Lingering, filling the palace hall, spring snow flew. These players had considerable influence on the development of pipa playing in China. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. The biwa (Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. Instead, biwa singers tend to sing with a flexible pitch without distinguishing soprano, alto, tenor, or bass roles. The Traditional Music of Japan. 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. are crucial techniques to create the biwas subtle in-between notes that are unique for fretted instruments. [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. Kakubachi: This is the performance of arpeggio with a downward motion of the plectrum, and it is always loud. The musical narrative of The Tale of Heike, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, edited by Alison McQueen Tokita and David W. Hughes. A number of Western pipa players have experimented with amplified pipa. The satsuma-biwa is traditionally made from Japanese mulberry, although other hard woods such as Japanese zelkova are sometimes used in its construction. [42] During the Qing dynasty there originally two major schools of pipathe Northern and Southern schools, and music scores for these two traditions were collected and published in the first mass-produced edition of solo pieces for pipa, now commonly known as the Hua Collection (). 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 wen style is more lyrical and slower in tempo, with softer dynamic and subtler colour, and such pieces typically describe love, sorrow, and scenes of nature. 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. Western performers of pipa include French musician Djang San, who integrated jazz and rock concepts to the instrument such as power chords and walking bass.[70]. to the present. Sun performed in the United States, Asia, and Europe, and in 1956 became deputy director of the Shanghai Chinese 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. However, the biwas cultural significance is due to its evolution during the medieval era into a narrative musical instrument. In more recent times, many pipa players, especially the younger ones, no longer identify themselves with any specific school. The body is narrower and smaller than the other types of biwa. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi (, The basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production. Malm, William P. 1959. For the left hand, as mentioned above under the Construction section, bending of the strings (oshikan ) and delicate control of it to create a vibrato effect (yuri ) are crucial techniques to create the biwas subtle in-between notes that are unique for fretted instruments. These tunings are relative, the actual pitches a given biwa is tuned to being determined by the vocal range of the singer/player. The encounter also inspired a poem by Yuan Zhen, Song of Pipa (). to the present. Ueda Junko and Tanaka Yukio, two of Tsuruta's students, continue the tradition of the modern satsuma-biwa. The short neck has four raised frets, each one specifically assigned to one of the left hand fingers. 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. Carlo Forlivesi's compositions Boethius () and Nuove Musiche per Biwa () were both written for performance on the satsuma-biwa designed by Tsuruta and Tanaka. Even the biwa hshi transitioned to other instruments such as the shamisen (a three-stringed lute).[15]. The Korean instrument is the only one of the three that is no longer widely used. 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. (92.7 20 12.7 cm), Classification: 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. 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. In Japan, the biwa is generally played with a bachi instead of the fingers, and is often used to play gagaku. The biwa may be used to accompany various types of narrative, as part of a gagaku (court music) ensemble, or as a solo instrument. The number of frets is considerably fewer than other fretted instruments. 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. This music called heikyoku () was, cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14-15. There are some types of traditional string instrument. This article is about the Chinese instrument. Guilds supporting biwa players, particularly the biwa hshi, helped proliferate biwa musical development for hundreds of years. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The biwa player with whom we worked, NAKAMURA Kahoru, improvised ten different versions of this rhythm. The biwa, originally an instrument of high society, gradually spread among wandering blind monks who used this instrument to tell stories. The fourth and fifth strings, if 5-stringed, are tuned to the same note. 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. A new way to classify the acoustical properties of woods and clearly separate these two groups is proposed in this paper. It produces distinctive ichikotsuch () and hyj (). In 1956, after working for some years in Shanghai, Lin accepted a position at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. 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. , one can make two or three notes for each fret and also in-between notes. [53] The introduction of pipa from Central Asia also brought with it virtuoso performers from that region, for example Sujiva (, Sujipo) from the Kingdom of Kucha during the Northern Zhou dynasty, Kang Kunlun () from Kangju, and Pei Luoer () from Shule. Shakuhachi One of the most popular traditional Japanese wind instruments is the shakuhachi. Although typically it is used to play short standardized phrases between lines of vocal text, it may be used for longer programmatic pieces depicting battles, storms, or other dramatic events. This type of biwa, known as the gaku-biwa, was later used in gagaku ensembles and became the most commonly known type. [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. [19] Pipa acquired a number of Chinese symbolisms during the Han dynasty - the instrument length of three feet five inches represents the three realms (heaven, earth, and man) and the five elements, while the four strings represent the four seasons.[7]. Catalogue of the Crosby Brown . Performers on the instrument frequently pluck two notes simultaneously, producing a variety of intervals, especially when the singer is silent. 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. 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. The strings are struck with a hand-held wooden plectrum. Type. Its purpose is to show in context how the biwa uses its various patterns to color some melodic tones. Heike-biwa is an accompaniment instrument specifically used to chant the Tale of Heike stories () in the traditional way dating from the medieval era. 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). 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). L 31 1/2 W. 11 13/16 D. 1 5/16 in. With turned wrist, he gathered the strings to pluck and strum faster. Reflecting its history as an instrument for samurai, its music is often described as dynamic and heroic. The typical 5-stringed Satsuma-biwa classical tuning is: CGCG, from first string to fourth/fifth string, respectively. 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. This singing style is complemented by the biwa, which biwa players use to produce short glissandi throughout the performance. This type of instrument was introduced to Korea (the bipa ), to Japan (the biwa ), and to Vietnam (the tyba ). [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. The instrument is plucked with a pick made out of animal horn. 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. It has the largest body and relatively short neck among biwas. 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 (). Modern biwa music is based on that medieval narrative biwa music. During the Yuan dynasty, the playwright Gao Ming wrote a play for nanxi opera called Pipa ji (, or "Story of the Pipa"), a tale about an abandoned wife who set out to find her husband, surviving by playing the pipa. 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. We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. 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. 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. 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. Figure 5 shows examples of harmonic structures of, 2, 3, and 4 pitches in Ichikotsu-ch. An apsara (feitian) playing pipa, using fingers with the pipa held in near upright position. [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. biwa, Japanese short-necked lute, distinguished by its graceful, pear-shaped body. The artist Yang Jing plays pipa with a variety of groups. The typical 5-stringed Satsuma-biwa classical tuning is: CGCG, from first string to fourth/fifth string, respectively. With the abolition of Todo in the Meiji period, biwa players lost their patronage. Sandstone carving, showing the typical way a pipa was held when played with plectrum in the early period. A string instrument which is made of Paulownia wood that is used in an ensemble in gagaku or a solo instrument. [41] Three Ming dynasty pieces were discovered in the High River Flows East (, Gaohe Jiangdong) collection dating from 1528 which are very similar to those performed today, such as "The Moon on High" (, Yue-er Gao). The first and second strings are generally tuned to the same note, with the 4th (or doubled 4th) string is tuned one octave higher. Its classification is a type of an Aerophone. 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. While blind biwa singers no longer dominate the biwa, many performers continue to use the instrument in traditional and modern ways. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. 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. Generally speaking, biwa have four strings, though modern satsuma- and chikuzen-biwa may have five strings. 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. The narrative biwa music adopts a relative tuning; the pitch is decided to match with the players range of voice. The biwa ( Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. de Ferranti, Hugh. 1. It is not used to accompany singing. 89.4.2088. [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 (). The strings are numbered from the lowest (first string) to the highest (fourth string). Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection - Chikuzen Biwa. This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. This minute design detail gives rise to sawari, the distinctive raspy tone of a vibrating string. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. Biwa 6. greatest width of resonator Ye Xuran (), a student of Lin Shicheng and Wei Zhongle, was the Pipa Professor at the first Musical Conservatory of China, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. 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.