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Chinese Pipa is one of the traditional plucked chordophones. It has existed for more than two thousand years. Since Chinese Pipa was introduced into China from western regions, its shape has been constantly modified by musicians and musical instrument manufacturers. The structure of Chinese pipa contains a flat semi-pear-shaped resonant box, which is similar to restructured "ude (ud)." Ude is considered as the precursor of western-regions lute and European lute. Playing the Chinese Pipa in a vertical position shifts up the frets and allows more space to add additional frets on the pipa. With a variety of playing skills, the sound of the pipa is more unique and diverse, especially the unique skills-striking outward with the right hand (push) and plucking inward towards the palm of the right hand (pull) as well as a rapid strum with four fingers called sao (sweep) and the tremolo produced by the lunzhi (wheel finger) technique which involoves all the fingers and thumb of the right hand. Modern pipa composers have made great use of the unique sound of the pipa to create many new works, such as " Five Heroes in the Langya Mountain " by Lu Shao-en(1960), " Lady Hua Mulan " by Gu Guan-ren(1979), "Blessing" by Zhao Ji-ping(1980), “Life " by Liu De-hai(1984-1985), "Spring and Autumn" by Tang Jian-ping (1994), "Qilian Rhapsody" by Han Lan-kui(1995), "A Thousand Sweeps" by Luo Yong-hui(1997), and so on. Among these modern pipa songs, Liu De-hai's "Life" is particularly favored by pipa players. Liu De-hai was a very important Chinese traditional musician in the 1950s. Born in the post 1930s, he has experienced the Cultural Revolution and the recent recovery of China's economy. In the eight decades, the social, political, economic and artistic environment in China underwent tremendous changes. With the traditional music being put on the global market, Liu De-hai developed his own way in his thinking for the composition to work on his songs, and kept adapting to the new trends and making changes.
The main purpose of this paper is to explore the playing interpretation and the analysis of Liu De-hai's pipa music, "Life-Swan". The focus will be on Liu De-hai's growth background, composing methods, innovation in pipa skills, breakthroughs in his works and changes in his thinking for the composition. I hope that through the study of Liu Dehai Pipa solo "Swan" music analysis and interpretation after playing, more and more people will understand Liu De-hai's music experience, artistic concept of pipa composition and courage for the innovation and breakthroughs in pipa skills.
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