Does anybody know anything about the musical instrument that Alpha plays? I'd really like to know of any recordings. I was enchanted by the brief bit I heard on the anime. If anyone knows what the name of the song she's playing is, that would be excellent. Here's what I've been able to get off the internet so far:
1) The gekkin (translated getsukin in the manga) is a Chinese import. It's called the "yueqin" (moon lute) in China. In Japan it is associated with minshingaku, or Ming-period music.
2)There are other, differently sized versions, including a "Zhong Ruan," which, based on Ashinano's drawings, appears to be more like what Alpha plays (the yueqin has a very short neck).
3)All members of the moon lute family have a piece of metal, which produces a buzzing sound. (Anyone know more about this or construction in general?) The strings are made of silk.
Thanks,
Nels
- NelsLindberg
Monday, April 12, 2004
I managed to get a friend hooked who's a luthier hooked on on YKK and he found Alpha's intrument pretty interesting. I ended up going on a wild goose chase for links. Now, I can't tell if what Alpha has is more comparable to a ruan or a yuequin, so I've got links on both and some about Chinese stringed instruments in general:
http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Music/mus-yueqin.html
http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Music/mus-ruan.html
http://www.hkjycco.org.hk/English/inst_info/eng_pick.html (This one is actually a site about Chinese plucked string instruments)
http://www.chinesemusic.co.uk/english/pluckints.htm (Same idea as the above link, but you can see both a yuequin and a ruan)
http://www.musicofchina.com/ruan.html
http://resources.ed.gov.hk/musiceb/english/Instrument/chinese/ruan/intruduce/introduce.htm (With audio and video clips! Ooo! Well, I get some error message when trying to check out the video clip, but the audio works)
http://resources.ed.gov.hk/musiceb/english/Instrument/chinese/yueqin/intruduce/introduce.htm
I've also found a couple of Japanese sites, but I don't think I'll link to those.
- Hekima
Monday, April 12, 2004
http://resources.ed.gov.hk/musiceb/english/Instrument/chinese/ruan/intruduce/introduce.htm
Ooo! That above link was really good, the video for the various instruments was mondo cool. ^_^
I was able to get the RealPlayer clips to work fine... it was very interesting to see how large the instruments were compared to the small woman playing them... she could probably use the instrument's case for a place to sleep!
The ruan which Alpha uses must be a higher pitch and quieter than what's heard on the link.
-k
curious
- Kempis Curious
Monday, April 12, 2004
Thanks much. The links provided were awesome. I'm really on fire about this now; I did some poking around at the ethnomusicology dep't at my university today. Maybe something will come up. Watch this space for a full report.
Nels
- Nels Lindberg
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Since Hekima did mention me, I guess I should post my observations as a luthier. The ruan is apparently a family of instruments, consisting of four different tunings, and corresponding sizes. Alpha's getsukin, being smaller than those depicted on the links she posted, is likely a tenor or soprano ruan.
Hekima also sent me an audio clip of Alpha playing her getsukin from the anime, entitled, "Tsuki no Koto." I did a few experiments with my mandolin, and found that I could match the tuning by capoing it at the fourth fret. The tuning would be Eb Gb Db Ab. It sounded surprizingly similar. I'm wondering if it was recorded using a yueqin, since it uses tandem strings, like a mandolin.
- Dave Thespork
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Choro Club's gekkin:
http://babu.com/~cinnamon/gakki.html#gekkin
Gontiti's gekkin:
http://www.gontiti.jp/studio/guitars_e/11g.html
Alpha's replica gekkin:
http://www.chinamusic.gr.jp/ygekin.htm
- kGo
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
as a reference, the ruan and yueqin is used in Peking Operas... so Ashinano's use of it seems to be very diverse in terms of history and culture, at least to me.
i guess i only say this because i'm doing a research paper on Peking Opera.
also, it seems to be a ruan, because of the longer finger board
the yueqin comes in either two-stringed, 3 stringed (even spacing between) or the tandem strings as dave mentioned, while the ruan is 4 evenly spaced strings, and alpha's is missing the 3rd (2nd?) and replaced one of the tuning knobs w/ a ribbon.
http://ykk.misago.org/Volume1/39
i could be wrong... so don't hold me accountable to this >_>
- eug
Sunday, April 25, 2004
as a reference, the ruan and yueqin is used in Peking Operas... so Ashinano's use of it seems to be very diverse in terms of history and culture, at least to me.
i guess i only say this because i'm doing a research paper on Peking Opera.
also, it seems to be a ruan, because of the longer finger board
the yueqin comes in either two-stringed, 3 stringed (even spacing between) or the tandem strings as dave mentioned, while the ruan is 4 evenly spaced strings, and alpha's is missing the 3rd (2nd?) and replaced one of the tuning knobs w/ a ribbon.
http://ykk.misago.org/Volume1/39
i could be wrong... so don't hold me accountable to this >_>
- eug
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Wow! The string IS gone!
Would anyone be able to tell from the OAV music if the song in the anime is utilizing a 3 or 4 string ruan?
-k
curious
- Kempis Curious
Sunday, April 25, 2004
My mandolin sounds pretty close to the lead instrument in the OAV music. It's a bit out of my skill level as a musician, but I've been trying to pick along.
- Dave Thespork
Sunday, April 25, 2004
They used a mandolin because the gekkin (yueqin, I assume) sounded weird.
http://www.gontiti.jp/studio/guitars_e/11g.html
Ruan sounds a lot better than a yueqin.
- 莫囂圓隣
Saturday, June 10, 2006
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