biwa instrument classification biwa instrument classification

[11] The style of singing accompanying biwa tends to be nasal, particularly when singing vowels, the consonant , and syllables beginning with "g", such as ga () and gi (). We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Life in post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods. [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. Its pick or bachi () is the largest among all types of biwa it sometimes. 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. [14], Biwa usage in Japan has declined greatly since the Heian period. These cookies do not store any personal information. The electric pipa was first developed in the late 20th century by adding electric guitarstyle magnetic pickups to a regular acoustic pipa, allowing the instrument to be amplified through an instrument amplifier or PA system. The biwa player with whom we worked, NAKAMURA Kahoru, improvised ten different versions of this rhythm. Biwa is a 4-stringed lute played with a large spectrum. 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. 5, period of the Northern Wei (384-441 A.D.), A Song dynasty fresco depicts a female pipa player among a group of musicians, Group of female musician from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907-960 AD), A mural from a Yuan dynasty tomb found in Hengshan County, Shaanxi, showing a man playing the pipa, A group of Qing dynasty musicians from Fuzhou. The pipa, pp, or p'i-p'a ( Chinese: ) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. [12][13] Yet another term used in ancient text was Qinhanzi (), perhaps similar to Qin pipa with a straight neck and a round body, but modern opinions differ on its precise form. In the 1920s and 1930s, the number of frets was increased to 24, based on the 12 tone equal temperament scale, with all the intervals being semitones. Noted contemporary pipa players who work internationally include Min Xiao-Fen, Yang Jin(), Zhou Yi, Qiu Xia He, Liu Fang, Cheng Yu, Jie Ma, Yang Jing(, Yang Wei (),[64] Guan Yadong (), Jiang Ting (), Tang Liangxing (),[65] and Lui Pui-Yuen (, brother of Lui Tsun-Yuen). There are seven main types of Biwa, each distinguished by the number of strings, sound produced, and use. 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. She now performs with Red Chamber and the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble. So the previously mentioned tuning can be tuned down to B, F, B, c, d. Asahikai and Tachibanakai are the two major schools of chikuzen-biwa. sanxian, (Chinese: "three strings") Wade Giles romanization san-hsien also called xianzi, any of a group of long-necked, fretless Chinese lutes. 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. Popularly used by female biwa players such as Uehara Mari. 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). Instead, biwa singers tend to sing with a flexible pitch without distinguishing soprano, alto, tenor, or bass roles. 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). 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. February 20, 2008. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The biwa has a shallow, rounded back and silk strings (usually four or five) attached to slender lateral pegs. 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. The strings are made of wound silk. Modern biwa music is based on that medieval narrative biwa music. In the 9th century the Ms (blind monks') biwa began to be used by blind musicians as an accompaniment to chanted religious texts and sutras. [22] Some delicately carved pipas with beautiful inlaid patterns date from this period, with particularly fine examples preserved in the Shosoin Museum in Japan. What is the hornbostelsachs classification of biwa instrument - 9005546 By the Song dynasty, the word pipa was used to refer exclusively to the four-stringed pear-shaped instrument. Influenced by the recitations of blind priests, the music of the heike biwa reflects the mood of the text. The biwa is a relative of Western lutes and guitars, as well as of the Chinese pipa. It is however possible to produce the tremolo with just one or more fingers. [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. 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 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. They included Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, and Su Shi. 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 In Satsuma-biwa classical pieces, the thickest string (the first) is in principle. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. This scale sometimes includes supplementary notes, but the core remains pentatonic. The tuning of the strings changes according to the pieces mode. Traditionally they are lashed with heavier rope, though some modern instruments are tightened with large screws. Traditionally, the 2nd pitch either acts as a lower neighboring tone or a descending passing tone. The loquat is in the family Rosaceae, and is native to the cooler hill regions of south-central China. 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. the finger and thumb separate in one action), it is called fen (), the reverse motion is called zhi (). Each school is associated with one or more collections of pipa music and named after its place of origin: These schools of the solo tradition emerged by students learning playing the pipa from a master, and each school has its own style, performance aesthetics, notation system, and may differ in their playing techniques. [19], Other musicians, such as Yamashika Yoshiyuki, considered by most ethnomusicologists to be the last of the biwa hshi, preserved scores of songs that were almost lost forever. It is one of the more popular Chinese folk music, often paired with singing. Bodmin, Cornwall, Great Britain: MPG Books, pp. 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]. 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. During the Qing dynasty, scores for pipa were collected in Thirteen Pieces for Strings. 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. 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. The biwa, originally an instrument of high society, gradually spread among wandering blind monks who used this instrument to tell stories. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. The 14- or 16-fret pipa had frets arranged in approximately equivalent to the western tone and semitone, starting at the nut, the intervals were T-S-S-S-T-S-S-S-T-T-3/4-3/4-T-T-3/4-3/4, (some frets produced a 3/4 tone or "neutral tone"). 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. Shamisen 5. 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 ms-biwa (), a biwa with four strings, is used to play Buddhist mantras and songs. Players from the Wang and Pudong schools were the most active in performance and recording during the 20th century, less active was the Pinghu school whose players include Fan Boyan (). If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. 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. [12] The plectrum is also critical to creating the sawari sound, which is particularly utilized with satsuma-biwa. L 31 1/2 W. 11 13/16 D. 1 5/16 in. Typically, the duration of each group subdivides the measure into two equal durations. Wei Zhongle (; 19031997) played many instruments, including the guqin. In Japan the loquat is known as biwa (, ) and has been grown for over . Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Another new style called Chikuzen-biwa () was created in the 19th century in northern Kyushu Island, based off of the blind monks biwa music, and adopting shamisen, Satsuma-biwa, and other contemporary musical styles. 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. Liu also studied with other musicians and has developed a style that combines elements from several different schools. From the Dingjiazha Tomb No. The encounter also inspired a poem by Yuan Zhen, Song of Pipa (). Fine strings murmur like whispered words, In more recent times, many pipa players, especially the younger ones, no longer identify themselves with any specific school. Tachibana sought to create a new narrative style that would appeal to a contemporary urban audience (de Ferranti p. 120) and that would be performed by sighted musicians. It is assumed that the performance traditions died out by the 10th or 11th century (William P. Malm). In 1956, after working for some years in Shanghai, Lin accepted a position at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Heike-biwa is an accompaniment instrument specifically used to chant the Tale of Heike stories () in the traditional way dating from the medieval era. There are some types of traditional string instrument. Yoko Hiraoka, a member of the Yamato Komyoji ryu, presents a lecture/recital of Japanese Biwa music. The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889, Accession Number: 36 in. Like with the shamisen, a distinctive raspy tone quality called sawari is associated with the chikuzen biwa. https://japanese-music.com/profile/nobuko-fukatsu/. With turned wrist, he gathered the strings to pluck and strum faster. Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API. This type of biwa, known as the gaku-biwa, was later used in gagaku ensembles and became the most commonly known type. The instrument is also held vertically while playing. For other uses, see, Illustrations from the 15th century Korean work, Xiansuo Shisan Tao (, later incorporated into Complete String Music ), Note that some people claimed Pei Xingnu to be the female player described in the poem, History of lute-family instruments Short-necked lutes, "The pipa: How a barbarian lute became a national symbol", "Avaye Shayda - Kishibe's diffusionism theory on the Iranian Barbat and Chino-Japanese Pi' Pa', "Chapter 1: A General history of the Pipa", "Bracket with two musicians 100s, Pakistan, Gandhara, probably Butkara in Swat, Kushan Period (1st century-320)", The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics, "Pipa - A Chinese lute or guitar, its brief history, photos and music samples", A report on Chinese research into the Dunhuang music manuscripts, "Chapter 3 Musical structure in the Hua Collection", "Comparison of Three Chinese Traditional Pipa Music Schools with the Aid of Sound Analysis", "Lui Pui-yuen, master of Chinese music, returns to perform once again", "Incubus - Mike Einziger Guitar Gear Rig and Equipment", "[search page, albums featuring Yang Jing]", "La scne musicale alternative pkinoise vue par Jean Sbastien Hry (Djang San)", "BC GRIMM Experimental Acoustic-Electric Music EPK", "Experimental Electric Pipa - , by Zhang Si'an (Djang San )", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pipa&oldid=1138787889, Articles with dead external links from January 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2019, Articles with MusicBrainz instrument identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Flute and Drum at Sunset / Flowery Moonlit River in Spring, This page was last edited on 11 February 2023, at 16:35. The pipa pieces in the common repertoire can be categorized as wen (, civil) or wu (, martial), and da (, large or suite) or xiao (, small). The texture of biwa singing is often described as "sparse". Its classification is a type of an Aerophone. The biwa is related to the Chinese pipa, an instrument that was introduced to Japan in the late 7th century. This causes a sustained, buzzing noise called sawari () which adds a unique flavor to the biwa sound. Of the remaining post-war biwa traditions, only higo-biwa remains a style almost solely performed by blind persons. The instrument itself resembles gaku-biwa but is slightly smaller, and is held horizontally. The biwa ( Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. In the Meiji period (1868-1912), sighted musicians created new styles of secular biwa narrative singing inspired by Kyushu ms traditions and introduced them to Tokyo. Shamisen. All rights reserved. The body is often made of stretched snakeskin, and come in varying sizes. Omissions? This is the original form of biwa that came to Japan in the 8th century. 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. There are 4-string and 5-string biwas, both with 5 frets, and the soundboard is made from soft paulownia wood. Like pearls, big and small, falling on a platter of jade. In the present day, there are no direct means of studying the biwa in many biwa traditions. 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. [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. They recorded the critically acclaimed CD "Eagle Seizing Swan" together. 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. The 4 wedge-shaped frets on the neck became 6 during the 20th century. While blind biwa singers no longer dominate the biwa, many performers continue to use the instrument in traditional and modern ways. 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. Although this instrument is quite large and a very substantial plectrum is used to excite its strings, its sound is surprisingly soft and meant more for intimate settings rather than concert halls. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). As part of, Mamoru Ohashi (Japanese, active Ogasa, Shizouka Prefecture 1953). 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 The earliest-known piece in the collection may be "Eagle Seizing a Crane" () which was mentioned in a Yuan dynasty text. 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. 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. One of these, the new chikuzen biwa tradition, became popular amongst many thousands of amateurs between c.1900 and 1920. Because of this bending technique oshikan (. 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): Example 4 shows the basic melody of Etenraku's section B and C, and its rhythmic accompaniment. The sanxian (Mandarin for 'three strings') is a type off fretless plucked Chinese lutes. [66] Some other notable pipa players in China include Yu Jia (), Wu Yu Xia (), Fang Jinlong () and Zhao Cong (). A number of Western pipa players have experimented with amplified pipa. Its purpose is to show in context how the biwa uses its various patterns to color some melodic tones. This overlap resulted in a rapid evolution of the biwa and its usage and made it one of the most popular instruments in Japan. Formation: Japanese. The biwa originated in the Middle East and was delivered to Japan via the Silk Road in the 8th century. Notes played on the biwa usually begin slow and thin and progress through gradual accelerations, increasing and decreasing tempo throughout the performance. Biwa playing has a long history on Kyushu, and for centuries the art was practiced within the institution of ms, blind Buddhist priests who performed sacred and secular texts for agrarian and other rituals. Kaeshibachi: The performance of arpeggio with an up-ward motion of the plectrum, and it is always soft. The heike-biwa, smaller than the ms-biwa, was used for similar purposes. The biwa sounds as written, and it is tuned to an A-430Hz. There were originally two major schools of pipa during the Qing dynastythe Northern (Zhili, ) and Southern (Zhejiang, ) schoolsand from these emerged the five main schools associated with the solo tradition. Thought to be of Persian origin, the biwa was brought to Japan in the 8th century via Central Asia, China and the Korean Peninsula. Plucking in the opposite direction to tan and tiao are called mo () and gou () respectively. . Japanese Music and Musical Instruments. We speculate that being half-way in the section, the purpose of this clash may be to avoid a too strong feeling of cadence on the 'tonic E,' since there is one more phrase to come before completing this section. 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. This type of biwa is used for court music called gagaku (), which has been protected by the government until today. Japanese and foreign musicians alike have begun embracing traditional Japanese instruments, particularly the biwa, in their compositions. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 4. The instrument's rounded rectangular resonator has a snakeskin front and back, and the curved-back pegbox at the end of the neck has lateral, or side, tuning pegs that adjust three silk or nylon strings. As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. So, here are six traditional Japanese instruments you can listen to today! 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. [2] Pear-shaped lutes have been depicted in Kusana sculptures from the 1st century AD. Different schools however can have sections added or removed, and may differ in the number of sections with free meter. The gogen-biwa (, lit. [8] The varying string thickness creates different timbres when stroked from different directions. The fourth and fifth strings, if 5-stringed, are tuned to the same note. Samurai ethics and battles were selected as the main themes for this style, called Satsuma-biwa (), and more dynamic techniques were developed. Reflecting its history as an instrument for samurai, its music is often described as dynamic and heroic. A distinctive sound of pipa is the tremolo produced by the lunzhi () technique which involves all the fingers and thumb of the right hand. [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). The biwa is a pear-shaped instrument with four or five strings. 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. Options are limited when considering that a fingered string between two open strings must be fingered on the 4th fret to avoid damping. Mural from Kizil, estimated Five Dynasties to Yuan dynasty, 10th to 13th century. 1984. 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 is a stringed instrument used in Japan as a sort of story telling method. The biwa developed into five different types in its long history: . Apart from the four-stringed pipa, other pear-shaped instruments introduced include the five-stringed, straight-necked, wuxian pipa (, also known as Kuchean pipa ()),[20] a six-stringed version, as well as the two-stringed hulei (). Finally, it is not customary to finger more than one pitch within a harmonic structure, so if a fingered pitch were to be included among the grace-notes, then the last pitch would need to be an open string. By the middle of the Meiji period, improvements had been made to the instruments and easily understandable songs were composed in quantity. Wood, leather, Dimensions: The . These two modern styles came to Tokyo with the local reformists who led the Meiji Restoration, and became the center of the contemporary music scene in the late 19th to early 20th century. Its size and construction influences the sound of the instrument as the curved body is often struck percussively with the plectrum during play. The Kyushu biwa traditions, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, edited by Alison McQueen Tokita and David W. Hughes. During the 1910s a five-string model was developed that, since the 1920s, has been the most common form of the instrument (gallery #2). Northern Wei dynasty (386534 AD). 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. There are more than seven types of biwa, characterised by number of strings, sounds it could produce, the type of plectrum, and their use. used only as a drone, and usually tuned to the same note as the third string, making the second the lowest. length Biwa Description The biwa is a four stringed lute and it is approximately 106 cm long (42 inches).