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Created page with "*''Chinese/Japanese'': 琵琶 ''(pípa / biwa)'' The ''pipa'' is a Chinese stringed lute, the instrument which developed in Japan into the ''biwa''. It is closely associa..."
*''Chinese/Japanese'': 琵琶 ''(pípa / biwa)''
The ''pipa'' is a Chinese stringed lute, the instrument which developed in Japan into the ''[[biwa]]''. It is closely associated with a number of storytelling traditions, but is also often played solo (instrumentally).
The word ''pipa'', referring to the instrument, is said to go back as far as the 3rd century BCE, if not earlier, and may derive from references to the motion of the hand as it strums the strings forward (''pi'') and back (''pa'').
While the Japanese ''biwa'' is played more horizontally, and with a large plectrum, the Chinese ''pipa'' is typically played upright on the player's knee, and strummed with the fingers.
{{stub}}
==References==
*Gallery labels, Musical Instruments gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
[[Category:Art and Architecture]]
[[Category:Poetry and Theater]]
The ''pipa'' is a Chinese stringed lute, the instrument which developed in Japan into the ''[[biwa]]''. It is closely associated with a number of storytelling traditions, but is also often played solo (instrumentally).
The word ''pipa'', referring to the instrument, is said to go back as far as the 3rd century BCE, if not earlier, and may derive from references to the motion of the hand as it strums the strings forward (''pi'') and back (''pa'').
While the Japanese ''biwa'' is played more horizontally, and with a large plectrum, the Chinese ''pipa'' is typically played upright on the player's knee, and strummed with the fingers.
{{stub}}
==References==
*Gallery labels, Musical Instruments gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
[[Category:Art and Architecture]]
[[Category:Poetry and Theater]]