biwa instrument classification

The biwa is a plucked lute chordophone of Japan. The short neck has four raised frets, each one specifically assigned to one of the left hand fingers. 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. often-used technique is rubbing the long side of the bachi on the strings to get wind-like sounds. 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. 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. Komoda Haruko. 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. [13] What the plectrum is made of also changes the texture, with ivory and plastic plectrums creating a more resilient texture to the wooden plectrum's twangy hum. 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 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. 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. The pipa is one of the most popular Chinese instruments and has been played for almost two thousand years in China. 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). Biwa Description The biwa is a four stringed lute and it is approximately 106 cm long (42 inches). The two-headed tacked drum hung in an elaborate circular frame in court music is a gaku-daiko or tsuri-daiko. 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 order to boost the volume of its sound the biwa player rarely attacks a single string, and instead arpeggios 2, 3, or 4 pitches, with one note per string. The pear-shaped instrument may have existed in China as early as the Han dynasty, and although historically the term pipa was once used to refer to a variety of plucked chordophones, its usage since the Song dynasty refers exclusively to the pear-shaped instrument. Further important collections were published in the 20th century. 5.5 in. [40] Through time, the neck was raised and by the Qing dynasty the instrument was mostly played upright. 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. [citation needed]. However, false nails made of horn existed as early as the Ming period when finger-picking became the popular technique for playing pipa.[24]. 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 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. It had a pear-shaped wooden body with two crescent-shaped sound holes, a curved neck, four strings, and four frets. Updates? Pipa has been played solo, or as part of a large ensemble or small group since the early times. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. They recorded the critically acclaimed CD "Eagle Seizing Swan" together. These tunings are relative, the actual pitches a given biwa is tuned to being determined by the vocal range of the singer/player. The frets of the satsuma-biwa are raised 4 centimetres (1.6in) from the neck allowing notes to be bent several steps higher, each one producing the instrument's characteristic sawari, or buzzing drone. 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 Koto came from the Chinese zither "Gu Zheng" during the Nara period in Japan. On the plectrum, figure of a golden phoenix with flowers in its beak, 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. Modern biwa music is based on that medieval narrative biwa music. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. 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. 36 1/2 7 7/8 5 in. These, according to the Han dynasty text by Liu Xi, refer to the way the instrument is played "p" is to strike outward with the right hand, and "p" is to pluck inward towards the palm of the hand. The open strings are shown in the first measures, and the pitches assigned the left-hand fingered notes in the following four measures. The number of frets is considerably fewer than other fretted instruments. [68] The Shanghai progressive/folk-rock band Cold Fairyland, which was formed in 2001, also use pipa (played by Lin Di), sometimes multi-tracking it in their recordings. Ieyasu favored biwa music and became a major patron, helping to strengthen biwa guilds (called Todo) by financing them and allowing them special privileges. The biwa's twangy plucks were most commonly accompanied by a single voice during court performances, but its popularity spread the instrument made its way into religious sermons and oral history . The plectrum is usually made from rosewood with boxwood or ivory tips for plucking the strings. Recently, this instrument, much like the konghou harp, has been revived for historically informed performances and historical reconstructions. He premiered the oldest Dunhuang Pipa Manuscript (the first interpretation made by Ye Dong) in Shanghai in the early 1980s. Koto 3. Another often-used technique is rubbing the long side of the bachi on the strings to get wind-like sounds. 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. 1. The loquat is in the family Rosaceae, and is native to the cooler hill regions of south-central China. [14][15][16], The pear-shaped pipa is likely to have been introduced to China from Central Asia, Gandhara, and/or India. 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. Sun performed in the United States, Asia, and Europe, and in 1956 became deputy director of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra. 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). Carlo Forlivesi's compositions Boethius () and Nuove Musiche per Biwa () were both written for performance on the satsuma-biwa designed by Tsuruta and Tanaka. Its boxwood plectrum is much wider than others, often reaching widths of 25cm (9.8in) or more. The Traditional Music of Japan. [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 biwas sound at the attack (top) at one second later (bottom). Since the revolutions in Chinese instrument-making during the 20thcentury, the softer twisted silk strings of earlier times have been exchanged for nylon-wound steel strings, which are far too strong for human fingernails, so false nails are now used, constructed of plastic or tortoise-shell, and affixed to the fingertips with the player's choice of elastic tape. ________. [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. Few pieces for pipa survived from the early periods, some, however, are preserved in Japan as part of togaku (Tang music) tradition. As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. 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. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 681. [61][33], During the Song dynasty, players mentioned in literary texts include Du Bin (). 5-string: biwa (gallery #2): Though formerly popular, little was written about the performance and practice of the biwa from roughly the 16th century to the mid-19th century. 3 (Winter, 19771978). 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. [24], In the subsequent periods, the number of frets gradually increased,[26] from around 10 to 14 or 16 during the Qing dynasty, then to 19, 24, 29, and 30 in the 20th century. [72] He was also the first musician to add a strap to the instrument, as he did for the zhongruan, allowing him to play the pipa and the zhongruan like a guitar. These monophonic do not follow a set harmony. Since the biwas pegs do not move smoothly, tuning the instrument to a different mode requires time. In the 13th century, the story "The Tale of Heike" ()was created and told by them. 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. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. Another Chinese four-string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa. They recognized that studies in music theory and music composition in Japan almost entirely consisted in Western theory and instruction. 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. Biwa 6. [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. Samurai ethics and battles were selected as the main themes for this style, called Satsuma-biwa (), and more dynamic techniques were developed. Thought to be of Persian origin, the biwa was brought to Japan in the 8th century via Central Asia, China and the Korean Peninsula. In 1956, after working for some years in Shanghai, Lin accepted a position at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. As in shamisen music, vocal and instrumental parts are sometimes combined and played at the same time. The biwa sounds as written, and it is tuned to an A-430Hz. 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 basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. Ms Biwa () Japanese. It is a lute with a round, hollow soundboard, a short fretted neck, and usually four strings. [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 write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Played with a large wooden plectrum, the instrument has four or five strings of twisted silk stretched over four or more . 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. 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 encounter also inspired a poem by Yuan Zhen, Song of Pipa (). In the performers right hand the bachi (plectrum) is held, its upward-pointing tip used to pluck the strings near the string holder. He also qualified as a doctor of Chinese medicine. 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. [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. Because of this bending technique oshikan (), one can make two or three notes for each fret and also in-between notes. Heike Biwa (), Medium: And thanks to the low tension of the strings, it is easy to bend the strings by adding pressure. (92.7 20 12.7 cm), Classification: An early depiction of pipa player in a group of musicians. [16], While many styles of biwa flourished in the early 1900s (such as kindai-biwa between 1900 and the 1930s), the cycle of tutelage was broken yet again by the war. During the 1910s a five-string model was developed that, since the 1920s, has been the most common form of the instrument (gallery #2).

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