The succession of pipa traditional tracks and performance techniques were primarily done using “skeletal” gongche notations; tracks also require oral and mental instruction to survive. Furthermore, various prominent masters’ aesthetics and techniques vary and diversified to the creation of different schools as well as performance scores.

Pinghu School successor Li Fang Yuan published the second official block-printed notated pipa collection: “New Notation for Thirteen Northern and Southern School Pipa Suites”. Li took the track “wild geese landing on the sandbank” from “Scores for the Lute”, expanded it to a seven segment medium sized melody and classified it as a civilian melody. The Pinghu School is adept at performing civilian melodies. However, as various performance scores developed overtime, the “wild geese landing on the sandbank” gradually transitioned to embodying the implication of a “civilian melody martially performed”. Thus, the author believes researching the music piece can not only analyze Pinghu School’s musical aesthetics but also justify the necessity of music reinterpretation.

For this research, the researcher primarily collected data to investigate and organize various performance scores. The author then internalized the information and subsequently engaged in performance interpretation of those melodies. It is the researcher’s wish that by organizing and interpreting traditional melodies, present pipa players can understand traditional tracks and pass them on to ensure their propagation.