biwa instrument classification

Example 4 shows that the biwa's melodic pitch doubles the basic melodic tone on the downbeat of almost every measure, except in measure 4 where the melodic tone 'E' is supported with a 'D' in the biwa's part. It produces distinctive ichikotsuch () and hyj (). It is the most widely used system for classifying musical . Exploiting the sound of the open strings increases the overall sounds volume. Yoko Hiraoka, a Lecture/Recital of Japanese Biwa Music These works present a radical departure from the compositional languages usually employed for such an instrument. Another. Novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties such as Jin Ping Mei showed pipa performance to be a normal aspect of life in these periods at home (where the characters in the novels may be proficient in the instrument) as well as outside on the street or in pleasure houses.[24]. This next instrument seems to have some spiritual meaning behind it. [14][15][16], The pear-shaped pipa is likely to have been introduced to China from Central Asia, Gandhara, and/or India. 1. The biwa is a pear-shaped instrument with four or five strings. [29], There are many references to pipa in Tang literary works, for example, in A Music Conservatory Miscellany Duan Anjie related many anecdotes associated with pipa. [21] For example, masses of pipa-playing Buddhist semi-deities are depicted in the wall paintings of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang. The open strings are shown in the first measures, and the pitches assigned the left-hand fingered notes in the following four measures. 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). used to strike the hard soundboard sharply to create percussive effects, adding a more dynamic flavor to the music. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. [6][7] According to Liu Xi's Eastern Han dynasty Dictionary of Names, the word pipa may have an onomatopoeic origin (the word being similar to the sounds the instrument makes),[6] although modern scholarship suggests a possible derivation from the Persian word "barbat", the two theories however are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Brian Grimm placed the contact mic pickup on the face of the pipa and wedged under the bridge so he is able to plug into pedalboards, live computer performance rigs, and direct input (DI) to an audio interface for studio tracking. OnMusic Dictionary - Term 89.4.2088. The Museum's collection of musical instruments includes approximately 5,000 examples from six continents and the Pacific Islands, dating from about 300 B.C. Traditionally, the duration of each pitch subdivides the measure into two equal durations. The strings are struck with a hand-held wooden plectrum. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. The gagaku biwa (), a large and heavy biwa with four strings and four frets, is used exclusively for gagaku. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. He also qualified as a doctor of Chinese medicine. At first the chikuzen biwa, like the one pictured in gallery #1, had four strings and five frets, but by the 1910s Tachibana and his sons had developed a five-string model (gallery #2) that, since the 1920s, has been the most common form of the instrument. Modern biwa music is based on that medieval narrative biwa music. the finger and thumb separate in one action), it is called fen (), the reverse motion is called zhi (). It is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments by ethnomusicologists and organologists . Outside influence, internal pressures, and socio-political turmoil redefined biwa patronage and the image of the biwa; for example, the nin War of the Muromachi period (13381573) and the subsequent Warring States period (15th17th centuries) disrupted the cycle of tutelage for heikyoku[citation needed][a] performers. Because of this bending technique oshikan (), one can make two or three notes for each fret and also in-between notes. Sandstone carving, showing the typical way a pipa was held when played with plectrum in the early period. The sanxian (Mandarin for 'three strings') is a type off fretless plucked Chinese lutes. [39] The plectrum has now been largely replaced by the fingernails of the right hand. Malm, William P. 1959. biwa, Japanese short-necked lute, distinguished by its graceful, pear-shaped body. Most ms biwas have tear-shaped bodies, but this rustic fish-shaped example was probably used by a wandering Buddhist monk. 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. 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. [24] However, it continued to be played as a folk instrument that also gained the interest of the literati. chikuzen biwa Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection Biwa - Stanford University The archlute ( Spanish: archilad, Italian: arciliuto, German: Erzlaute) is a European plucked string instrument developed around 1600 as a compromise between the very large theorbo, the size and re-entrant tuning of which made for difficulties in the performance of solo music, and the Renaissance tenor lute, which lacked the bass range of the 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". [1][2] Modern researchers such as Laurence Picken, Shigeo Kishibe, and John Myers suggested a non-Chinese origin. The biwa (Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. Japanese lute with 4-5 strings and frets. [43] The collection was edited by Hua Qiuping (, 17841859) and published in 1819 in three volumes. As part of, Metalwork by Goto Teijo, 9th generation Goto master, Japan (16031673). Players hold the instrument vertically. 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 pipa, pp, or p'i-p'a (Chinese: ) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. The performer sings while playing the biwa, and the instrumental part is modular in structure in that there are dozens of named or numbered phrases that the player must internalize and that are used as the building blocks of the instrument part that supports the vocal part. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. Musical Instruments of East Asia Flashcards | Quizlet Kakisukashi: This is a three or four-note arpeggio with two strings in unison. The loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) is a large evergreen shrub or tree, grown commercially for its orange fruit and for its leaves, which are used to make herbal tea.It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant.. 6 Traditional Japanese Instruments That You Can Listen To Today However, the biwas cultural significance is due to its evolution during the medieval era into a narrative musical instrument. With the end of the wars, unsurprisingly, the biwa music became less popular, and the number of biwa musicians dropped significantly. String-bending for example may be used to produce a glissando or portamento. 2000. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961. The biwa is related to the Chinese pipa, an instrument that was introduced to Japan in the late 7th century. Though formerly popular, little was written about the performance and practice of the biwa from roughly the 16th century to the mid-19th century. 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. 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. These parts can be seen in detail #1: peg box (hanju) with lobster tail-shaped finial (kairbi) [upper left]; four laterally mounted friction tuning pegs (tenju) [lower left]; neck (shikakubi) [right] with a tenon cut at each end (one fitting into a mortise cut into the peg box, the other into a mortise in the narrow end of the resonator) and five high frets (j); and a resonator made of a shallow, teardrop-shaped hollowed out wood shell (k) covered with a flat, thinly-shaven wood soundboard (fukuban) to which is glued a string holder tension bridge (fukuju) just above its rounded end [center]. Sanxian ("Three strings") or Xianzi (Spike lute) - University of Edinburgh The four-string specimen is tuned to a shamisen tuning called honchshi (interval structure, from the lowest string upwards, of P4 - P5, with the top two strings tuned in unison): approximately B2 E3 B3 B3; a typical tuning for the 5-string instrument has the intervallic sequence of P4 (down) P4 (up) M2 (up) P4 (up), approximately E3 B2 E3 F-sharp3 B3. Ms Biwa (), Dimensions: 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 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, The narrative biwa music adopts a relative tuning; the pitch is decided to match with the players range of voice. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. Hornbostel-Sachs - Wikipedia Table of Contents 1. (88.9 30.8 29.2 cm) Classification: Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1968 Accession Number: 68.62.1 Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings Its classification is a type of a Chordophone. The biwa is a stringed instrument used in Japan as a sort of story telling method. The main part of the music is vocal and the biwa part mostly plays short interludes. Corrections? Liu also studied with other musicians and has developed a style that combines elements from several different schools. This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen. For example, a piece like "The Warlord Takes off His Armour" is made up of many sections, some of them metered and some with free meter, and greater freedom in interpretation is possible in the free meter sections. [citation needed], In 2014, an industrial designer residing in the United States Xi Zheng () designed and crafted an electric pipa "E-pa" in New York. Typically, the second pitch is fingered on the same string one or two frets lower than the first one, and the note is attacked and then lifted off into the second fret position. This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. This is the original form of biwa that came to Japan in the 8. century. The scores were written in tablature form with no information on tuning given, there are therefore uncertainties in the reconstruction of the music as well as deciphering other symbols in the score. There is little space between the strings on the first three frets, causing obstruction when attacking an upper string whose immediate lower string is fingered in one of the first three frets. In gagaku, it is known as the gaku-biwa (). This singing style is complemented by the biwa, which biwa players use to produce short glissandi throughout the performance. By the middle of the Meiji period, improvements had been made to the instruments and easily understandable songs were composed in quantity. Shakuhachi 2. They recognized that studies in music theory and music composition in Japan almost entirely consisted in Western theory and instruction. [45] Other collections from the Qing dynasty were compiled by Li Fangyuan () and Ju Shilin (), each representing different schools, and many of the pieces currently popular were described in these Qing collections. The strings on a biwa range in thickness, with the first string being thickest and the fourth string being thinnest; on chikuzen-biwa, the second string is the thickest, with the fourth and fifth strings being the same thickness on chikuzen- and satsuma-biwa. Yo-sen has 2 tones regarded as auxiliary tones. 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. The sole stroke motion used in this example is kakubachi, but it also includes examples of hazusu and tataku. For a long time, the biwa tradition was carried on by wandering blind monks who used the instrument to tell stories such as the Tale of Heike (). As a point of clarification, the highest and last pitch of the biwa's arpeggio is considered as its melodic pitch. In Japan, the biwa is generally played with a bachi instead of the fingers, and is often used to play gagaku. 38.5 in. 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. 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. The narrative biwa music adopts a relative tuning; the pitch is decided to match with the players range of voice. Two basic types of wood are used to make stringed musical instruments: woods for soundboards (top plates) and those for frame boards (back and side plates). The six fret type is tuned to B, E, B and b. A player holds it horizontally, and mostly plays rhythmic arpeggios in orchestra or ensemble. 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): Samurai ethics and battles were selected as the main themes for this style, called Satsuma-biwa (), and more dynamic techniques were developed. Ms Biwa () | Japanese | The Metropolitan Museum of Art 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. [67] It is very much the same as the modern pipa in construction save for being a bit wider to allow for the extra string and the reintroduction of the soundholes at the front. 1. New York, 1903, vol. The nishiki-biwa (), a modern biwa with five strings and five frets, was popularised by the 20th-century biwa player and composer Suit Kinj (, 19111973). Carlo Forlivesi's compositions Boethius () and Nuove Musiche per Biwa () were both written for performance on the satsuma-biwa designed by Tsuruta and Tanaka. This scale sometimes includes supplementary notes, but the core remains pentatonic. Taiko Related Articles on Traditional Japanese Instruments 1. The biwas sound at the attack (top) at one second later (bottom). [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). Heike-biwa is an accompaniment instrument specifically used to chant the Tale of Heike stories () in the traditional way dating from the medieval era. It had a pear-shaped wooden body with two crescent-shaped sound holes, a curved neck, four strings, and four frets. The gogen-biwa (, lit. Modern biwa used for contemporary compositions often have five or more frets, and some have a doubled fourth string. An apsara (feitian) playing pipa, using fingers with the pipa held in near upright position. The instrument itself resembles gaku-biwa but is slightly smaller, and is held horizontally. [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. The Birbyne and Biwa | The Other Instrument - Pennsylvania State University [41] Three Ming dynasty pieces were discovered in the High River Flows East (, Gaohe Jiangdong) collection dating from 1528 which are very similar to those performed today, such as "The Moon on High" (, Yue-er Gao). Thick strings clatter like splattering rain, The biwa sounds as written, and it is tuned to an A-430Hz. Komoda Haruko. 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.]

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