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(Though the Biwa used in ensemble of us; Pro Musica Nipponia has five strings,
4th string and 5th string are tuned to the same tone and always played
together. So to speak, it is almost the same as four-strings one.)
[Tuning and the range of tone]
We often use the following tuning. Though we can chose other tunings, the
following one is very easy to play, and suitable for Biwa's mechanism. It's
impossible to change tuning in the middle of playing.
[Tuning]
The Biwa used in ensemble of us; Pro Musica Nipponia, has five frets.
We play a "whole note (not colored)" tone in above figure with open string , or
by pressing a string down between two frets. Biwa's 1st string is often played in
open string. Otherwise, we play a "black-colored note" tone in above figure by
more strongly pressing it down. It is difficult to play jumping from a "blackcolored note" tone to a "black-colored note" tone, because it takes a second to
prepare to press a string down strongly. We sometimes use multi-tones with
open strings, but we never use positions on two or much strings.
[Playing Techniques]
1.Sukui-----Picking a string up from the surface of body with a plectrum.
4.Arpeggio-----Sliding a plectrum from the top string (1st) to the bottom string
(5th).
6.Suri
(1)Scraping strings at right angle (vertically) with the bottom of plectrum.
If we scrape from bottom to top of strings, it sounds from the higher tone to
the lower tone.
8.Yuri Moving a finger on a string a little for vibrato after striking it with a
plectrum.
plectrum.