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The saung (; ; , ; also known as the saung-gauk, Burmese harp, Burma harp, or Myanmar harp) is an arched harp used in traditional Burmese music. The saung is regarded as a national musical instrument of Burma. The saung is unique in that it is a very ancient harp tradition and is said to be the only surviving harp in Asia.〔Miller, Terry E. and Sean Williams. ''The Garland handbook of Southeast Asian music''. Routledge, 2008. ISBN 0-415-96075-4〕〔However the site (Harp History ) site mentions that a similar instrument, called (according to the site) the ''pin nam tao'', whose picture is shown on the site, is played in Thailand today, the main difference being (according to the site) that the Burmese arched harp has 13 strings while the Thai arched harp has 15 strings. (In fact the picture purported to be that of the Burmese arched harp on the site shows an instrument with 16 strings and that of the purported Thai arched harp an instrument with 14 strings )〕 == Description == The Burmese harp is classified as an arched horizontal harp since the resonator body is more horizontal as opposed to the Western harp, which has a vertical resonator. The main parts of the harp are the body, the long curved neck, carved out of the root of a tree, and a string bar running down the center of the top of the body. The top of the resonator body is covered with a tightly stretched deer hide, heavily lacquered in red with four small circular sound holes. The standard dimensions of the saung are .〔 The neck terminates in a highly decorated representation of the bo tree leaf. The whole of the harp body is decorated with pieces of mica ("Mandalay pearls"), glass, gilt, and red and black lacquer. The stand is similarly decorated. The ends of the strings on the harp is decorated with red cotton tassels. The saung's strings are made of silk or nylon.〔 The thirteen to sixteen strings of the harp angle upwards from the string bar to the string bindings on the lower part of the curved arch of the neck. Traditionally, tuning was accomplished by twisting and adjusting the string bindings. Recently constructed harps have machine heads or tuning pegs to make tuning easier. The traditional silk strings have also been supplanted by nylon strings, but silk-stringed harps can still be seen. A full-sized harp has a body of about 80 cm long, 16 cm wide, and 16 cm deep, and the arch rises about 60 cm from the body. Smaller harps have been made for smaller players. The harp is played by sitting on the floor with the body in the lap, and the arch on the left.〔 The strings are plucked with the right hand fingers from the outside. The left hand is used to dampen the strings to promote clarity and produce staccato notes. Stopped tones are produced by using left thumbnail to press against the string from the inside to increase its tension. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saung」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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