WIKIBOOKS
DISPONIBILI
?????????

ART
- Great Painters
BUSINESS&LAW
- Accounting
- Fundamentals of Law
- Marketing
- Shorthand
CARS
- Concept Cars
GAMES&SPORT
- Videogames
- The World of Sports

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
- Blogs
- Free Software
- Google
- My Computer

- PHP Language and Applications
- Wikipedia
- Windows Vista

EDUCATION
- Education
LITERATURE
- Masterpieces of English Literature
LINGUISTICS
- American English

- English Dictionaries
- The English Language

MEDICINE
- Medical Emergencies
- The Theory of Memory
MUSIC&DANCE
- The Beatles
- Dances
- Microphones
- Musical Notation
- Music Instruments
SCIENCE
- Batteries
- Nanotechnology
LIFESTYLE
- Cosmetics
- Diets
- Vegetarianism and Veganism
TRADITIONS
- Christmas Traditions
NATURE
- Animals

- Fruits And Vegetables



ARTICLES IN THE BOOK

  1. Accordion
  2. Acoustic bass guitar
  3. Aeolian harp
  4. Archlute
  5. Bagpipes
  6. Balalaika
  7. Bandoneon
  8. Banjo
  9. Baroque trumpet
  10. Bass drum
  11. Bassoon
  12. Bongo drums
  13. Bouzouki
  14. Brass band
  15. Brass instrument
  16. Bugle
  17. Carillon
  18. Castanet
  19. Celesta
  20. Cello
  21. Chapman Stick
  22. Chime tree
  23. Chordophone
  24. Cimbalom
  25. Clarinet
  26. Claves
  27. Clavichord
  28. Clavinet
  29. Concertina
  30. Conga
  31. Cornamuse
  32. Cornet
  33. Cornett
  34. Cowbell
  35. Crash cymbal
  36. Crotales
  37. Cymbal
  38. Digital piano
  39. Disklavier
  40. Double bass
  41. Drum
  42. Drum kit
  43. Drum machine
  44. Drum stick
  45. Electric bass
  46. Electric guitar
  47. Electric harp
  48. Electric instrument
  49. Electric piano
  50. Electric violin
  51. Electronic instrument
  52. Electronic keyboard
  53. Electronic organ
  54. English horn
  55. Euphonium
  56. Fiddle
  57. Flamenco guitar
  58. Floor tom
  59. Flugelhorn
  60. Flute
  61. Flute d'amour
  62. Glockenspiel
  63. Gong
  64. Hammered dulcimer
  65. Hammond organ
  66. Handbells
  67. Harmonica
  68. Harmonium
  69. Harp
  70. Harp guitar
  71. Harpsichord
  72. Hi-hat
  73. Horn
  74. Horn section
  75. Keyboard instrument
  76. Koto
  77. Lamellaphone
  78. Latin percussion
  79. List of string instruments
  80. Lute
  81. Lyre
  82. Mandola
  83. Mandolin
  84. Manual
  85. Maraca
  86. Marimba
  87. Marimbaphone
  88. Mellophone
  89. Melodica
  90. Metallophone
  91. Mouthpiece
  92. Music
  93. Musical bow
  94. Musical instrument
  95. Musical instrument classification
  96. Musical instrument digital interface
  97. Musical keyboard
  98. Oboe
  99. Ocarina
  100. Orchestra
  101. Organ
  102. Organology
  103. Pan flute
  104. Pedalboard
  105. Percussion instrument
  106. Piano
  107. Piccolo
  108. Pickup
  109. Pipe organ
  110. Piston valve
  111. Player piano
  112. Plectrum
  113. Psaltery
  114. Recorder
  115. Ride cymbal
  116. Sampler
  117. Saxophone
  118. Shamisen
  119. Sitar
  120. Snare drum
  121. Sound module
  122. Spinet
  123. Steel drums
  124. Steel-string acoustic guitar
  125. Stringed instrument
  126. String instrument
  127. Strings
  128. Synthesizer
  129. Tambourine
  130. Theremin
  131. Timbales
  132. Timpani
  133. Tom-tom drum
  134. Triangle
  135. Trombone
  136. Trumpet
  137. Tuba
  138. Tubular bell
  139. Tuned percussion
  140. Ukulele
  141. Vibraphone
  142. Viol
  143. Viola
  144. Viola d'amore
  145. Violin
  146. Vocal music
  147. Wind instrument
  148. Wood block
  149. Woodwind instrument
  150. Xylophone
  151. Zither

 



MUSIC INSTRUMENTS
This article is from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koto_%28musical_instrument%29

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License 

Koto (musical instrument)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 
For the special ward located in Tokyo, Japan, see Koto, Tokyo.
Masayo Ishigure plays the koto
Masayo Ishigure plays the koto

The , In Japanese reading "sō" is more commonly, though not quite correctly, the character 琴, In Japanese reading "kin" is common too) is a traditional stringed musical instrument from China resembling a zither. (Both 箏 and 琴 can be read as "Koto", but the meanings are different.)

Koto are about 180 cm long and have 13 strings that are strung tautly across 13 movable bridges along the length of the instrument. Players make base pitches by moving these bridges before playing, and use three finger picks (on thumb, forefinger, and middle finger) to pluck the strings.

History of the Koto

The koto was introduced to Japan in the 7th to 8th century from China, and largely derived from the Chinese guzheng. It was initially played only in the royal court, but this situation changed in the 17th century -- primarily because of the influence of Yatsuhashi Kengyo (1614-1684).

Yatsuhashi Kengyo was a blind shamisen player who learned koto from an "official" court player named Hosui, in defiance of the rules which then stated that koto could not be taught to blind people (or women, incidentally). Possibly because of his personal experience with these restrictions, Yatsuhashi spent the rest of his life making the koto more accessible.

He invented a new "plain tuning" (hira jōshi) to play the common peoples' songs more naturally. He composed (or is credited with composing) songs that are still irreplaceable staples of the koto repertoire today, including Rokudan and Midare. (These compositions were partly responsible for the koto becoming respected as a solo instrument in its own right.) Perhaps most importantly, his example led other non-elite, including women, to learn the koto too.

Koto in the Modern Era

Since the Japanese music scene was made over in Western pop music's image, the koto has become less prominent. However, it is still developing as an instrument; works are written for and performed on 20-stringed and bass kotos, and a new generation of players such as Sawai Kazue, Yagi Michiyo (who studied under Sawai) are finding places for the koto in today's jazz, pop and even experimental music. June Kuramoto, of the jazz fusion group Hiroshima, was one of the first koto performers to popularize the koto in a non-traditional style. David Bowie used the koto in the instrumental piece "Moss Garden" on his album "Heroes". Other performers outside of Japan include koto master and award-winning recording artist Elizabeth Falconer, who also studied for a decade at the esteemed Sawai Koto School in Tokyo, as well as koto master Linda Kako Caplan, the sole Canadian representative of Fukuoka's Chikushi Koto School for over two decades. David Horvitz pioneered the instrument into the contemporary indie rock scene playing on Xiu Xiu's new album, The Air Force.

Koto also come in larger sizes, the most popular of which is the 17-string bass koto. The koto used in gagaku is called gakuso.

The influence of the koto on western music is also evident in jazz. The "in-sen" scale, a five note scale, was first introduced to jazz by John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner (another koto player) and is based on the tuning of the koto.

External links

  • Reiko Obata - koto performer in California and information on the koto
  • Detailed history of the instrument
  • Articles on Koto Masters Sawai Tadao and Sawai Kazue
  • Article on Koto Master Chikushi Katsuko
  • Linda Kako Caplan - The World of Japanese Koto and Shamisen - Linda Kako Caplan - The World of Japanese Koto and Shamisen : textbooks, CD and online video resources for koto, plus useful links and general info on the instruments
  • Koto World.com - Koto World : online CD store and koto information site
  • Koto no Koto - Koto no koto: the website with ALL the info you need about US and Canadian teachers, recordings, and the instrument.
  • [1] Enjoy Japanese Music.com - Website of the koto/shakuhachi duo EN.
  • O-koto Culture of Japan Play the "Sakura" tune on a virtual koto.
  • New koto – Doremi Pop Corn.

Bibliography

  • The Koto: A Traditional Instrument in Contemporary Japan, by Henry Johnson (Hotei, 2004).
  • The Kumiuta and Danmono Traditions of Japanese Koto Music, by Willem Adriaansz (University of California Press, 1973).
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koto_%28musical_instrument%29"