ShÅ (instrument)
The Shō (Japanese笙) is a breakdown tongue instrument in the form of a wooden mouth organ, whose pipes are connected to a small, wooden reservoir is blown into the air. It is used in traditional Japanese music (such as the gagaku ).
Your predecessor is the Chinese Sheng, which is the oldest polyphonic instrument in the world. Chinese legends say that the shape and sound of the instrument was modeled after the Phoenix and his cry.
The shō consists of a cup-shaped wooden base in which 17 perforated pipes, two of which are silent, used bamboo. The sound is produced by blowing through an opening in the lower body. This is in the flute, whose hole is locked, an incised, coated metal sheet, which produces the sound of a similar kind in the Western harmonica, made to vibrate ( by beating tongue). The mood of the individual pipes is determined by a small drop of wax on the leaf and variable slots on the back. The pipes are approximately symmetric, and thus are not arranged in chromatic order not to disturb the balance of the instrument. The biggest problem while playing Shō is to avoid the accumulation of moisture on the leaf, otherwise it does not sound. In breaks it is therefore over a small charcoal fire, is found in white clay bowls ( hibachi ) stands in front of the musicians, heated, but today also electric furnaces.
In some forms of vocal music and in komagaku the shō plays the melody; However, their main function is harmonic nature. The chords and tone clusters of Shō, Japanese aitake whose lowest tone corresponds to the melody begin softly, getting louder and reached a climax just before the middle of the bar takes the change to the next chord. Since both single-and exhaled air vibrate the sheet, the sound is continuous. Unlike in Western music, the chords are not intended to determine the timbre of the melody and build up a tension that must be resolved. After William P. Malm at least the chords of Shō be in Gagaku used to "freeze" the melody and to distance from the listener.
In modern Western music, the shō comes in the opera " The girl with the matches " by Helmut Lachenmann and the musician Stephan Micus used.
Shō
Heating of the instrument
Chinese sheng (left) and Japanese Shō (right)
Shō from the 12th century