The Mighty Tang Dynasty

Mr. Dehai Liu, one of the most prominent pipa artists in China today, has helped the continuous development of pipa performing techniques during his decades practice of the art. His work,"Zhaolingliujun", is the first in a series of pipa music that Mr. Liu composed called "The Nostalgia". The birth of this piece of music literally marked a brand new stage in Mr. Liu’s pursuit of classical music. Due to its importance, this paper is going to analyse "Zhaolingliujun" from three levels:the backgrounds, the performing techniques as well as the style, with a focus on the wide use of "Fanzhengtan" approach in the piece. Thanks to this brilliant integration between "Fanzhengtan" and melody, the postures of the warhorses are expressed vividly and perfectly in the music."Zhaolingliujun" really pushes the use of Mr. Dehai Liu’s "Fanzhengtan" technique to an unprecedented level. It is my hope that, through careful analysis on the unique techniques used in this piece of music, not only can we understand the work of Mr. Liu in a more comprehensive manner, but also learn to explore pipa art from more a diverse view and contribute whatever we can to the continuity of traditional Chinese classical music.