biwa instrument classification

Biwa Description The biwa is a four stringed lute and it is approximately 106 cm long (42 inches). It is an instrument in China, its mouth-blown free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes. Nation: Japan. [38] It has however been suggested that the long plectrum depicted in ancient paintings may have been used as a friction stick like a bow. 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. 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. Even the biwa hshi transitioned to other instruments such as the shamisen (a three-stringed lute).[15]. A player holds it horizontally, and mostly plays rhythmic arpeggios in orchestra or ensemble. The chikuzen-biwa (), a biwa with four strings and four frets or five strings and five frets, was popularised in the Meiji period by Tachibana Satosada. ________. 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. Malm, William P. 1959. Shakuhachi 2. 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). 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. The method of holding the plectrum is different when performing kaeshibachi or kakubachi, and consequently composers need to allow a few seconds for the repositioning of the hand when using the two techniques in sequence. 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 . The instrument is tuned to match the key of the singer. 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. Catalogue of the Crosby Brown . This seeming shortcoming is compensated for by the frets height and the low tension of the strings. The sound can be totally different depending on where the instrument is hit, how the plectrum is held, and which part of the plectrum hits the surface. 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. [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. This 5-stringed lute with a powerful. It was in the late 20th century that this instrument started to be re-discovered and re-evaluated in various musical settings, such as soundtrack for movies and ensemble and orchestra music, culminating in Toru Takemitsus signature piece November Steps, which premiered in New York City in 1967. Another Chinese four-string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa. Updates? The biwa (Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. Ms Biwa () Japanese. Performers on the instrument frequently pluck two notes simultaneously, producing a variety of intervals, especially when the singer is silent. The peg box is angled about 90 degrees from the neck, and the back of the body is flat, unlike the western lute. 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. (80 30 3.4 cm), The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889, "Musical Instruments in the Metropolitan Museum": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 35, no. Reflecting its history as an instrument for samurai, its music is often described as dynamic and heroic. 77-103. The biwas sound at the attack (top) at one second later (bottom). 5.5 in. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi () that requires a full-handed grip. 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). [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. Influenced by the recitations of blind priests, the music of the heike biwa reflects the mood of the text. 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. 2008. 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"). Sometimes called the "Chinese lute ", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. (92.7 20 12.7 cm), Classification: 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). The biwa, originally an instrument of high society, gradually spread among wandering blind monks who used this instrument to tell stories. 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). 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. Chikuzen Biwa. The biwa ( Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The gagaku biwa (), a large and heavy biwa with four strings and four frets, is used exclusively for gagaku. [3] From roughly the Meiji period (18681912) until the Pacific War, the satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa were popular across Japan, and, at the beginning of the Shwa period (19251989), the nishiki-biwa was created and gained popularity. This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. Most prominent among these are Minoru Miki, Thring Brm, YANG Jing, Terry Riley, Donald Reid Womack, Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Tan Dun, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Bun-Ching Lam, and Carl Stone. On the plectrum, figure of a golden phoenix with flowers in its beak, Yamashika, born in the late Meiji period, continued the biwa hshi tradition until his death in 1996. Omissions? 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. These monophonic do not follow a set harmony. In the early 1950s, he founded the traditional instruments department at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The biwa sounds as written, and it is tuned to an A-430Hz. Another. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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 (). [36][37] The Ming collection of supernatural tales Fengshen Yanyi tells the story of Pipa Jing, a pipa spirit, but ghost stories involving pipa existed as early as the Jin dynasty, for example in the 4th century collection of tales Soushen Ji. Japanese Musical Instruments. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Biwa performers also vary the volume of their voice between barely audible to very loud. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. 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. 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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. 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 heike-biwa, smaller than the ms-biwa, was used for similar purposes. There are seven main types of Biwa, each distinguished by the number of strings, sound produced, and use. 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 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.] These players had considerable influence on the development of pipa playing in China. [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. [61][33], During the Song dynasty, players mentioned in literary texts include Du Bin (). The open strings are shown in the first measures, and the pitches assigned the left-hand fingered notes in the following four measures. We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. It had close association with Buddhism and often appeared in mural and sculptural representations of musicians in Buddhist contexts. [8][9] Liu Xi also stated that the instrument called pipa, though written differently (; pp or ; pb) in the earliest texts, originated from amongst the Hu people (a general term for non-Han people living to the north and west of ancient China). In previous centuries, the predominant biwa musicians would have been blind monks (, biwa hshi), who used the biwa as musical accompaniment when reading scriptural texts. [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. Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production. Ms Biwa (), Dimensions: The gogen-biwa (, lit. The sanxian (Mandarin for 'three strings') is a type off fretless plucked Chinese lutes.

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