Part 9

We learn from Mr. J.A. Van Aalst's comprehensive treatise on Chinese Music, published, it may at first sight appear somewhat oddly, by the Imperial Maritime Customs (Shanghai, 1884), that the Hu-ch'in, the left-hand figure in the Plate, is one of the most popular musical instruments in Peking. The strings, four in number, are of silk, and are tuned in pairs a fifth apart. This instrument is in fact a double-strung Erh-hsien or Urh-hsien (Van Aalst and Dennys; Ur-heen, Engel), and has the same peculiar arrangement by which the bow is fixed between the strings for playing. It is of cane and horsehair, and the rosin for it is stuck upon the body, a hollow cylinder of bamboo, wood, or copper, through which the long neck of the instrument is thrust. The upper end of the body is covered with snakeskin, while the lower is left open. The Erh-hsien, which has a similar bamboo body but two strings only, is more generally popular than the Hu-ch'in, and is met with all over China. The Ti-ch'in, according to Dennys the favourite instrument with blind men, is also similarly bowed, and has half a cocoa-nut shell for the body, covered by a thin board. These bowed instruments, it is believed, found their way into China with the Buddhist religion.

The name for the next instrument, the reed mouth-organ, Shêng, sounds like "shung," rhyming with "sung." From this ancient instrument have come the modern popular developments of the "free-reed" organ, first applied about 1780, at the instance of Professor Kratzenstein, to organ reed-stops by a Copenhagen organ-builder named Kirsnick, who had settled at St. Petersburg, an invention soon afterwards carried to Germany by the celebrated Abbé Vogler. The French Harmonium and American Organ, the concertinas and accordion, are well-known examples of the "free-reed" principle, which differs from the Church organ beating-reed inasmuch as the reed or vibrator of metal does not overlap any part of its frame. The Shêng is a gourd with its top cut off and a flat cover cemented upon it. Twenty-one bamboo pipes are inserted round the cover, but four, being intended for convenience in holding the instrument, do not sound. Those intended to sound are provided with small brass reeds. By a peculiar arrangement, unique in reed instruments, the wind, attacking all the reeds simultaneously, at once escapes by ventages in the pipes, until stopped by the fingers for the pipes that are to sound. The lengths of the pipes are merely ornamental, the actual lengths required being determined by slot-like cuttings in the pipes, not seen in front. There are seventeen sounding pipes, as already said, but only eleven notes, as some notes are repeated in the unison or octave. The scale, which the _à peu près_ musicians are satisfied with, may be thus noted--

[Music]

The succession of notes in the first octave resembles that of the ancient Phrygian mode and that church mode in which Thomas Tallis's famous service is composed. The exact measurements of the intervals heard at the Health Exhibition are to be found in Mr. A.J. Ellis's Paper _On the Musical Scales of Various Nations_, published in the _Journal of the Society of Arts_, London, 25th March, 1885.

Mr. N.B. Dennys, in his valuable notes on Chinese Musical Instruments read before the North China Branch of the Asiatic Society, 21st October, 1873, gives the name of the three-stringed instrument in the drawing, with a long neck like a tamboura, as San-hsien, with which Mr. Van Aalst agrees. The Peking musicians called it Sien-tzê (pronounced like Shen-zy). Like the Japanese Siamisen the San-hsien has no frets. The drum-like body is covered on the upper side with snakeskin, the under side being left open as in a tambourine or banjo. The three strings were tuned ascending a minor tone between the first and second, and a fifth between the second and third strings: the outer strings being consequently a major sixth apart. The strings were plucked by two bone plectra extended like claws beyond the ends of the fingers, and the player stopped a Pentatonic or five-note scale, thus: [Music] nearly in just intonation.

The P'i-p'a, according to Dennys and Van Aalst, or Balloon Guitar (the Peking musicians called it Phi-pe), has a body nearly a foot in diameter, from which it takes its English name, and four strings played usually with the fingers and tuned as fourth, fifth, and octave from the lowest note. The large semi-elliptical frets above the finger-board were not used by the player at the Health Exhibition; he restricted himself to the twelve frets upon the finger-board. The P'i-p'a is usually played by men who, in the South of China, are hired as minstrels or ballad-singers. The stopping of this instrument was pentatonic, as with the San-hsien, and the scale began upon the same note, but the tuning of the fretted instrument was less good than that noted of the unfretted one. Mr. Van Aalst informs us that the notes are reiterated by rapidly passing the long finger-nail or plectrum backwards and forwards across the string, to produce an effect of sostenuto similarly sought for in Europe for the Mandoline, Bandurria, and Dulcimer. These instruments belong to the Music Class Room of the University of Edinburgh.

PLATE XLV.

CHINESE TI-TZU, SO-NA, YUEH-CH'IN. JAPANESE HIJI-RIKI. CHINESE LA-PA.

The Ti-tzu to the left in the Plate is the Chinese flute. It is usually bound round with waxed silk and ornamented with tassels. It has seven holes besides the embouchure, that nearest to the latter being covered with a thin membrane as in the Provençal galoubet, taken from the sap of the bamboo and melted at the moment it is applied, intended to make the quality of tone more reedy. The remaining six holes are stopped by the fingers. According to Mr. Van Aalst, twelve notes in a diatonic succession, beginning upon the A of the violin, form the compass of this instrument, but with much uncertainty of intonation, which may be as much due to the measuring for boring by the instrument-makers as to the peculiarities of an ideal Chinese scale. The scale played at the Health Exhibition, South Kensington, in 1884, by a native ti-tzu player, was a B flat scale with the third rather sharper than the minor but less than the major third, that is, a neuter third, which, as we have seen, is frequently met with in Eastern non-harmonic scales. However, there is great difficulty in determining wind instrument scales accurately, from the power the player has to alter intonation by blowing differently.

The Chinese So-na is a copper wind instrument--a kind of oboe--played with a double reed. On account of the shortness of the reed there is a disk below it to protect the lips of the player. There are two small pierced copper spheres like those in the trumpets in Fra Angelico's paintings, beneath which are the seven finger-holes in the front and two thumb-holes behind the pipe. A loose brass cone of considerable size covers the lower end and is fastened to the upper by a string. This instrument is possibly the Indian Soonai. There are nine notes, as in the Scotch bagpipe, which the So-na somewhat resembles in quality of tone, but it is more strident and disagreeable. The scale, as played by a native at the Health Exhibition, gave intervals of whole and three-quarter tones resembling the bagpipe, but as the performer succeeded in playing with other instruments that apparently differed in scale, the accommodation in blowing must be credited with the approximately satisfactory result.

The Yueh-ch'in, or Moon Guitar, so called from the shape of the sound-board, has four silk strings tuned as fifths in pairs. The strings are struck with the finger-nails, which the Chinese wear long, or a plectrum. The strings are sometimes of copper instead of silk. The instrument is chiefly used to accompany the voice, and the repetition of a note, as in the P'i-p'a, appears to be a favourite effect.

The next wind instrument in Plate XLV. is the Japanese Hiji-riki, a conical pipe with a double reed inserted in the larger end. From this cause the instrument sounds about an octave lower than a pipe that is cylindrical. The Hiji-riki is of bamboo, the interior being covered with a bed of red lacquer. It has seven finger-holes and two thumb-holes at the back. The scale, as given by Mr. Victor Mahillon, from whose _Catalogue Descriptif et Analytique du Musée Instrumental du Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles_, I have been glad to borrow, here and elsewhere, is diatonic, with the occasional insertion of a sharp fourth. This interval is frequently heard in Chinese music, when there are ascending seven-note scales. The disk suspended at the top of the pipe is adjusted, when the Hiji-riki is played, to protect the player's lips--a precaution due to the shortness of the metal reed.

The long trumpet is the Chinese La-pa, with a sliding tube on the trombone principle. It gives four notes, the octave, twelfth, super-octave, and seventeenth, but not the prime. As may be imagined, it is a military instrument, but Mr. Van Aalst informs us it is a privilege of itinerant knife-grinders to blow it in the streets to announce their whereabouts. A La-pa, with the bell bent back, is used at wedding processions.

The instruments drawn in this Plate belong to the Music Class Room of Edinburgh University.

PLATE XLVI.

JAPANESE KOTO.

This is the thirteen-stringed Sono Koto of Japan, and a very beautifully-ornamented specimen, lent for drawing by Mr. George Wood, of Messrs. Cramer and Co., Regent Street, London.

The strings of the koto are, as in all Japanese stringed instruments, of silk drawn through wax, and the accordance follows the pentatonic system already described in connection with the Siamisen, and as given by Mr. Isawa, Director of the Institute of Music at Tokio, in twelve different popular pentatonic accordances, which are the foundations for, but, as will be explained, do not exactly fix the intervals of the koto player's performances. The strings are equally long and thick, and are strained to one tension, the notes being obtained by means of movable bridges, of which there are as many as there are strings. Two strings, the first and third, are tuned alike, at the interval of a fifth above the second or lowest note. The tuning is generally done by ear note by note, the player pitching the instrument to his voice, which is good if a high voice. The classical Japanese music is Chinese, and may have come to Japan with Chinese art, through the Corea. It is, however, only played in the Imperial household or the Shinto temples. Both classical and popular music are pentatonic, but the Japanese in no way avoid semitones, which give the Chinese so much trouble when they endeavour to produce them. The koto player, in performing, squats very low upon the ground, and wears plectra-like wire thimbles on the right hand, terminating in small projections of ivory, touching with them only the shorter division of the strings. He has, however, the power, by pressing down the longer unsounded lengths with the ends of the fingers of the left hand, or pulling them towards the bridges, to increase and decrease the tension of the strings, and thus sharpen or flatten the notes and modify the tuning by intermediate tones--a licence not used unsparingly. The Japanese pictures of koto players invariably show this practice. The dimensions of this Koto are, approximately: length, 6 feet 2-1/2 inches; width, 8-3/4 to 9-3/4 inches; depth, about 1-3/4 inches at the sides. The instrument is made of strong Kiri wood, and has two openings on the under side. The beauty of the ornament of the instrument drawn could hardly be surpassed. The drawing shows enlargements of the two ends, one half the actual size, and displays the highly decorative adornment of this remarkable instrument.

The favourite popular tuning of the Koto is called Hira-dioshi. It is thus given by Mr. Isawa and other authorities:--

[Music]

The music-master at the Japanese Village, Knightsbridge, London, tuned the Koto to a Siamisen (Plate XLVII.), with the pentatonic intervals marked on the neck according to a peculiarity of intonation referred to in the description of that instrument.

PLATE XLVII.

SIAMISEN, KOKIU, BIWA.

These are Japanese instruments. The Siamisen and Biwa were drawn by permission of the Japanese Commission of the Inventions Exhibition, 1885. The Kokiu in the centre of the plate, and its long fishing-rod bow in four lengths of black wood mounted with silver, belong to the writer.

The Siamisen is the commonest Japanese stringed instrument, and is played by the singing girls (Gesha); it has been the characteristic musical instrument at the Japanese Village, Knightsbridge, London. The name was there pronounced Samiseng (the _a_ as in father), and Dr. Müller, in an elaborate article on Japanese musical instruments in the _Mittheilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur und Völkerkunde Ostasien's_, 6tes. Heft. (Berlin, 1884), invariably writes Samiseng, but the spelling Siamisen is here adopted on the authority of Mr. Shuji Isawa, the Director of the School of Music, Tokio. In length it is about 37 inches, and has a resonance membrane of parchment stretched upon a nearly square wooden body that is 7-1/2 inches high, 6-1/2 wide, and 3 deep. There is a knob on the under side for a string holder, and the upper and under sides of it are covered with a selected part of a cat's skin, on which the bridge also rests. By the little black spots on this skin the value of the instrument is determined. Four give the highest value; two mark ordinary instruments; while those without spots are cheap. The size of the Siamisen is determined by the singer's voice. Good voices are high voices; consequently a good singer requires a smaller one. For convenience in moving about, the body and neck are made to separate. It has three silk strings and in common practice as many accordances, viz. [Music], [Music] and [Music]. It is without frets, but the fingered scale which the Japanese musicians at the London "village" appeared to know only, was indicated by small marks upon the neck, and agreed with the tuning of the thirteen-stringed koto. It has thus five intervals in the octave, that differ, however, from the Chinese pentatonic scale, and from that known in Java as Salendro. The Japanese, as heard at the "village," may be described, when descending, as a major third, a semitone, a neuter or mean third (neither major nor minor, but equivalent to a three-quarter tone and a whole tone), thus [Music]--the × denoting the mean third. This was accepted as right by natives of various parts of Japan brought together in the village whose speech dialects were not the same, although their musical dialect was thus uniform. However, since Mr. Isawa gives the interval as a minor third, and in performances which I have heard the minor effect certainly predominates, I am disposed to accept the mean third here recorded as only a widening of the normal minor third. Great latitude has to be allowed in dealing with scales, especially those of non-harmonic origin. Our own equal temperament narrowing of the same interval is rarely noticed by us, and passes as a matter of course. The Siamisen is employed to accompany the dancing and singing women, and its tones are an important aid to the effect of their performance.

The plectrum of the Siamisen is called in Japanese Batsi. It is shown in the plate.

The Kokiu is a kind of fiddle, in its construction very like the Siamisen, only that it is played with a bow (kiu) instead of a plectrum or striker (batsi). It is usually a woman's instrument, but is now very little played. Dr. Müller only heard one player in Tokio, a blind man, from whom he took his description of the instrument and the manner of performance. The whole length of the Kokiu is about 25 inches, the body being 5 inches long and broad. It is 2-1/2 inches deep and covered like the Siamisen. Instead of the string-holder of the latter it has a 2-1/2 inch long round metal slip to which the strings are knotted. The bridge is long and very low, with notches to receive the strings; three being equally spaced, while the fourth is very near the third. The strings are tuned [Music], the two near each other being unisons of the highest note. The bow is 45 inches long, of four lengths as already mentioned. It takes to pieces for transport. It is flat behind and oval in front. It is bent at the top nearly to a right angle, and the whole rod is very elastic. It is strung with white horsehair about 32 inches long, the horsehair being imported, as there is no long horsehair in Japan. It is fastened with a silken knot into a silver holder. In order to play the Kokiu the bow is taken with the thumb, middle, and little fingers, the index finger being extended along the back. With stretched-out fourth finger the player strains the slack hair of the bow, then takes up the instrument, vertically resting it upon the knees, between which the metal string-holder is grasped. Bringing the hair of the bow to the edge of the resonance body, the bow is simply moved horizontally backwards and forwards, the middle part of the bowstring only being employed. The strings are brought into contact with the bow by a rotary movement of the instrument. Sometimes only one E flat string is used, sometimes both. Double notes are very rarely used. The sound of the Kokiu is very like that of the Hurdy-Gurdy, but much weaker in comparison.

The Biwa is a lute-like instrument in the shape of a divided pear, becoming narrower upwards. The body is about 34 inches long, of which 7-1/2 come on to the finger-board. There are four frets on the finger-board. It has four strings in two thicknesses tuned, according to Dr. Müller, prime, quint, octave, tenth, like an infantry bugle, but Dr. Isawa gives no less than six accordances. The Biwa is played with a bill-formed batsi 6-1/2 inches long, made of horn, wood, tortoiseshell, or ivory.

PLATE XLVIII.

MARIMBA, OF SOUTH AFRICA.

A Zulu harmonicon in two views, the back and front. There are ten bars, each with a gourd resonator attached to it. It is played with drumsticks, one in each hand. This Marimba was presented to me by Mr. John Robertson, of Durban, Natal, and he has furnished the following details respecting it.

The Zulu name, Marimba, is varied by Izambilo; the former is the better known. This instrument is made by the Mindonga tribe, whose country marches with the Portuguese settlement of Inhambane on the East Coast. The wood of the bars is called Intzari. The resonators are the shell of a fruit known as Strychnos M'Kenii, or the Kafir orange. The balls of the drumsticks are of native rubber. The Marimba is played either resting upon the ground or suspended from the performer's neck by a cord. Native gum is employed to bind the larger and smaller shells forming each resonator. The cord used is the intestine of the aulacodus, or cane rat. As I have remarked in describing the Siamese instruments, harmonicons of wood and metal are very widely spread--throughout the Indian archipelago, in Siam and Burma, among the hill tribes of India and the Kafirs of Africa. The natives of the little American Republic of Costa Rica regard the Marimba as their national musical instrument. The tuning follows the equal heptatonic division, which allows of the mean or neuter thirds, ruling in Siam, and appreciated by many Eastern ears. In Java, however, it is not so; and, as far as could be judged, by examining the instruments played on by the native Javese at the London Aquarium in 1882 (other instruments apparently gave different results), there are two distinct Javese tunings,--the one, called Salendro, an ideally equal pentatonic, or five interval scale in the octave, the other, called Pelog, a heptatonic, or seven interval scale in the octave, the law of which has not been determined. From the latter are selected sets of five notes to form pentatonic scales, presenting remarkable differences.

INDEX

INTRODUCTION. PLATE.

AFRANIO, Inventor xxxix.

Alard, Delphin, Violinist xiv. xxviii.

"Alard" Stradivarius Violin x. xxvi.

Al F[=a]r[=a]bi, on Arab Music xv.

Anna Ghárpure (Mahrátti), on the Sitár xl.

Archlute xvi. xxi.

BACH, J.S. iv. xix. xxx. xxxii.

Bach, C.P.E. xxxii.

Bagpipe, Calabrian xv. iv.

Bagpipe, Highland xvi.

Bagpipe, Irish xv. v.

Bagpipe, Lowland xv. v.

Bagpipe, Northumbrian, ancient xv. v.

Bagpipe, Northumbrian, modern xv. v.

Bagpipe, Bellows v.

Bagpipe, Scale xv. v.

Bainbridge, W. (flageolet-maker) xxxviii.

Balaläika, Russian xxiv.

Balaläika, Russian, tuning xxiv.

Balloon Guitar, Chinese xlii.

Bandurria, tuning xxiii.

Baron, G., on Lutes xvi.

Barbu, hurdy-gurdy player xxx.

Barrington, Hon. Daines, on the Welsh Crwth xxiv.

Basse de Viole xix.

Basset Horn xli.

Bassoon xvi. xxxix.

Baton, improved the hurdy-gurdy xxx.

Batsi, Japanese plectrum xlvii.

Beating Reed xviii. xii.

Bebung (Clavichord) xxxii.

Been (Vína Sitár) xl.

Bell, C.D. (F.S.A. Scot.), on Gaelic Harps ii.

Bell Harp xxx.

Bell Harp, scale xxx.

Berlioz, H., on the Viola d'Amore xxvii.

Bible Regal xviii. xiii.

Biblioteca Estense, Modena xiv.

Bingley, on the Welsh Crwth xxiv.

Biwa, Japanese xix. xlvii.

Biwa, Japanese, tuning xlvii.

Boddington, H. (Dulcimer) xvii.

Boehm, T., improved the flute xvi.

Bombardone xxxix.

Bourdon, Musette iv. v.

Bourdon, Organ xi.

Broadwood, John, harpsichord and pianoforte maker xxiii. xxxiii.

Buccina, Roman xiv. xxxvii.

Bugle, Cavalry xiv. xxxvi.