The method of holding the plectrum is different when performing kaeshibachi or kakubachi, and consequently composers need to allow a few seconds for the repositioning of the hand when using the two techniques in sequence. The six fret type is tuned to B, E, B and b. A string instrument which is made of Paulownia wood that is used in an ensemble in gagaku or a solo instrument. During the 1910s a five-string model was developed that, since the 1920s, has been the most common form of the instrument (gallery #2). Cheng Yu researched the old Tang dynasty five-stringed pipa in the early 2000s and developed a modern version of it for contemporary use. Over the centuries, several types of biwa were created, each having a certain size plectrum, a specialized purpose, a unique performance technique, and varying numbers of strings and frets. [66] Some other notable pipa players in China include Yu Jia (), Wu Yu Xia (), Fang Jinlong () and Zhao Cong (). The fourth/fifth string G is an octave higher than the second string G. Again, note this is relative tuning; it could be AEAE, GDGD, etc, depending on the players range of voice. The name "pipa" is made up of two Chinese syllables, "p" () and "p" (). Although no longer as popular as it once was, several chikuzen biwa schools have survived to the present day in Japan and to a lesser extent in Japanese communities abroad (such as in Hawaii). Note however that the frets on all Chinese lutes are high so that the fingers and strings never touch the fingerboard in between the frets, this is different from many Western fretted instruments and allows for dramatic vibrato and other pitch changing effects. As a result, younger musicians turned to other instruments and interest in biwa music decreased. Different schools however can have sections added or removed, and may differ in the number of sections with free meter. sanxian, (Chinese: "three strings") Wade Giles romanization san-hsien also called xianzi, any of a group of long-necked, fretless Chinese lutes. biwa, Japanese short-necked lute, distinguished by its graceful, pear-shaped body. (80 30 3.4 cm), Classification: [74], Modern pipa player, with the pipa held in near upright position. The satsuma-biwa is traditionally made from Japanese mulberry, although other hard woods such as Japanese zelkova are sometimes used in its construction. What is known is that three main streams of biwa practice emerged during this time: zato (the lowest level of the state-controlled guild of blind biwa players), shifu (samurai style), and chofu (urban style). later versions were played by the blind Japanese lute priests of the Heian period and it was also played as background music for story-telling However, the biwas cultural significance is due to its evolution during the medieval era into a narrative musical instrument. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi () that requires a full-handed grip. Because of its traditional association with silk strings, the pipa is classified as a silk instrument in the Chinese bayin (eight-tone) classification system, a system devised by scholars of the Zhou court (1046-256 B.C.) The strings are tuned in fourths, and the melody is played almost exclusively on the highest pitched string. They included Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, and Su Shi. The left hand techniques are important for the expressiveness of pipa music. [citation needed]. The pipa has also been used in rock music; the California-based band Incubus featured one, borrowed from guitarist Steve Vai, in their 2001 song "Aqueous Transmission," as played by the group's guitarist, Mike Einziger. A. Odaiko B. Taiko C. Tsuridaiko D. Tsuzumi 2. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961. Since the biwas pegs do not move smoothly, tuning the instrument to a different mode requires time. Lin Shicheng (; 19222006), born in Shanghai, began learning music under his father and was taught by Shen Haochu (; 18991953), a leading player in the Pudong school style of pipa playing. The typical 5-stringed Satsuma-biwa classical tuning is: CGCG, from first string to fourth/fifth string, respectively. [36][37] The Ming collection of supernatural tales Fengshen Yanyi tells the story of Pipa Jing, a pipa spirit, but ghost stories involving pipa existed as early as the Jin dynasty, for example in the 4th century collection of tales Soushen Ji. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. The surface of the frets is constantly shaved down by the strings, and one of the most important points in the maintenance of the biwa is to keep the surfaces as flat as possible to get goodsawari. This seeming shortcoming is compensated for by the frets height and the low tension of the strings. The instrument initially used for this practice was the four-stringed chikuzen biwa (gallery #1), which was produced and sold cheaply--a fact attested to by the numbers of such instruments taken overseas by working-class emigrants. (de Ferranti, p. 122) [The instrument pictured in gallery #1 is very likely one of those many biwas taken overseas--it was purchased in a Honolulu shop specializing in Japanese antiques many of which were brought to Hawaii by Japanese immigrants in the early 20th century.] The sole stroke motion used in this example is kakubachi, but it also includes examples of hazusu and tataku. The most eminent 20th century satsuma-biwa performer was Tsuruta Kinshi, who developed her own version of the instrument, which she called the tsuruta-biwa. Several related instruments are derived from the pipa, including the Japanese biwa and Korean bipa in East Asia, and the Vietnamese n t b in Southeast Asia. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company. The biwa became known as an instrument commonly played at the Japanese Imperial court, where biwa players, known as biwa hshi, found employment and patronage. [53] The introduction of pipa from Central Asia also brought with it virtuoso performers from that region, for example Sujiva (, Sujipo) from the Kingdom of Kucha during the Northern Zhou dynasty, Kang Kunlun () from Kangju, and Pei Luoer () from Shule. In performance it was held sideways and played with a plectrum. As a point of clarification, the highest and last pitch of the biwa's arpeggio is considered as its melodic pitch. It is an arpeggio that is always starting from the first string (the lowest) and swepping upwards to either the second, third or fourth string. L 31 1/2 W. 11 13/16 D. 1 5/16 in. 5. In the performers right hand the bachi (plectrum) is held, its upward-pointing tip used to pluck the strings near the string holder. 20002023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Typically 60 centimetres (24 in) to 106 centimetres (42 in) in length, the instrument is . During the Song dynasty, many of the literati and poets wrote ci verses, a form of poetry meant to be sung and accompanied by instruments such as pipa. Notes played on the biwa usually begin slow and thin and progress through gradual accelerations, increasing and decreasing tempo throughout the performance. In the beginning of the Taish period (19121926), the satsuma-biwa was modified into the nishiki-biwa, which became popular among female players at the time. Pipa has been played solo, or as part of a large ensemble or small group since the early times. This type of biwa music has been preserved until now in gagaku (), or the court orchestra. The piece is in Hy-j mode (E Dorian) and the basic melody is centered on the pitches: E, B, and A, three of the four fundamental pitches of the Japanese modes. Due to the slow growth of the Japanese mulberry, the wood must be taken from a tree at least 120 years old and dried for 10 years before construction can begin. The biwa ( Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The higo-biwa is closely related to the heike-biwa and, similarly, relies on an oral narrative tradition focusing on wars and legends. The plectrum is usually made from rosewood with boxwood or ivory tips for plucking the strings. Pieces in the Wu style are generally more rhythmic and faster, and often depict scenes of battles and are played in a vigorous fashion employing a variety of techniques and sound effects. [71][self-published source] In 2014, French zhongruan player and composer Djang San, created his own electric pipa and recorded an experimental album that puts the electric pipa at the center of music. At the beginning of the 13th century, Heike biwa players began telling of tales of the rise and fall of the Taira . As the biwa does not play in tempered tuning, pitches are approximated to the nearest note. It had close association with Buddhism and often appeared in mural and sculptural representations of musicians in Buddhist contexts. It is one of the most enduring work in Chinese theatre, and one that became a model for Ming dynasty drama as it was the favorite opera of the first Ming emperor. These players had considerable influence on the development of pipa playing in China. 3 (Winter, 19771978). 105-126. Multiple strings are often played in one pluck like an arpeggio. [2] Pear-shaped lutes have been depicted in Kusana sculptures from the 1st century AD. Shakuhachi One of the most popular traditional Japanese wind instruments is the shakuhachi. Taiko Related Articles on Traditional Japanese Instruments 1. It is an important instrument in the Peking opera orchestra, often taking the role of main melodic instrument in lieu of the bowed string section. Modern notation systems, new compositions as well as recordings are now widely available and it is no longer crucial for a pipa players to learn from the master of any particular school to know how to play a score. This overlap resulted in a rapid evolution of the biwa and its usage and made it one of the most popular instruments in Japan. However, the playing of the biwa nearly became extinct during the Meiji period following the introduction of Western music and instruments, until players such as Tsuruta Kinshi and others revitalized the genre with modern playing styles and collaborations with Western composers. Biwa. On the plectrum, figure of a golden phoenix with flowers in its beak, Written by Nobuko Fukatsu [1] The earliest-known piece in the collection may be "Eagle Seizing a Crane" () which was mentioned in a Yuan dynasty text. Bodmin, Cornwall, Great Britain: MPG Books, pp. A new way to classify the acoustical properties of woods and clearly separate these two groups is proposed in this paper. Classification (Sachs-Von Hornbostel revised by MIMO) 321.312 chordophone--spike box lute or spike guitar: the resonator is built up from wood, the body of the instrument is in the form of a box through which the handle/neck passes It helps illustrate the neglible amount of resonance the biwa produces, because already after 1 second most of its sound energy is below the threshold of hearing. The Kyushu biwa traditions, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, edited by Alison McQueen Tokita and David W. Hughes. [20], Garfias, Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition 16, Garfias, Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition 18, Ferranti, Relations between Music and Text in "Higo Biwa", The "Nagashi" Pattern as a Text-MusicSystem 150, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Biwa&oldid=1097578427, This page was last edited on 11 July 2022, at 14:28. The short neck has four raised frets, each one specifically assigned to one of the left hand fingers. Both were pupils of Wang Yuting (18721951), and both were active in establishing and promoting Guoyue ("national music"), which is a combination of traditional regional music and Western musical practices. However, depictions of the pear-shaped pipas in China only appeared after the Han dynasty during the Jin dynasty in the late 4th to early 5th century. Nation: Japan. [6] Another Han dynasty text, Fengsu Tongyi, also indicates that, at that time, pipa was a recent arrival,[7] although later 3rd-century texts from the Jin dynasty suggest that pipa existed in China as early as the Qin dynasty (221206 BC). In the early 1950s, he founded the traditional instruments department at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. 89.4.2088. [12] The plectrum is also critical to creating the sawari sound, which is particularly utilized with satsuma-biwa. At the beginning of the Meiji period, it was estimated that there were at least one hundred traditional court musicians in Tokyo; however, by the 1930s, this number had reduced to just 46 in Tokyo, and a quarter of these musicians later died in World War II. There are some types of traditional string instrument. The . Its pick or bachi () is the largest among all types of biwa it sometimes used to strike the hard soundboard sharply to create percussive effects, adding a more dynamic flavor to the music. It is a big percussion instrument of Japanese that plays integral part of many Japanese Matsuri (festival). The strings are numbered from the lowest (first string) to the highest (fourth string). Options are limited when considering that a fingered string between two open strings must be fingered on the 4th fret to avoid damping. Instead, biwa singers tend to sing with a flexible pitch without distinguishing soprano, alto, tenor, or bass roles. The biwa sounds as written, and it is tuned to an A-430Hz. The fourth/fifth string G is an octave higher than the second string G. Again, note this is relative tuning; it could be AEAE, GDGD, etc, depending on the players range of voice. [54][55] (The heptatonic scale was used for a time afterwards in the imperial court due to Sujiva's influence until it was later abandoned). Famous pieces such as "Ambushed from Ten Sides", "The Warlord Takes Off His Armour", and "Flute and Drum at Sunset" were first described in this collection. Sort by. Japanese and foreign musicians alike have begun embracing traditional Japanese instruments, particularly the biwa, in their compositions. Not to be confused with the five-stringed variants of modern biwa, such as chikuzen-biwa. The satsuma-biwa (), a biwa with four strings and four frets, was popularized during the Edo period in Satsuma Province (present-day Kagoshima) by Shimazu Tadayoshi. Biwa traditions began with blind priests who traveled from village to village singing sutras. The 5-string specimen is larger (the vibrating length of its strings is 30.3 inches) and heavier than the 4-string specimen and also has some delicate decorative detail added that is carved out of mother-of-pearl (detail #8 and #9). When Yamashika died in 1996, the era of the biwa hshi tutelage died with him, but the music and genius of that era continues thanks to his recordings. Blind priests would play them in order to tell stories and tales of ancient war. Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection - Chikuzen Biwa. 20002023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Each group can include either two open strings or one open and one fingered string. Hornbostel-Sachs or Sachs-Hornbostel is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in the Zeitschrift fr Ethnologie in 1914. Shanghai-born Liu Guilian graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music and became the director of the Shanghai Pipa Society, and a member of the Chinese Musicians Association and Chinese National Orchestral Society, before immigrating to Canada. With this, the biwa entered a period of popularity, with songs reflecting not just The Tale of the Heike, but also the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, with songs such as Takeo Hirose, Hitachimaru and 203 Hill gaining popularity. And thanks to the low tension of the strings, it is easy to bend the strings by adding pressure. Although shaped like a Western lute, the Biwa's back is flat and it has a shallower body. Resonator design, chordophone: bowl with wood soundboard, Vibrational length: tension bridge to ridge-nut, Pitches per string course: multiple (by pressure stopping against fretted fingerboard), 4-string biwa (gallery #1): Biwa Four frets Figure 1 NAKAMURA Kahoru Biwa's back is flat Biwa's plectrum Figure 2 Although shaped like a Western lute, the Biwa 's back is flat and it has a shallower body. 36 1/2 7 7/8 5 in. Considering that the metronome marking of this music rarely exceeds the quarter-note at 54, and that the biwa plays mostly on the 1st beat of each measure, it is the authors impression that hazusu and/or tataku may help the biwa player keep time by providing material/action that cuts the duration of a measure in two, even if it cannot be heard. The body of the instrument is never struck with the plectrum during play, and the five string instrument is played upright, while the four string is played held on its side. The biwa is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime during the Nara period (710794). The strings are sounded with a large, thick, fan-shaped plectrum called a bachi (detail #6), traditionally made of wood (the practice bachi pictured here is made from resin). It is possible to include a fingered pitch among the lower grace-notes but that pitch should preferably be chosen among those playable on the 4th fret. The strings are struck with a hand-held wooden plectrum. As one of the modern types of biwa that flourished in the late 19, centuries, Satsuma-biwa is widely played today in various settings, including popular media. [51] The music collections from the 19th century also used the gongche notation which provides only a skeletal melody and approximate rhythms sometimes with the occasional playing instructions given (such as tremolo or string-bending), and how this basic framework can become fully fleshed out during a performance may only be learnt by the students from the master. The instrument is played with a large wedge-shaped plectrum called a bachi. [citation needed]. The main part of the music is vocal and the biwa part mostly plays short interludes. The biwa is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime during the Nara period (710-794). Jiaju Shen from The Either also plays an Electric 5 String Pipa/Guitar hybrid that has the Hardware from an Electric Guitar combined with the Pipa, built by an instrument maker named Tim Sway called "Electric Pipa 2.0". Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. Waribachi: This is a downward sweeping of the four strings, dividing the motion into two groups of two notes. These cookies do not store any personal information. [8][9] Liu Xi also stated that the instrument called pipa, though written differently (; pp or ; pb) in the earliest texts, originated from amongst the Hu people (a general term for non-Han people living to the north and west of ancient China).
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