Ma Jie

Music:

Member Since: 5/14/2006
Band Website: cmmusicco.com
Band Members: My name is Jie Ma, I play Chinese traditional instruments Pipa and Ruan. I began my musical studies at the age of five and became a professional musician at age 14. I studied with the great Pipa masters such as Fendi Wang, Dehai Liu, and Yuzhong Kuang and Ruan professor Jiliang Liu.

In 2001, I received my Bachelor of Music from the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, one of the best music school in China. Because of my talent, I was accepted exceptionally as an adjunct professor in the music department of Liao Ning Normal University. During my stay at Liao Ning Normal University, I was constantly invited to many colleges to give presentations on Chinese Traditional Music and Chinese Folk Music. I was invited to Japan in 2002 to give a Pipa and Ruan concert in a cultural exchange program.

In May 2004, I performed at Herbst Theater, San Francisco. From 2004 to 2005, I hosted a radio program on introducing the Chinese music at the Sing Tao Radio Station. In February 2005, I performed at the Pan-Asian Musical Festival in Stanford.

I also began experimenting with different genres in 2005. In February 2005, I played with the Citywinds Woodwind Quintet in San Francisco as a member of Melody of China, a Chinese music ensemble. The concert combined western chamber music with Chinese traditional music. In March 2006, I was asked to perform in an avant garde project entitled Sound for Picture with the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra.

In a continuing effort to explore different sounds of Pipa, I play Pipa with different musicians in different discipline and forms. In addition to collaborating with other traditional Chinese musicians, I have worked with many musicians of different genres such as jazz, country, blues, and rock. I welcome the opportunity to work with other talented musicians to create new sounds.

Influences: The pipa is a combination of pi and pa, originally referred to two right-hand techniques: pi meant to play forward and pa means to play backward. The archetype of the modern pipa, which had a half-pear-shaped soundbox, a crooked neck, 4 or 5 strings and 4 frets, originated in Central Asia and arrived in China in the 4th century A.D. The immortal poetry Song of the Pipa by Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi reveals the instrument's great popularity in the Tang and Song Dynasties (618-1279 A.D.) Until then a plectrum was used; after that time, performers only used their fingernails, which still persists today.

The number of frets has gradually been increased, up to 23-25 frets in the modern type, expanding the instrument's range chromatically. Now the strings are steel wires, instead of silk, with or without nylon coiling round. Its range is over three and a half octaves. The pipa's clear, bright and mellow tone and its variable volume can be seen from the description of Bai Juyis verses:

The bold strings-they patterned like the dashing rain, The life strings-they sounded like the lovers' whispers. Chattering and pattering, pattering and chattering As pearls, large and small, on a jade patter fall.

Today the playing techniques are even more sophisticated. The pipa is often used for solos and in ensembles or in the modern Chinese orchestra.

Tuning: A-D-E-A
Type of Label: None