古典乐器-中英文对照-琵琶.doc

A brief history of the pipa, a traditional Chinese music instrumentThe pipa (pronounced pee-paa) is a four-stringed lute, one of the oldest Chinese musical instruments with over 2000 years of history. The term pipa () consists of two Chinese characters symbolizing two playing techniques (denoted as Tan and Tiao today) while their pronunciations pi and pa are imitations of the sounds produced accordingly. The latter fact is however not often mentioned in the literatures about the pipa (see Note ) The historical development of the pipa has been a progressive process from its very beginning with few major fusions. The earliest Chinese written texts about the pipa dated back at least to the second century BC. For instance, Xi Liu of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) described in his book, The Definition of Terms - On Musical Instruments, that the name of the instrument pipa originally referred to two finger techniques. The two Chinese characters pi and pa stood originally for the two movements, i.e. plucking the strings forwards and backwards, respectively. It is commonly known now that the term pipa used to be the generic name for all pluck-string instruments of the ancient times. For instance, in the Qin Dynasty (222-207 BC), there had been a kind of plucked-instrument, known as xiantao, with a straight neck and a round sound-body played horizontally, which is considered one of the predecessors of the pipa. 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 the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), the instrument developed into its form of four strings and twelve frets, plucked with fingernails and known as pipa or qin-pipa (see Fig.11. In the Western Jin Dynasty (256-316), the qin-pipa was named after the famous scholar, one of Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Ruan Xian, who was a great master on this instrument. (Note that Ji Kong, grand master of the seven stringed zither qin, was among the seven sages who often met for music and wine). The instrument has been to this day called the ruan() whereas the name pipa specifically referred to a new version in the same family of instruments, which developed as follows: Fig.1: Historical development of the pipa, a Chinese four stringed lute - an illustration of the time evolution from qin-pipa to the modern pipa through the influence of hu-pipa (See the Note on the right panel for detailed explanation of the major fusion).During the Northern and Southern Dynasty (420-589 AD), a similar pluck string instrument, called oud or barbat with a crooked neck and four or five strings was introduced through the Silk Road from Central Asia, known as the Hu Pipa (Hu stands for foreign in Chinese), which was played horizontally with a wooden plectrum (see the picture below for the Tang Dynasty pipa player). During the early Tang Dynasty, foreign music became very popular. A fusion of the original Chinese pipa and the Hu pipa took place such that the instrument gradually became what the present pipa looks like toward the middle of the Tang Dynasty (see the above Fig.1 1-4 and the Note on the right panel). Meanwhile the playing method has been developed and repertoire increased. One of the greatest developments was that the left hand became totally free by holding the instrument vertically, i.e. the pipa rests on the thigh of the instrumentalist in an upright position, and was played vertically with five fingers of the right hand instead of horizontally with a plectrum (see the photo at the top of this page). During the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), the pipa was one of the most popular instruments, and it has maintained its appeal in solo as well as chamber genres ever sinceAnother big change (fusion) occurred to the pipa during the first half of the last century: the traditional pipa with silk strings and pentatonic tuning has developed into the modern pipa with steel strings and chromatic tuning (by increasing the number of frets). The modern instrument is half-pear-shaped, with a short, bent neck, and has 30 frets which extend down the neck and onto the soundboard, giving a wide range and a complete chromatic scale. The usual tuning is A - E - D - A (La - Mi - Re - La). Since early last century, steel strings began to be used by some musicians while most still kept using silk strings. Since the 1950s, the making of the pipa has become standardized in measure and the strings are made of steel wrapped with nylon. Thus using the real nail becomes almost impossible. Instead, a little plectrum (or fake nail) is attached to each finger of the right hand. The plectrums are usually made of turtle shell or special plastics. Notation for the pipa combines symbols for pitch (Kung-che system) with abbreviated characters for special finger techniques. Today, a simplified version of music scores are commonly used in which numbers representing pitches and symbols representing finger techniques are used. Meanwhile, the standard Western music score has been used increasingly because it has advantages in ensemble pieces and in particular for pipa concertosThere was a huge repertoire of pipa music in Chinese history, particularly during the Tang dynasty. But most of the pieces were lost. Fortunately, there are precious pipa pieces handed down from one generation to another by individual artists and scholars. Some pieces have been preserved in Japan and other musical scores were discovered along the Silk Road in Gansu Province, China, around 1900. These musical notations, known as the Dunhuang scores from the Tang Dynasty (7-9th century) triggered great concern and interest within China as well as abroad. However, they remained a mystery until the early 1980s, when the scholar, Prof. Ye Dong from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, successfully decoded 25 of the pieces. The beauty and elegance of these pieces has thus first been revealed to the public after having slept for a thousand years.Pipa music has been loved by Chinese people through the centuries. During the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1645-1911) dynasties, various pipa schools with different styles flourished in the South, centered in Wuxi, Suzhou and Shanghai, and the North, centered in Beijing. The development of finger techniques for both hands achieved a high standard by the masters from each school. The present day pipa techniques are mostly the fusion of those different schools. Now the pipa is one of most popular instruments in China. Many of the compositions that make up the traditional repertoire, which were handed down from generation to generation through individual artists and scholars, date back hundreds of years, while others are part of a body of compositions that are dynamic and growing. In more recent times, composers have explored the possibilities for the pipa and other Chinese and Western instruments, even with orchestra. Nowadays, there are a number of celebrated pipa concerti.The playing technique consists of the right hand fingers plucking the strings and the left hand fingers touching the strings in a variety of ways to create melodies, ornaments and special effects. The fingers that pluck the strings move outwards, just the opposite to guitar techniques. The frets are pretty high, which allows the string to be pushed, twisted, and pressed. There are over 60 different techniques that have been developed through the centuries. The pipas technique is characterized by spectacular finger dexterity and virtuosic programmatic effects. Rolls, slaps, pizzicato, harmonics, and noises are often combined into extensive tone-poems vividly describing famous battles or other exciting scenes, such as the Ambush (see the demo video #2 below). This type is called wu qu (martial style). This example describes the decisive battle fought in the second century BC between Chu (Xiang Yu) and Han (Liu Bang). The instrument is also capable of more lyric effects, in the category of wen qu (civil styles) such as the famous tunes Fei Hua Dian Cui (Swirling snow decorates the evergreen, see the demo video #1 below) or Sai Shang qu (Songs from the other side of the border). The former uses a scene in nature as metophor to describe human feeling. The latter is said to represent the sorrowful song of a Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) noblewoman, who was compelled for political reasons to marry a barbarian prince. This story appears in several versions connected with the origin of the pipa. There are also a lot of written texts and famous poems about the pipa music played by virtuoso performers in history. For instance, the following comments can be found in the texts from the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) describing the intensity of the Ambush played by artists of that time : . as if thousands of warriors and horses are roaring on the battle field, as if the earth is torn and the sky is falling. In his poem, the Pipa Song, Bai Juyi, one of the leading poets in the Tang Dynasty, described vividly the pipa music performed by an artist: . The thicker strings rattled like splatters of sudden rain, the thinner ones hummed like a hushed whisper. Together they shaped strands of melody, like larger and smaller pearls falling on a jade plate. 中文对照-琵琶艺术的发展简史“琵琶”之名是古人巧妙地结合音、形、意的造字手法产生出来的，为汉语中特有，并非外来词。其最初是对所有类似的弹拨乐器的指称。有关琵琶的记载最早出现在2000年前。如东汉年(公元前25 -220年)学者刘熙在释名一书中写到: 枇杷, 推手前曰枇, 引手却曰杷, 像其鼓时, 因此为名。但当时的琵琶形状与现在的不同, 其形状为直颈，园形音箱，音位和弦数不固定。 弦数为四 五 六条不等. 这种琵琶当时被称作 秦琵琶 或 秦汉子。实际上它就是今天我国民乐器中阮的前身。其名字来源于晋代竹林七贤中的阮咸。阮咸以善弹这种琵琶而著称。后人就把这种乐器称作“阮咸”，简称为阮。而琵琶之名让给了后来的曲项琵琶。 到了公元五、六世纪随着中国与西域民族商业和文化交流的加强, 从中 亚地区传入一种曲项琵琶, 其形状为曲颈, 梨形音箱, 有四柱四弦，很像目前在阿拉伯国家常见的乌特琴(Oud 或 Ud)或古波斯的巴尔巴特琴（Barbat）。横抱琵琶用拨子演奏。这种琵琶当时人称“胡琵琶”，而且还出现过一批高超的演奏家，使得这种琵琶在当时很流行，连皇室都开始热衷于听“胡乐”。后来人们结合胡琵琶，对原来的秦琵琶进行改造发展而形成今天还有保存的唐代琵琶。此后又进一步改造，使其从音色到造型更适合中国人的口味。现代琵琶就是由这种唐琵琶演变发展而来的（参见如上示意图1-4，不难看出，晋代阮咸弹的琵琶是“秦琵琶”，音箱是圆形的，脖子是直的。到了唐初，模仿胡琵琶，音箱变成梨形的，脖子还是直的，即直项唐琵琶。后来连脖子也彻底变弯了，音箱的“肚子”也加大了，成了曲项唐琵琶，“西化”得更彻底，只是发出的声音可能不太适应大多数中国人的耳朵，后来就把曲项唐琵琶的音箱变薄了，把过分弯曲的脖子扶直了一些，形成了可竖抱着演奏的现代琵琶。曲项唐琵琶只能横抱着演奏，因为曲项唐琵琶的肚子太大。综上所说，琵琶的发展受到过外来乐器（胡琵琶）影响，但要说琵琶是一种外来乐器，那是不准确的。首先“胡琵琶”是公元五世纪以后传入的，而有关琵琶的文献早在公元前俩世纪就出现了。其次，敦煌壁画上的“胡琵琶”从形状到弹法与现代琵琶相去甚远。 “胡琵琶”即目前在阿拉伯国家流行的乌特琴，历史久远，其制型十分美观，从远古流传下来做法几乎一直没变。其音色与琵琶相去甚远。）唐代（公元7-9世纪）是琵琶的发展历史上的一个高峰。当时上至宫廷乐队, 下至民间演唱都