biwa instrument classification
In the 18th century, samurai in the Satsuma area (southern part of Kyushu island) adopted the blind monks biwa music into their musical practices. 4. Pipa is also an important component of regional chamber ensemble traditions such as Jiangnan sizhu, Teochew string music and Nanguan ensemble. CLASSIFICATION DIAGRAM OF WOOD A fundamental structure of string instruments in the Asia and Western is a box-sound hole structure [4,5] as seen in the harpsichord, guitar, violin, and biwa . Credit Line: The Crosby Brown Collection . They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The short neck of the Tang pipa also became more elongated. 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. The instrument is also held vertically while playing. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Recently, this instrument, much like the konghou harp, has been revived for historically informed performances and historical reconstructions. Its plectrum is much smaller than that of the satsuma-biwa, usually about 13cm (5.1in) in width, although its size, shape, and weight depends on the sex of the player. 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. In the 13th century, the story The Tale of Heike ()was created and told by them. 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). HornbostelSachs 1 Hornbostel - Sachs 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. [31] The pipa is mentioned frequently in the Tang dynasty poetry, where it is often praised for its expressiveness, refinement and delicacy of tone, with poems dedicated to well-known players describing their performances. Hornbostel-Sach Classification of instruments is a means of sorting out instruments according to how it produces sound. Continent: Asia. 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. Multiple strings are often played in one pluck like an arpeggio. On the plectrum, figure of a golden phoenix with flowers in its beak, During the Qing dynasty, scores for pipa were collected in Thirteen Pieces for Strings. Type. Biwa traditions began with blind priests who traveled from village to village singing sutras. Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production. The strings are numbered from the lowest (first string) to the highest (fourth string). [21] The pipa underwent a number of changes over the centuries. Clattering and murmuring, meshing jumbled sounds, The Met Fifth Avenue 1000 Fifth Avenue Once assembled, four wound silk strings of varying thicknesses are at one of their ends tied to the string holder bridge (detail #4) and the other to the tuning pegs. Today, the instrument is played in both narrative and instrumental formats, in the traditional music scene as well as in various popular media. The four fret type is tuned to E, B, E and A, and the five fret type is tuned to B, e, f and f. [17] Even higo-biwa players, who were quite popular in the early 20th century, may no longer have a direct means of studying oral composition, as the bearers of the tradition have either died or are no longer able to play. Most contemporary performers use the five string version. This type of instrument was introduced to Korea (the bipa ), to Japan (the biwa ), and to Vietnam (the tyba ). 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. Beginning in the late 1960s to the late 1980s, composers and historians from all over the world visited Yamashika and recorded many of his songs; before this time, the biwa hshi tradition had been a completely oral tradition. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Beginning in the late 1960s, these musicians and composers began to incorporate Japanese music and Japanese instruments into their compositions; for example, one composer, Tru Takemitsu, collaborated with Western composers and compositions to include the distinctly Asian biwa. Through the next several centuries, players of both traditions intersected frequently and developed new music styles and new instruments. The Biwa is a four-stringed Japanese lute with a short neck that was commonly used in Japanese court music in the seventh and eighth centuries. Since the biwas pegs do not move smoothly, tuning the instrument to a different mode requires time. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi () that requires a full-handed grip. [2], Early literary tradition in China, for example in a 3rd-century description by Fu Xuan, Ode to Pipa,[1][28] associates the Han pipa with the northern frontier, Wang Zhaojun and other princesses who were married to nomad rulers of the Wusun and Xiongnu peoples in what is now Mongolia, northern Xinjiang and Kazakhstan. With the rounded edge of the resonator resting in the players lap and the peg box end of the instrument tilted to the left at about a 45-degree angle from vertical, the biwas soundboard faces forward. The interval between the pitches of the open string and first fret is a major second, while the interval between pitches on two adjacent frets is a minor second. 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. Heike Biwa (), Medium: She now performs with Red Chamber and the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble. He also qualified as a doctor of Chinese medicine. The basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. This is the original form of biwa that came to Japan in the 8. century. Pipa is commonly associated with Princess Liu Xijun and Wang Zhaojun of the Han dynasty, although the form of pipa they played in that period is unlikely to be pear-shaped as they are now usually depicted. Traditional Chinese narrative prefers the story of the Han Chinese Princess Liu Xijun sent to marry a barbarian Wusun king during the Han dynasty, with the pipa being invented so she could play music on horseback to soothe her longings. The biwa developed into five different types in its long history: Gaku, Heike, Ms, Satsuma, and Chikuzen. Formation: Japanese. Kaeshibachi: The performance of arpeggio with an up-ward motion of the plectrum, and it is always soft. The da and xiao categories refer to the size of the piece xiao pieces are small pieces normally containing only one section, while da pieces are large and usually contain multiple sections. Biwa performers also vary the volume of their voice between barely audible to very loud. 3 (Winter, 19771978). As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. 36 1/2 7 7/8 5 in. Therefore the sound of the biwa is very strong at the attack but it has almost no resonance, and in that sense, its contribution to the overall sound of the orchestra is more rhythmic than harmonic. Of particular fame were the family of pipa players founded by Cao Poluomen () and who were active for many generations from the Northern Wei to Tang dynasty. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments. It is made out of wood, with a teardrop-shaped body and a long neck with four or five high frets, and is stringed with four or five silk strings that are plucked by a big pick called bachi (). For the left hand, as mentioned above under the Construction section, bending of the strings (oshikan, ) and delicate control of it to create a vibrato effect (yuri. ) length Figure 6 shows a spectral analysis of the arpeggio read at the attack and one second later. Region: East Asia. It may be played as a solo instrument or as part of the imperial orchestra for use in productions such as daqu (, grand suites), an elaborate music and dance performance. The main part of the music is vocal and the biwa part mostly plays short interludes. Non-traditional themes may be used in these new compositions and some may reflect the political landscape and demands at the time of composition, for example "Dance of the Yi People" which is based on traditional melodies of the Yi people, may be seen as part of the drive for national unity, while "Heroic Little Sisters of the Grassland" extols the virtue of those who served as model of exemplary behaviour in the People's commune.[48]. A pipa player playing with the pipa behind his back. greatest depth of resonator, multiple (by pressure stopping against fretted fingerboard). At the beginning of the 13th century, Heike biwa players began telling of tales of the rise and fall of the Taira . [17][18] The pear-shaped pipa may have been introduced during the Han dynasty and was referred to as Han pipa. 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. The pipa is held in a vertical or near-vertical position during performance, although in the early periods the instrument was held in the horizontal position or near-horizontal with the neck pointing slightly downwards, or upside down. It is the most widely used system for classifying musical . String-bending for example may be used to produce a glissando or portamento. In the 20th century, two of the most prominent pipa players were Sun Yude (; 19041981) and Li Tingsong (; 19061976). A. Biwa B. Koto C. Shakuhachi D. Shamisen 3. Popular Japanese three-stringed lute. This music called heikyoku () was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14-15th centuries. It had a pear-shaped wooden body with two crescent-shaped sound holes, a curved neck, four strings, and four frets. The biwa, originally an instrument of high society, gradually spread among wandering blind monks who used this instrument to tell stories. This article is about the Chinese instrument. In both cases, the sound of the non-struck pitches is not hearable when performed with the orchestra, but the gesture itself might help the biwa player keep time. A Sound Classification Musical instruments can be classified by the Western orchestral system into brass, percussion, strings, and woodwinds; but the S-H system allows non-western instruments to be classified as well. Omissions? From the Dingjiazha Tomb No. Thick strings clatter like splattering rain, It is made out of wood, with a teardrop-shaped body and a long neck with four or five high frets, and is stringed with four or five silk strings that are plucked by a big pick called bachi. The strings are struck with a hand-held wooden plectrum. 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. When two strings are plucked at the same time with the index finger and thumb (i.e. There are three small soundholes on the soundboard: two visible ones (hangetsu) partially covered with moon-shaped caps made of ivory and a hidden one (ingetsu) beneath the string holder. Example 4 shows the basic melody of Etenraku's section B and C, and its rhythmic accompaniment. In gagaku, it is known as the gaku-biwa (). The biwa is related to the Chinese pipa, an instrument that was introduced to Japan in the late 7th century. 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. Biwa (Japanese instrument) - MIT Global Shakespeares Biwa (Japanese instrument) The Biwa is a Japanese teardrop lute, similar to the lute and the oud, with a short neck and frets. In the early 20th century, twenty-five pieces were found amongst 10th-century manuscripts in the Mogao caves near Dunhuang, most of these pieces however may have originated from the Tang dynasty. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The sanxian is made in several sizes. The biwa, considered one of Japan's principal traditional instruments, has both influenced and been influenced by other traditional instruments and compositions throughout its long history; as such, a number of different musical styles played with the biwa exist. In 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate collapsed, giving way to the Meiji period and the Meiji Restoration, during which the samurai class was abolished, and the Todo lost their patronage. Different schools however can have sections added or removed, and may differ in the number of sections with free meter. It was those blind monks who fell outside of governmental protection who, during the 17th century, creatively modified the biwa to introduce a shamisen flavor, such as making frets higher to play in-between notes. Each type has different and unique tones, techniques, and musical styles. The biwa is a pear-shaped instrument with four or five strings. [51][52] Different schools have different repertoire in their music collection, and even though these schools share many of the same pieces in their repertoire, a same piece of music from the different schools may differ in their content. Shamisen. Wu Man is probably the best known pipa player internationally, received the first-ever master's degree in pipa and won China's first National Academic Competition for Chinese Instruments. [34][57][58] Duan Anjie described the duel between the famous pipa player Kang Kunlun and the monk Duan Shanben () who was disguised as a girl, and told the story of Yang Zhi () who learned how to play the pipa secretly by listening to his aunt playing at night. 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.] This is a type of biwa that wandering blind monks played for religious practice as well as in narrative musical performances during the medieval era, widely seen in the Kyushu area. The texture of biwa singing is often described as "sparse". 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. As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. The design and construction of the 5-string Chikuzen biwa pictured in gallery #2 is basically the same as for the 4-string model described above except accommodations need to be made to the pegbox (detail #7) and bridge (detail #8) for the additional string. The instrument is tuned to match the key of the singer. The traditional Satsuma-biwa has 4 strings and 4 frets (Sei-ha and Kinshin-ryu schools), and newer styles have 5 strings and 5 frets (Nishiki and Tsuruta-ryu schools). It is however possible to produce the tremolo with just one or more fingers. Like pearls, big and small, falling on a platter of jade. Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted, Credit Line: She lives in San Diego, California and works extensively with Chinese, cross-cultural, new music, and jazz groups. L 31 1/2 W. 11 13/16 D. 1 5/16 in. Tataku: This is similar to hazusu, except that this time, two non-struck pitches follow the struck one. Members of these schools are sighted and include both females and males. By the Kamakura period (11851333), the heike-biwa had emerged as a more popular instrument, a cross between both the gaku-biwa and ms-biwa, retaining the rounded shape of the gaku-biwa and played with a large plectrum like the ms-biwa. ________. The narrative biwa music adopts a relative tuning; the pitch is decided to match with the players range of voice. [10][11] This may have given rise to the Qin pipa, an instrument with a straight neck and a round sound box, and evolved into ruan, an instrument named after Ruan Xian, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and known for playing similar instrument. [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. Yo-sen has 2 tones regarded as auxiliary tones. Northern Wei dynasty (386534 AD). An apsara (feitian) playing pipa, using fingers with the pipa held in near upright position. . Another often-used technique is rubbing the long side of the bachi on the strings to get wind-like sounds. One of these, the new chikuzen biwa tradition, became popular amongst many thousands of amateurs between c.1900 and 1920. The first and second strings are generally tuned to the same note, with the 4th (or doubled 4th) string is tuned one octave higher. 1984. The five-stringed pipa however had fallen from use by the Song dynasty, although attempts have been made to revive this instrument in the early 21st century with a modernized five-string pipa modeled on the Tang dynasty instrument. Japanese Music and Musical Instruments. [9] When singing in a chorus, biwa singers often stagger their entry and often sing through non-synchronized, heterophony accompaniment. NAKAMURA Kahoru, the biwa player with whom we worked, mentioned that for a concert including pieces in two different modes, she tunes two biwas before the concert. The fish is an auspicious symbol of Buddhism signifying wakeful attention since most fish lack eyelids and remain alert. In Japan, the biwa is generally played with a bachi instead of the fingers, and is often used to play gagaku. Yoko Hiraoka, a member of the Yamato Komyoji ryu, presents a lecture/recital of Japanese Biwa music. 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. Hazusu: This is a sequence of two pitches, where the first one is attacked, and leades to a second one which is not attacked. [18], As biwa music declined in post-Pacific War Japan, many Japanese composers and musicians found ways to revitalize interest in it. During the 1950s, the use of metal strings in place of the traditional silk ones also resulted in a change in the sound of the pipa which became brighter and stronger. the fingers and thumb flick outward, unlike the guitar where the fingers and thumb normally pluck inward towards the palm of the hand. These works present a radical departure from the compositional languages usually employed for such an instrument. The same piece of music can therefore differ significantly when performed by students of different schools, with striking differences in interpretation, phrasing, tempo, dynamics, playing techniques, and ornamentations. Idiophones African Thumb Pianos The 5 String Pipa is tuned like a Standard Pipa with the addition of an Extra Bass String tuned to an E2 (Same as the Guitar) which broadens the range (Tuning is E2, A2, D3, E3, A3). [32][33][34] A famous poem by Bai Juyi, "Pipa xing" (), contains a description of a pipa performance during a chance encounter with a female pipa player on the Yangtze River:[35]. 2000. This is a system used to classify all musical instruments.This system was created by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs.The Hornbostel-Sachs system is based on how an instrument vibrates to produce sound. This is the original form of biwa that came to Japan in the 8th century. Its classification is a type of a Chordophone. The biwa has a shallow, rounded back and silk strings (usually four or five) attached to slender lateral pegs. The Koto came from the Chinese zither "Gu Zheng" during the Nara period in Japan. [8] The varying string thickness creates different timbres when stroked from different directions. Multiple strings are often played in one pluck like an arpeggio. As well as being one of the leading pipa players of his generation, Li held many academic positions and also carried out research on pipa scales and temperament.