This type of biwa, known as the gaku-biwa, was later used in gagaku ensembles and became the most commonly known type. The biwa is a pear-shaped instrument with four or five strings. The biwa has a shallow, rounded back and silk strings (usually four or five) attached to slender lateral pegs. The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889, Accession Number: Another. 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 (). 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. 11.7 in. She lives in San Diego, California and works extensively with Chinese, cross-cultural, new music, and jazz groups. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments. Telling stories and holding religious practices with biwa accompaniment became a profession for blind monks, and it was these wandering blind monks who carried on the tradition. The chikuzen-biwa was used by Buddhist monks visiting private residences to perform memorial services, not only for Buddhist rites, but also to accompany the telling of stories and news. And thanks to the low tension of the strings, it is easy to bend the strings by adding pressure. [21] For example, masses of pipa-playing Buddhist semi-deities are depicted in the wall paintings of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang. Table of Contents 1. A new way to classify the acoustical properties of woods and clearly separate these two groups is proposed in this paper. 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. 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Tachibana sought to create a new narrative style that would appeal to a contemporary urban audience (de Ferranti p. 120) and that would be performed by sighted musicians. 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. 3 (Winter, 19771978). The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889, Accession Number: 1. 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. 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. Over 100 years after its development, the H-S system is still in use in most museums and in large inventory projects. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The flowers fluttered, and from Heaven the phoenix trilled, [6] The strings were played using a large plectrum in the Tang dynasty, a technique still used now for the Japanese biwa. Type. [39] The plectrum has now been largely replaced by the fingernails of the right hand. [51][52] Different schools have different repertoire in their music collection, and even though these schools share many of the same pieces in their repertoire, a same piece of music from the different schools may differ in their content. There, they assumed the role of Buddhist monks and encountered the ms-biwa. [68] The Shanghai progressive/folk-rock band Cold Fairyland, which was formed in 2001, also use pipa (played by Lin Di), sometimes multi-tracking it in their recordings. The da and xiao categories refer to the size of the piece xiao pieces are small pieces normally containing only one section, while da pieces are large and usually contain multiple sections. 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. The two-headed tacked drum hung in an elaborate circular frame in court music is a gaku-daiko or tsuri-daiko. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Its size and construction influences the sound of the instrument as the curved body is often struck percussively with the plectrum during play. 592 AD, Sui dynasty. 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 musical narrative of The Tale of Heike, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, edited by Alison McQueen Tokita and David W. Hughes. [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. 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. Each group can include either two open strings or one open and one fingered string. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. 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. It is a big percussion instrument of Japanese that plays integral part of many Japanese Matsuri (festival). 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 All rights reserved. Thought to be of Persian origin, the biwa was brought to Japan in the 8th century via Central Asia, China and the Korean Peninsula. Though formerly popular, little was written about the performance and practice of the biwa from roughly the 16th century to the mid-19th century. [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. The short neck has four raised frets, each one specifically assigned to one of the left hand fingers. The 4 wedge-shaped frets on the neck became 6 during the 20th century. Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item, Title: The peg box is angled about 90 degrees from the neck, and the back of the body is flat, unlike the western lute. Multiple strings are often played in one pluck like an arpeggio. The heike-biwa, smaller than the ms-biwa, was used for similar purposes. The biwa (Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. Updates? Life in post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods. Taiko Related Articles on Traditional Japanese Instruments 1. By the Song dynasty, the word pipa was used to refer exclusively to the four-stringed pear-shaped instrument. The transmission parameter (product of propagation speed and Q value of the longitudinal wave along the wood grain . While blind biwa singers no longer dominate the biwa, many performers continue to use the instrument in traditional and modern ways. Influenced by the recitations of blind priests, the music of the heike biwa reflects the mood of the text. Players hold the instrument vertically. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. This is the original form of biwa that came to Japan in the 8. century. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Corrections? The 5-string specimen is larger (the vibrating length of its strings is 30.3 inches) and heavier than the 4-string specimen and also has some delicate decorative detail added that is carved out of mother-of-pearl (detail #8 and #9). The instrument is also held vertically while playing. The strings are struck with a hand-held wooden plectrum. A player holds it horizontally, and mostly plays rhythmic arpeggios in orchestra or ensemble. Its tuning is A, E, A, B, for traditional biwa, G, G, c, g, or G, G, d, g for contemporary compositions, among other tunings, but these are only examples as the instrument is tuned to match the key of the player's voice. In performance it was held sideways and played with a plectrum. The instrument itself resembles gaku-biwa but is slightly smaller, and is held horizontally. It is an instrument in Japan, that is a two-stringed fiddle (violin). 20002023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (92.7 20 12.7 cm), The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889. Further, the frets and the nut are wide, which provides a surface, not a point, for a string to touch. 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. Region: East Asia. 89.4.2088. [69] The instrument is also played by musician Min Xiaofen in "I See Who You Are", a song from Bjrk's album Volta. The archlute ( Spanish: archilad, Italian: arciliuto, German: Erzlaute) is a European plucked string instrument developed around 1600 as a compromise between the very large theorbo, the size and re-entrant tuning of which made for difficulties in the performance of solo music, and the Renaissance tenor lute, which lacked the bass range of the Liu also studied with other musicians and has developed a style that combines elements from several different schools. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. However, false nails made of horn existed as early as the Ming period when finger-picking became the popular technique for playing pipa.[24]. 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. This type of biwa is used for court music called gagaku (), which has been protected by the government until today. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. It had a pear-shaped wooden body with two crescent-shaped sound holes, a curved neck, four strings, and four frets. 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. Credit Line: The Crosby Brown Collection . 2. In modern biwa, particularly in Satsuma-biwa, one sometimes strikes the soundboard sharply to get percussive effects. Kaeshibachi: The performance of arpeggio with an up-ward motion of the plectrum, and it is always soft. 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. It has the largest body and relatively short neck among biwas. [10] In solo performances, a biwa performer sings monophonically, with melismatic emphasis throughout the performance. Techniques that produce vibrato, portamento, glissando, pizzicato, harmonics or artificial harmonics found in violin or guitar are also found in pipa. Another often-used technique is rubbing the long side of the bachi on the strings to get wind-like sounds. Further important collections were published in the 20th century. February 20, 2008. Typically 60 centimetres (24 in) to 106 centimetres (42 in) in length, the instrument is . Samurai ethics and battles were selected as the main themes for this style, called Satsuma-biwa (), and more dynamic techniques were developed. 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. The four-string specimen is tuned to a shamisen tuning called honchshi (interval structure, from the lowest string upwards, of P4 - P5, with the top two strings tuned in unison): approximately B2 E3 B3 B3; a typical tuning for the 5-string instrument has the intervallic sequence of P4 (down) P4 (up) M2 (up) P4 (up), approximately E3 B2 E3 F-sharp3 B3. 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. There is also evidence that other biwa instruments came from the Indian lute tradition. Four or five frets are attached to the body, and it is played with a large wooden plectrum (bachi). Famous pieces such as "Ambushed from Ten Sides", "The Warlord Takes Off His Armour", and "Flute and Drum at Sunset" were first described in this collection. Heike Biwa (), Medium: [49] In Nanguan music, the pipa is still held in the near-horizontal position or guitar-fashion in the ancient manner instead of the vertical position normally used for solo playing in the present day. Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API. As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. This music called heikyoku () was, cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14-15. The plectrum is usually made from rosewood with boxwood or ivory tips for plucking the strings. [1] An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961. 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. 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. The biwa player with whom we worked, NAKAMURA Kahoru, improvised ten different versions of this rhythm. Australian dark rock band The Eternal use the pipa in their song "Blood" as played by singer/guitarist Mark Kelson on their album Kartika. Like with the shamisen, a distinctive raspy tone quality called sawari is associated with the chikuzen biwa. 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. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 681. Resonator design, chordophone: bowl with wood soundboard, Vibrational length: tension bridge to ridge-nut, Pitches per string course: multiple (by pressure stopping against fretted fingerboard), 4-string biwa (gallery #1): The biwa is a stringed instrument used in Japan as a sort of story telling method. [6] Another Han dynasty text, Fengsu Tongyi, also indicates that, at that time, pipa was a recent arrival,[7] although later 3rd-century texts from the Jin dynasty suggest that pipa existed in China as early as the Qin dynasty (221206 BC). Bodmin, Cornwall, Great Britain: MPG Books, pp. Though its origins are unclear, this thinner variant of the biwa was used in ceremonies and religious rites. In spite of its popularity, the nin War and subsequent Warring States Period disrupted biwa teaching and decreased the number of proficient users. 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. 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. Reflecting its history as an instrument for samurai, its music is often described as dynamic and heroic. 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). 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 Traditional Music of Japan. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. There are some types of traditional string instrument. 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. Among ethnomusicologists, it is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments. Instrument Information Origins. 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 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. The main part of the music is vocal and the biwa part mostly plays short interludes. The biwa sounds as written, and it is tuned to an A-430Hz. The peg box is angled about 90 degrees from the neck, and the back of the body is flat, unlike the western lute. The body is narrower and smaller than the other types of biwa. Dunhuang, Mogao Caves. The pipa has also been used in rock music; the California-based band Incubus featured one, borrowed from guitarist Steve Vai, in their 2001 song "Aqueous Transmission," as played by the group's guitarist, Mike Einziger. Clattering and murmuring, meshing jumbled sounds, 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. However, the playing of the biwa nearly became extinct during the Meiji period following the introduction of Western music and instruments, until players such as Tsuruta Kinshi and others revitalized the genre with modern playing styles and collaborations with Western composers. Other noted players of the early 20th century include Liu Tianhua, a student of Shen Zhaozhou of the Chongming school and who increased the number of frets on the pipa and changed to an equal-tempered tuning, and the blind player Abing from Wuxi. The instrument is tuned to match the key of the singer. Nation: Japan. Northern Wei dynasty (386534 AD). 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 six fret type is tuned to B, E, B and b. The instrument is plucked with a pick made out of animal horn. With turned wrist, he gathered the strings to pluck and strum faster. The traditional pieces however often have a standard metrical length of 68 measures or beat,[46] and these may be joined together to form the larger pieces dagu.[47]. [9] When singing in a chorus, biwa singers often stagger their entry and often sing through non-synchronized, heterophony accompaniment. 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. 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. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. Its purpose is to show in context how the biwa uses its various patterns to color some melodic tones. II, p. 30. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961. The pipa, pp, or p'i-p'a ( Chinese: ) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. The body is often made of stretched snakeskin, and come in varying sizes. 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. The instrument itself also varies in size, depending on the player. He premiered the oldest Dunhuang Pipa Manuscript (the first interpretation made by Ye Dong) in Shanghai in the early 1980s. [21] During this time, Persian and Kuchan performers and teachers were in demand in the capital, Chang'an (which had a large Persian community). What is known is that three main streams of biwa practice emerged during this time: zato (the lowest level of the state-controlled guild of blind biwa players), shifu (samurai style), and chofu (urban style). We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. The instrument is played with a large wedge-shaped plectrum called a bachi. Players hold the instrument vertically. The pipa, pp, or p'i-p'a (Chinese: ) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Ueda Junko and Tanaka Yukio, two of Tsuruta's students, continue the tradition of the modern satsuma-biwa. Guilds supporting biwa players, particularly the biwa hshi, helped proliferate biwa musical development for hundreds of years. 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. Because of this bending technique oshikan (), one can make two or three notes for each fret and also in-between notes. 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. Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection - Chikuzen Biwa. [18], As biwa music declined in post-Pacific War Japan, many Japanese composers and musicians found ways to revitalize interest in it. The excerpt is performed by the ensemble Reigakusha. This overlap resulted in a rapid evolution of the biwa and its usage and made it one of the most popular instruments in Japan. Komoda Haruko. 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. 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]. [32][33][34] A famous poem by Bai Juyi, "Pipa xing" (), contains a description of a pipa performance during a chance encounter with a female pipa player on the Yangtze River:[35]. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi () that requires a full-handed grip. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute ", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. 36 1/2 7 7/8 5 in. 2008. The fingers normally strike the strings of pipa in the opposite direction to the way a guitar is usually played, i.e. The instrument was invented in China in the 3rd to 5th centuries AD, during the Jin dynasty. Sanshin 4. [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. [66] Some other notable pipa players in China include Yu Jia (), Wu Yu Xia (), Fang Jinlong () and Zhao Cong (). Through the next several centuries, players of both traditions intersected frequently and developed new music styles and new instruments. At the beginning of the 13th century, Heike biwa players began telling of tales of the rise and fall of the Taira . [14][15][16], The pear-shaped pipa is likely to have been introduced to China from Central Asia, Gandhara, and/or India. [61][33], During the Song dynasty, players mentioned in literary texts include Du Bin (). 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). Its plectrum is the same as that used for the satsuma-biwa. . 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). Yamashika, born in the late Meiji period, continued the biwa hshi tradition until his death in 1996. Koto 3. Typically, the second pitch is fingered on the same string one or two frets lower than the first one, and the note is attacked and then lifted off into the second fret position. Although this instrument is quite large and a very substantial plectrum is used to excite its strings, its sound is surprisingly soft and meant more for intimate settings rather than concert halls. Omissions? [43] The collection was edited by Hua Qiuping (, 17841859) and published in 1819 in three volumes. Other prominent students of Lin Shicheng at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing include Liu Guilian (, born 1961), Gao Hong and Wu Man. Kindai-biwa still retains a significant number of professional and amateur practitioners, but the zato, heike, and moso-biwa styles have all but died out.