Japanese music was influenced by Chinese court music and the music of other Asian countries like India and Indonesia. The introduction of Buddhism led to the development of court music called Gagaku. Japanese music uses two basic scales: male (yo-sen) and female (in-sen). Most folk music has disappeared as Japan modernized but some composers continue traditions by blending Japanese and foreign elements. Important Japanese musical instruments include woodwinds like sho and shakuhachi, strings like koto and shamisen, and percussion. Gagaku is highly refined music performed at imperial courts for over 1000 years, divided into instrumental (kangen) and dance (bugaku) genres. Major theatrical forms are Noh drama, Kabuki theater
Japanese music was influenced by Chinese court music and the music of other Asian countries like India and Indonesia. The introduction of Buddhism led to the development of court music called Gagaku. Japanese music uses two basic scales: male (yo-sen) and female (in-sen). Most folk music has disappeared as Japan modernized but some composers continue traditions by blending Japanese and foreign elements. Important Japanese musical instruments include woodwinds like sho and shakuhachi, strings like koto and shamisen, and percussion. Gagaku is highly refined music performed at imperial courts for over 1000 years, divided into instrumental (kangen) and dance (bugaku) genres. Major theatrical forms are Noh drama, Kabuki theater
Japanese music was influenced by Chinese court music and the music of other Asian countries like India and Indonesia. The introduction of Buddhism led to the development of court music called Gagaku. Japanese music uses two basic scales: male (yo-sen) and female (in-sen). Most folk music has disappeared as Japan modernized but some composers continue traditions by blending Japanese and foreign elements. Important Japanese musical instruments include woodwinds like sho and shakuhachi, strings like koto and shamisen, and percussion. Gagaku is highly refined music performed at imperial courts for over 1000 years, divided into instrumental (kangen) and dance (bugaku) genres. Major theatrical forms are Noh drama, Kabuki theater
Japanese music was influenced by Chinese court music and the music of other Asian countries like India and Indonesia. The introduction of Buddhism led to the development of court music called Gagaku. Japanese music uses two basic scales: male (yo-sen) and female (in-sen). Most folk music has disappeared as Japan modernized but some composers continue traditions by blending Japanese and foreign elements. Important Japanese musical instruments include woodwinds like sho and shakuhachi, strings like koto and shamisen, and percussion. Gagaku is highly refined music performed at imperial courts for over 1000 years, divided into instrumental (kangen) and dance (bugaku) genres. Major theatrical forms are Noh drama, Kabuki theater
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JAPANESE MUSIC
• Japanese music was influenced by the court
music in China. Other countries like India and Indonesia contributed to the development of the Japanese musical styles. Before the historical period, the Japanese traditional music (Hogaku) developed an accompaniment of ritual dances called Kagura. The introduction of Buddhism inspired the Japanese to write notes, to develop musical compositions and to give birth to the court music named Gagaku. The development of Japanese music was a product of both historical circumstances and geographical location. Japanese has two basic types of scales: • Yo-sen (male scale) • In-sen (female scale) • The most important note in the pentatonic scale is the “cornerstone” or the third note. - If the relationship of the first note and the cornerstone form a perfect third or the sound of the interval of middle C to E in the Western notation, the scale is male. But if the interval of the first note and the third note is a perfect fourth as the sound of the middle C to F on the western scale, it is female. Most of Japan’s folk music disappeared as different provinces in Japan were modernized. Folk songs are more popular only to the older generations. Some modern composers kept the tradition of writing songs using the Japanese scales, foreign musical elements and familiar musical themes. JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: • Aerophones or Wind Sho – a mouth organ that is made from bamboo or wood Shakuhachi – a bamboo flute with four holes Fu’ye – a sophisticated side-blown flute with seven finger holes Hichiriki – an instrument similar to an oboe Chordophones or string • Koto – a famous Japanese zither, with 13 silk strings, that is laid horizontally on the floor • Shamisen – a flat-backed lute that has skin-covered bellies and three string • Gekkin – a flat-backed lute that has a very shallow body, wood belly, frets and silk strings attached to elegant pegs • Biwa – a Japanese version of the p’ipa that has four strings with frets on the belly and slim lateral tuning pegs Membranophones or percussion (tapping) • Kakko – a gagaku instrument that is made up of deer skin • Tsuri daiko – a suspended drum used in the gagaku ensemble that has a lacquered body and tacked head • Da-daiko – a huge gagaku drum suspended on an artistic frame and is struck with heavy lacquered beaters Idiophone or percussion (Striking)
• Shoko – hanging gong
• Musical instruments play an important role
in Japanese music especially in Japanese theatrical performance. Gagaku is a type of music performed at the Japanese Imperial courts for more than a millenium. Gagaku means “refined” (ga) “music” (gaku). Gagaku is not “music alone”, but rather music and pantomime. During the Heian Period, music was largely describes as an elite, mysterious and highly cultured like any other Japanese musical traditions. The musical styles were divided into two genres, togaku and komagaku which were performed at the court by nobles and professional musicians.
During the Nara Period, the Japanese
began collecting musical styles from countries in the Asian continent. Gagaku ensemble is grouped into four clusters of musicians that perform according to function and use.
●Kangen: an instrumental music
consisting of an ensemble including the hichiriki (double reed vertical flute), ryuteki (transverse flute, sho (bamboo mouth organ), gakusou (koto zither), gaku biwa (biwa lute) and various percussion instruments (kakko, shoko, taiko). ●Bugaku: a dance accompanied bay a part or the entire gagaku ensemble. The dances can be in solo, duet, or quartet with very colorful and expensive costumes and props. ●Songs: the songs of gagaku, rouei and saibara, have simple melodies that are mostly derived from ancient folk songs and accompanied by a scaled-down version of the kangen ensemble. ●Ritual music for Shinto ceremonies: the style of playing feels so depressing utilizing only a simple flute, zither, hichiriki and wooden clappers. JAPANESE THEATRICAL FORMS: • NOH – a classical theatrical form • KABUKI – a theater for the common people • BUNRAKU – a Japanese form of puppet theater