【Caption: "White Snow in Early Spring" ("Yang Chun Bai Xue"), about 552 B.C., attributed to Shi Kuang: performed by Yan Zhao】
SCCCC offers classes on a number of Chinese instruments, and one of them is Pipa. According to an essay by J. Kenneth Moore, Department of Musical Instruments, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in October 2003, The Chinese pipa, a four-string plucked lute, descends from West and Central Asian prototypes and appeared in China during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534).
Traveling over ancient trade routes, it brought not only a new sound but also new repertoires and musical theory. Originally it was held horizontally like a guitar, and its twisted silk strings were plucked with a large triangular plectrum held in the right hand. The word pipa describes the plectrum’s plucking strokes: pi, “to play forward,” pa, “to play backward.” During the Tang dynasty (618–907), musicians gradually began using their fingernails to pluck the strings, and to hold the instrument in a more upright position. In the Museum’s collection, a late seventh-century group of female musicians sculpted in clay (23.180.4-7) illustrates the guitar style of holding the instrument. First thought to be a foreign and somewhat improper instrument, it soon won favor in court ensembles but today it is well known as a solo instrument whose repertoire is a virtuosic and programmatic style that may evoke images of nature or battle.
『潯陽江頭夜送客，楓葉荻花秋瑟瑟。』
『千呼萬喚始出來，猶抱琵琶半遮面。』
『大絃嘈嘈如急雨，小絃切切如私語。』
『嘈嘈切切錯雜彈，大珠小珠落玉盤。』
『同是天涯淪落人，相逢何必曾相識。』
這些熟悉的詩詞語句，出自唐代詩人白居易的不朽名作『琵琶行』，是華人文化中的瑰寶。如今西方世界對中華樂器也有相當程度的瞭解和接受，美國華人聚集較密的大都市也往往有老師提供國樂的教學，琵琶即爲亮點之一。南海岸中華文化中心提供國樂課的其中之一，是學習彈奏琵琶。根據大都會藝術博物館樂器部 J. Kenneth Moore 在 2003 年 10 月的一篇文章，中國琵琶是一種四弦彈撥琵琶，起源於西亞和中亞的原型，在北魏（386-534）時期出現於中國。穿越古老的貿易路線，它不僅帶來了新的聲音，也帶來了新的曲目和音樂理論。
最初人們像如今吉他一樣的方式，水平握持，其扭曲的絲弦是用右手握著的一個大三角形撥片撥弦的。琵琶這個詞描述了撥片的彈奏：琵，“向前彈奏”；琶，“向後彈奏”。在唐代（618-907 年），音樂家逐漸開始用指甲撥弦，並將樂器保持在更直立的位置。
在博物館的藏品中，一群七世紀晚期用粘土雕刻的女性音樂家 (23.180.4-7) 展示了拿著樂器的吉他風格。最初被認為是一種外來且有些不恰當的樂器，它很快在宮廷合奏中贏得了青睞，但今天它作為一種獨奏樂器而廣為人知，其曲目是一種精湛流暢的整體風格，可能會喚起人們感受到自然或戰鬥的形象。