![]() Incidentally, the Okinawan sanshin uses snakeskin. The sides of the sanxian's body consist of snakeskin, but the shamisen uses cat skin ![]() Generally, the sanxian is used in classical Chinese music, but it has also been used by He Yong, a rock musician of today's China. The sanxian is used in ensembles, such as those of nanguan and Jiangnan sizhu. If a tune is performed on the sanxian with tremolo picking, its original tune is in many cases composed for the Chinese lute.įor their various uses, various sizes of sanxian exist, such as the large northern Chinese sanxian.Īlso, in the twentieth century the four-string sanxian was devised. ![]() The sanxian and Chinese lute have many performance skills in common, so the tunes traditionally composed for the Chinese lute are occasionally performed with the sanxian. The sanxian is rarely used in today's Chinese orchestra performances.Ĭompared with other stringed instruments such as the biwa (the Japanese lute), there is little original solo material in the sanxian's repertoire. Many musicians put silica gel in the instrument case to absorb humidity. Historically, the sanxian has been popular as an instrument for the accompaniment of songs. The larger one has a range of about three octaves. The Sanxian has a rounded body (resonator) covered with snakeskin, and it has a long, fretless neck. The full length of the sanxian ranges from 90 cm to 120 cm, but generally that of the southern one is about 95 cm while that of the northern one is about 120 cm. It's also referred to as xianzi in China. Sanxian literally means three strings, and this is a traditional, lute-like Chinese stringed instrument with a long neck. The explanation below is about the sanxian, a traditional Chinese instrument. In Gagaku (ancient Japanese court music), sangen is used as the general term for wagon (the Japanese harp), gakugoto (the koto used in gagaku) and gakubiwa (biwa (the Japanese lute) used in gagaku).Īnd sangen is another name for the sanshin, a traditional three-stringed instrument that has been handed down in Ryukyu (another name for Okinawa).įor details, please refer to the article on the shamisen. The sangen is occasionally called 'mitsuno-o,' literally meaning three strings, in a Japanese classical expression. For example, the term sangen is used in some titles, such as "Sangen shijuso kyoku" (A sangen quartet), composed by Seiho KINEYA for shamisen as performed in Nagauta (ballads sung to shamisen accompaniment), Jiuta, Tokiwazu (dramatic narrative chants accompanied by shamisen) and Gidayu (a style of chanting with shamisen), and "Sonata for two types of sangen," composed by Bondai FUJII for shamisen performed in Jiuta and Nagauta). In today's Japanese music, the term "sangen" is used also on the occasion that the instrument is played for music other than Jiuta. Specifically in a formal document or a performance program, this instrument is expressed as "三弦" or "三絃." Normally, however, the use of the term isn't so strict, and the term " shamisen" is also used for sangen. The instrument is often expressed as "三弦" (which reads as "sangen") or "三絃" (which also reads as "sangen") in the community of " sankyoku" (the instrumental trio, i.e., shamisen, koto (the thirteen-string Japanese zither), and shakuhachi (the bamboo flute) or occasionally kokyu (the Chinese fiddle) instead of shakuhachi), and this is particularly true in the community of Jiuta (songs of the country accompanied by shamisen) and Sokyoku (the music of the koto). The architectural style using a set of three pieces of lumber, or steel, is also called sangen. "Sangen" is another name for the shamisen, a Japanese traditional musical instrument.
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