SHAMISEN: Japanese musical instrument
https://worldhitz4u.blogspot.com/2014/03/shamisen-japanese-musical-instrument.html
The shamisen is a three-stringed musical instrument from
Japan that is played with the use of a plectrum called bachi.
The shamisen is a plucked stringed musical instrument. The
construction of this musical instrument is analogous to the construction of a
guitar or a banjo, having a neck and string spread across the resonating body
of the instrument. The neck of the musical instrument is fretless and slimmer
than the neck of a guitar or banjo. The body of the instrument, known as dō, resembles a drum, with a hollow
body that is stretched front and back with the use of skin, in the same way as
the banjo. The skin used on the musical instrument depends of the genre of
music and the experience of the player. Student version of the musical
instrument use the skin of a dog and sometimes plastic can be used, as they are
cheaper to replace and also durable. The professional versions of the musical
instrument are normally taut in the skin of a cat, as it is more expensive and
delicate. It is believed that the best sound of the musical instrument can come
from the skin of a cat.
The neck of the instrument that is called sao is often divided
into 3 or 4 pieces that fit and lock together. The neck of the musical
instrument is a singular rod that crosses the body of the instrument, somewhat
bulging at the side of the instrument’s body and there acting as an anchor for
the instrument’s strings. The pegs that are used to wind the strings of the
musical instrument are long, hexagonal in shape and thin. These pegs were
traditionally carved out of ivory, but as the ivory becomes scarce, the pegs
have been fabricated out of other materials, like wood and plastic.
The three strings of the shamisen are traditionally
manufactured of silk or nylon, recently. They are spread between the pegs
located at the head of the shamisen, and a cloth tailpiece fastened at the end
of the rod that extends beyond on the side of the instrument’s body. The
strings of the shamisen are spread across the dō, outstretched from it by a means of a bridge or koma that
rests directly on the stretched skin. The lowest string of the instrument is
intentionally laid lower at the nut of the musical instrument, so that it
buzzes and manufactures a characteristic tone quality called sawari. The upper
side of the dō is always guided by a
cover called dō kake, and players of the musical instrument wear a little band
of cloth on the left hand to expedite sliding down the neck called yubikake.
The head of the shamisen called tenjin may also be protected by a cover. The
material that will be used in the production of the string will depend on the
skill of the player.
The construction of the musical
instrument differs in size and shape, depending on the genre in which the
musical instrument is used. The bachi that is used on the musical instrument
will also be different depending on the genre, if it is used at all. This
musical instrument is classified according to their sizes and shapes. There are
three main sizes of the musical instrument; hosozao, chuzao and futozao.
The hosozao literally means thin neck. This is the smallest
version of the shamisen. The body of the musical instrument small and
specifically square-shaped, with a specific thin neck that tapers away from the
strings of the instrument just as it approaches the shamisen body. This version
of the musical instrument is used in nagauta, the shorter and thinner neck of
this version simplifies the swift and virtuosic requirement of Kabuki.
The chuzao literally means middle neck. This version of the
musical instrument is a size up from the hosozao. As the name of the instrument
implies, the neck of the instrument is somewhat thicker. As the neck of the
instrument approaches the body of the shamisen, the distance between the
strings of the instrument and the fingerboard is sustained, unlike the hosozao,
where it spills off. The fingerboard ends snappishly, and the rest of the
instrument’s neck curves sharply into the body of the musical instrument. The
pronounced curve that takes place before the neck of the instrument meet the
body of the instrument is known as hatomune. The outcome is the extended
fingerboard that provides the instrument with a higher register than the
hosozao.
Finally, futozao literally means fat neck. This version of
the musical instrument is used in the robust music of Gidayubushi, Joruri
Min’yo and Tsugaru-jamisen. In these
categories, a thicker neck accelerates the greater force that is used in
performing the music of these patterns.
The bachi that is used in the playing of the musical
instrument varies in size and shape and material from genre to genre. The
versions of the bachi that is used in the nagauta shamisen are manufactured out
of three probable materials, wood, plastic or ivory. The version of the
plectrum that is used for tsugaru shamisen is the smallest. It is almost
normally tipped with the shell of tortoise.
In most genres of the shamisen, the strings of the
instruments are plucked with the use of a bachi. The sound of the instrument is
analogous in some compliments to that of the American banjo, in that the drum
such as dō intensifies the sound of
the instrument’s strings. As in the clahammer pattern of the American banjo,
the bachi is used in striking both the skin and the string of the instrument,
producing a highly percussive sound.
The musical instruments are tuned
according to their genre. The classification of the nodes in an octave also
differs according to the genre. Indeed, there are myrid patterns of the musical
instrument across Japan, and tuning, notation and tonality differ to some
extent. Three most generally known tunings across all the genres are the
honchoshi, the ni agari and the san sagari.
The honchoshi means ‘home tuning’ and it is called this
because other tunings of the instrument are said to be derivatives from this
pattern of tuning. For this style, the first and the third strings of the
musical instrument are tuned an octave apart, while the middle string of the
instrument is tuned to the equivalent of a 4th. Example is D, G, D.
The ni agari means ‘raised two’, and this refers to the fact
that the pitch of the 2nd string of the instrument is raised,
maximizing the interval of the 1st and 2nd strings of the
instrument to a 5th. An example is D, A, D.
The san sagari means ‘lowered three’, this refers to the
tuning of the instrument to hochoshi and lowering the third string of the
instrument down an entire step, so that the instrument can be tuned to 4ths.
Example of this is, D, G, C.
The Japanese shamisen came from the Chinese musical instrument
called sanxian. The sanxian was introduced via the Ryūkyū Kingdom in the 16th century,
where the instrument developed into Okinawan musical instrument called sanshin
from which the name of the instrument is taken. It is believed that the
ancestor of this musical instrument was presented in the 16th
century at port Sakai near Osaka.
The musical instrument can be performed solo or with other
versions of the shamisen, in ensembles with other Japanese musical instrument,
with singing like nagauta, or as an accompanying musical instrument to drama.
Traditionally, both man and women played the musical instrument.
In the early section of the 20th century, bling
musicians like Shirakawa
Gunpachirō
(1909–1962), Takahashi Chikuzan (1910–1998) and sighted musicians
like Kida
Rinshōei (1911–1979),
created a new pattern of playing the musical instrument, based on traditional
folk song, though consisting of much improvisation and flashy finger work. This
pattern called Tsugaru-jamisen today, after the home region of this pattern in
the north of Honshu continued to be famous in Japan.
Kuoto is the pattern of song learned by maiko and geisha. The
name of the song means ‘small or short song’, literally, which differentiates
with the music genre seen in Kabuki and Bunraku, also called nagauta.