Pipa Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Pipa
Related instruments

Classification	Necked bowl lutes String instruments
List Angélique Archlute Balalaika Barbat Bağlama Baglamas Bipa Biwa Bouzouki Charango Chitarra Italiana Çifteli Đàn tỳ bà Dombra Domra Dutar Komuz Irish bouzouki Liuqin Lute Mandocello Mandola Mandolin Oud Pandura Rubab Setar Sitar Surbahar Tambouras Tanbur Tambur Tembûr Theorbo Tiorbino Topshur Veena

The pipa (Chinese: 琵琶) is a cool musical instrument from China. It has four strings and is played by plucking them. People sometimes call it the Chinese lute.

The pipa has a body shaped like a pear and is made of wood. It has between 12 and 26 frets, which are the raised lines on the neck. Another Chinese instrument, the liuqin, looks like a smaller pipa.

The pipa has been played in China for almost 2,000 years. It might have existed as far back as the Han dynasty. For a long time, the word pipa meant many different plucked string instruments. But since the Song dynasty, it has only referred to this pear-shaped instrument.

The pipa is one of the most popular instruments in China. Other instruments in East Asia and Southeast Asia are similar to the pipa. These include the Japanese biwa, the Vietnamese đàn tỳ bà, and the Korean bipa. The Korean bipa is not used much today, but you can still see examples in museums.

Images for kids

Musicians in a scene from paradise, Yulin Cave 25, Tang dynasty
Relief sculpture from Gandhara showing a lute being played by a musician (right), 1st–2nd century AD
Lute detail from a Tang dynasty painting on silk, 897 A.D.
Ladies in palace enjoying an informal concert, Tang dynasty
Decorated back of a pipa from the Ming dynasty
A mural from the tomb of Xu Xianxiu in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, dated 571 CE during the Northern Qi Dynasty, showing male court musicians playing the pipa and liuqin, and a woman playing a konghou
10th century tablature for pipa from Dunhuang Mogao Caves.
Scene from a Ming dynasty painting, Tao Gu Presents a Poem, c. 1515, by Tang Yin.
A page of music notation from the Li Collection by Li Fangyuan.
A Sui Dynasty (581–618) terracotta pipa-player in a suit of armor
Wu Man playing pipa at WOMEX 15
An electric pipa
Djang San
Sandstone carving, showing the typical way a pipa was held when played with plectrum in the early period. Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534 AD).
Painted panel of the sarcophagus of Yü Hung, depicts one of the Persian or Sogdian figures playing pipa. 592 AD, Sui dynasty.
An apsara (feitian) playing pipa, using fingers with the pipa held in near upright position. Mural from Kizil, estimated Five Dynasties to Yuan Dynasty, 10th to 13th century.
Modern pipa player, with the pipa held in near upright position
A pipa player playing with the pipa behind his back. Dunhuang, Mogao Caves.
An early depiction of pipa player in a group of musicians. From the Dingjiazha Tomb No. 5, period of the Northern Wei (384-441 A.D.)
A Song dynasty fresco depicts a female pipa player among a group of musicians
Group of female musician from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907-960 AD)
A mural from a Yuan dynasty tomb found in Hengshan County, Shaanxi, showing a man playing the pipa
A Chinese woman playing a pipa, 1870
A group of Qing dynasty musicians from Fuzhou

Pipa facts for kids

Images for kids

See also