Shamisen three" or "lowered third" refers to tuning the shamisen to honchoshi and lowering the 3rd string (the string with the highest pitch) down a whole step, so that now the instrument is tuned in fourths, e.g. D, G, C. Instead of having a set tuning, such as on a guitar (i.e. E, A, D, G, B, E) or a violin (i.e. G, D, A, E), the shamisen is tuned according to the register of the singer, or simply to the liking of the player. The shamisen player can tune the shamisen to whatever register desired, so long as the above
String Quartets (Ligeti) work, like the first string quartet, but was also considered to be in six or three movements, with the three lasting about 12' + 3' + 6' minutes in total. The piece would be dedicated to the Arditti Quartet, entirely microtonal, inspired by the hyperchromaticism of Gesualdo, and inspired by melodic ideas from Burma, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Java, Bali, and Cameroon. It's also suggested that the entire quartet would be tuned in scordaturas based on harmonic partials, akin to the violin and viola in Ligeti's Violin Concerto. The fourth quartet would be dedicated to the Kronos Quartet, and be inspired by