Pipa

The pipa is a member of the lutes (Hornbostel–Sachs 321.321-5). Listen to 4 recordings and learn how it makes its sound.

Listen to the pipa

Pipa - sound

0:11CC BY-SA 4.0by Francesc FortWikimedia Commons

0:11

Is it Pipa or is it Memorex (Antti Luode)

2:42CC BY 3.0by Antti LuodeWikimedia Commons

2:42

Pipa to the face (Antti Luode)

2:55CC BY 3.0by Antti LuodeWikimedia Commons

2:55

Sweet Pipa Of Mine (Antti Luode)

3:43CC BY 3.0by Antti LuodeWikimedia Commons

3:43

Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.

How the pipa makes its sound

In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the pipa belongs to the lutes: strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck – the family of the guitar, violin, sitar and oud.

More broadly it is one of the chordophones (string instruments), where sound comes from vibrating strings, amplified by a resonating body.

Players shape its sound through technique and materials; the resonating body filters the raw vibration, boosting some harmonics and damping others.

From Wikipedia

The pipa (Chinese: 琵琶; pinyin: pípá; Wade–Giles: p'i-p'a) is a traditional 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 31. Another Chinese four-string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa. The pear-shaped instrument may have existed in China as early as the Han dynasty, and although historically the term pipa was once used to refer to a variety of plucked chordophones, its usage since the Song dynasty refers exclusively to the pear-shaped instrument.