Talk:Biwa
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I recently made several large edits to the main page, mostly the biwa history section and a few small edits within other sections. Unfortunately I wasn't signed in at the time so the edits will appear to be anonymous, but I have based the information on essays written by prominent biwa players and my own experience as a licensed player. If you have any issues with the edits, please discuss them here.--Obakedake (talk)02:31, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Looking at this page, the main/title picture at top of the article is of the gogen biwa from Nara, which is, as described in the article, a one-of-a-kind instrument. I have seen a few reproductions personally, but they are exceedingly rare (perhaps a few dozen in the world?), and far from a representative biwa. I'd suggest changing the main picture to a more common biwa, perhaps a Satsuma or Chikuzen. If I could obtain a copyright-free photograph of a typical biwa, would there be an objection to this change?Obakedake (talk)04:10, 19 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The current title picture is of a Tang Dynastypipa, why is it being used for thebiwa? --158.143.185.119 (talk)10:37, 20 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Pipa and biwa seem to be essentially the same instrument - the two names are just different ways to pronounce the same word. In fact, the title image on this page depicts a "Tang dynasty pipa". Are there any essential differences between a pipa and a biwa to warrant separate articles?—Precedingunsigned comment added bySinbios (talk •contribs)01:46, 26 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Why is it thatthe Japanese 琵琶 page links to the English one in the "Languages" box, but not the other way around?— Precedingunsigned comment added by67.185.161.246 (talk)22:47, 17 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
It's mentioned several times in the article, but never explained... --megA (talk)17:37, 2 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I suppose the Biwa in Kwaidan is tuned EBea (although my disc is NTSC it's still nearly a semitone higher than that).But what about fret spacings? I think it would be useful to the discussion to explain how such a fretboard generates the pentatonic scales and in which modes.
From the section "History":
Thepipa has 26 frets, is played in virtuostic fashion with fingerpicks on all five fingers, and has had full concertos composed and performed for it, using both western orchestra and traditional Chinese plectrum orchestra accompaniments.
Thebiwa has 4, or occasionally 5 frets, is played in minimalist fashion with a single "pick" the size of a small frying pan, and is used primarily as a drone behind othergagaku instruments, or as an accompaniment for voice in folk music.
All in all, both the biwa as an instrument, and biwa playing style and musical function are far cruder and more limited in scope than the pipa and its tradition.
This doesn't really seem to meet the criteria for an "evolution" of the earlier Chinese instrument, but rather a regression to a more primitive form. To say biwa 'evolved' from the pipa is rather like saying the mountain dulcimer 'evolved' from the guitar or the archlute.— Precedingunsigned comment added by74.95.43.249 (talk)00:43, 31 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The biwa is not derived from modern Chinese pipa but from an early form of that instrument from the Tang dynasty. If you look at chinese paintings from that time you may notice people playing what looks like a gaku-biwa or less commonly gogen-biwa but no modern pipa.
It was in later eras that both chinese and japanese have started modernizing the pipa. However while the chinese have abandoned the triangular plectrum in favor of fingerpicks, removed moonholes, added more frets, started holding it vertically rather than horizontally and eventually replaced silk strings with metal ones, japanese kept all of these features in their biwa. (except for vertical playing position as some biwas are played vertically while others horizontally)
Instead they raised the frets and made them wider allowing for pitch-bending and producing a sitar-like buzzing sound. They also introduced thechniques like hitting the biwa's soundbox with plectrums's angles or rubbing the strings with it's base.
So in consclusion the biwa did not "evolve" directly from modern pipa, rather they only share a common ancestor.--83.29.77.152 (talk)11:45, 4 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
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