; ex.1c) was devised for new tunes and modes
inspired by the Siamese court resident at Ava after 1767. Myin-zaìng
(based on E; ex.1d) is closely related to palè.Horizontal arched harp of Myanmar (formerly Burma). This article deals with the history, construction, performance technique and tunings of the instrument; for discussion of context, performing practice, repertory and performers see Myanmar, §II, 3. Two types of arched harp exist in the country: one, made by Karen and Mon hill peoples in lower Myanmar, has five to seven strings tuned by pegs (see T. and T.A. Stern, 1971); the other, long associated with Buddhist royal dynasties, is the highly decorated saùng-gauk tuned by cords encircling the arm or arch (fig.1). It has been claimed that the saùng-gauk is related to Sumerian horizontal arched harps (c2500 bce), the connecting link being the corded harps of Buddhist dynasties in ancient India, though this theory lacks linguistic support, as the Sanskrit name vīnā does not occur in the languages of Myanmar. The earliest harp representation in Myanmar appears on a mid-7th-century Buddhist relief at Śrī Ksetra (see Becker, 1967, p.21). The orchestra, possibly Mon, that accompanied a Pyu embassy from upper Myanmar to China in 801–2 included arched harps with pegs (see Twitchett and Christie, 1959). Burmese chronicles describe harps in ceremonial ensembles at medieval Pagan as well as women harpists in attendance on royalty, also shown in surviving temple reliefs and mural paintings. Outstanding among these are two reliefs in Nagayon temple (c1090), which prove that harpists depicted to the left of centre are in a normal right-handed playing position; those on the right are in mirror image (not left-handed). A characteristically curved string holder links one Nagayon harp to the modern harp (Williamson, 1981, p.219), and cords around the arch appear in a mural painting of the Làw-ká-hteik-pan temple (c1125), together with the earliest gloss using the old Burmese name con.
A stylized harp with incurved arch and 11 strings appears in a fresco of a later dynasty at Ava (1364–1555) in upper Myanmar, while a folding manuscript of the Kòn-baung dynasty (1752–1885) shows a harp with slender incurved arch, tasselled cords and boat-shaped resonator, with a small loop extension at the prow. Specifications for later harp makers were probably set by Myá-wadi Wun-gyì Ù Sá (1766–1853), who standardized the number of strings at 13 and reinforced the instrument’s construction, using the great tensile strength of a curved root of a shà tree (stem-woods were formerly used) to create a slender, graceful arch. Dei-wá-ein-da Ù Maung Maung Gyì (1855–1933), the last court harpist, added the 14th string; two more were added by Alin-ga-kyaw-zwa Ù Bá Thàn (c1960), resulting in the contemporary 16-string saùng-gauk.
Under royal patronage and through several decades of British rule, master harpists made harps for themselves and, by commission, for others. After a period of decline before World War II, during which no harps were made, the State Schools of Fine Arts were founded in Rangoon (now Yangon) and Mandalay following the independence of Myanmar in 1948. Ù Hmat Kyì (b 1917), a descendant of the kings’ woodcarvers and stonecutters in the old royal city, constructed seven harps for the new school, having made his first in 1947 after an antique harp (by 1959 he had made 150 harps and was producing 30 a year); his harps were decorated by Ù Htùn Myaing, descended from the kings’ lacquer artists.
In performance (fig.2), the harp is placed horizontally across the lap, the arch forward and to the harpist’s left (see Harp, fig.1). The harpist braces the fingers of the left hand against the arch, prepared to shift them agilely up and down; the tip of the left thumb, with squared nail, is placed against the string from the inside to raise the pitch and to perform frequent embellishments. The forefinger and thumb of the right hand activate the strings at their centre, separately or in pairs. In Mandalay the principal techniques are: (a) let-kat (‘hand sticking close’), in which the palm is close to the plane of the string, with fingers extended – the straight forefinger (bent slightly backwards at the terminal joint) strokes the string vertically upwards towards the next string, producing a full round tone with the fundamental prevailing; (b) kaw (‘to prise out of place’), in which the hooked forefinger plucks outwards and upwards to produce a thin sharp tone, with the second harmonic prevailing (see Adkins and others, 1983) – kaw is used in the upper voice, often in sequence with let-kat, to resolve dissonances; (c) zon-hswè-gyìn (‘paired plucking’), in which the hooked forefinger and thumb pluck simultaneously, with finger, wrist or free arm movement; (d) tat, a pitchless ‘plunk’ produced by damping the string with the side of the palm before activating it; (e) the left thumb plucks the bass of the harp figuration from the inside (occasionally to double octaves), while the right hand provides a melodic pattern with thumb and forefinger. Throughout performance skilled damping promotes clarity: by damping the string just sounded with the middle finger as the forefinger sounds the next string; by inner or side palms of the hand; by direct touch immediately following activation (staccato).
Of
the four tunings extant in 1885, hnyìn-lòn, possibly named after an
obsolete mouth organ, is the original tuning (here based on the principal note
C; see ex.1a). Auk-pyan, meaning ‘reverse
position’, based on F, is essentially a transposition of hnyìn-lòn
tuning (ex.1b). These tunings divide between them nine
classes of song and cover much of the literature. Palè (based on B; ex.1c) was devised for new tunes and modes
inspired by the Siamese court resident at Ava after 1767. Myin-zaìng
(based on E; ex.1d) is closely related to palè.
Hnyìn-lòn is basic to the other tunings as, together with the stopped notes (the black notes in the examples), it provides the original Burmese heptatonic scale, approximately C major with E and B lowered by 50 cents. Its note names (here abbreviated) and descending modal numbers remain fixed in the other tunings; tya, tei and tyàw are movable. The last court harpist devised a compound tuning for his 14-string harp, so that he could perform all classes of song without retuning (ex.2a). It is called hsé-leì-gyò hnyí-nì (‘14-string tuning’) and is still in use. Ù Bá Thàn based his 16-string compound tuning (c1960) on the above, calling it apò-hnyí-nì (ex.2b). The intervals of the compound tunings now closely match those of the Western tempered scale, and younger singers can no longer hear or sing the subtle intervals of the older tunings. In Mandalay, however, an effort is being made to preserve hnyìn-lòn tuning for the oldest classes of song.
D.C. Twitchett and A.H. Christie: ‘A Medieval Burmese Orchestra’, Asia Major, new ser., vii (1959), 176–95
Myá Ù: ‘Saùng-gauk’, Myan-ma swe-zon kyàn [Burmese encyclopedia], iv (Rangoon, 1960), 1–6
Sein Nyún: Tu-rí-ya thamaìng-hnín tu-rí-ya pyit-sì-myà [The history of music and musical instruments] (Mandalay, 1960)
J. Becker: ‘The Migration of the Arched Harp from India to Burma’, GSJ, xx (1967), 17–23
M.C. Williamson: ‘The Construction and Decoration of One Burmese Harp’, Selected Reports, i/2 (1968), 45–77 [incl. R.C. Williamson ‘Measurement of Traditional Tuning Frequencies of a Burmese Harp’, 73–6]
M.C. Williamson: ‘Les harpes sculptées du temple d’Ishtar à Mari’, Syria, xlvi (1969), 209–24
T. and T.A. Stern: ‘“I Pluck my Harp”: Musical Acculturation among the Karen of Western Thailand’, EthM, xv (1971), 186–219
M.C. WiIliamson: ‘A Supplement to the Construction and Decoration of One Burmese Harp’, Selected Reports, ii/2 (1975), 109–15
S. Gunji, N. Takano and Y. Yamada: ‘Saung-gauk’, Musical Voices of Asia: Tokyo 1978, 253–8
B. Lawergren: ‘Acoustics and Evolution of the Arched Harp’, GSJ, xxxiv (1981), 110–29
M.C. Williamson: ‘The Iconography of Arched Harps in Burma’, Music and Tradition: Essays on Asian and other Musics Presented to Laurence Picken, ed. D.R. Widdess and R.F. Wolpert (Cambridge, 1981), 209–28
C.J. Adkins and others: ‘Frequency-Doubling Chordophones’, Musica asiatica, iii (1983), 1–10
L.E.R. Picken: ‘String/Table Angles for Harps, from Third Millennium B.C. to the Present’, Musica asiatica, iii (1983), 35–51
MURIEL C. WILLIAMSON