Fishtank Ensemble: Instruments

This page describes the musical instruments used by Fishtank Ensemble. More details are given for the unusual ones: the shamisen, violintromba, musical saw, and theremin.

It would be a mistake to think that Fishtank Ensemble's unique sound was simply due to the type of instruments used. For example, the terms "gypsy violin", "flamenco guitar", or "Tsugaru shamisen" refer more to styles of play (which in all three cases is extremely specialized and difficult to learn) than to the instruments themselves.

In a pinch, "Gypsy violin" can be played on any violin, "Flamenco guitar" on any guitar (with some risk of damaging the finish), and "Tsuguar shamisen" on any shamisen (though thick-necked shamisen is by far the most suited).

Nevertheless, the particular instruments used is important to the sound, and these instruments are interesting in their own right, since they originate at different times and at different places around the globe.

Of course the violin and guitar are also used in "classical" music, and the shamisen is also used in traditional Japanese music such as the music of the Kabuki theater. Such classical playing is very different--not superior, not inferior, just different. Most people have been exposed to classical violin and classical guitar, but may not have experienced the many folk traditions. Fishtank aims to share these gypsy styles with styles without diluting or "Americanizing" them.

Members of Fishtank play regularly in Europe (including the Balkans) and in Japan, and this helps to keep the group in touch with it's musical roots.

One of the best things about Fishtank Ensemble is that the traditional styles are not compromised in the name of "fusion". The players have been trained in the traditional manner and much of the playing is completely traditional and representative of each tradition as it exists today. For example, Fabrice Martinez's violin is in the typical style of contemporary Romanian gypsies; Doug Smolen's Flamenco guitar is in the main stream of contemporary Flamenco playing; and Kevin Kmetz's shamisen in "Ringo Bushi" is in the typical style of modern Tsugaru players in Japan.

Of course, in mixing these different traditions, something new is produced. If the musicians are serious and skilled, with luck it will not be a pastiche or a fad, but living, vital music.

Finally, it is not the intent of the players to reproduce an historical style, e.g., gypsy music or Flamenco or Tsugaru shamisen as it sounded in, say, the mid-19th century. These styles are not museum pieces, but living traditions. It is certainly worthwhile to reproduce historical sounds, but that is not the interest of this particular group.

By the way, several members play more instruments than they happen to play with Fishtank Ensemble. For example, Kevin also plays the electric guitar, Adam also plays the piano and accordion, and Glenn also plays the harp. All have played these instruments professionally (Adam is currently the keyboard player for the group Estradasphere).

Interestingly factoids:

• Fishtank Ensemble is acoustic (except for the theremin that Ursula used sometimes to play) and can play without amplification in most rooms.
• Only one of the stringed instruments played by Fishtank Ensemble is fretted (the guitar).
• The group must tune to the absolute pitch of the accordion, since the accordion cannot be re-tuned by the player.
• The shamisen tuning is changed to match the key of the song. Then it must frequently be readjusted.

Violin

Violintromba

Accordion

The accordion belongs to the family of free-reed instruments, which are located inside the instrument (rather than being held in the mouth of the player, as with, say a clarinet). Other free-reeds include the harmonica and the melodian.

History: The oldest free-reed is the sheng (pronounced something like "sung"), which originated in China during the Tang Dynasty. It is generally regarded as the only Chinese instrument that plays chords. Today it is still played in traditional Chinese ensembles, and and acquired a solo repertoire.

The sheng consists of a wind box made of gourd or metal connected to a mouthpiece. 17 to 21 bamboo tubes are inserter vertically into this windbox, arranged in a circle. Each tube contains a free reed at its base. The reeds are acoustically coupled to the air inside the tube, which is kept from resonating by a finger hole drilled in "exactly the wrong place". Air from sound box passes over all the reeds whenever the player blows into the mouthpiece, but only when the finger hole is covered will is the reed in that tube able to sound.

According to one story, a sheng brought back from China by Marco Polo was the origin of the Western harmonica and accordion (modern scholars have thrown doubt on this charming legend).

In any case, a recognizable harmonica came to Europe in the 18th century. There has been some controversy over the identity of the genius who first combined the harmonica's free reed with bellows and keys. Although Cyrillus Damian of Vienna is often credited, it is now believed that Friedrich Buschmann of Berlin was the first person to build a basic accordion in 1822. But Damian patented the name "accordion" in 1829. Early models had no bass on the left hand--that came later.

Interestingly, there is another Western musical instrument that uses a bellows (at least in its traditional form): the pipe organ! And of course the organ console has keys and some of its pipes use free reeds. So perhaps the pipe organ was the first accordion! If so, then it was somewhat lacking in portability.

Whatever its original inspiration, the accordion eventually achieved its modern form, with piano-style keys on the right, and between 12 and 200 buttons on the left for chords and bass line. The reeds were originally made of brass, but are now made of steel.

In 19th century Europe and America the accordion was a very popular instrument. Its popularity faded during the second half of the 20th century--a lamentable situation which Aaron Seeman and Fishtank aim to remedy.

Variations: A variation of the accordion is the concertina. This is a smaller, hexagonal instrument with buttons instead of keys for the right hand. It was invented in 1829 by the great English physicist, Sir Charles Wheatstone (whose electrical inventions include the important "wheatstone bridge" circuit). He originally called it the "Symphonion with Bellows", but in 1833 he renamed it "concertina." His instrument had a single tone for every button and played all the notes in a scale.

Flamenco Guitar

Shamisen

The shamisen is unusual because: (1) even though it's a stringed instrument, the plectrum (bachi) striking the skin produces a percussive sound; (2) it's in the lute family but has no frets; (3) the Japanese tune the strings three different ways, and (4) known of these tunings has a fixed absolute pitch--the lowest note is chosen to match the singer's range. Also, Tsugaru-style shamisen music is the only traditional Japanese music where improvisation is encouraged.

Accessories: The player wears a knitted band called a "finger-hanger" (Japanese: yubikake) between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand to reduce friction with the neck. A rubber mat (hizagomu) is placed on the knee (or sometimes glued to the bottom of the instrument) to prevent the instrument from slipping. A decorative cover (dodake) protects the top of the body from the player's forearm, and vice versa.

Types and Manufacture: Shamisen are made only in Japan. It difficult even to find strings for them in the USA.

There are three types: thin-neck, medium-neck, and thick neck. The thick-neck type is used for Tsugaru-style music and by Kevin Kmetz in Fishtank Ensemble. It is a much heavier instrument than the medium-neck, and is also a couple inches longer.

"Electric shamisen" are available from one maker, Shamisen-Katoh. These have built-in acoustic pick-up. Some models have an equalizer and volume controls on the back.

Tunings: Three different relative tunings are used in Japanese traditional music:

In practice, ease of fingering determines which tuning is used, and scores indicate which tuning is used for a paritcular piece. Western music (which, unlike traditional Japanese music, uses many chords) is usually played in the Niagari tuning.

The shamisen does not have a standard pitch for the lowest string. The instrument is usually tuned to match the range of the singer. For example, the thick-necked shamisen can be tuned with a lowest note from about A to about D, with B as the most common.

So the absolute pitch of the instrument is determined by two factors: the choice of a pitch for the lower string and the choice of which tuning to use for the other two strings.

Because of its strings are traditionally made of silk, and because they are fastened at the bottom with a cord, the shamisen does not stay in tune for very long. The player must constantly re-tune, sometimes even while playing a piece.

Tsugaru Style: Folk music from the Tsugaru region (now part of Aomori Prefecture in northern part of the main island of Japan) gave rise to a unique style of shamisen playing. In the 19th and early 20th century, this was performed by wondering beggars called bosama, many of whom were blind. In the middle of the 20th century, this style came to be characterized by fast tempi, loud dynamics, and many special techniques such as (to use guitar terminology) "pull-offs", "hammer-ons" and (in bowed string terminology) left-hand pizzicato. It is also the only Japanese (more or less) traditional music that encourages improvisation.

Recordings: Today the shamisen is even used for rock-based music by popular Japanese recording artists such as Agatsuma and the Yoshida Brothers.

Masters of the traditional style available on CD include the late TAKAHASHI Chikuzan (a blind musician and former bosama) and the late YAMADA Chisato. Kevin Kmetz studied with the contemporary master AKIHITO Narumi. Young players in Japan include the very exciting NITTA Masahiro.

Sociology: In terms of traditional Japanese culture, the shamisen was a "popular" instrument associated with folk music, geisha, entertainers, and in the case of Tsugaru shamisen, (usually) blind beggars called "bosama". This contrasts sharply with Japanese instruments such as the koto, which is associated with the nobility and with "proper" young women.

Perhaps the association of the shamisen with the common people is because the shamisen came to Japan from Okinawa and fairly late (in 16th century), and not directly from China much earlier as did many other instruments. The ancient Chinese sanxian became the Okinawan sanshin, which eventually became the Japanese shamisen (also called the samisen and in Tsugaru, jamisen). All three instruments are still played today.

(Information about this instrument is scare. Remember, you read it here first!)

Musical Saw

Playing: The sound is produced by bowing the smooth edge of the blade. The player changes the pitch by bending the blade. The bow strings are treated with rosin, just as on other bowed-instruments.

Origin:. Unknown. The instrument may have arisen among woodcutters in Scandinavia or South America--no one is quite sure. I have not seen any mention of the musical saw before the 20th century.

History: A Vaudeville act called the "Weaver Brothers" first brought the saw to the attention of the public in 1919. The instrument was popularized by a player named Clarence Mussehl. In the 1920s, over 20,000 musical saws from factories in the U.S.A., England, France, Germany and Sweden ( reference).

Another famous player was the actress and singer, Marlene Dietrich. She learned to play the saw during the filming of Café Electric in Vienna in 1927. She had previously played the violin as an amateur, but became known for a time as "The First Lady of the Musical Saw". She was still playing the saw to entertain US troops during WW II.

Theremin

Description: An electronic musical instrument that senses the positions of the players hands, without actually being touched. You often hear it in the sound tracks to 1950s Science Fiction movies, but serious music has been written for the instrument.

The original instrument had two antennas: a loop and a rod. The right hand (the rod) controled the pitch and left hand (the loop) controled the volume.

History: Invented by Soviet Scientist Leon Theremin (originally called Lev Sergeivitch Termen) in 1919. Theremin played his instrument for USSR dictator Lenin and toured Europe and the USA. He was a brilliant scientist and electronic engineer and had many other electronic inventions. (After his death in 1993, it came out that he had also been a spy for the KGB--a very successful one. He also invented one of the first electronic listening devices, or "bugs")

Use by Fishtank Ensemble: Ursula Knudsen played a mini-theremin for a while, before returning to real love, the musical saw.

Double Bass

Origin and History: Scholars disagree on whether the double base should be regarded as the lowest member of the viola family or as the only surviving descendant of the viola de gamba family (related to the largest viola de gamba, the violone). However, there can be no doubt that the proportions of the double bass are much deeper than those of the violin or viola.

According to Paul Brun (A New History of the Double Bass), while the outside of the double base resembles the viola de gambe, the inside construction is closer to the viola. If this is correct, then perhaps the double bass is best regarded as of mixed heritage.

Modern double basses usually have four strings, but may sometimes have five.

The 20th century saw a great development of virtuosi bass playing.

The continuing popularity of the double base is testified to by its use in classical music, folk, blue grass and jazz--amazingly, without any sense of it being a "cross-over" instrument. For example, it is regarded by jazz musicians as a quintessential jazz instrument. In all these styles of acoustic music, there is no satisfactory substitute for the double bass and it is an important part of Fishtank Ensmeble's sound.

Percussion