The heike-biwa, smaller than the ms-biwa, was used for similar purposes. The surface of the frets is constantly shaved down by the strings, and one of the most important points in the maintenance of the biwa is to keep the surfaces as flat as possible to get goodsawari. length The loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) is a large evergreen shrub or tree, grown commercially for its orange fruit and for its leaves, which are used to make herbal tea.It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant.. Its tuning is A, c, e, a or A, c-sharp, e, a. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. This type of biwa is used for court music called gagaku (), which has been protected by the government until today. [22] Some delicately carved pipas with beautiful inlaid patterns date from this period, with particularly fine examples preserved in the Shosoin Museum in Japan. 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. [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. Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted, Credit Line: . 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. ) [2], Early literary tradition in China, for example in a 3rd-century description by Fu Xuan, Ode to Pipa,[1][28] associates the Han pipa with the northern frontier, Wang Zhaojun and other princesses who were married to nomad rulers of the Wusun and Xiongnu peoples in what is now Mongolia, northern Xinjiang and Kazakhstan. Mural from Kizil, estimated Five Dynasties to Yuan dynasty, 10th to 13th century. Biwa playing has a long history on Kyushu, and for centuries the art was practiced within the institution of ms, blind Buddhist priests who performed sacred and secular texts for agrarian and other rituals. 20002023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. biwa, Japanese short-necked lute, distinguished by its graceful, pear-shaped body. Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production. Players hold the instrument vertically. Biwa Description The biwa is a four stringed lute and it is approximately 106 cm long (42 inches). 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. Recently, this instrument, much like the konghou harp, has been revived for historically informed performances and historical reconstructions. 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. The biwa, considered one of Japan's principal traditional instruments, has both influenced and been influenced by other traditional instruments and compositions throughout its long history; as such, a number of different musical styles played with the biwa exist. 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. The Met Fifth Avenue 1000 Fifth Avenue The wu style was associated more with the Northern school while the wen style was more the Southern school. In the performers right hand the bachi (plectrum) is held, its upward-pointing tip used to pluck the strings near the string holder. This type of instrument was introduced to Korea (the bipa ), to Japan (the biwa ), and to Vietnam (the tyba ). The biwas shallow body is a bouncing board that sharply projects its sound forward. [21] During this time, Persian and Kuchan performers and teachers were in demand in the capital, Chang'an (which had a large Persian community). greatest width of plectrum 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. 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. Sheng. 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. Novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties such as Jin Ping Mei showed pipa performance to be a normal aspect of life in these periods at home (where the characters in the novels may be proficient in the instrument) as well as outside on the street or in pleasure houses.[24]. Japanese and foreign musicians alike have begun embracing traditional Japanese instruments, particularly the biwa, in their compositions. Sandstone carving, showing the typical way a pipa was held when played with plectrum in the early period. Pipa is commonly associated with Princess Liu Xijun and Wang Zhaojun of the Han dynasty, although the form of pipa they played in that period is unlikely to be pear-shaped as they are now usually depicted. She lives in San Diego, California and works extensively with Chinese, cross-cultural, new music, and jazz groups. The rhythm in biwa performances allows for a broad flexibility of pulse. It always starts from the 4th string and stops on either the 3rd, 2nd, or 1st string depending if the arpeggio contains 2, 3, or 4 pitches, respectively. Bodmin, Cornwall, Great Britain: MPG Books, pp. to the present. These monophonic do not follow a set harmony. This article is about the Chinese instrument. When Yamashika died in 1996, the era of the biwa hshi tutelage died with him, but the music and genius of that era continues thanks to his recordings. It is made out of wood, with a teardrop-shaped body and a long neck with four or five high frets, and is stringed with four or five silk strings that are plucked by a big pick called bachi. 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. 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 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. In Satsuma-biwa classical pieces, the thickest string (the first) is in principle. Typically, the three-note rhythm is either short-short-long or long-short-short. 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. 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. Modern biwa music is based on that medieval narrative biwa music. [1] The strings are sounded with a large, thick, fan-shaped plectrum called a bachi (detail #6), traditionally made of wood (the practice bachi pictured here is made from resin). The instrument itself resembles gaku-biwa but is slightly smaller, and is held horizontally. 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. [1] An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The biwa is related to the Chinese pipa, an instrument that was introduced to Japan in the late 7th century. A. Biwa B. Koto C. Shakuhachi D. Shamisen 3. 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. [67] It is very much the same as the modern pipa in construction save for being a bit wider to allow for the extra string and the reintroduction of the soundholes at the front. 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. 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. The nut is a rounded edge at the 90-degree bend where the neck meets the peg box, and the broad flat surface just below the bend has a very shallow trough carved into it perpendicular to the course of the strings (see detail #5). Plucking in the opposite direction to tan and tiao are called mo () and gou () respectively. biwa, Japanese short-necked lute, distinguished by its graceful, pear-shaped body. 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. 36 1/2 7 7/8 5 in. The gogen-biwa (, lit. [21] The pipa underwent a number of changes over the centuries. It had close association with Buddhism and often appeared in mural and sculptural representations of musicians in Buddhist contexts. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Most prominent among these are Minoru Miki, Thring Brm, YANG Jing, Terry Riley, Donald Reid Womack, Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Tan Dun, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Bun-Ching Lam, and Carl Stone. During the Qing dynasty, apart from those of the various schools previously mentioned, there was Chen Zijing (), a student of Ju Shilin and known as a noted player during the late Qing dynasty. A player holds it horizontally, and mostly plays rhythmic arpeggios in orchestra or ensemble. Instead, biwa singers tend to sing with a flexible pitch without distinguishing soprano, alto, tenor, or bass roles. This minute design detail gives rise to sawari, the distinctive raspy tone of a vibrating string. 3 (Winter, 19771978). 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. 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. In the early 1950s, he founded the traditional instruments department at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. String-bending for example may be used to produce a glissando or portamento. Continent: Asia. The typical 5-stringed Satsuma-biwa classical tuning is: CGCG, from first string to fourth/fifth string, respectively. The strings are depressed not directly against the frets, but between them, and by controlling the amount of applied pressure the performer can achieve a range of pitches and pitch inflections. [9] When singing in a chorus, biwa singers often stagger their entry and often sing through non-synchronized, heterophony accompaniment. 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. It is an instrument in Japan, that is a two-stringed fiddle (violin). 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. Its classification is a type of an Aerophone. In the beginning of the Taish period (19121926), the satsuma-biwa was modified into the nishiki-biwa, which became popular among female players at the time. Performers on the instrument frequently pluck two notes simultaneously, producing a variety of intervals, especially when the singer is silent. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. Chikuzen was an historic northern province on Kyushu, the southern-most main island of Japan. A number of Western pipa players have experimented with amplified pipa. 5-string: biwa (gallery #2): One of these, the new chikuzen biwa tradition, became popular amongst many thousands of amateurs between c.1900 and 1920. At the beginning of the 13th century, Heike biwa players began telling of tales of the rise and fall of the Taira . Interest in the biwa was revived during the Edo period (16001868), when Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan and established the Tokugawa shogunate. [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. Generally speaking, biwa have four strings, though modern satsuma- and chikuzen-biwa may have five strings. to the present. 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. Dunhuang, Mogao Caves. The instrument itself also varies in size, depending on the player. 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. The instrument has seen a great decline . Though formerly popular, little was written about the performance and practice of the biwa from roughly the 16th century to the mid-19th century. [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. In the narrative traditions where the pipa is used as an accompaniment to narrative singing, there are the Suzhou tanci (), Sichuan qingyin (), and Northern quyi () genres. Waribachi: This is a downward sweeping of the four strings, dividing the motion into two groups of two notes. Thick strings clatter like splattering rain, In modern biwa, particularly in Satsuma-biwa, one sometimes strikes the soundboard sharply to get percussive effects. The instrument is played with a large wedge-shaped plectrum called a bachi. As a result, younger musicians turned to other instruments and interest in biwa music decreased. The biwa sounds as written, and it is tuned to an A-430Hz. Biwa traditions began with blind priests who traveled from village to village singing sutras. Techniques that produce vibrato, portamento, glissando, pizzicato, harmonics or artificial harmonics found in violin or guitar are also found in pipa. 89.4.2088. It was those blind monks who fell outside of governmental protection who, during the 17th century, creatively modified the biwa to introduce a shamisen flavor, such as making frets higher to play in-between notes. Kaeshibachi: The performance of arpeggio with an up-ward motion of the plectrum, and it is always soft. The interval between the pitches of the open string and first fret is a major second, while the interval between pitches on two adjacent frets is a minor second. Chikuzen Biwa. 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. In the present day, there are no direct means of studying the biwa in many biwa traditions. 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. Carlo Forlivesi's compositions Boethius () and Nuove Musiche per Biwa () were both written for performance on the satsuma-biwa designed by Tsuruta and Tanaka. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company. Credit Line: The Crosby Brown Collection . Chikuzen biwa music is narrative music much beholding to narrative shamisen music. The left hand techniques are important for the expressiveness of pipa music. The gagaku biwa (), a large and heavy biwa with four strings and four frets, is used exclusively for gagaku. 20002023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 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. to the present. de Ferranti, Hugh. The instrument itself resembles gaku-biwa but is slightly smaller, and is held horizontally. 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. 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. The biwa is a four stringed lute and it is approximately 106 cm long (42 inches). The biwa developed into five different types in its long history: Gaku, Heike, Ms, Satsuma, and Chikuzen. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Among ethnomusicologists, it is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments. Examples of popular modern works composed after the 1950s are "Dance of the Yi People" and "Heroic Little Sisters of the Grassland" (). 1969. They included Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, and Su Shi. The satsuma-biwa is traditionally made from Japanese mulberry, although other hard woods such as Japanese zelkova are sometimes used in its construction. are crucial techniques to create the biwas subtle in-between notes that are unique for fretted instruments. Though its origins are unclear, this thinner variant of the biwa was used in ceremonies and religious rites. [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. Like the heike-biwa, it is played held on its side, similar to a guitar, with the player sitting cross-legged. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. Biwa. NGDMI v.1: 234-237. In the 20th century, two of the most prominent pipa players were Sun Yude (; 19041981) and Li Tingsong (; 19061976). [31] Celebrated performers of the Tang dynasty included three generations of the Cao familyCao Bao (), Cao Shancai () and Cao Gang (),[59][60] whose performances were noted in literary works. 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. II, p. 30. 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). There are three small soundholes on the soundboard: two visible ones (hangetsu) partially covered with moon-shaped caps made of ivory and a hidden one (ingetsu) beneath the string holder. Another Chinese four-string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa. Clattering and murmuring, meshing jumbled sounds, 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. 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. 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. 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 four fret type is tuned to E, B, E and A, and the five fret type is tuned to B, e, f and f. The sanxian (Mandarin for 'three strings') is a type off fretless plucked Chinese lutes. 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. 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. With the abolition of Todo in the Meiji period, biwa players lost their patronage. Tataku: This is similar to hazusu, except that this time, two non-struck pitches follow the struck one. 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). Each group can include either two open strings or one open and one fingered string. The pipa reached a height of popularity during the Tang dynasty, and was a principal musical instrument in the imperial court. This instrument also disappeared in the Chinese court orchestras. The narrative biwa music adopts a relative tuning; the pitch is decided to match with the players range of voice. The plectrum also contributes to the texture of biwa music. 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. New York, 1903, vol. Few pieces for pipa survived from the early periods, some, however, are preserved in Japan as part of togaku (Tang music) tradition. In this case, the left hand fourth finger taps the string so that the un-attacked pitch or pitches can be somewhat heard. The body is narrower and smaller than the other types of biwa. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. [2][29] Wang Zhaojun in particular is frequently referenced with pipa in later literary works and lyrics, for example Ma Zhiyuan's play Autumn in the Palace of Han (), especially since the Song dynasty (although her story is often conflated with other women including Liu Xijun),[30][29] as well as in music pieces such as Zhaojun's Lament (, also the title of a poem), and in paintings where she is often depicted holding a pipa. [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). [20], Garfias, Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition 16, Garfias, Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition 18, Ferranti, Relations between Music and Text in "Higo Biwa", The "Nagashi" Pattern as a Text-MusicSystem 150, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Biwa&oldid=1097578427, This page was last edited on 11 July 2022, at 14:28. With the end of the wars, unsurprisingly, the biwa music became less popular, and the number of biwa musicians dropped significantly. The sanxian is made in several sizes. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. 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. Example 4 also shows the biwa's standard one-measure motive. 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. 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). Figure 6 shows a spectral analysis of the arpeggio read at the attack and one second later. [14], Biwa usage in Japan has declined greatly since the Heian period. 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. [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. [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 looks forward to receiving your comments. 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). [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. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 1. Also known as mouth organ. [27] The traditional 16-fret pipa became less common, although it is still used in some regional styles such as the pipa in the southern genre of nanguan/nanyin. The pipa, pp, or p'i-p'a (Chinese: ) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Further important collections were published in the 20th century. used to strike the hard soundboard sharply to create percussive effects, adding a more dynamic flavor to the music. Malm, William P. 1959. Because of this bending technique oshikan (), one can make two or three notes for each fret and also in-between notes. 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. [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 Museum's collection of musical instruments includes approximately 5,000 examples from six continents and the Pacific Islands, dating from about 300 B.C. 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 (). Rubbing the strings: The plectrum is used to rub an open string. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi (, The basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. The artist Yang Jing plays pipa with a variety of groups. It is a lute with a round, hollow soundboard, a short fretted neck, and usually four strings. These works present a radical departure from the compositional languages usually employed for such an instrument. In 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate collapsed, giving way to the Meiji period and the Meiji Restoration, during which the samurai class was abolished, and the Todo lost their patronage. [56], Texts from Tang dynasty mentioned many renowned pipa players such as He Huaizhi (), Lei Haiqing (), Li Guaner (), and Pei Xingnu (). On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. The biwa is a plucked lute chordophone of Japan. The Traditional Music of Japan. The 4 wedge-shaped frets on the neck became 6 during the 20th century. The number of frets is considerably fewer than other fretted instruments. [citation needed]. [14][15][16], The pear-shaped pipa is likely to have been introduced to China from Central Asia, Gandhara, and/or India.