The fingers normally strike the strings of pipa in the opposite direction to the way a guitar is usually played, i.e. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. greatest width of resonator In the late 20th century, largely through the efforts of Wu Man (in USA), Min Xiao-Fen (in USA), composer Yang Jing (in Europe) and other performers, Chinese and Western contemporary composers began to create new works for the pipa (both solo and in combination with chamber ensembles and orchestra). Fine strings murmur like whispered words, In Japan the loquat is known as biwa (, ) and has been grown for over . Life in post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods. [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. This instrument was also used many times as an accompanying instrument in larger ensembles. 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 has a shallow, rounded back and silk strings (usually four or five) attached to slender lateral pegs. [1] Influenced by the recitations of blind priests, the music of the heike biwa reflects the mood of the text. It is an instrument in China, its mouth-blown free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes. The open strings are shown in the first measures, and the pitches assigned the left-hand fingered notes in the following four measures. 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 artist Yang Jing plays pipa with a variety of groups. [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 body is often made of stretched snakeskin, and come in varying sizes. In the 1920s and 1930s, the number of frets was increased to 24, based on the 12 tone equal temperament scale, with all the intervals being semitones. 38.5 in. Cheng Yu researched the old Tang dynasty five-stringed pipa in the early 2000s and developed a modern version of it for contemporary use. In biwa, tuning is not fixed. 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. Songs are not always metered, although more modern collaborations are metered. Kishibe, Shigeo. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The biwa originated in the Middle East and was delivered to Japan via the Silk Road in the 8th century. Another often-used technique is rubbing the long side of the bachi on the strings to get wind-like sounds. 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). 3 (Winter, 19771978). Further important collections were published in the 20th century. The nishiki-biwa (), a modern biwa with five strings and five frets, was popularised by the 20th-century biwa player and composer Suit Kinj (, 19111973). [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]. This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. 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 name "pipa" is made up of two Chinese syllables, "p" () and "p" (). 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. [6] The strings were played using a large plectrum in the Tang dynasty, a technique still used now for the Japanese biwa. 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. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. From these styles also emerged the two principal survivors of the biwa tradition: satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa. The biwa may be used to accompany various types of narrative, as part of a gagaku (court music) ensemble, or as a solo instrument. Though its origins are unclear, this thinner variant of the biwa was used in ceremonies and religious rites. 36 1/2 7 7/8 5 in. 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. This music was cherished and protected by the authorities and particularly flourished in the 14th-15th centuries. 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. The flowers fluttered, and from Heaven the phoenix trilled, Like with the shamisen, a distinctive raspy tone quality called sawari is associated with the chikuzen biwa. 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 strings are tuned in fourths, and the melody is played almost exclusively on the highest pitched string. , one can make two or three notes for each fret and also in-between notes. 1969. 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. The plectrum also contributes to the texture of biwa music. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi () that requires a full-handed grip. In the 20th century, two of the most prominent pipa players were Sun Yude (; 19041981) and Li Tingsong (; 19061976). Typically, the lowest notes of the arpeggios are open strings, while the highest ones can either be fingered pitches or an open string. 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 (). 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. Malm, William P. 1959. Another Chinese four-string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa. Table of Contents 1. 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. There are some types of traditional string instrument. Figure 5 shows examples of harmonic structures of, 2, 3, and 4 pitches in Ichikotsu-ch. [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. Through the next several centuries, players of both traditions intersected frequently and developed new music styles and new instruments. After having arrived in Japan via the Silk Road for purely instrumental music, the biwa evolved over time into a narrative musical instrument. As in shamisen music, vocal and instrumental parts are sometimes combined and played at the same time. 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. Waribachi: This is a downward sweeping of the four strings, dividing the motion into two groups of two notes. 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. 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. The main part of the music is vocal and the biwa part mostly plays short interludes. The biwa's twangy plucks were most commonly accompanied by a single voice during court performances, but its popularity spread the instrument made its way into religious sermons and oral history . 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. 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. Biwa 6. The biwa, originally an instrument of high society, gradually spread among wandering blind monks who used this instrument to tell stories. 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. Reflecting its history as an instrument for samurai, its music is often described as dynamic and heroic. 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. [2] Pear-shaped lutes have been depicted in Kusana sculptures from the 1st century AD. As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. [41] Three Ming dynasty pieces were discovered in the High River Flows East (, Gaohe Jiangdong) collection dating from 1528 which are very similar to those performed today, such as "The Moon on High" (, Yue-er Gao). 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]. The 4 wedge-shaped frets on the neck became 6 during the 20th century. They included Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, and Su Shi. Its plectrum is the same as that used for the satsuma-biwa. 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. 36 1/2 7 7/8 5 in. 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. 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). biwa, Japanese short-necked lute, distinguished by its graceful, pear-shaped body. [43] The collection was edited by Hua Qiuping (, 17841859) and published in 1819 in three volumes. [39] The plectrum has now been largely replaced by the fingernails of the right hand. 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. The transmission parameter (product of propagation speed and Q value of the longitudinal wave along the wood grain . Male players typically play biwa that are slightly wider and/or longer than those used by women or children. The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889, Accession Number: The heike-biwa (), a biwa with four strings and five frets, is used to play The Tale of the Heike. Today, the instrument is played in both narrative and instrumental formats, in the traditional music scene as well as in various popular media. The sole stroke motion used in this example is kakubachi, but it also includes examples of hazusu and tataku. Multiple strings are often played in one pluck like an arpeggio. We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. Its pick or bachi () is the largest among all types of biwa it sometimes used to strike the hard soundboard sharply to create percussive effects, adding a more dynamic flavor to the music.