My Friend Pipa

By INK Staff Keyan Du
​      I would like to introduce one of my best friends to you—Pipa, a Chinese traditional instrument that have accompanied me for 12 years. In 2006, It was the first time I met it. I was 4, and I was amazed by it. At that time, my words were too little to describe its beautifulness, but I knew that it’s the one that I would love forever.
     Although I wasn’t able to illustrate perfectly my feeling about Pipa when I was 4, I would like to try to introduce it to you now. Pipa is a four-stringed instrument, and some people also call it Chinese lute. It is pear-shaped and made by wood. With the careful sculpturing, Pipa has a pretty outlook, and because of the special shape, Pipa has a extremely beautiful sound. Some people describe that sound as the sound of trickling water. But Pipa can also produce more powerful sound like the sound of wind.
    So, that is the thing that amazed me when I was 4, and accompanied myself through my
whole childhood. I brought it with me when I came to the US. I wanted to introduce my
friend—Pipa— to more people, and let more people know about chinese culture. I believe music can produce happiness because I could see the joy and awes of the audience when I finish my performance. Thus, I am proud of myself and thankful for the popular I have to learn such a good gift —Pipa— to me.
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     Last year, I had a performance with Harry, who is a talent man in music. Before that
show, we were trying to combine the western instrument and chinese traditional instrument together and play a song that has an element of another culture. Thus, we chose to put Pipa and guitar together to see if there will be something interesting happened. Finally we decided to play “Despacito” — a spanish song that was very popular last year. The collision of three different element of different culture was very surprising. A very different version of “Despacito” was born in that night.
     Music is one of the media that allows different people to talk even though they don’t
speak same language. It is hard to imagine if there is no music in our life. I think it’s the easiest way to communicate with the audience because no matter where they are from, what language they speak, or what religion they believe, they all can resonate with the musicians through their music. I believe that art is all about expression, communication and connection. We can communicate with a person who is dead when we read his/her book. We can express our idea when we write so that it may influence thousands of people. We can paint to show what we think the beauty is. Personally speaking, I am really bad at writing and drawing, but I want to show what I feel about my life, about different cultures, and about the world, so I chose to play an instrument and use music to tell and share the happiness and beautifulness in my life.