Biwa performers also vary the volume of their voice between barely audible to very loud. Tokyo:Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai. 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. ________. [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. Taiko Related Articles on Traditional Japanese Instruments 1. These works present a radical departure from the compositional languages usually employed for such an instrument. Cheng Yu researched the old Tang dynasty five-stringed pipa in the early 2000s and developed a modern version of it for contemporary use. The fourth and fifth strings, if 5-stringed, are tuned to the same note. 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. The biwa became known as an instrument commonly played at the Japanese Imperial court, where biwa players, known as biwa hshi, found employment and patronage. Although shaped like a Western lute, the Biwa's back is flat and it has a shallower body. 89.4.2088. 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. On the plectrum, figure of a golden phoenix with flowers in its beak, 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. [citation needed]. Though formerly popular, little was written about the performance and practice of the biwa from roughly the 16th century to the mid-19th century. Sanshin 4. Another Chinese four-string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa. It is assumed that the performance traditions died out by the 10th or 11th century (William P. Malm). As well as being one of the leading pipa players of his generation, Li held many academic positions and also carried out research on pipa scales and temperament. 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. ) Like with the shamisen, a distinctive raspy tone quality called sawari is associated with the chikuzen biwa. 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. In 1956, after working for some years in Shanghai, Lin accepted a position at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. 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). Recently, this instrument, much like the konghou harp, has been revived for historically informed performances and historical reconstructions. 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. This overlap resulted in a rapid evolution of the biwa and its usage and made it one of the most popular instruments in Japan. Performers on the instrument frequently pluck two notes simultaneously, producing a variety of intervals, especially when the singer is silent. It is however possible to produce the tremolo with just one or more fingers. The first and second strings are generally tuned to the same note, with the 4th (or doubled 4th) string is tuned one octave higher. 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 (). Heike-biwa is an accompaniment instrument specifically used to chant the Tale of Heike stories () in the traditional way dating from the medieval era. A new way to classify the acoustical properties of woods and clearly separate these two groups is proposed in this paper. In this case, the left hand fourth finger taps the string so that the un-attacked pitch or pitches can be somewhat heard. [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. Shamisen. 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. Bodmin, Cornwall, Great Britain: MPG Books, pp. There are some confusions and disagreements about the origin of pipa. Its classification is a type of an Aerophone. Harmonics: The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th harmonics of each open string can be performed by attacking the string with either the plectrum or the finger, and in both cases, the overall sonority is quite soft. 1. Most contemporary performers use the five string version. 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. 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 body is narrower and smaller than the other types of biwa. Pipa is also an important component of regional chamber ensemble traditions such as Jiangnan sizhu, Teochew string music and Nanguan ensemble. [39] The plectrum has now been largely replaced by the fingernails of the right hand. 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. 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. As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. 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. the finger and thumb separate in one action), it is called fen (), the reverse motion is called zhi (). This causes a sustained, buzzing noise called, which adds a unique flavor to the biwa sound. length The biwa is a plucked lute chordophone of Japan. 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. This seeming shortcoming is compensated for by the frets height and the low tension of the strings. This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. Hazusu: This is a sequence of two pitches, where the first one is attacked, and leades to a second one which is not attacked. Heike-biwa is an accompaniment instrument specifically used to chant the Tale of Heike stories () in the traditional way dating from the medieval era. [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. Rubbing the strings: The plectrum is used to rub an open string. 1984. As the biwa does not play in tempered tuning, pitches are approximated to the nearest note. In performance it was held sideways and played with a plectrum. And thanks to the low tension of the strings, it is easy to bend the strings by adding pressure. There are seven main types of Biwa, each distinguished by the number of strings, sound produced, and use. [74], Modern pipa player, with the pipa held in near upright position. The instrument itself resembles gaku-biwa but is slightly smaller, and is held horizontally. 1969. 13 in. It is similar in shape to the chikuzen-biwa, but with a much more narrow body. We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. The biwa's Chinese predecessor was the pipa (), which arrived in Japan in two forms;[further explanation needed] following its introduction to Japan, varieties of the biwa quadrupled. 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. de Ferranti, Hugh. [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. 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 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. [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. Today, the instrument is played in both narrative and instrumental formats, in the traditional music scene as well as in various popular media. Typically 60 centimetres (24 in) to 106 centimetres (42 in) in length, the instrument is . Description. Continent: Asia. 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. Blind priests would play them in order to tell stories and tales of ancient war. With turned wrist, he gathered the strings to pluck and strum faster. 5, period of the Northern Wei (384-441 A.D.), A Song dynasty fresco depicts a female pipa player among a group of musicians, Group of female musician from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907-960 AD), A mural from a Yuan dynasty tomb found in Hengshan County, Shaanxi, showing a man playing the pipa, A group of Qing dynasty musicians from Fuzhou. 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). After having arrived in Japan via the Silk Road for purely instrumental music, the biwa evolved over time into a narrative musical instrument. The gogen-biwa (, lit. 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. The biwa has a shallow, rounded back and silk strings (usually four or five) attached to slender lateral pegs. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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. Further, the frets and the nut are wide, which provides a surface, not a point, for a string to touch. Shakuhachi One of the most popular traditional Japanese wind instruments is the shakuhachi. During the Qing dynasty, scores for pipa were collected in Thirteen Pieces for Strings. Its plectrum varies in both size and materials. 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. [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. During the war time in early 20th century, biwa music was easily adapted to the nationalism of Imperial Japan, and many songs that emphasized the virtue of loyalty and sacrifice for the country were created and widely played. In Japan the loquat is known as biwa (, ) and has been grown for over . greatest width of resonator There are more than seven types of biwa, characterised by number of strings, sounds it could produce, the type of plectrum, and their use. Formation: Japanese. greatest depth of resonator 1. The plectrum is usually made from rosewood with boxwood or ivory tips for plucking the strings. It is a lute with a round, hollow soundboard, a short fretted neck, and usually four strings. Ieyasu favored biwa music and became a major patron, helping to strengthen biwa guilds (called Todo) by financing them and allowing them special privileges. 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. By the middle of the Meiji period, improvements had been made to the instruments and easily understandable songs were composed in quantity. The heike-biwa, smaller than the ms-biwa, was used for similar purposes. Corrections? The peg box is angled about 90 degrees from the neck, and the back of the body is flat, unlike the western lute. 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 four fret type is tuned to E, B, E and A, and the five fret type is tuned to B, e, f and f. 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 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"). It had a pear-shaped wooden body with two crescent-shaped sound holes, a curved neck, four strings, and four frets. The strings are made of wound silk. 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 instrument is played with a large wedge-shaped plectrum called a bachi. [1][2] Modern researchers such as Laurence Picken, Shigeo Kishibe, and John Myers suggested a non-Chinese origin. Hitting the body of the instrument: The plectrum is used to hit the black protective part on the front of the instrument. The short neck of the Tang pipa also became more elongated. A distinctive sound of pipa is the tremolo produced by the lunzhi () technique which involves all the fingers and thumb of the right hand. [51] The music collections from the 19th century also used the gongche notation which provides only a skeletal melody and approximate rhythms sometimes with the occasional playing instructions given (such as tremolo or string-bending), and how this basic framework can become fully fleshed out during a performance may only be learnt by the students from the master. General tones and pitches can fluctuate up or down entire steps or microtones. It was those blind monks who fell outside of governmental protection who, during the 17. century, creatively modified the biwa to introduce a shamisen flavor, such as making frets higher to play in-between notes. [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. Japanese and foreign musicians alike have begun embracing traditional Japanese instruments, particularly the biwa, in their compositions. The exception for these methods is for when hazusu or tataku are performed on the 4th string. Figure 4 introduces the biwas six traditional tunings. [24], In the subsequent periods, the number of frets gradually increased,[26] from around 10 to 14 or 16 during the Qing dynasty, then to 19, 24, 29, and 30 in the 20th century. Malm, William P. 1959. [1] If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments. 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. Pei Luoer was known for pioneering finger-playing techniques,[25] while Sujiva was noted for the "Seven modes and seven tones", a musical modal theory from India. Samurai ethics and battles were selected as the main themes for this style, called Satsuma-biwa (), and more dynamic techniques were developed. This seeming shortcoming is compensated for by the frets height and the low tension of the strings. 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. Painted panel of the sarcophagus of Y Hung, depicts one of the Persian or Sogdian figures playing pipa. The texture of biwa singing is often described as "sparse". 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). Shamisen players and other musicians found it financially beneficial to switch to the biwa, bringing new styles of biwa music with them. 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. Typically, the three-note rhythm is either short-short-long or long-short-short. 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. [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]. , one can make two or three notes for each fret and also in-between notes. 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. She lives in San Diego, California and works extensively with Chinese, cross-cultural, new music, and jazz groups. 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. 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. All rights reserved. The basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. [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. 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 biwa is related to the Chinese pipa, an instrument that was introduced to Japan in the late 7th century. The 4-string chikuzen biwa (gallery #1) is constructed in several parts and needs to be assembled and strung before being played. Shamisen 5. to the present. 4. The biwa developed into five different types in its long history: Gaku, Heike, Ms, Satsuma, and Chikuzen. 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. 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]. Idiophones African Thumb Pianos Biwa 6. Generally speaking, biwa have four strings, though modern satsuma- and chikuzen-biwa may have five strings. The biwa player with whom we worked, NAKAMURA Kahoru, improvised ten different versions of this rhythm. 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 biwa may be used to accompany various types of narrative, as part of a gagaku (court music) ensemble, or as a solo instrument. Ueda Junko and Tanaka Yukio, two of Tsuruta's students, continue the tradition of the modern satsuma-biwa. 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]. Carlo Forlivesi's compositions Boethius () and Nuove Musiche per Biwa () were both written for performance on the satsuma-biwa designed by Tsuruta and Tanaka. Heike Biwa (), Medium: February 20, 2008. 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. However, another variant of the biwa known as the ms-biwa or the kjin-biwa also found its way to Japan, first appearing in the Kyushu region. Modern biwa used for contemporary compositions often have five or more frets, and some have a doubled fourth string. The strings are numbered from the lowest (first string) to the highest (fourth string). As a result, younger musicians turned to other instruments and interest in biwa music decreased. Gao Hong graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music and was the first to do a joint tour with Lin Shicheng in North America. 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. At the beginning of the 13th century, Heike biwa players began telling of tales of the rise and fall of the Taira . It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. In Satsuma-biwa classical pieces, the thickest string (the first) is in principle. 2.2 in. to the present. One of the biwa's most famous uses is for reciting The Tale of the Heike, a war chronicle from the Kamakura period (11851333). 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). We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Shakuhachi 2. Koto 3. Northern Wei dynasty (386534 AD). Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API. [3][4][5], The earliest mention of pipa in Chinese texts appeared late in the Han dynasty around the 2nd century AD. The most eminent 20th century satsuma-biwa performer was Tsuruta Kinshi, who developed her own version of the instrument, which she called the tsuruta-biwa. Members of these schools are sighted and include both females and males. [61][33], During the Song dynasty, players mentioned in literary texts include Du Bin (). [16], While many styles of biwa flourished in the early 1900s (such as kindai-biwa between 1900 and the 1930s), the cycle of tutelage was broken yet again by the war. 5. Yo-sen has 2 tones regarded as auxiliary tones. The peg box is angled about 90 degrees from the neck, and the back of the body is flat, unlike the western lute. Biwa hshi performances overlapped with performances by other biwa players many years before heikyoku (, The Tale of the Heike),[further explanation needed] and continues to this day. [69] The instrument is also played by musician Min Xiaofen in "I See Who You Are", a song from Bjrk's album Volta. [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]. [54][55] (The heptatonic scale was used for a time afterwards in the imperial court due to Sujiva's influence until it was later abandoned). 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 (Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. 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. Although no longer as popular as it once was, several chikuzen biwa schools have survived to the present day in Japan and to a lesser extent in Japanese communities abroad (such as in Hawaii). [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. The Kyushu biwa traditions, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, edited by Alison McQueen Tokita and David W. Hughes. The main part of the music is vocal and the biwa part mostly plays short interludes. The horizontal playing position became the vertical (or near-vertical) position by the Qing dynasty, although in some regional genres such as nanguan the pipa is still held guitar fashion. Sheng. A player holds it horizontally, and mostly plays rhythmic arpeggios in orchestra or ensemble. By the Ming dynasty, fingers replaced plectrum as the popular technique for playing pipa, although finger-playing techniques existed as early as Tang. [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 body is narrower and smaller than the other types of biwa. 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). 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 2000. 36 1/2 7 7/8 5 in. The biwa developed into five different types in its long history: . 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. 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. 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. [17][14] Starting about the 10th century, players began to hold the instrument "more upright", as the fingernail style became more important.