated the fingering with his left hand, which broke through the forbidden area without fingering with his left hand and aimed at the Fahrenheit spectrum.

Pinghu School's performing arts and martial arts, Wen Qu delicate, often accompanied by virtual soothing movements, enhance the lingering sound. Wu Qu pays attention to imposing manner, giving priority to the following rounds (Your Legend uses the last round). Pinghu school of pipa has a considerable influence on the formation of various styles of pipa today.

Pudong school

Pule School originated in Jushilin and was passed down by Jushilin, Ju Maotang, Chen, Chen, Chen, Chen and others. Jushilin Pipa Music, Chen Pipa Music and Yang Pipa Music are circulating.

Ju Shilin was a native of Huinan, Nanhui County during the reign of Qianlong Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty. His date of birth and death is unknown, and his friends are very good. He is known as "the first hand in Jiangnan".

It is said that Ju once went to Suzhou Hushuguan by boat. Because the city gate is closed at night, people play the pipa for recreation, and the officers and men who guard the customs are moved by the sound of the piano, so they open and close at times, so there is a beautiful legend of "bouncing off the intestines" Ju Shilin left a handwritten pipa score of Idle Stories and Quiet Voices, which was published by People's Music Publishing House on 1983. The title was Ju Shilin Pipa Score.

Ju Shilin's disciples are Ju Maotang, Chen, etc. According to Nansha magazine, "At that time, there were two people who were good at playing pipa in our city: one was Mr. Chen. I often travel and eat outside, and I recall Guangxu Dinghai (1887) going to the Wangs' home outside the East Gate of Shanghai. Stone sat there and saw the bronze armor on his finger, playing "Overlord Dismantling Armor", with a loud voice and the spirit of pulling out the mountain. People say: Chen Tao, Cheng Shan Wen Tao. " The gong and drum skills of Pudong School began in Chen, and Cao, Chen's disciple, was the best. Another disciple of Chen used a pipa that was bigger and longer than usual, and called it "Da Tao" to show his imposing manner.

Chen's second disciple, Shen Haochu, made an important contribution to the development of Pudong School, trained a large number of pipa players, and compiled and published "Yang Pipa Music".

The characteristics of Pudong Pipa School are: Wu Qu is magnificent, making good use of the big pipa, opening the bow vigorously, and Wen Qu is quiet and delicate. Its distinctive traditional techniques include: pinch rolling, long pinch rolling, various pinch playing and pinch sweeping, big chopping, flying, double flying, four-string wheel rolling, string number changing, four-string three-string, sweeping off, eight-tone wind nodding, various chanting, timbre variation, gongs and drums playing and so on.

Chongming school

Chongming, located in the northeast corner of Shanghai, is taught by Yingzhou's ancient pipa music. Originated in Chongming Island, it was later called Chongming School. Chongming School was handed down from generation to generation by Huang Xiuting, Shen Zhaozhou, Fan Ziyun and Fan, and is famous for its meaningful and beautiful style. Chongming Pipa School can be traced back to the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty more than 300 years ago. At that time, northern pipa was introduced into Tongzhou, including Bai Zaimei, Zi Ruru, Fan Huapo, Yang and others. The early Chongming Pipa inherited the Beipai Pipa from Baizaimei, and the evolution of its style was influenced by local customs.

19 16, the publication of "Yingzhou Ancient Tune" edited by Shen Zhaozhou and "Mei 'an Pipa Spectrum" by Xu enabled Chongming School to carry forward. Liu Tianhua, a master of modern folk music in China, studied Yingzhou ancient pipa with Shen Shi in 19 18, and brought these tracks to various places to play. In 1928, he produced the school's main song "Flying Flowers and Cuisine", which played a very positive role in promoting Chongming pipa.

Chongming pipa fingering requires "sparse and strong twisting method, dense and clear wheel method", and advocates "slow and continuous, fast but not chaotic, elegant and straight, not too high in sound and not too fast in knots". In particular, the wheel finger is good at "getting out of the wheel", so it has a delicate and soft voice, is good at expressing quiet and elegant emotions, and has a leisurely and delicate taste. At the same time, "emphasizing the light wheel" prefers single-tone clip play, thinking that "the wheel finger is easy to smell, but the low error is indecent." Therefore, most of his tracks are essays, among which the famous adagio and essays, such as Feihua Cuisine and Zhao Jun's Complaints, are elegant and correct; Little songs such as Fish Playing in the Water are full of life interest.

most powerful figure or means

Wang School, also known as Shanghai School, is an important pipa school in the history of music development in China since the 20th century, and it is also the only school named after individuals. The formation of Shanghai School set off the third climax in the development history of Chinese pipa.

Wang Yuting's pipa skills were inspired by Wang Huisheng. Later, I taught Chen the pipa score. Later, Qingquan Ni, Cao and Professor of Pudong School were eclectic. According to the actual performance of Huayin, the traditional ancient music of pipa was sorted out and widely taught.

Professor Wang's students use Miyachi notation, and each one is copied by him to the students and becomes precious. According to the biography of Wang, it was later called Wang School. In Lin Shicheng's Pipa Playing Law published by 1959 Music Publishing House, "Shanghai Wang Yuting School" was listed as one of the pipa schools in writing for the first time.

The performance characteristics of Wang School are as follows: At that time, it was generally the first and second rounds of southern school pipa performance, but Wang creatively used the first and second rounds, which laid the foundation for the use of the first and second rounds. Secondly, he did not stick to the traditional way of playing, but carefully revised the ancient score to make it more concise and achieved better results than before. Wang Pai's pipa performance is vigorous and touching.

Wang Pei raised a large number of outstanding pipa players in modern times. Such as Wei Zhongle, Li, Cheng, etc.

How to choose pipa

I. Look

Look at the material of pipa first. Pipa materials can be divided into top grade, top grade, intermediate grade and inferior grade as far as the raw materials of the backboard are concerned. The top grade is rosewood, which has the best timbre and the most expensive price. At present, there are few pipa backed by a whole piece of rosewood. Although there are some, they are also made of two or three pieces of rosewood. With high-grade mahogany as the backing, there are many kinds of mahogany, among which old mahogany (dark red in color, which is difficult to buy at present) and new mahogany (light red in color, which is available in the market at present) are the backing, with good timbre and slightly expensive price. The mid-range is rosewood and rosewood, with good timbre and moderate price. The second grade uses white wood (such as (long) wood) as the backing, which has poor timbre and the cheapest price.

The whole backboard is the best, and the elephant shell is the most expensive.

No matter what kind of material is used as the backboard, most of them choose a whole backboard instead of several backboards. Because it is made of several underlays, it will not affect the appearance and sound when it is bought newly. But after using it for a period of time, you will see spelling marks in the spelling place. If degumming, the sound will also become worse. For the whole backing, it is also necessary to look for cracks or deformation.

How to distinguish the bottom materials of red sandalwood, old mahogany and new mahogany can be distinguished by scraping off the paint on the back of the mountain pass and the upper end of the bottom material with a knife, and then testing or looking at its wood grain and color with the naked eye. If you don't know the wood grain color of rosewood and can't test it, please pick it with people who will, because there are too few rosewood materials at present, and it is inevitable that there will be inferior ones.

The materials used in Shankou, Liuxiang and Fengzhen can be divided into ivory, jade, white horn, black horn, aggregate and mahogany according to the cost price. Elephant beetle is the most expensive and mahogany is the cheapest. Touhua is divided into ivory, jade, aggregate and so on. Zhen Zi is divided into ivory, red sandalwood, boxwood and mahogany.

The head, chord groove and chisel should be evenly matched.

From the appearance of pipa, the size of the head, the radian of the chord groove, the inclination of the four hammers, and the length and thickness are mainly based on the aesthetic fit of the uniform lining. The grinder should be fine and the paint color should be elegant. The neck (six phases) of pipa should not be too thick and too wide, nor should it be too thick and too wide than the top grade. If it is too thick and wide, the left hand will feel very tired when pressing the tone, which is not conducive to the pressing action of the left hand, especially for women with short fingers and more effort.

Carefully observe whether the phase is close to the distance between the left outer end of the first string and the outer end of the fourth string stone of the first fret. It is common that the distance between the first string and the left outer end of the first fret is short, while the distance between the fourth string and the right outer end of the first fret is long. When playing "Yin" and "Wan" on the substring, it is easy to make the string slide out of the production end without music. This is a defect in production. Most of the reasons for the formation are that the compound hand is not stuck to the center of the lower abdomen of the panel, or because the chord of Yamaguchi is left or uneven.

The surface of the hand should be horizontal.

The surface of the back of the hand should be horizontal, not semi-arc. One is related to pronunciation, and the other is half-bending. When the string body is pulled up, the string body at the back of the hand is concave, and the string body will easily break here.

The first string is the thinnest, the highest pitch, and is used more. Because of this, the first string is the easiest to break, and it is often necessary to change strings. Generally, a wire slot is sawed under the hole of the composite bracelet, and the strings can be changed through this wire slot, which can save the time for changing strings. However, some producers only see a very thin wire slot, and they can't use this wire slot to change strings when actually changing strings, which makes this wire slot useless.

Therefore, this trunking should be wider, and the inner sides of the hands at the trunking should be removed more, so that the strings can be easily replaced through this trunking.

Products and stage equipment can not be ignored.

Pin and phase are phoneme devices on the pipa, and the position of each pin must be accurate. Between each product, from top to bottom, from wide to narrow, the arrangement is very uniform. In particular, it depends on the distance from the upper end of the eighteenth grade to the chord, which should be 0.4 to 0.5 cm; If the distance exceeds 0.6 cm, pressing the button will make you feel very tired. Therefore, the products with the distance between the string body and the upper end of the eighteen products exceeding 0.6 cm belong to production defects and should be replaced.

Step 2: Listen.

Pipa with loud and strong volume and rich stone timbre is the primary choice target of buyers. A pipa with good acoustics will make you fondle it when you play it. The more you play, the more you love to play. It can be said that you can never get tired of playing. Therefore, you must play the pipa first and listen to its sound effects.

Sharp, Hall, loose, fragile and explosive.

Regarding the timbre of pipa, musicians of the older generation once listed five timbres, namely, sharp, fragrant, loose, brittle and explosive, and asked to have these five timbres on a pipa. "Sharp" means that the high notes on the lower handle are very bright, "Tang" means that the sounds in the upper and lower bass areas are very rich, and "loose" means that the pronunciation is very sensitive after playing the strings; "Crispy" means that the first, second and third timbres are crisp; "sonic boom" refers to the timbre that can make a stone sound. Sound has thickness and weight, and music can travel far away. Among them, there are great contradictions in the production of Tang, Song and Bao. For example, on the pipa that can emit the sound of the hall and the sound of pine and cypress, most of them can't hear the sound of blasting stones. On the solid pipa that gives off the sound of stone, most of them lose the acoustics of the hall and pine. How to make a pipa with high volume and sensitive response, and at the same time, it can have stone sound and strong timbre, which is the goal pursued by pipa makers and also a technical problem in production, so I won't introduce it in detail here.

Paulownia panels in Lankao are the best.

The production technology and texture of the panel are directly and closely related to the pronunciation of pipa. In the past, the panels in Zhejiang, Fujian and Anhui were made of sycamore. After many tests and comparisons, it is made of plane trees in Lankao, Henan. However, there are both advantages and disadvantages in Lankao Paulownia jigsaw puzzle. But on a high-quality paulownia tree in Lankao, there are only two best boards. Whether or not the best paulownia jigsaw puzzle can be selected is another knowledge when the production master selects materials.

The middle of the panel is better.

When buying pipa, you can only see whether the wood grain on the surface of the panel is straight; Whether the width between lines is appropriate, whether there is a knot scar on the panel, whether there is a gap in the center of the panel (the panel must be spliced and sawed in the center of the tree, and the part with hard texture and poor sound transmission in the center of the tree is removed or placed on both sides of the left stone). , and others, such as the depth and width of the sub-opening, the position and thickness of the beam, the width, position, size and shape of the sound column, the curvature and depth of the inner cavity, etc.

The timbre of water-containing glue panel is difficult to stabilize.

In the past, yellow croaker grease was used to attach panels, but now it is mixed with pigskin glue, which is a kind of water-containing glue. The volume and timbre of the pipa glued to the panel will change after playing for five or ten years. Because after a certain period of time, the water in the glue gradually evaporates, and the volume timbre will inevitably change. To this end, when buying, be sure to ask if you have used water-containing glue.

It is also very useful to use chemical glue when pasting panels now. There are many kinds of chemical adhesives, and some newly bonded panels have better sound effects. However, after years of practice and inspection, we can't draw a correct conclusion about whether the bonding fastness and sound have changed.

Sensitive volume and thick timbre are the best.

When choosing pipa and listening to music, people generally like pipa with large volume and wide range, but ignore the aspects of solid tone (strong explosive power) and rich stone sound. Through practice, we have proved that the pipa with large volume and wide sound mostly lacks the sound of stone and solid timbre. After playing for a period of time, although the volume is still very high, the sound gradually loses its "weight" and the timbre becomes "empty" or even "dull", making it difficult to hear clearly. This is because after a certain period of playing, the panel is constantly vibrating, and the moisture and mucus in the panel wood have gradually decreased. Therefore, when choosing a new pipa, we should not only rely on the loud volume and wide range, but also listen to whether there is a stone sound and whether the timbre is weighty and solid. Generally speaking, it is better to choose the one with the loudest volume but sensitive response and thick timbre.

Pay attention to the local climate characteristics.

Pick the pipa, listen and pay attention to the area. Whether it is the pipa made in the humid areas in the south or the pipa made in the arid areas in the north. The common pick in the south is loud and responsive, and the timbre is not "empty", but it will become "empty" and "wood" when the weather is dry for five days and ten days. This is because the moisture and mucus in the panel are quickly evaporated. Therefore, when selecting pipa in southern musical instrument factories, we should not only look at the local pronunciation effect, but also consider the changes that have taken place after being brought to dry areas. Therefore, when choosing pipa in the south, it is best to choose the one with the lowest volume and solid timbre. Even if the pipa made in the arid area in the north is not immediately used for playing, it is best to choose the one with solid timbre (explosive power) and a certain weight.

Therefore, those who choose pipa must learn to listen and distinguish various timbres, such as "sharp", "hall", "loose", "brittle" and "explosive", so as to distinguish whether the above five timbres are available on four strings in different positions and tastes in the audition and buy an ideal pipa with long service life.