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Stearns staff members have identified groups of related items that are particularly interesting. Use any of the links below to view a gallery.
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 | samisen Stearns #2060 | Asia Japan | A three-string plucked lute, the Shamisen is the instrument par excellence of traditional Japan. It comes in different sizes, and produces a variety of distinctive timbres, each of which is associated with specific genres, ranging from the singing of folksongs to the gidayu music of puppet theaters (bunraku). The shamisen displays a number of distinctive organological features. The lowest string stretches and vibrates over a small cavity carved in the pegbox, producing sawari, a resonance that adds to what is considered to be good shamisen tone. Plucked with left-hand fingers and strummed with an ivory or ivory-tipped wood plectrum, the shamisen produces pizzicatos, slides, “hammering-on”, and other distinctive sounds. |