The big pipa of the Dong nationality is a plucked stringed musical instrument of the Dong nationality. The Dong language pipa is called Yi, Hei, and Biba. The big pipa is called Bibalao in Dong language. It is popular in Rongjiang, Congjiang, Liping, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou Province, Sanjiang, Rongshui in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Datong Dong Autonomous County in Hunan Province.
The big pipa of the Dong nationality is quite different from the common pipa. Its style is somewhat similar to that of the Han nationality three-stringed pipa and the Mongolian four-stringed pipa. .
The body of the violin is mostly made of a whole piece of camphor, mulberry, fir or other hard miscellaneous wood, preferably a locally grown wood called "Xiangxiu Xue".
sound box
It is in the shape of an inverted peach or an ellipse. It is tied to the lower part of the wood to excavate the abdominal cavity. It is made of panels. The panels are mostly made of sycamore wood, with a thickness of 0.5 cm. There are several small circular sound holes. The piano box is 20 cm to 26 cm in length, 16 cm to 20 cm in diameter, and 6 cm to 8 cm in thickness. The box is equipped with a wooden sound column.
Headstock, pegs
Flat and wide, the upper part is larger, mostly in the shape of a flat shovel, about 20 cm long, the top is bent upward or backward, there is a rectangular bottom string groove in the middle, and three, four or five wooden cones are arranged on both sides. The peg is 8 cm to 12 cm long.
piano bar
Narrow and thin, with a semi-cylindrical body, the inverted peach-shaped piano case is wider and thicker, and the front is flat as a fretboard. There are short and low metal marks on the surface of the piano bar at the position of the minor third and the downward pure fourth of the strings, which can also play the role of grade, and some are tied with thin lines on the piano bar to mark the position of the handle.
bridge, string
In the center or lower part of the panel, there is a long bridge-shaped bridge of bamboo or wood, and there are strings made of bamboo, wood or metal plate below.
strings
Zhang has three to five strings, which can be silk strings, steel strings or beef tendon strings.