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). These works present a radical departure from the compositional languages usually employed for such an instrument. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. This instrument was also used many times as an accompanying instrument in larger ensembles. Figure 5 shows examples of harmonic structures of, 2, 3, and 4 pitches in Ichikotsu-ch. greatest width of resonator Ms Biwa (), Dimensions: The instrument is plucked with a pick made out of animal horn. Clara H. Rose (d. 1914) Catalogue of the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments: Asia, Gallery 27. 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. This is due to the fact that the space between the strings on the first three frets is so short that a fingered 1st fret on the 3rd string, for example, would damp the following 4th string, as shown on Figure 7. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi () that requires a full-handed grip. The sanxian (Mandarin for 'three strings') is a type off fretless plucked Chinese lutes. Biwa players no longer enjoyed special privileges and were forced to support themselves. 1. From these styles also emerged the two principal survivors of the biwa tradition: satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 681. The biwa is a plucked lute chordophone of Japan. Sanshin 4. Several schools of biwa playing evolved from the ms tradition, one of which, founded in the 1890s by Tachibana Chij and others and called the Asahi-kai, was based on the style of the Chikuzen region of Kyushu. Corrections? This type of biwa is used for court music called gagaku (), which has been protected by the government until today. 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. The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889, Accession Number: 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.] String-bending for example may be used to produce a glissando or portamento. 38.5 in. A number of Western pipa players have experimented with amplified pipa. 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. 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 full vibrating lengths of the strings, the distance between their bend over the nut and the knots that secure their lower ends to the string holder, are all 27.7 inches. The higo-biwa is closely related to the heike-biwa and, similarly, relies on an oral narrative tradition focusing on wars and legends. Hitting the body of the instrument: The plectrum is used to hit the black protective part on the front of the instrument. It eventually became the favored instrument to accompany narrative singing, especially on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu where it was performed by blind Buddhist priests (ms). This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. greatest width of plectrum Thought to be of Persian origin, the biwa was brought to Japan in the 8th century via Central Asia, China and the Korean Peninsula. 5-string: biwa (gallery #2): In 2015, pipa player Jiaju Shen () released a mini album composed and produced by Li Zong (),[73] with E-pa music that has a strong Chinese flavor within a modern Western pop music mould. 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. 2.2 in. 20002023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 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. What is the hornbostelsachs classification of biwa instrument - 9005546 If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The gogen-biwa (, lit. In gagaku, it is known as the gaku-biwa (). 89.4.2088. Guilds supporting biwa players, particularly the biwa hshi, helped proliferate biwa musical development for hundreds of years. 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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi (, The basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. Generally speaking, biwa have four strings, though modern satsuma- and chikuzen-biwa may have five strings. In the 18th century, samurai in the Satsuma area (southern part of Kyushu island) adopted the blind monks biwa music into their musical practices. The strings are usually tuned to A2 D3 E3 A3 , although there are various other ways of tuning. the finger and thumb separate in one action), it is called fen (), the reverse motion is called zhi (). Typically, the duration of each group subdivides the measure into two equal durations. Pei Luoer was known for pioneering finger-playing techniques,[25] while Sujiva was noted for the "Seven modes and seven tones", a musical modal theory from India. Options are limited when considering that a fingered string between two open strings must be fingered on the 4th fret to avoid damping. Figure 6 shows a spectral analysis of the arpeggio read at the attack and one second later. biwa, Japanese short-necked lute, distinguished by its graceful, pear-shaped body. 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. In Japan the loquat is known as biwa (, ) and has been grown for over . It is a big percussion instrument of Japanese that plays integral part of many Japanese Matsuri (festival). A pipa player playing with the pipa behind his back. Bodmin, Cornwall, Great Britain: MPG Books, pp. Chikuzen biwa music is narrative music much beholding to narrative shamisen music. They recorded the critically acclaimed CD "Eagle Seizing Swan" together. [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. Because of this tradition as a narrative music, the biwa is mostly played solo and is less commonly played with other types of instruments, except in gagaku () or the court orchestra where it is used in its original instrumental role, and in modern instrumental repertoire. Notes played on the biwa usually begin slow and thin and progress through gradual accelerations, increasing and decreasing tempo throughout the performance. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. Each type has different and unique tones, techniques, and musical styles. [9] When singing in a chorus, biwa singers often stagger their entry and often sing through non-synchronized, heterophony accompaniment. The four and five-stringed pipas were especially popular during the Tang dynasty, and these instruments were introduced into Japan during the Tang dynasty as well as into other regions such as Korea and Vietnam. The biwa player with whom we worked, NAKAMURA Kahoru, improvised ten different versions of this rhythm. L 31 1/2 W. 11 13/16 D. 1 5/16 in. 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. Ueda Junko and Tanaka Yukio, two of Tsuruta's students, continue the tradition of the modern satsuma-biwa. The body is narrower and smaller than the other types of biwa. Biwa music is based on a pentatonic scale (sometimes referred to as a five-tone or five-note scale), meaning that each octave contains five notes. Kakubachi: This is the performance of arpeggio with a downward motion of the plectrum, and it is always loud. Another. 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. Credit Line: The Crosby Brown Collection . The most basic technique, tantiao (), involves just the index finger and thumb (tan is striking with the index finger, tiao with the thumb). By the Ming dynasty, fingers replaced plectrum as the popular technique for playing pipa, although finger-playing techniques existed as early as Tang. In the early 20th century, twenty-five pieces were found amongst 10th-century manuscripts in the Mogao caves near Dunhuang, most of these pieces however may have originated from the Tang dynasty. Biwa hshi performances overlapped with performances by other biwa players many years before heikyoku (, The Tale of the Heike),[further explanation needed] and continues to this day. The stroking motion always starts from the 1st string, sequentially sweeping toward the others until it reaches the arpeggios last string. The pipa is one of the most popular Chinese instruments and has been played for almost two thousand years in China. Chikuzen was an historic northern province on Kyushu, the southern-most main island of Japan. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. [citation needed]. [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 performers left hand is used both to steady the instrument, with the thumb hooked around the backside of the neck, and to depress the strings, the index finger doing most of the work but sometimes aided by the middle finger. 1. Fine strings murmur like whispered words, In the performers right hand the bachi (plectrum) is held, its upward-pointing tip used to pluck the strings near the string holder. The basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. 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. [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. 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. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. 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. Bodmin, Cornwall, Great Britain: MPG Books, pp. 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. Songs are not always metered, although more modern collaborations are metered. Finally, measure 5 shows a rare instance where a melodic tone (F# in this case) is doubled on the second beat of the biwa's pattern. An apsara (feitian) playing pipa, using fingers with the pipa held in near upright position. One of the biwa's most famous uses is for reciting The Tale of the Heike, a war chronicle from the Kamakura period (11851333). In modern biwa, particularly in Satsuma-biwa, one sometimes strikes the soundboard sharply to get percussive effects. The biwas shallow body is a bouncing board that sharply projects its sound forward. The pear-shaped biwa lute has enchanted listeners in Japan for centuries. This overlap resulted in a rapid evolution of the biwa and its usage and made it one of the most popular instruments in Japan. Multiple strings are often played in one pluck like an arpeggio. [10] In solo performances, a biwa performer sings monophonically, with melismatic emphasis throughout the performance. used only as a drone, and usually tuned to the same note as the third string, making the second the lowest. After having arrived in Japan via the Silk Road for purely instrumental music, the biwa evolved over time into a narrative musical instrument. 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. greatest depth of resonator The four fret type is tuned to E, B, E and A, and the five fret type is tuned to B, e, f and f. Its size and construction influences the sound of the instrument as the curved body is often struck percussively with the plectrum during play. The encounter also inspired a poem by Yuan Zhen, Song of Pipa (). Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production. The biwa may be used to accompany various types of narrative, as part of a gagaku (court music) ensemble, or as a solo instrument. Instruments are classified using 5 different categories depending on the manner in which the instrument creates the sound: Idiophones, Membranophones, Chordophones, Aerophones, & Electrophones. When Yamashika died in 1996, the era of the biwa hshi tutelage died with him, but the music and genius of that era continues thanks to his recordings. 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. In the beginning of the Taish period (19121926), the satsuma-biwa was modified into the nishiki-biwa, which became popular among female players at the time. Chikuzen-biwa is another major type of biwa that is widely played today. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. [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. Therefore the sound of the biwa is very strong at the attack but it has almost no resonance, and in that sense, its contribution to the overall sound of the orchestra is more rhythmic than harmonic. These tunings are relative, the actual pitches a given biwa is tuned to being determined by the vocal range of the singer/player. In the narrative traditions where the pipa is used as an accompaniment to narrative singing, there are the Suzhou tanci (), Sichuan qingyin (), and Northern quyi () genres. 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 six fret type is tuned to B, E, B and b. There are some types of traditional string instrument. [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. By the Song dynasty, the word pipa was used to refer exclusively to the four-stringed pear-shaped instrument. It is an instrument in Japan, that is a two-stringed fiddle (violin). 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. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. The exception for these methods is for when hazusu or tataku are performed on the 4th string. Continent: Asia. It has the largest body and relatively short neck among biwas. The fish is an auspicious symbol of Buddhism signifying wakeful attention since most fish lack eyelids and remain alert. This type of instrument was introduced to Korea (the bipa ), to Japan (the biwa ), and to Vietnam (the tyba ). [18], As biwa music declined in post-Pacific War Japan, many Japanese composers and musicians found ways to revitalize interest in it. There, they assumed the role of Buddhist monks and encountered the ms-biwa. Biwa Description The biwa is a four stringed lute and it is approximately 106 cm long (42 inches). The biwa became known as an instrument commonly played at the Japanese Imperial court, where biwa players, known as biwa hshi, found employment and patronage. 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]. length [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. [2] Pear-shaped lutes have been depicted in Kusana sculptures from the 1st century AD. The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889, Accession Number: 2000. Wei Zhongle (; 19031997) played many instruments, including the guqin. Samurai ethics and battles were selected as the main themes for this style, called Satsuma-biwa (), and more dynamic techniques were developed. [6] The strings were played using a large plectrum in the Tang dynasty, a technique still used now for the Japanese biwa. As a result, younger musicians turned to other instruments and interest in biwa music decreased. 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. 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. 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"). 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. Reflecting its history as an instrument for samurai, its music is often described as dynamic and heroic. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments. This scale sometimes includes supplementary notes, but the core remains pentatonic. [21] For example, masses of pipa-playing Buddhist semi-deities are depicted in the wall paintings of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang. This causes a sustained, buzzing noise called sawari () which adds a unique flavor to the biwa sound. 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 . Chikuzen Biwa. (92.7 20 12.7 cm), The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889. Thick strings clatter like splattering rain, The pipa, pp, or p'i-p'a ( Chinese: ) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. However, another variant of the biwa known as the ms-biwa or the kjin-biwa also found its way to Japan, first appearing in the Kyushu region. 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. [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. In biwa, tuning is not fixed. All rights reserved. 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. A. Odaiko B. Taiko C. Tsuridaiko D. Tsuzumi 2. (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

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