Mainland troupes no longer stick to "the four main instruments" (the pipa, dongxiao, sanxian, and erxian) or their traditional arrangement with two musicians positioned stage left and the other two stage right. Instead, for the sake of a more powerful performance, mainland troupes often use twelve pipa (a type of Chinese lute), or perhaps a twelve-piece orchestra.
大陸在演奏上，打破上四管樂器對答的格局，為了表演聲勢，同時有十二支琵琶上場，或是二十人合奏的交響曲。