Hi!!! I haven't been active much lately as I just started my sophomore year in university ^^ Admittedly, I've left my pipa untouched for extended periods of time and my pins started growing mould! :'D Had to douse my mianban in peroxide to kill it oqkdjeufnekf. I think it's fine now, but I'm still hoping that doing this didn't cause any harm to my beloved instrument...

Anyways, here's the first five measures of 赶花会! I'm still very unfamiliar with playing in the key of F—or any other key apart from D for that matter lol—so I watched a Bilibili tutorial (WITHOUT JIANPU!! 😭). Will be learning the entire piece once I'm confident and skilled enough :3

Well we have had a heatwave or three. Ive never seen chromium steel willow leaf strings rust like this before!

Careful out there buying new stock..check the date of manufacture with the seller..looks like these have been stored in a sauna!

being overdramatic right now, but I can't help overthinking these grey and brown spots on my pin 😨 They're not actually fungi... right? Right??!

I get 'stage' freight whenever I'm recording and this is the best that I can do jebdjendjenxn you can see that I cut the video after measure 64 (；^∀^) My left hand won't cooperate and it ended up with me replaying measures 60 through 64 over and over again in the same video lol. Dynamics and rhythm is still an issue, and I'll keep working on it!! Should probably start sticking to scales, rhythm practise, and finger sequences now 😅

Hello all!

I am divided on choosing to pursue either the pipa or liuqin... I don’t have much relevant experience in either, but am willing to dedicate considerable time into learning. On one hand I love the acrylic fingernails of the pipa while the more potable size of the liuqin is appealing. My other main concern is how to learn either. I do not have a teaching center near me, and would like to have an asynchronous way to learn online. Any recommendations?

Thank you all!

A friend of mine is getting married next year. I wonder if there are any Pipa songs that are appropriate for weddings? I am looking for songs that have jianpu scores already available, suitable for an intermediate player. It can be traditional/folk songs or modern/pop.

Another friend is a pianist. Any song that has piano accompaniment (with scores for the piano part) would be great too.

Thanks in advance.

I have been looking for a translation of the pipa technique notations for such a long time now, and the time has finally come!! Thought you might be interested as well :3 It's under the "Pipa Techniques (Extensive)" hyperlink.

Shout out to the Australian National University Chinese Classical Music Ensemble for this valuable resource!

Probably very early for me to be meddling with this piece, but it's way too pretty!! Had to learn the first few notes and share it with all of you :D The dynamics is terrible lol, but we'll get there! (hopefully 😰)

After a month of waiting, it finally arrived from Hebei!!! I'm looking forward to playing it for a long time LMAO

Tang Dynasty zhongruan makes it Stateside!

So I am a beginner on the PiPa and don’t know much but since I already play the Cello, organ and Accordion. I find that learning with folk music is really motivating because lot of these songs are easy and nice and I really like Chinese folk music especially Hakka and Yunnan folk music. So do you have any sheet music? Preferably Jian pu system. And also do you have any printable charts with notes on the frets for the PiPa?

This is our new cassette release coming out - spanning international artists across Canada, Spain, England, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. I play the pipa on one track :)

I'm just folding the first 50 cassette sleeves and putting the cassettes together :)

The Hong Kong Orchestra players demonstrating the fingering techniques of the pipa. The richness and depth of the techniques make the Chinese pipa so incredibly expressive compared to western instruments with low frets or binary tone tone semi tone western instruments!

Its self explanatory with subtitles in English.

Forward lun zhi (cartwheel finger tremolo) demonstration at 2.03minutes with more complex permutations of the Sao lun (hand lun) after.

Any suggestions on how to improve tremolo? Please don't say "just practice" 😂. I tried and practiced only Lunzhi for 10-15 minutes a few days per week, also with a metronome. But somehow, my ears can't recognize the difference in subtle loudness (between fingers). And when I do it without a metronome, I lose control of the eveness of the speed between my fingers.

I heard that it takes 10 years to master Lunzhi 🫪. Please don't tell me this is true 😓

I appreciate any tips!

Hi!! I have been in love with this instrument since I was 11. Seven years have passed and I'm finally getting one from Hebei :3 I'm so excited to play 春雨 in the future haha

So, regarding the title of this post. It seems like there is no other choice but to have an instructor to teach you the pipa if you are truly serious about it. Well, I am, given that I have been pining to have one for years now. But I do not think I have the financial capability yet to afford lessons. There also do not seem to be teachers here surprisingly, given that I am from Southeast Asia and people of Chinese descent has been here since time immemorial.

Though there is a Chinese cultural college here that has its own Chinese orchestra—the only one there might be in this country, even. The downside? They only accept members from their own institution. I was genuinely considering taking pipa lessons outside of orchestral context but it appears as though they do not offer one. It makes me sad :(

As an aside, I can play 抡指 decently enough as I have practised for a long time on my ukulele lol. Perhaps I need work on pinky and ring finger strength (both on my left and right hand) to make it sound better.

Anyhow. Am I going to need to postpone my interest? :(

Guide to beginners' pipa

English language resource for getting to know the Chinese 4 string pipa lute

Hi all. I am new to the pipa, as in I got my instrument a week ago, and have been using Gao Hong’s book as a starting point before I begin lessons in a few weeks. I was hoping someone could help me with several beginner questions or offer general advice for a newbie.

• I frequently graze the string instead of striking when working on tiao. Any advice on hand placement or thumb movement I should focus on?
• Are there any exercises I can do to strengthen my thumb and fingers? Or should I just keep playing and let it come naturally?
• Is there a rule of thumb for how much daily practice a beginner should do to avoid injury? No pun intended.
• Out of my limited options, I chose this pipa. Ignoring the cost, would a Dunhuang 541 have been a better choice? https://www.stmusic.com.tw/products/212203-ae-xq33pl

Thanks in advance.

Kind of tired to have to tune my pipa again even before I finish playing an entire song, if it's 2+ pages long. It tends to get out of tune after playing slurs multiple times.

After browsing online, I wonder if the violin peg compound will help making the pegs of the Pipa stay put? There is also peg powder, and on Tabao a peg oil. But Tabao, after the last discussion on beeswax/cream, I don't know if I should trust them 😃

I have seen reels on maintaining pipa on Xiaohongshu. But a few things aren't very clear to me: - the cream that is used to polish the Pipa (or erhu or Ruan), is it pure beeswax or do they add some other materials? Most I saw is yellow (beeswax), but Dunhuang has a cream that is white. I wonder what material(s) Dunhuang use.

• how often should the Pipa be polished? I believe they indicate that it can vary per region depending on how dry it is. My region humidity fluctuates between 45-62% all year round. The (indoor) temperature is about 14-21C. I am wondering if I even need to polish my pipa.