Talk:Pipa

Woods
Need types of woods used in the instrument's body and soundboard. Badagnani (talk) 22:28, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Needs a section on the construction of pipa which is absent at the moment. Some appear to use wutong wood often used for musical instruments for its soundboard, but different sources give different name for what it is in English. Hzh (talk) 19:14, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Tuning?
IS there a fixed tuning or are there different tunings for different pieces or schools? -- megA (talk) 21:06, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I can't be certain, but I think for the main solo traditions they are tuned the same. Nanguan pipa is tuned differently I think. Hzh (talk) 18:11, 8 December 2011 (UTC)
 * If you know the pitches, could you add them to the article? -- megA (talk) 10:43, 9 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I added just the basic bit. There are other ways of tuning it, and sometimes people can tune it the way they like it.  I don't want to add more because I don't really know about any other kinds of pipa.  I think it needs someone who has a more comprehensive knowledge about the various pipas.   So for that technical bits, unless I can find a good source, I'll leave it for the time being to others who are more sure. Hzh (talk) 20:04, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. -- megA (talk) 11:04, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Notability
Some of the people listed in modern era performers section does not appear to be particular notable, and a couple seem to have been added by the person themselves which would be against wiki rules. There should be some kind of criteria for inclusion, for example, having a good recording career or being a widely acknowledged or famous virtuoso. I have not heard of some of the people listed, that may be just my ignorance, but please check whether these people are suitable for listing on the page. I may be deleting some of the names later, and if you object to their deletion, please give a reason why they should be included. Hzh (talk) 14:41, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

About the early 枇杷 spelling
Well, 枇杷 still exists in Modern Chinese and means a loquat (Japanese medlar)! So now it would be interesting to know how the loquat came to the pipa. Anyhow, I don't assume the early Chinese instrument makers used loquat wood to make pipas. But maybe you guys know more about it... -andy 77.190.3.54 (talk) 22:59, 10 August 2012 (UTC)
 * They are probably unrelated. The etymology of "pipa" is briefly discussed in the article and it appears to have no relation with the fruit loquat which appeared in ancient Chinese texts earlier than the pipa. Since pipa was also written as 批把, they probably simply used the nearest sounding word to pipa.  They are folk etymologies trying to relate pipa to loquat (pipa looks like loquat or vice versa) but they are probably untrue. Hzh (talk) 00:34, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Playing and performance description confusing
The article states: "The fingers normally strike the strings of pipa in the opposite direction to the way a guitar is usually played, i.e. the fingers flick from right to left from the player's perspective, while the thumb moves from left to right."

This makes no sense. Presumably the "fingers" being refered to are those of the right hand. In guitar playing the right hand fingers do NOT move either "left to right" or "right to left" -- the fingers move from bottom to top (or from down to up) and the thumb moves from top to bottom (or from up to down).

As written, the article implies that the pipa is NOT held in a position similar to the guitar, but is held with the neck pointing up. Is this true? If so, an illustration of a pipa being played would be helpful. But if this is the case it is NOT being played "in the opposite direction to the way a guitar is usually played", but at *right angles* to the way a guitar is usually played.

In any case, this section needs to be clarified.


 * The "right to left" direction obviously refers to pipa when played upright. The finger movement is in an opposite direction to how the guitar is plucked when we look at the fingers in relation to the music instrument or the strings - in guitar the fingers and thumb pluck inwards, in pipa the fingers and thumb flick outward (this is the normal finger plucking technique, you can of course pluck both the pipa and guitar in either directions depending on the playing technique used).  I can see it being confusing to people, and will amend the text later when I think of the right way to phrase this. Hzh (talk) 13:19, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 03:04, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

The sound of the word "pipa" in Chinese
Isn't the sound of the word "pipa" in Chinese "pípá"? Why the pinyin in the article is pronounced "pípa"? S099001 (talk) 10:18, 17 November 2017 (UTC)
 * There are two pronunciations of pipa - "pípá" and "pípa" (you can check by listening to how Chinese people speak, and some people use both), I think it used to be given as "pípá", but someone changed it (which conflicts with the IPA pronunciation given). Both IPA pronunciations are still given in the Chinese language box, may be we can consider deleting it in the opening sentence as it may be unnecessary confusion. Hzh (talk) 11:29, 17 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Deleted in the opening sentence, added both to the language box. It may be useful if someone can add a sound clip. Hzh (talk) 14:46, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

Assessed
Assessed the importance to WikiProject Musical Instruments as high, alongside major instrument classes such as the guitar and flute. The instrument is part of the early chain of lutes that spread across Asia and Europe. Jacqke (talk) 11:02, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Potential copyvio
Unfortunately, the lovely English translation of "Pipa xing" used in this article was copied from the referenced site back in 2005, and appears to be under copyright. I've requested revdel (we're debating things over here). If it's removed, and anyone finds an available free translation, please add it and let me know so I can also add it to the poem's page. Wikignome Wintergreen talk 17:32, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
 * (Update) A homegrown translation has been added to both articles, and the copyvio is being taken care of. Wikignome Wintergreen talk 20:19, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I have declined revision deletion. There have been about 1800 revisions since 22 July 2005 when the copyvio was added, and revision deletion is not designed for such large scale use. The relevant policy states "RevisionDelete is mainly intended for simple use and fairly recent material. Text that exists in numerous revisions (e.g. on busy pages) or which has been the subject of many others' comments may not be practical to redact. Redaction of such material should take into account how practical and effective redaction will be, how disruptive it would be (e.g. to others' valid posts), and whether redaction will itself draw attention to the issue. No hard line exists; judgment is required." If another administrator has a different view, they are welcome to proceed with revision deletion. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 10:18, 20 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Pipa 81.40.128.129 (talk) 11:14, 27 April 2024 (UTC)