[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. 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. Updates? 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). With the end of the wars, unsurprisingly, the biwa music became less popular, and the number of biwa musicians dropped significantly. Yo-sen has 2 tones regarded as auxiliary tones. 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. [1][2] Modern researchers such as Laurence Picken, Shigeo Kishibe, and John Myers suggested a non-Chinese origin. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Koto. Life in post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods. A. Biwa B. Koto C. Shakuhachi D. Shamisen 3. sanxian, (Chinese: "three strings") Wade Giles romanization san-hsien also called xianzi, any of a group of long-necked, fretless Chinese lutes. Upon its arrival, the biwa was used in purely instrumental music in the court culture the instrument appears in various works of literature and art in the 10th -12th centuries, depicting nobles enjoying it in rituals as well as in their private lives. A pipa player playing with the pipa behind his back. The biwa sounds as written, and it is tuned to an A-430Hz. In performance it was held sideways and played with a plectrum. 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). It is one of the more popular Chinese folk music, often paired with singing. 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). 5.5 in. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. [45] Other collections from the Qing dynasty were compiled by Li Fangyuan () and Ju Shilin (), each representing different schools, and many of the pieces currently popular were described in these Qing collections. 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. In Japan the loquat is known as biwa (, ) and has been grown for over . Depictions of the pear-shaped pipas appeared in abundance from the Southern and Northern dynasties onwards, and pipas from this time to the Tang dynasty were given various names, such as Hu pipa (), bent-neck pipa (, quxiang pipa), some of these terms however may refer to the same pipa. Sun performed in the United States, Asia, and Europe, and in 1956 became deputy director of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra. Malm, William P. 1959. An apsara (feitian) playing pipa, using fingers with the pipa held in near upright position. This type of biwa is used for court music called gagaku (), which has been protected by the government until today. 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). 1984. 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 strings are tuned in fourths, and the melody is played almost exclusively on the highest pitched string. February 20, 2008. 1969. 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. length And thanks to the low tension of the strings, it is easy to bend the strings by adding pressure. He also qualified as a doctor of Chinese medicine. The biwa is a four stringed lute and it is approximately 106 cm long (42 inches). 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 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. 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 performers right hand the bachi (plectrum) is held, its upward-pointing tip used to pluck the strings near the string holder. Its plectrum is small and thin, often rounded, and made from a hard material such as boxwood or ivory. 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. Pipa has been played solo, or as part of a large ensemble or small group since the early times. Recently, this instrument, much like the konghou harp, has been revived for historically informed performances and historical reconstructions. used only as a drone, and usually tuned to the same note as the third string, making the second the lowest. At the beginning of the Meiji period, it was estimated that there were at least one hundred traditional court musicians in Tokyo; however, by the 1930s, this number had reduced to just 46 in Tokyo, and a quarter of these musicians later died in World War II. Sheng. [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. Catalogue of the Crosby Brown . 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. Plucking in the opposite direction to tan and tiao are called mo () and gou () respectively. Typically, the duration of each group subdivides the measure into two equal durations. (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. From the 3rd century onwards, through the Sui and Tang dynasty, the pear-shaped pipas became increasingly popular in China. This seeming shortcoming is compensated for by the frets height and the low tension of the strings. All rights reserved. biwa, Japanese short-necked lute, distinguished by its graceful, pear-shaped 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. In the 13th century, the story "The Tale of Heike" ()was created and told by them. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company. 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. Cheng Yu researched the old Tang dynasty five-stringed pipa in the early 2000s and developed a modern version of it for contemporary use. Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection - Chikuzen Biwa. Yoko Hiraoka, a member of the Yamato Komyoji ryu, presents a lecture/recital of Japanese Biwa music. 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. 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. [9] When singing in a chorus, biwa singers often stagger their entry and often sing through non-synchronized, heterophony accompaniment. Note however that the frets on all Chinese lutes are high so that the fingers and strings never touch the fingerboard in between the frets, this is different from many Western fretted instruments and allows for dramatic vibrato and other pitch changing effects. [74], Modern pipa player, with the pipa held in near upright position. There is little space between the strings on the first three frets, causing obstruction when attacking an upper string whose immediate lower string is fingered in one of the first three frets. Though formerly popular, little was written about the performance and practice of the biwa from roughly the 16th century to the mid-19th century. 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. 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. Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted, Credit Line: Hornbostel-Sach Classification of instruments is a means of sorting out instruments according to how it produces sound. A player holds it horizontally, and mostly plays rhythmic arpeggios in orchestra or ensemble. 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. The plectrum also contributes to the texture of biwa music. Lin Shicheng (; 19222006), born in Shanghai, began learning music under his father and was taught by Shen Haochu (; 18991953), a leading player in the Pudong school style of pipa playing. The heike-biwa, smaller than the ms-biwa, was used for similar purposes. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. By the Song dynasty, the word pipa was used to refer exclusively to the four-stringed pear-shaped instrument. It is assumed that the performance traditions died out by the 10th or 11th century (William P. Malm). While blind biwa singers no longer dominate the biwa, many performers continue to use the instrument in traditional and modern ways. The biwa has a shallow, rounded back and silk strings (usually four or five) attached to slender lateral pegs. 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. Another. The instrument is played with a large wedge-shaped plectrum called a bachi. 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. Even the biwa hshi transitioned to other instruments such as the shamisen (a three-stringed lute).[15]. 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). Shamisen players and other musicians found it financially beneficial to switch to the biwa, bringing new styles of biwa music with them. Famous solo pieces now performed include: Most of the above are traditional compositions dating to the Qing dynasty or early 20th century, new pieces however are constantly being composed, and most of them follow a more Western structure. With turned wrist, he gathered the strings to pluck and strum faster. The biwa is a pear-shaped instrument with four or five strings. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. The biwa arrived in Japan in the 7th century, having evolved from the Chinese bent-neck pipa (; quxiang pipa),[1] while the pipa itself was derived from similar instruments in West Asia.
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