There are seven main types of Biwa, each distinguished by the number of strings, sound produced, and use. The body is narrower and smaller than the other types of biwa. This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. 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. 5. [24] However, it continued to be played as a folk instrument that also gained the interest of the literati. About Biwa - Japanese Traditional Music 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). The first and second strings are generally tuned to the same note, with the 4th (or doubled 4th) string is tuned one octave higher. Dunhuang, Mogao Caves. The biwa (Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. often-used technique is rubbing the long side of the bachi on the strings to get wind-like sounds. The instrument was invented in China in the 3rd to 5th centuries AD, during the Jin dynasty. 5.5 in. The open strings are shown in the first measures, and the pitches assigned the left-hand fingered notes in the following four measures. 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. [25] Extra frets were added; the early instrument had 4 frets (, xing) on the neck, but during the early Ming dynasty extra bamboo frets (, pn) were affixed onto the soundboard, increasing the number of frets to around 10 and therefore the range of the instrument. Like the heike-biwa, it is played held on its side, similar to a guitar, with the player sitting cross-legged. The musical narrative of The Tale of Heike, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, edited by Alison McQueen Tokita and David W. Hughes. By the Ming dynasty, fingers replaced plectrum as the popular technique for playing pipa, although finger-playing techniques existed as early as Tang. And thanks to the low tension of the strings, it is easy to bend the strings by adding pressure. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Biwa. NGDMI v.1: 234-237. In gagaku, it is known as the gaku-biwa (). 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. While the modern satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa both originated from the ms-biwa, the satsuma-biwa was used for moral and mental training by samurai of the Satsuma Domain during the Warring States period, and later for general performances. 6 Traditional Japanese Instruments That You Can Listen To Today L 31 1/2 W. 11 13/16 D. 1 5/16 in. Nation: Japan. chikuzen biwa Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection [69] The instrument is also played by musician Min Xiaofen in "I See Who You Are", a song from Bjrk's album Volta. Biwa (Japanese instrument) - MIT Global Shakespeares In Satsuma-biwa classical pieces, the thickest string (the first) is in principle used only as a drone, and usually tuned to the same note as the third string, making the second the lowest. sanxian, (Chinese: "three strings") Wade Giles romanization san-hsien also called xianzi, any of a group of long-necked, fretless Chinese lutes. 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. The strings are depressed not directly against the frets, but between them, and by controlling the amount of applied pressure the performer can achieve a range of pitches and pitch inflections. Further, the frets and the nut are wide, which provides a surface, not a point, for a string to touch. Yueqin - Wikipedia The instrument is plucked with a pick made out of animal horn. 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. [21] The pipa underwent a number of changes over the centuries. 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 . Influenced by the recitations of blind priests, the music of the heike biwa reflects the mood of the text. 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. By the late 1940s, the biwa, a thoroughly Japanese tradition, was nearly completely abandoned for Western instruments; however, thanks to collaborative efforts by Japanese musicians, interest in the biwa is being revived. By the middle of the Meiji period, improvements had been made to the instruments and easily understandable songs were composed in quantity. The fish is an auspicious symbol of Buddhism signifying wakeful attention since most fish lack eyelids and remain alert. Also, thanks to the possibility of relying on a level of virtuosity never before attempted in this specific repertory, the composer has sought the renewal of the acoustic and aesthetic profile of the biwa, bringing out the huge potential in the sound material: attacks and resonance, tempo (conceived not only in the chronometrical but also deliberately empathetical sense), chords, balance and dialogue (with the occasional use of two biwas in Nuove Musiche per Biwa), dynamics and colour.[4]. Sort by. Western performers of pipa include French musician Djang San, who integrated jazz and rock concepts to the instrument such as power chords and walking bass.[70]. 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. [22] Some delicately carved pipas with beautiful inlaid patterns date from this period, with particularly fine examples preserved in the Shosoin Museum in Japan. The Kyushu biwa traditions, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, edited by Alison McQueen Tokita and David W. Hughes. This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen. Typically, the lowest notes of the arpeggios are open strings, while the highest ones can either be fingered pitches or an open string. 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. It is a big percussion instrument of Japanese that plays integral part of many Japanese Matsuri (festival). They included Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, and Su Shi. His well-received compositions, such as November Steps, which incorporated biwa heikyoku with Western orchestral performance, revitalized interest in the biwa and sparked a series of collaborative efforts by other musician in genres ranging from J-Pop and enka to shin-hougaku and gendaigaku. As a point of clarification, the highest and last pitch of the biwa's arpeggio is considered as its melodic pitch. At the beginning of the 13th century, Heike biwa players began telling of tales of the rise and fall of the Taira . Liu Dehai (19372020), also born in Shanghai, was a student of Lin Shicheng and in 1961 graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. This minute design detail gives rise to sawari, the distinctive raspy tone of a vibrating string. The instrument itself also varies in size, depending on the player. After almost dying out post-World War II, the tradition was revived in part due to interest shown in the instrument by the internationally known contemporary composer Tru Takemitsu, who wrote instrumental compositions for the instrument. 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 exception for these methods is for when hazusu or tataku are performed on the 4th string. However, following the collapse of the Ritsury state, biwa hshi employed at the court were faced with the court's reconstruction and sought asylum in Buddhist temples. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi () that requires a full-handed grip. Even the biwa hshi transitioned to other instruments such as the shamisen (a three-stringed lute).[15]. Bodmin, Cornwall, Great Britain: MPG Books, pp. As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. During the Qing dynasty, apart from those of the various schools previously mentioned, there was Chen Zijing (), a student of Ju Shilin and known as a noted player during the late Qing dynasty. 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). In 1956, after working for some years in Shanghai, Lin accepted a position at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Played with a large wooden plectrum, the instrument has four or five strings of twisted silk stretched over four or more . 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. In Satsuma-biwa classical pieces, the thickest string (the first) is in principle. Hazusu: This is a sequence of two pitches, where the first one is attacked, and leades to a second one which is not attacked. Though its origins are unclear, this thinner variant of the biwa was used in ceremonies and religious rites. After having arrived in Japan via the Silk Road for purely instrumental music, the biwa evolved over time into a narrative musical instrument. Moreover, it always starts from the 1st string and stops on either the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th string depending if the arpeggio contains 2, 3, or 4 pitches, respectively. It has the largest body and relatively short neck among biwas. This is the original form of biwa that came to Japan in the 8. century. The biwa player with whom we worked, NAKAMURA Kahoru, improvised ten different versions of this rhythm. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Performers on the instrument frequently pluck two notes simultaneously, producing a variety of intervals, especially when the singer is silent. The rich legacy of the biwa | The Japan Times As one of the modern types of biwa that flourished in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, Satsuma-biwa is widely played today in various settings, including popular media. Tokyo:Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai. This biwa often has five strings (although it is essentially a 4-string instrument as the 5th string is a doubled 4th that are always played together) and five or more frets, and the construction of the tuning head and frets vary slightly. The Birbyne and Biwa | The Other Instrument - Pennsylvania State University [43] The collection was edited by Hua Qiuping (, 17841859) and published in 1819 in three volumes. greatest width of resonator Male players typically play biwa that are slightly wider and/or longer than those used by women or children. There are more than seven types of biwa, characterised by number of strings, sounds it could produce, the type of plectrum, and their use. 4. This instrument was also used many times as an accompanying instrument in larger ensembles. Taiko | musical instrument | Britannica 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. Hornbostel-Sach Classification of instruments is a means of sorting out instruments according to how it produces sound. The gogen-biwa (, lit. length [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. Bodmin, Cornwall, Great Britain: MPG Books, pp. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. 3 (Winter, 19771978). The flowers fluttered, and from Heaven the phoenix trilled, Archlute - Wikipedia 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. Life in post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods. Upon its arrival, the biwa was used in purely instrumental music in the court culture the instrument appears in various works of literature and art in the 10th -12th centuries, depicting nobles enjoying it in rituals as well as in their private lives. 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 From these styles also emerged the two principal survivors of the biwa tradition: satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa. The sole stroke motion used in this example is kakubachi, but it also includes examples of hazusu and tataku. [3][4][5], The earliest mention of pipa in Chinese texts appeared late in the Han dynasty around the 2nd century AD. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. Shakuhachi One of the most popular traditional Japanese wind instruments is the shakuhachi. Several types of biwa, each with its own social setting and repertoire, have evolved in Japan over the past 1300 years, the specimens pictured here being called most accurately the chikuzen biwa. Australian dark rock band The Eternal use the pipa in their song "Blood" as played by singer/guitarist Mark Kelson on their album Kartika. greatest depth of resonator [10] An instrument called xiantao (), made by stretching strings over a small drum with handle, was said to have been played by labourers who constructed the Great Wall of China during the late Qin dynasty. 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. It is a lute with a round, hollow soundboard, a short fretted neck, and usually four strings. This causes a sustained, buzzing noise called, which adds a unique flavor to the biwa sound. Hornbostel-Sachs Instrument Classification System.pdf These monophonic do not follow a set harmony. 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 (). Modern biwa music is based on that medieval narrative biwa music. L 31 1/2 W. 11 13/16 D. 1 5/16 in. Biwa is a 4-stringed lute played with a large spectrum. It always starts from the 4th string and stops on either the 3rd, 2nd, or 1st string depending if the arpeggio contains 2, 3, or 4 pitches, respectively. The biwa (Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. 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. This seeming shortcoming is compensated for by the frets height and the low tension of the strings. 1969. [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 typical 5-stringed Satsuma-biwa classical tuning is: CGCG, from first string to fourth/fifth string, respectively. Biwa - Wikipedia 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. 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. The heike-biwa (), a biwa with four strings and five frets, is used to play The Tale of the Heike. Table of Contents 1. 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. Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection - Chikuzen Biwa. 1800 Geography: Japan Culture: Japanese Medium: Wood, mother-of-pearl and ivory Dimensions: 35 12 1/8 11 1/2 in. Generally speaking, biwa have four strings, though modern satsuma- and chikuzen-biwa may have five strings. 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. What is the hornbostelsachs classification of biwa instrument - 9005546 [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. 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 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. Biwa - Stanford University 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. 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. Although typically it is used to play short standardized phrases between lines of vocal text, it may be used for longer programmatic pieces depicting battles, storms, or other dramatic events. [17][14] Starting about the 10th century, players began to hold the instrument "more upright", as the fingernail style became more important. Multiple strings are often played in one pluck like an arpeggio. to the present. Sanshin 4. Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production. Koizumi, Fumio. From the 3rd century onwards, through the Sui and Tang dynasty, the pear-shaped pipas became increasingly popular in China. However, the biwas cultural significance is due to its evolution during the medieval era into a narrative musical instrument. Techniques that produce vibrato, portamento, glissando, pizzicato, harmonics or artificial harmonics found in violin or guitar are also found in pipa. 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. [18], As biwa music declined in post-Pacific War Japan, many Japanese composers and musicians found ways to revitalize interest in it. During the Qing dynasty, scores for pipa were collected in Thirteen Pieces for Strings. [39] The plectrum has now been largely replaced by the fingernails of the right hand. [23], During the Song dynasty, pipa fell from favour at the imperial court, perhaps a result of the influence of neo-Confucian nativism as pipa had foreign associations. The biwa is a stringed instrument used in Japan as a sort of story telling method. 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]. 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). 1. Harmonics: The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th harmonics of each open string can be performed by attacking the string with either the plectrum or the finger, and in both cases, the overall sonority is quite soft. 105-126. One of these, the new chikuzen biwa tradition, became popular amongst many thousands of amateurs between c.1900 and 1920. 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. 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. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. A string instrument which is made of Paulownia wood that is used in an ensemble in gagaku or a solo instrument. Detail #2 shows the backside of the instrument; detail #3 is a side view revealing both the shallowness of the bowl-shaped resonator and the height of the frets that are glued onto the neck. 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 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. They recorded the critically acclaimed CD "Eagle Seizing Swan" together. [61][33], During the Song dynasty, players mentioned in literary texts include Du Bin (). 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. The origin of the Japanese biwa as a generic type of instrument dates back to around the year 700 CE when the pipa was first introduced to Japan from China as part of ensembles gifted to the Japanese Emperor. Even though the system has been criticized and revised over the years, it is the most widely accepted system of musical instrument classification used by organologists and . [12] The plectrum is also critical to creating the sawari sound, which is particularly utilized with satsuma-biwa. The loquat is in the family Rosaceae, and is native to the cooler hill regions of south-central China. used to strike the hard soundboard sharply to create percussive effects, adding a more dynamic flavor to the music. When two strings are plucked at the same time with the index finger and thumb (i.e. The transmission parameter (product of propagation speed and Q value of the longitudinal wave along the wood grain . The biwa has a shallow, rounded back and silk strings (usually four or five) attached to slender lateral pegs. 77-103. New York, 1903, vol. Kindai-biwa still retains a significant number of professional and amateur practitioners, but the zato, heike, and moso-biwa styles have all but died out. Each group can include either two open strings or one open and one fingered string. 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. In all biwa styles, except for Gaku-biwa (: please refer to the section Types of Biwa), fingers are positioned between the frets, not on the frets. Its plectrum is slightly larger than that of the gagaku-biwa, but the instrument itself is much smaller, comparable to a chikuzen-biwa in size. Typically, the lower strings of the arpeggio are open, as indicated with the '0' in Example 4, while the last string hit may either be open or fingered (numbers 1 to 4 refers to the left hand's fingers from the index to the 4th finger, respectively). Heike Biwa () | Japanese | The Metropolitan Museum of Art 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].

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