Shamisen
Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Titlelang
The Template:Nihongo, also known as Template:Nihongo or Template:Transliteration (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument Template:Transliteration. It is played with a plectrum called a bachi.
The Japanese pronunciation is usually Template:Transliteration but sometimes Template:Transliteration when used as a suffix, according to regular sound change (e.g. Template:Transliteration). In Western Japanese dialects and several Edo period sources, it is both written and pronounced as Template:Transliteration.
The construction of the Template:Transliteration varies in shape, depending on the genre in which it is used. The instrument used to accompany kabuki has a thin neck, facilitating the agile and virtuosic requirements of that genre. The one used to accompany puppet plays and folk songs has a longer and thicker neck instead, to match the more robust music of those genres.
Construction
The Template:Transliteration is a plucked stringed instrument.<ref name="Alves 2013">Template:Cite book</ref> Its construction follows a model similar to that of a guitar or a banjo, with a neck and strings stretched across a resonating body. The neck of the Template:Transliteration is fretless and slimmer than that of a guitar or banjo. The body, called the Template:Nihongo, resembles a drum, having a hollow body that is covered front and back with skin, in the manner of a banjo. The skin used depends on the genre of music and the skill of the player. Traditionally, skins were made using dog or cat skin, with cat skin favored for finer instruments;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp though use of animal skins was common throughout the 20th century, use of these skins gradually fell out of favor, starting around the mid 2000s, due to social stigma and the decline of workers skilled in preparing these particular skins.<ref name="Hueston">Template:Cite news</ref> Contemporary Template:Transliteration skins are often prepared with synthetic materials, such as plastic.<ref name="Miki 2008">Template:Cite book</ref>
The Template:Nihongo, or neck of the Template:Transliteration, is usually divided into three or four pieces that fit and lock together, with most Template:Transliteration made to be easily disassembled. The neck of the Template:Transliteration is a singular rod that crosses the drum-like body of the instrument, partially protruding at the other side of the body and acting as an anchor for the strings. The pegs used to wind the strings are long, thin and hexagonal in shape; though they were traditionally fashioned out of ivory, due to scarcity and trading regulations regarding and constricting the sale of ivory, many are now constructed from other materials, such as wood and plastic.
The three strings of the shamisen are made of either silk (traditionally) or nylon. They are stretched between the pegs at the head of the instrument, and a cloth tailpiece anchored at the end of the rod which protrudes on the other side of the body. The strings are stretched across the body, raised from it by means of a bridge, or Template:Nihongo, which rests directly on the taut skin. The lowest string is purposefully laid lower at the nut of the instrument in order to create a buzz, a characteristic timbre known as Template:Transliteration (somewhat reminiscent of the "buzzing" of a sitar, which is called Jivari). The upper side of the Template:Transliteration (when on the player's lap) is almost always protected by a cover known as a Template:Transliteration, and players often wear a little band of cloth on their left hand to facilitate sliding up and down the neck, known as a Template:Transliteration. The head of the instrument known as a Template:Transliteration may also be protected by a cover. The material of the strings will depend on the skill of the player. Traditionally, silk strings are used. However, silk breaks easily over a short time, so this is reserved for professional performances. Students often use nylon or 'tetron' strings, which last longer than silk, and are also less expensive.
Variations in construction and playing method
The construction of the Template:Transliteration varies in shape and size, depending on the genre in which it is used. The Template:Transliteration used will also be different according to genre, if it is used at all. Template:Transliteration are classified according to size and genre. There are three basic sizes: Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration. Examples of Template:Transliteration genres include Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration.
Template:Transliteration used for traditional genres of Japanese music, such as Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, and Template:Transliteration, adhere to very strict standards. Purists of these genres demand that the Template:Transliteration be made of the correct wood, the correct skin, and are played with the correct Template:Transliteration, with little room for variation. The Template:Transliteration, on the other hand, has lent itself to modern use, and is used in modern genres such as jazz and rock. As a more open instrument, variations of it exist for show. The tuning pegs, which are usually fashioned out of ivory, and Template:Transliteration which are fashioned from a combination of ivory and tortoise-shell for example, are sometimes made of acrylic material to give the Template:Transliteration a more modern, flashy look. Recently, avant-garde inventors have developed a Template:Transliteration with electric pickups to be used with amplifiers, like the electric guitar.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Template:Nihongo3, as its Japanese name implies, is the smallest kind of Template:Transliteration. The body is small and particularly square-shaped, with a particularly thin neck, which tapers away from the strings just as it approaches the body. Generally, the Template:Transliteration is used in Template:Transliteration, the shorter and thinner neck facilitating the agile and virtuosic requirements of kabuki. Template:Transliteration built especially for Template:Transliteration ensembles are often simply known as Template:Transliteration. The Template:Transliteration is also often used in Template:Transliteration, where it is plucked with the fingernails.
The Template:Nihongo3 is a size up from the Template:Transliteration. As its name implies, the neck is slightly thicker. As the neck approaches the body of the instrument, the distance between the strings and the fingerboard is maintained, unlike the Template:Transliteration, where it tapers off. The fingerboard ends abruptly, and the rest of the neck curves sharply into the body of the instrument. The pronounced curve that occurs just before the neck meets the body is called Template:Nihongo3. The result is an extended fingerboard that gives the Template:Transliteration a higher register than the Template:Transliteration. The Template:Transliteration is favored for Template:Transliteration-style playing, with a broader, more mellow timbre. It is also an "all-round" instrument that can be used across many genres.
The Template:Nihongo3 Template:Transliteration is used in the robust music of Template:Transliteration (the music of Template:Transliteration), Template:Transliteration, and Template:Transliteration. In these genres, a thicker neck facilitates the greater force used in playing the music of these styles. The Template:Transliteration of Template:Transliteration is quite a recent innovation, and is purposefully constructed in a much larger size than traditional style Template:Transliteration, and its neck is much longer and thicker than the traditional Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration.
The Template:Nihongo is a Template:Transliteration particularly fashioned for the performance of the song Template:Transliteration, a folk tune originating from Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The neck of the Template:Transliteration is about half the length of most Template:Transliteration, giving the instrument the high range needed to play Template:Transliteration. The use of more typical Template:Transliteration is possible, but they must be properly adjusted with a capo device to raise their pitch to make them suitable for use. Today the strings are made out of steel to make a better sound and the drum heads are made out of plastic to avoid breakage in a performance.
Variations in Template:Transliteration
The Template:Nihongo, the plectrum used to play the Template:Transliteration, also differ in size, shape, and material from genre to genre.
The Template:Transliteration used for Template:Transliteration can be made out of three possible materials: wood, plastic, or ivory. While many Template:Transliteration teachers generally do not approve of the use of plastic, if ivory is unattainable and wood is still out of price range, plastic is considered acceptable for use.
Template:Transliteration are made entirely out of plastic or ivory, plastic and tortoiseshell (Template:Transliteration), or ivory and tortoiseshell. Template:Transliteration are the easiest to identify as they are the longest, the widest, and also have a deep indentation where the tortoiseshell meets the handle. There are sometimes also Template:Transliteration that are made with a buffalo horn handle. The material, however, makes no difference in the sound.
The Template:Transliteration style uses the heaviest and thickest Template:Transliteration, though the Template:Transliteration is wider.
The Template:Transliteration used for Template:Transliteration is the smallest, and is almost always tipped with tortoiseshell.
Other structural variations
The Template:Nihongo, or bridge, can be fashioned out of aged bamboo, ivory, ox-bone (Template:Transliteration), rosewood, buffalo horn, [[Pterocarpus santalinus|Template:Transliteration wood]], any combination of the above, or plastic for the student level. Template:Transliteration come in many heights. The higher the Template:Transliteration, the louder the sound will be, and the harder it is to control a rapid Template:Transliteration. Higher Template:Transliteration are not considered suitable for beginners.
The Template:Transliteration used for Template:Transliteration use a height between 3.2 and 3.6. Template:Transliteration for Template:Transliteration are fashioned out of only three materials: ivory, bone, and plastic. Ivory is the most expensive and produces the most desirable sound and amplification, but due to its high price tag is normally only used in performances. Ox-bone or Template:Transliteration is the most popular Template:Transliteration material for practice and with students who are performing. Because of ivory's volume and vibration, it is normally used by a teacher or Template:Transliteration (lead Template:Transliteration), so that the other players can follow their tone and signals. Plastic Template:Transliteration are increasingly harder in the modern day, as the material is considered to produce an undesirable sound when compared to Template:Transliteration. Template:Transliteration is not much more expensive than plastic, and most teachers openly express their displeasure with plastic Template:Transliteration and require Template:Transliteration.
The Template:Transliteration used for Template:Transliteration vary between 2.6 and 2.8, though other heights can be specially ordered. Template:Transliteration for Template:Transliteration are made out of a few select materials, such as yellow or black water buffalo horn (Template:Transliteration), which are the standard for Template:Transliteration. Blackwater buffalo horn does not have a significant sound difference when cut in the Template:Transliteration style, and is far less popular. Yellow Template:Transliteration is the most widely used for Template:Transliteration-style Template:Transliteration, both in practice and performance. Plastic is available because of the higher price tag of Template:Transliteration. Many people believe that for Template:Transliteration, there is not a great sound difference between the two, but there is a high change in vibration. Plastic makes a deader sound, which is not the most favorable for Template:Transliteration. Template:Transliteration is used from time to time in practice, but never for Template:Transliteration performances.
Template:Transliteration used for both Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration are typically 2.6 in height, though sometimes 2.7 or 2.8. Template:Transliteration are very easily identifiable due to their unique structure and use of two different materials. Template:Transliteration are very thin in width, and are not very high. The base is usually made of either bamboo, smoked bamboo, or a wood of some kind, while the top half in which the strings pass through can be made of ivory, bone, or tortoiseshell. Because of the thickness of both the strings and neck of the Template:Transliteration, the Template:Transliteration bridge in general tends to be longer than the others. Both the Template:Transliteration (the highest Template:Transliteration made, fashioned out of black buffalo horn) and the Template:Transliteration (which resembles the Template:Transliteration exactly, save for its width) are sometimes confused with the Template:Transliteration.
Variations in playing
In most genres, the Template:Transliteration strings are plucked with a Template:Transliteration. The sound of a Template:Transliteration is similar in some respects to that of the American banjo, in that the drum-like Template:Transliteration, amplifies the sound of the strings. As in the clawhammer style of American banjo playing, the Template:Transliteration is often used to strike both string and skin, creating a highly percussive sound. When playing Template:Nihongo3 on the Template:Transliteration, and occasionally in other genres, the Template:Transliteration is plucked with the fingers. Sometimes, the Template:Transliteration is bowed with a violin bow, similar to the Template:Transliteration, a similar instrument.
Tuning
The Template:Transliteration is played and tuned according to genre, with the nomenclature of the nodes in an octave also varying according to genre. A number of Template:Transliteration styles exist across Japan, and tunings, tonality and notation vary to some degree. Three of the most commonly recognized tunings across all genres are Template:Nihongo, Template:Nihongo, and Template:Nihongo.
Template:Transliteration means "home tuning" or "base tuning", and is called so because other tunings are considered to derive from it. For Template:Transliteration, the first and third strings are tuned an octave apart, while the middle string is tuned to the equivalent of a fourth, in Western terms, from the 1st string. The most commonly used tuning is C-F-C. An example of a song that uses this tuning is Template:Transliteration.
Template:Transliteration means "raised two" or "raised second", referring to the fact that the pitch of the second string is raised (from Template:Transliteration), increasing the interval of the first and second strings to a fifth (conversely decreasing the interval between the second and third strings to a fourth). The most commonly used tuning is C-G-C. An example of a song that uses this tuning is Template:Transliteration.
Template:Transliteration means "lowered three" or "lowered third", referring to tuning the Template:Transliteration to Template:Transliteration and lowering the 3rd string (the string with the highest pitch) down a whole step, so that the instrument is tuned in fourths, e.g. C-F-B♭. An example of a song in this tuning is Template:Transliteration.
Instead of having a set tuning, such as on a guitar (i.e. E, A, D, G, B, E) or a violin (i.e. G, D, A, E), the Template:Transliteration is tuned according to the register of the singer, or simply to the liking of the player. The Template:Transliteration player can tune the Template:Transliteration to whatever register desired, so long as the above conventions are followed.
Musical notation
Music for the Template:Transliteration can be written in Western music notation, but is more often written in tablature notation. While tunings might be similar across genres, the way in which the nodes on the neck of the instrument (called Template:Nihongo in Japanese) are named is not. As a consequence, tablature for each genre is written differently. For example, in the Template:Transliteration style, nodes on the Template:Transliteration are labeled from 0, the open string called "0". However, in the Template:Transliteration style, nodes are subdivided and named by octave, with "1" being the open string and first note in an octave, starting over at the next octave. The nodes are also labeled differently for Template:Transliteration-style Template:Transliteration. To add to the confusion, sometimes nodes can be "sharped", and since the names of nodes and their positions are different for each genre, these will also vary. Consequently, students of one genre of Template:Transliteration will find it difficult to read tablature from other genres of Template:Transliteration, unless they are specially trained to read these kinds of tablatures.
Tablature can be written in traditional Japanese vertical right-to-left notation, or it can be written in Western style horizontal left-to-right notation, which resembles modern guitar tablature. In traditional vertical notation, Chinese characters and older symbols for dynamics are used, however notation from Western style music notation, such as Italian names for dynamics, time signature and the fermata have been imported. What tuning a work calls for is usually indicated on the tablature.
History and genres
The Japanese Template:Transliteration originated from the Chinese Template:Transliteration (Template:Zh).<ref name="leiter">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="koda">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="malm">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="pick">Template:Cite book</ref> The Template:Transliteration was introduced through the Ryūkyū Kingdom (Okinawa) in the 16th century, where it developed into the Okinawan Template:Nihongo, from which the Template:Transliteration ultimately derives.<ref name="leiter"/><ref name="koda"/><ref name="malm"/><ref name="pick"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is believed that the ancestor of the Template:Transliteration was introduced in the 16th century through the port city of Sakai, near Osaka.<ref name="malm"/>
The Template:Transliteration can be played solo or with other Template:Transliteration, in ensembles with other Japanese instruments, with singing such as Template:Transliteration, or as an accompaniment to drama, notably kabuki and Template:Transliteration. Both men and women traditionally played the Template:Transliteration.
The most famous and perhaps most demanding of the narrative styles is Template:Transliteration, named after Takemoto Gidayū (1651–1714), who was heavily involved in the Template:Transliteration puppet-theater tradition in Osaka. The Template:Transliteration and its plectrum are the largest of the Template:Transliteration family, and the singer-narrator is required to speak the roles of the play, as well as to sing all the commentaries on the action. The singer-narrator role is often so vocally taxing that the performers are changed halfway through a scene. There is little notated in the books (Template:Transliteration) of the tradition except the words and the names of certain appropriate generic Template:Transliteration responses. The Template:Transliteration player must know the entire work perfectly in order to respond effectively to the interpretations of the text by the singer-narrator. From the 19th century, female performers known as Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration also carried on this concert tradition.
In the early part of the 20th century, blind musicians, including Shirakawa Gunpachirō (1909–1962), Takahashi Chikuzan (1910–1998), and sighted players such as Kida Rinshōei (1911–1979), evolved a new style of playing, based on traditional folk songs (Template:Transliteration) but involving much improvisation and flashy fingerwork. This style – now known as Template:Transliteration, after the home region of this style in the north of Honshū – continues to be relatively popular in Japan. The virtuosic Template:Transliteration style is sometimes compared to bluegrass banjo.
Template:Nihongo is a style of Template:Transliteration historically developed by and mostly performed by geisha and Template:Transliteration. Its name literally means "little song", which contrasts with the musical genre of Template:Transliteration found in Template:Transliteration and kabuki; though both Template:Transliteration and geisha training to play the Template:Transliteration will also learn Template:Transliteration and will occasionally perform Template:Transliteration at banquets, the vast majority of musical performances seen at the parties and events they attend are Template:Transliteration.
Template:Nihongo3 is a more classical style of Template:Transliteration music.
Template:Transliteration in non-traditional genres
- Takeshi Terauchi & Bunnys utilized Template:Transliteration played by Michiya Mihashi in combo with their instrumental rock group on their single Template:Transliteration<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with "Dark Eyes".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Japanese rock musician Miyavi has also played the Template:Transliteration on various occasions, incorporating its use in albums and during concerts (e.g. during the debut live of superband S.K.I.N concert at the 2007 Anime Expo convention at Long Beach, California on June 29, 2007).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- American Template:Transliteration player and guitarist Kevin Kmetz leads a rock band called God of Shamisen, which is based in Santa Cruz, California, and also plays the instrument with the band Estradasphere.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Japanese traditional and jazz musician Hiromitsu Agatsuma incorporates a diverse mix of genres into his music. He arranged several jazz standards and other famous western songs for the shamisen on his album Agatsuma Plays Standards in 2008. His previous recordings, such as Beyond from 2004, displayed traditional Japanese styles mixed with funk, techno and rock.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="straits">
Template:Cite news</ref>
- Noriko Tadano is a Template:Transliteration player born and raised in Japan, who now resides in Australia. She has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians from genres such as blues, jazz, folk, experimental and electronic music. Tadano has performed in collaborations at a number of world festivals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Tadano performed in the blues duo 'George & Noriko' on season 6 of Australia's Got Talent, making it to the finals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Wagakki Band is a Japanese folk-rock fusion band that features various traditional Japanese instruments including the shamisen, played by Beni Ninagawa.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Japanese metal group Ryujin has used the shamisen in some of their songs.
See also
- Template:Transliteration
- Template:Transliteration
- Template:Transliteration
- Template:Transliteration
- Template:Transliteration
- Template:Transliteration
- Template:Transliteration
References
Bibliography
External links
- Book on Shamisen
- About Shamisen
- Jishin Shamidaiko (Brazil)
- God of Shamisen is a progressive/metal band that has implemented the acoustic and amplified sound of the tsugaru-jamisen
- Nitaboh Official Site (feature movie about the disputed origin of the Tsuragu-jamisen style)
- Kouta Template:Webarchive
- Nagauta
- Hauta – Utazawa – Kouta
- Template:Usurped – S.K.I.N. debut concert live report at JAME
Audio
Template:Traditional Japanese musical instruments Template:Lute Template:Authority control