2000. [31] The pipa is mentioned frequently in the Tang dynasty poetry, where it is often praised for its expressiveness, refinement and delicacy of tone, with poems dedicated to well-known players describing their performances. The typical 5-stringed Satsuma-biwa classical tuning is: CGCG, from first string to fourth/fifth string, respectively. 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. 2008. Lingering, filling the palace hall, spring snow flew. 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 peg box is angled about 90 degrees from the neck, and the back of the body is flat, unlike the western lute. It is possible to include a fingered pitch among the lower grace-notes but that pitch should preferably be chosen among those playable on the 4th fret. 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. 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 origin of the Japanese biwa as a generic type of instrument dates back to around the year 700 CE when the pipa was first introduced to Japan from China as part of ensembles gifted to the Japanese Emperor. 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. The name "pipa" is made up of two Chinese syllables, "p" () and "p" (). As part of, Metalwork by Goto Teijo, 9th generation Goto master, Japan (16031673). Traditionally, the 2nd pitch either acts as a lower neighboring tone or a descending passing tone. Nation: Japan. These tunings are relative, the actual pitches a given biwa is tuned to being determined by the vocal range of the singer/player. 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 (). [citation needed], In 2014, an industrial designer residing in the United States Xi Zheng () designed and crafted an electric pipa "E-pa" in New York. 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. 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). 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]. Northern Wei dynasty (386534 AD). 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. Other prominent students of Lin Shicheng at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing include Liu Guilian (, born 1961), Gao Hong and Wu Man. Apart from the four-stringed pipa, other pear-shaped instruments introduced include the five-stringed, straight-necked, wuxian pipa (, also known as Kuchean pipa ()),[20] a six-stringed version, as well as the two-stringed hulei (). 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. . While blind biwa singers no longer dominate the biwa, many performers continue to use the instrument in traditional and modern ways. A rapid strum is called sao (), and strumming in the reverse direction is called fu (). 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. [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. It has the largest body and relatively short neck among biwas. Played with a large wooden plectrum, the instrument has four or five strings of twisted silk stretched over four or more . 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 instrument is also held vertically while playing. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. The five-stringed pipa however had fallen from use by the Song dynasty, although attempts have been made to revive this instrument in the early 21st century with a modernized five-string pipa modeled on the Tang dynasty instrument. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. As part of, Mamoru Ohashi (Japanese, active Ogasa, Shizouka Prefecture 1953). [citation needed]. In the 18th century, samurai in the Satsuma area (southern part of Kyushu island) adopted the blind monks biwa music into their musical practices. Its tuning is A, c, e, a or A, c-sharp, e, a. The 4 wedge-shaped frets on the neck became 6 during the 20th century. The plectrum also contributes to the texture of biwa music. String-bending for example may be used to produce a glissando or portamento. Clara H. Rose (d. 1914) Catalogue of the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments: Asia, Gallery 27. [9] When singing in a chorus, biwa singers often stagger their entry and often sing through non-synchronized, heterophony accompaniment. This causes a sustained, buzzing noise called, which adds a unique flavor to the biwa sound. later versions were played by the blind Japanese lute priests of the Heian period and it was also played as background music for story-telling 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]. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments. 2.2 in. By the late 1940s, the biwa, a thoroughly Japanese tradition, was nearly completely abandoned for Western instruments; however, thanks to collaborative efforts by Japanese musicians, interest in the biwa is being revived. Rubbing the strings: The plectrum is used to rub an open string. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. The stroking motion always starts from the 1st string, sequentially sweeping toward the others until it reaches the arpeggios last string. Four or five frets are attached to the body, and it is played with a large wooden plectrum (bachi). 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. Although shaped like a Western lute, the Biwa's back is flat and it has a shallower body. greatest depth of resonator Biwa (Japanese instrument) - MIT Global Shakespeares Biwa (Japanese instrument) The Biwa is a Japanese teardrop lute, similar to the lute and the oud, with a short neck and frets. 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. Hazusu: This is a sequence of two pitches, where the first one is attacked, and leades to a second one which is not attacked. After having arrived in Japan via the Silk Road for purely instrumental music, the biwa evolved over time into a narrative musical instrument. Australian dark rock band The Eternal use the pipa in their song "Blood" as played by singer/guitarist Mark Kelson on their album Kartika. 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. [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. 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. Traditionally, the duration of each pitch subdivides the measure into two equal durations. [39] The plectrum has now been largely replaced by the fingernails of the right hand. The strings are made of wound silk. The typical 5-stringed Satsuma-biwa classical tuning is: CGCG, from first string to fourth/fifth string, respectively. sanxian, (Chinese: "three strings") Wade Giles romanization san-hsien also called xianzi, any of a group of long-necked, fretless Chinese lutes. [29], There are many references to pipa in Tang literary works, for example, in A Music Conservatory Miscellany Duan Anjie related many anecdotes associated with pipa. From these styles also emerged the two principal survivors of the biwa tradition: satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa. These monophonic do not follow a set harmony. A number of Western pipa players have experimented with amplified pipa. 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). Sun performed in the United States, Asia, and Europe, and in 1956 became deputy director of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra. 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. Though its origins are unclear, this thinner variant of the biwa was used in ceremonies and religious rites. Its purpose is to show in context how the biwa uses its various patterns to color some melodic tones. length The biwa originated in the Middle East and was delivered to Japan via the Silk Road in the 8th century. Blind priests would play them in order to tell stories and tales of ancient war. Guilds supporting biwa players, particularly the biwa hshi, helped proliferate biwa musical development for hundreds of years. 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. There are 4-string and 5-string biwas, both with 5 frets, and the soundboard is made from soft paulownia wood. The two-headed tacked drum hung in an elaborate circular frame in court music is a gaku-daiko or tsuri-daiko. In the performers right hand the bachi (plectrum) is held, its upward-pointing tip used to pluck the strings near the string holder. The texture of biwa singing is often described as "sparse". From the Dingjiazha Tomb No. They recorded the critically acclaimed CD "Eagle Seizing Swan" together. It is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments by ethnomusicologists and organologists . Over the centuries, several types of biwa were created, each having a certain size plectrum, a specialized purpose, a unique performance technique, and varying numbers of strings and frets. There, they assumed the role of Buddhist monks and encountered the ms-biwa. The main part of the music is vocal and the biwa part mostly plays short interludes. The left hand techniques are important for the expressiveness of pipa music. 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 excerpt of figurative descriptions of a pipa music may be found in a eulogy for a pipa player, Lament for Shancai by Li Shen:[33]. Ms Biwa () Japanese. Heike Biwa (), Medium: 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. 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. Typically, the duration of each group subdivides the measure into two equal durations. The pipa is one of the most popular Chinese instruments and has been played for almost two thousand years in China. Life in post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods. 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. The same piece of music can therefore differ significantly when performed by students of different schools, with striking differences in interpretation, phrasing, tempo, dynamics, playing techniques, and ornamentations. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/500681, Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown ; James L. Amerman, 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. 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. As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. ________. The ms-biwa (), a biwa with four strings, is used to play Buddhist mantras and songs. 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). 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. Koizumi, Fumio. However, the biwas cultural significance is due to its evolution during the medieval era into a narrative musical instrument. [40] Through time, the neck was raised and by the Qing dynasty the instrument was mostly played upright. 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. A. Biwa B. Koto C. Shakuhachi D. Shamisen 3. Shakuhachi One of the most popular traditional Japanese wind instruments is the shakuhachi. 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. Kakisukashi: This is a three or four-note arpeggio with two strings in unison. A distinctive sound of pipa is the tremolo produced by the lunzhi () technique which involves all the fingers and thumb of the right hand. The Met Fifth Avenue 1000 Fifth Avenue 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. to the present. The body of the instrument is never struck with the plectrum during play, and the five string instrument is played upright, while the four string is played held on its side. The instrument was invented in China in the 3rd to 5th centuries AD, during the Jin dynasty. 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. We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. Options are limited when considering that a fingered string between two open strings must be fingered on the 4th fret to avoid damping. 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. There are some types of traditional string instrument. Though formerly popular, little was written about the performance and practice of the biwa from roughly the 16th century to the mid-19th century. We speculate that being half-way in the section, the purpose of this clash may be to avoid a too strong feeling of cadence on the 'tonic E,' since there is one more phrase to come before completing this section. 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. He premiered the oldest Dunhuang Pipa Manuscript (the first interpretation made by Ye Dong) in Shanghai in the early 1980s. The chikuzen biwa is played with the performer in the seiza position (on the knees, legs folded under) on the floor. [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. 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 biwa may be used to accompany various types of narrative, as part of a gagaku (court music) ensemble, or as a solo instrument. 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. This type of biwa, known as the gaku-biwa, was later used in gagaku ensembles and became the most commonly known type. Biwa performers also vary the volume of their voice between barely audible to very loud. [10] An instrument called xiantao (), made by stretching strings over a small drum with handle, was said to have been played by labourers who constructed the Great Wall of China during the late Qin dynasty. 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"). When two strings are plucked at the same time with the index finger and thumb (i.e. Each group can include either two open strings or one open and one fingered string. The short neck of the Tang pipa also became more elongated. The biwa is a pear-shaped instrument with four or five strings. 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. It may be played as a solo instrument or as part of the imperial orchestra for use in productions such as daqu (, grand suites), an elaborate music and dance performance. Different sized plectrums produced different textures; for example, the plectrum used on a ms-biwa was much larger than that used on a gaku-biwa, producing a harsher, more vigorous sound. By the middle of the Meiji period, improvements had been made to the instruments and easily understandable songs were composed in quantity. Japanese lute with 4-5 strings and frets. He also qualified as a doctor of Chinese medicine. It is not used to accompany singing. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Korean instrument is the only one of the three that is no longer widely used. 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. Its boxwood plectrum is much wider than others, often reaching widths of 25cm (9.8in) or more. Chikuzen was an historic northern province on Kyushu, the southern-most main island of Japan. In the 13th century, the story "The Tale of Heike" ()was created and told by them. 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. Its plectrum is small and thin, often rounded, and made from a hard material such as boxwood or ivory. For example, a piece like "The Warlord Takes off His Armour" is made up of many sections, some of them metered and some with free meter, and greater freedom in interpretation is possible in the free meter sections. Pipa is also an important component of regional chamber ensemble traditions such as Jiangnan sizhu, Teochew string music and Nanguan ensemble. 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. In the present day, there are no direct means of studying the biwa in many biwa traditions. 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). 105-126. Hitting the body of the instrument: The plectrum is used to hit the black protective part on the front of the instrument. Typically 60 centimetres (24in) to 106 centimetres (42in) in length, the instrument is constructed of a water drop-shaped body with a short neck, typically with four (though sometimes five) strings. General tones and pitches can fluctuate up or down entire steps or microtones. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Songs are not always metered, although more modern collaborations are metered. Biwa traditions began with blind priests who traveled from village to village singing sutras. This singing style is complemented by the biwa, which biwa players use to produce short glissandi throughout the performance. 4. to divide instruments into eight categories determined by materials. The biwa is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime during the Nara period (710-794). 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. 20002023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 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. Fine strings murmur like whispered words, The pipa pieces in the common repertoire can be categorized as wen (, civil) or wu (, martial), and da (, large or suite) or xiao (, small). Chikuzen biwa music is narrative music much beholding to narrative shamisen music. Players hold the instrument vertically.
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