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. Fine strings murmur like whispered words, 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. 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. The piece is in Hy-j mode (E Dorian) and the basic melody is centered on the pitches: E, B, and A, three of the four fundamental pitches of the Japanese modes. Kaeshibachi: The performance of arpeggio with an up-ward motion of the plectrum, and it is always soft. Options are limited when considering that a fingered string between two open strings must be fingered on the 4th fret to avoid damping. It had a pear-shaped wooden body with two crescent-shaped sound holes, a curved neck, four strings, and four frets. [8] The varying string thickness creates different timbres when stroked from different directions. 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. Shamisen 5. The Kyushu biwa traditions, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, edited by Alison McQueen Tokita and David W. Hughes. Komoda Haruko. 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. Title: Satsuma Biwa () Date: ca. 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. Over 100 years after its development, the H-S system is still in use in most museums and in large inventory projects. 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. https://japanese-music.com/profile/nobuko-fukatsu/. The biwa is related to the Chinese pipa, an instrument that was introduced to Japan in the late 7th century. Since biwa pieces were generally performed for small groups, singers did not need to project their voices as opera singers did in Western music tradition. 36 in. She lives in San Diego, California and works extensively with Chinese, cross-cultural, new music, and jazz groups. This singing style is complemented by the biwa, which biwa players use to produce short glissandi throughout the performance. 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. 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). 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. Since the biwas pegs do not move smoothly, tuning the instrument to a different mode requires time. The number of frets is considerably fewer than other fretted instruments. Sun performed in the United States, Asia, and Europe, and in 1956 became deputy director of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra. 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. [24] However, it continued to be played as a folk instrument that also gained the interest of the literati. 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 Metropolitan Museum of Art. 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. biwa, Japanese short-necked lute, distinguished by its graceful, pear-shaped body. 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 music has been preserved until now in gagaku (), or the court orchestra. 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. Chikuzen biwa music is narrative music much beholding to narrative shamisen music. 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. [43] The collection was edited by Hua Qiuping (, 17841859) and published in 1819 in three volumes. The left hand techniques are important for the expressiveness of pipa music. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 2. However, depictions of the pear-shaped pipas in China only appeared after the Han dynasty during the Jin dynasty in the late 4th to early 5th century. to the present. By the middle of the Meiji period, improvements had been made to the instruments and easily understandable songs were composed in quantity. Traditionally, the 2nd pitch either acts as a lower neighboring tone or a descending passing tone. 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. Through the next several centuries, players of both traditions intersected frequently and developed new music styles and new instruments. Koto 3. Techniques that produce vibrato, portamento, glissando, pizzicato, harmonics or artificial harmonics found in violin or guitar are also found in pipa. Influenced by the recitations of blind priests, the music of the heike biwa reflects the mood of the text. Typically, the duration of each group subdivides the measure into two equal durations. It is similar in shape to the chikuzen-biwa, but with a much more narrow body. This may be due to the fact that the word pipa was used in ancient texts to describe a variety of plucked chordophones of the period from the Qin to the Tang dynasty, including the long-necked spiked lute and the short-necked lute, as well as the differing accounts given in these ancient texts. [61][33], During the Song dynasty, players mentioned in literary texts include Du Bin (). The flowers fluttered, and from Heaven the phoenix trilled, 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 . Example 4 also shows the biwa's standard one-measure motive. Hitting the body of the instrument: The plectrum is used to hit the black protective part on the front of the instrument. The scores were written in tablature form with no information on tuning given, there are therefore uncertainties in the reconstruction of the music as well as deciphering other symbols in the score. Like pearls, big and small, falling on a platter of jade. During the 1910s a five-string model was developed that, since the 1920s, has been the most common form of the instrument (gallery #2). Reflecting its history as an instrument for samurai, its music is often described as dynamic and heroic. The pipa reached a height of popularity during the Tang dynasty, and was a principal musical instrument in the imperial court. By the Ming dynasty, fingers replaced plectrum as the popular technique for playing pipa, although finger-playing techniques existed as early as Tang. Shakuhachi 2. greatest width of resonator The biwa (Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. Figure 5 shows examples of harmonic structures of, 2, 3, and 4 pitches in Ichikotsu-ch. February 20, 2008. Other prominent students of Lin Shicheng at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing include Liu Guilian (, born 1961), Gao Hong and Wu Man. [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. This overlap resulted in a rapid evolution of the biwa and its usage and made it one of the most popular instruments in Japan. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. Further, the frets and the nut are wide, which provides a surface, not a point, for a string to touch. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute ", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. 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. Among the major variants are the gakubiwa (used in court music), the msbiwa (used by Buddhist monks for the chanting of sutras), the heikebiwa (used to chant stories from the Heike monogatori), the chikuzenbiwa (used for an amalgam of narrative types), and the satsumabiwa (used for samurai narratives). 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. One of the biwa's most famous uses is for reciting The Tale of the Heike, a war chronicle from the Kamakura period (11851333). 2008. Traditionally, the duration of each pitch subdivides the measure into two equal durations. [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. There are a number of different traditions with different styles of playing pipa in various regions of China, some of which then developed into schools. The Met Fifth Avenue 1000 Fifth Avenue We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. [12] The plectrum is also critical to creating the sawari sound, which is particularly utilized with satsuma-biwa. Region: East Asia. The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889, Accession Number: 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. This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. It is one of the most enduring work in Chinese theatre, and one that became a model for Ming dynasty drama as it was the favorite opera of the first Ming emperor. 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. From the 3rd century onwards, through the Sui and Tang dynasty, the pear-shaped pipas became increasingly popular in China. The six fret type is tuned to B, E, B and b. This is a type of biwa that wandering blind monks played for religious practice as well as in narrative musical performances during the medieval era, widely seen in the Kyushu area. These cookies do not store any personal information. It is an instrument in China, its mouth-blown free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes. Formation: Japanese. An example tuning of the four string version is B, e, f and b, and the five string instrument can be tuned to C, G, C, d and g. For the five string version, the first and third strings are tuned the same note, the second string three steps down, the fifth string an octave higher than the second string, and the fourth string a step down from the fifth. [2] Pear-shaped lutes have been depicted in Kusana sculptures from the 1st century AD. Not to be confused with the five-stringed variants of modern biwa, such as chikuzen-biwa. 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. Kishibe, Shigeo. It is the most widely used system for classifying musical . Chikuzen was an historic northern province on Kyushu, the southern-most main island of Japan. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted, Credit Line: Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API. 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. In Japan, the biwa is generally played with a bachi instead of the fingers, and is often used to play gagaku. Notes played on the biwa usually begin slow and thin and progress through gradual accelerations, increasing and decreasing tempo throughout the performance. 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. [21] During this time, Persian and Kuchan performers and teachers were in demand in the capital, Chang'an (which had a large Persian community). Beginning in the late 1960s to the late 1980s, composers and historians from all over the world visited Yamashika and recorded many of his songs; before this time, the biwa hshi tradition had been a completely oral tradition. [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 addition, there are a number of techniques that produce sound effects rather than musical notes, for example, striking the board of the pipa for a percussive sound, or strings-twisting while playing that produces a cymbal-like effect. General tones and pitches can fluctuate up or down entire steps or microtones. The sole stroke motion used in this example is kakubachi, but it also includes examples of hazusu and tataku. 1969. 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. When two strings are plucked at the same time with the index finger and thumb (i.e. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. 5-string: biwa (gallery #2): 38.5 in. 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 plectrum also contributes to the texture of biwa music. 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. Its plectrum is small and thin, often rounded, and made from a hard material such as boxwood or ivory. The basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. Wu Man is probably the best known pipa player internationally, received the first-ever master's degree in pipa and won China's first National Academic Competition for Chinese Instruments. 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"). Heike Biwa (), Medium: Japanese lute with 4-5 strings and frets. 89.4.2088. The name "pipa" is made up of two Chinese syllables, "p" () and "p" (). 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. It has the largest body and relatively short neck among biwas. 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. In the late 20th century, largely through the efforts of Wu Man (in USA), Min Xiao-Fen (in USA), composer Yang Jing (in Europe) and other performers, Chinese and Western contemporary composers began to create new works for the pipa (both solo and in combination with chamber ensembles and orchestra). [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. 1984. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/502655, Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown ; Clara H. Rose (d. 1914), The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can now connect to the most up-to-date data and images for more than 470,000 artworks in The Met collection. The encounter also inspired a poem by Yuan Zhen, Song of Pipa (). The biwa player with whom we worked, NAKAMURA Kahoru, improvised ten different versions of this rhythm. Ueda Junko and Tanaka Yukio, two of Tsuruta's students, continue the tradition of the modern satsuma-biwa. While blind biwa singers no longer dominate the biwa, many performers continue to use the instrument in traditional and modern ways. 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. These players had considerable influence on the development of pipa playing in China. 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. Description. 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. It is however possible to produce the tremolo with just one or more fingers. 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. [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. Popular Japanese three-stringed lute. Seeing its relative convenience and portability, the monks combined these features with their large and heavy gaku-biwa to create the heike-biwa, which, as indicated by its namesake, was used primarily for recitations of The Tale of the Heike. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. The typical 5-stringed Satsuma-biwa classical tuning is: CGCG, from first string to fourth/fifth string, respectively. The instrument itself also varies in size, depending on the player. 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 plectrum is usually made from rosewood with boxwood or ivory tips for plucking the strings. The biwa is a plucked lute chordophone of Japan. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. The higo-biwa is closely related to the heike-biwa and, similarly, relies on an oral narrative tradition focusing on wars and legends. 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. Another. The traditional Satsuma-biwa has 4 strings and 4 frets (Sei-ha and Kinshin-ryu schools), and newer styles have 5 strings and 5 frets (Nishiki and Tsuruta-ryu schools). The pipa, pp, or p'i-p'a ( Chinese: ) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Samurai ethics and battles were selected as the main themes for this style, called Satsuma-biwa (), and more dynamic techniques were developed. The biwa, originally an instrument of high society, gradually spread among wandering blind monks who used this instrument to tell stories. [14], Biwa usage in Japan has declined greatly since the Heian period. Instruments are classified using 5 different categories depending on the manner in which the instrument creates the sound: Idiophones, Membranophones, Chordophones, Aerophones, & Electrophones. 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. 5.5 in. 1. We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. 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. 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. It is an arpeggio that is always starting from the first string (the lowest) and swepping upwards to either the second, third or fourth string. [1] The Traditional Music of Japan. 11.7 in. greatest width of plectrum 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. 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. Sheng. This minute design detail gives rise to sawari, the distinctive raspy tone of a vibrating string. Due to the slow growth of the Japanese mulberry, the wood must be taken from a tree at least 120 years old and dried for 10 years before construction can begin. The . This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. There is also evidence that other biwa instruments came from the Indian lute tradition. It had close association with Buddhism and often appeared in mural and sculptural representations of musicians in Buddhist contexts. Its classification is a type of a Chordophone. [66] Some other notable pipa players in China include Yu Jia (), Wu Yu Xia (), Fang Jinlong () and Zhao Cong (). 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 Biwa. NGDMI v.1: 234-237. For a long time, the biwa tradition was carried on by wandering blind monks who used the instrument to tell stories such as the Tale of Heike (). [18], As biwa music declined in post-Pacific War Japan, many Japanese composers and musicians found ways to revitalize interest in it. [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 (). [citation needed]. Shamisen players and other musicians found it financially beneficial to switch to the biwa, bringing new styles of biwa music with them. 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.