Music Speaks across Cultures
During her January Series presentation on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at Calvin University, Wu Man discussed the history and expressive qualities of the pipa, a pear-shaped, four-string Chinese instrument. She explained how this instrument has developed over time and how it shares connections with related instruments worldwide, such as the banjo, another string instrument that she plays.
The Grammy Award–winning musician, composer, and educator has premiered hundreds of new works for the pipa while maintaining its ancient traditions. Throughout the lecture-concert, she highlighted how music functions as a language, evolving in sound across the globe while reflecting deeply human experiences.
Wu Man described the pipa as an instrument shaped by travel and adaptation. Nearly 2,000 years old, it was first introduced to China through the Silk Road trade routes from Persia. Over centuries, the instrument changed in form, technique, and construction materials. Early depictions show that it was held horizontally like a lute, while the modern pipa is held upright and played with five fingers. Stronger strings eventually replaced silk ones, and players now use plastic fingernails to pluck the strings. The instrument’s size and construction also evolved in response to the availability of regional resources such as bamboo.
As Wu Man explained, there is no “pure” instrument, just as there is no static culture. Everything moves, adapts, and grows through contact with others.
The first tune she played was a 19th-century pipa piece, Flute and Drum at Sunset, one of the earliest examples preserved in written notation. Before that period, she said, pipa music was passed down through oral tradition. As Wu Man played, her head movements, gestures, and posture reflected how sound and physical expression are connected. The piece paints scenery and atmosphere, she explained, showing how music can borrow voices beyond itself, the pipa speaking in the tones of flute and drum, reminding listeners that sound can be shared.
The performance of musical pieces took listeners to different places and traditions within China. One piece, said Wu Man, reflected her hometown near West Lake, an area known for green tea, bamboo, and mountains. This “silk and bamboo” piece, she said, was often performed around the New Year and presented an upbeat character. Wu Man’s gestures shifted between joy and intensity, reinforcing how the pipa can evoke both place and emotion. The instrument, she added, became a way of traveling across regions, eras, and emotional landscapes.
Between musical pieces, Wu Man explained tuning systems and performance techniques, including the tremolo and rapid plucking using all five fingers. She demonstrated how speed and control shape the pipa’s voice. These explanations connected with her reflections about practice during the question-and-answer session, when Wu Man explained that practice is not only about becoming a professional musician; developing focus and character are essential to playing the pipa, and they build discipline and mental resilience, skills that extend beyond music into everyday life.
Wu Man spoke additionally about the pipa’s story beyond China. While playing Night Thought, she used a different scale to evoke the music of Central Asia, creating a solemn atmosphere that moved through cycles of tension and release, gradually building and then receding, which she described as similar to the shifting stages of insomnia. She also recalled visits to countries such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, where she encountered sister instruments such as the dutar and dombra, both of which have only two strings. Though these instruments sound different from each other as well as from the pica, they all have common roots. Each carries its own sense of place, she said, yet all express familiar human emotions. As Wu Man demonstrated, musical languages may vary, yet they can evoke similar feelings.
When asked how engaging with music across cultures has shaped her perspective, Wu Man explained that learning another culture’s music requires listening deeply to its people. She described hearing traditional mugham music from Azerbaijan and feeling an immediate sense of recognition, a sound that reminded her of music she heard while growing up in China.
Wu Man also highlighted her collaborations with Western composers and orchestras, which have expanded the pipa’s role beyond traditional settings. She described working with composer Lou Harrison, who in 1997 wrote one of the first works for pipa and string orchestra for her.
Harrison sent her an initial score, she said, with only a few notes and an unfamiliar scale—neither traditionally Chinese nor Western—leaving much of the interpretation to Wu Man. The result was a cross-cultural collaboration performed by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in Lincoln Center in New York City. She later expressed that one of her dream collaborations came true when she performed a pipa concerto commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, composed by a younger-generation Chinese composer based in New York.
Wu Man also spoke about her work in film, where the pipa becomes part of contemporary storytelling. She has contributed to soundtracks for Ang Lee films such as Eat Drink Man Woman and The Wedding Banquet, as well as widely known animated films, including Kung Fu Panda and Mulan. Through film, she noted, the sound of the pipa reaches audiences who may not encounter it in a concert setting.
Through sound and music, asserted Wu Man, we invite people into other places and stories, reminding them that while our voices may differ, the music of humanity is shared.
