The pipa and the liuqin look similar. What’s the difference between them?

Differences between pipa and liuqin: differences in tone quality characteristics, differences in fingering when playing, and differences in usage

1. Differences in tone quality characteristics

Liuqin: It is a high-pitched plucked instrument. Its sound effect is unique and cannot be easily obscured by other instruments. It is often used to play the main melody in the high range, and sometimes also plays gorgeous and highly technical cadenzas.

Pipa: The sound has strong penetrating power (small attenuation and spreads far). The treble area is bright and rigid, the midrange area is soft and polished, and the bass area has a pure and solid sound quality.

2. Differences in fingering when playing

Liuqin: The left hand should maintain the most natural and relaxed half-fist hand shape, the thumb should not be stiff or sunken, and the forearm should be used as the main driver for big jumps Wrist, use a small jump to change the wrist to the main link to move the forearm. The last note before changing the handle and the first note after changing the handle are the key. If the quality of these two notes is good, the change will basically be successful.

Pipa: Na, Dai, and Luo are all pronounced with the left fingers. Because the volume is weak, they are also called virtual sounds. The virtual sound is relative to the real sound played by the left hand. In terms of volume, solid sounds are stronger and virtual sounds are weaker.

3. Differences in use

Yueqin: often used as accompaniment for opera, folk arts and singing and dancing, and also used in ensembles. It is one of the three major accompaniment instruments of the Peking Opera band, together with Jinghu and Jinghu. Together with the erhu, it is the main three-piece accompaniment instrument for singing.

Liuqin: plays various roles in the field of Chinese music performance. In ethnic bands, Liuqin is a treble instrument in the plucked instrument group. It has a unique sound effect and often plays important main themes in the treble range.

Pipa: It is the first plucked instrument and a plucked stringed instrument. It is made of wood, with a semi-pear-shaped speaker box and four strings on it. It was originally made of silk thread, but is now mostly made of steel wire, steel rope, and nylon. The neck and panel are equipped with "phase" and "fret" to determine the phonetic position.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Liuqin

Baidu Encyclopedia-Pipa