45. ミャンマーの伝統楽器「サウン・ガウ」 Myanmar’s Traditional Music Instrument
曲により使用される音階は主に3通りある。
ソファミドシ
ソミレドシ
ソミレドラ
16本の弦をその都度調弦して演奏する。ミラレソの4弦の調弦で済むバイオリンでも手こずっているのにその4倍の数の弦を調弦するとは、なんと難しい楽器だろう。それに上記の3通りに表現してはみたものの、実は西洋音楽の音階に置き換えられない音なのだそうだ。西洋の音階に当てはめて楽譜を作成する流れの中、伝統の音階で今なお演奏なさる方も少数おられると聞く。民族の音が失われてゆくのがわびしい気がする。
Myanmar traditional harp named “saung gauk” or “Myanmar saun” has been played since the days of early Kingdom. The body is made of Padauk tree, the blossoms of which are almost equivalent to those of Japanese cherry blossoms in the people’s sentiment, plus that the blossoming of Padauk symbolizes their new year holidays. The harp is japanned and some are gorgeously decorated with gold foil. The 16 strings used to be of silk, but today they are replaced by durable nylon. The instrument should not be put directly on the floor for two reasons, one for the bottom shape not suitable and the other for that Myanmar people hold deep respect to their instrument. In Japan, it is well-known through the movie “The Burmese Harp”.
Three kinds of scales are used depending on which music he or she plays:
1) so fa mi do ti
2) so mi re do ti
3) so mi re do la
Each time a player tunes each of 16 strings. I find it rather troublesome in tuning only 4 strings of my violin to fixed mi-la-re-so, but saung gauk requires 4 times more tuning. What a difficult instrument it is to play! Moreover, their real traditional scales are hard to put into the western music notes. There is a slight difference existing between their notes and those of western prevalent music. I am sorry if that could cause a subtle loss of their traditional music as a players’ age group gets younger.