Japan

Japan consists of four main islands (north to south): Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; plus the Ryukyu Island chain to the south.

  • Its land mass slightly smaller than California

  • But its population 4 times as large as California

Introduction and Overview –

  • Japanese culture today is an intriguing mix of old and new, the traditional and the foreign.

True or False – Traditional Japanese music likes to include unpitched sounds: TRUE

True or False – Traditional Japanese music prefers steady beat pulses: FALSE

Cultural borrowing has been important in Japanese history—

  • Its writing system comes from China

  • Buddhism, one of its main religions, comes from India through Korea and China

  • It also has connections with Chinese and Korean music and musical instruments

  • But the Japanese have developed their own unique culture through their creativity and imaginative adaptation of foreign elements

  • They have modified the culture imported from China and elsewhere to suit their own needs and express their own individualism – making it into their own culture and developing their own cultural identity

Japan’s culture combines deep respect for tradition with creativity and flexibility 

  • They keep and adhere to ancient traditions

  • They also develop new traditions alongside the old

  • As a result they have many layers of culture and much diversity of music that they listen to

  • Types of music in Japan include Japanese traditional music, Western classical music, rock, jazz, punk, country western, etc.—like most places the preference in music varies by age and generation

Types of ancient traditional music include –

  • Instrumental music – including sankyoku (meaning three instruments)

  • Taiko drum ensembles (originally associated with Shinto ritual practices)

  • Festival and dance music

  • Folksong

  • Court music and dance – Gagaku (court music) and bugaku (court dance)

  • Theatrical music (3 forms) – noh, kabuki, bunraku (puppet theater)

  • Buddist chant

  • We will be looking at sankyoku instrumental music and the instruments associated with that, and the new tradition of taiko drumming

 Characteristics of Japanese Traditional Music –

  • Maximum effect from minimum means (getting a lot out of a little)

  • Minimal activity preferred

  • Silence is important – silence is an integral part of the musical soundscape considered to be just as important as sound

  • Often have sparseness of sound with strongly articulated notes

  • Requires calm and attentive listening

  • Most kinds of performance are formal and ritualized

Timbre

  • Traditional music likes to mix a variety of timbres

  • Example – the flowing sounds of the shakuhachi flute with more strongly articulated plucking sound of chordophones such as the koto

  • Traditional vocal style is nasal and tight (tight throat sound)

Unpitched sounds are commonly integrated into instrumental melodies

  • The idea of unpitched sounds comes from nature – the sound of water flowing or the wind blowing through the trees

  • Hear it in music in the breathy sound of the shakuhachi flute

  • Or slapping sounds, or twangy or buzzing of insects on the shamisen

Melody/Harmony

  • Often have short motifs (short musical ideas) repeated throughout a piece, in part or in entirety

  • Often repeat short sections several times in different ways with ornamentation

  • Complete repetition of phrases sometimes at beginning and end of a piece to lend air of finality to conclusion

  • Pitch movement can be slow—gets life from dynamic and timbre changes

  • Vocal music often has elaborate vocal ornamentation

  • Only Western-influenced Japanese music uses Western harmony

  • Traditional music is dominated by monophonic or heterophonic sound

Rhythm

  • Flexibility of pulse – often have irregular intervals between the pulses, and can change from free rhythms to more regular rhythms/beats

  • If there is a sense of beat, often in two, four, or eight

  • Have a wide variety of tempos, from very slow to very fast

A Basic Musical Form—Jo-ha kyu

  • Based on rhythmic rather than melodic changes

  • Jo—means introduction—slow beginning section

  • Ha—breaking apart—the tempo builds

  • Kyu—rushing—the tempo reaches its peak and slows before the piece ends

  • Idea of jo-ha-kyu – slow introduction, build up speed, different segments, rush to a peak and slow to close

 Summary—main characteristics of traditional Japanese music

  • Maximum effect from minimal means

  • Variety of timbres including unpitched sounds

  • Monophonic and heterophonic textures in an ensemble

  • Flexibility of pulse

 Japanese Traditional Instruments

  • Thought of as extremely refined artistic objects

  • We will look at the three main traditional instruments that are often played as solos or combined in groups of the sankyoku instrumental ensemble

The Shakuhachi –

  • Classification – Flute type aerophone

  • Made of bamboo from bottom part of stalk, including part of the root

  • Name comes from length of the standard instrument:

  • Shaku = traditional unit of measure

  • Hachi=8

  • Meaning = 1.8 shaku (ca. 54 cm) (21 inches)

  • Has 4 holes in front, 1 in back for thumb (more modern 7-9 holes)

  • Can produce microtones and different timbres

  • Can get wavering tones (vibrato) from moving the head

  • When flourished – Tokugawa period (1600-1687) (after that period had great Western influence in Japanese music)

  • Who played and developed – Buddhist priests (often displaced Samurai) wandering the countryside playing the Shakuhachi and begging for upkeep –it was more honorable to beg than to lower oneself by becoming a merchant or farmer

  • [Because of its background the music has a Zen basis – Rely upon heightened awareness and intuition about life. Purpose—to reach enlightenment]

 Traditional shakuhachi music in general –

  • Music has free rhythm; lacks regular beat

  • Breathing is crucial in playing it (and its connection with Zen)

  • Breathing patterns important—each phrase takes one full breath

  • Exhaling of breath heard in dynamic level and tone quality of pitch

  • There can be dramatic shifts in dynamic level according to how quickly air is expelled

  • Almost every phrase increases or decreases in volume

  • The sound grows fainter at the end of the phrase when the air runs out

  • When this dynamic pattern is broken it makes a pronounced impression

  • Often have repetitions of melodic material

  • There are often pauses and rests which emphasizes the relationship between sound and silence

  • The underlying idea is that sound enhances silence and silence enhances sound

  • Practice breathing in different ways and see if you can make different rhythmic and dynamic sounds with your breath

  • Example - Koden Sugomori (Tsuru no sugomori)

  • Tsuru no sugomori depicts various aspects of the life cycle of the crane, a bird symbolizing longevity in Oriental thought. A pair of cranes build a nest, lay an egg, raise a fledgling and rear it to maturity before bidding it farewell as it flies away and they are left to live out their allotted life span. Although the whole piece can be appreciated as a piece of absolute music, it is equally interesting to note the variety of programmatic playing techniques used in describing the wing flutters (trill-like fluttering effects, heard), the cries (another trill-like technique), and even the fledgling's departure from its parents (a simple melodic line). As a whole, this piece is thought to emphasize Buddhistic values of affection between family members

The Koto –

  • Classification – zither-type chordophone

  • Has a long wooden body (ca 1.8 meters, close to 6 feet)

  • 13 strings, traditionally made of silk but now also made with nylon

  • Bridges (ivory or plastic) – one for each string – hold the strings above the surface of the inst

  • Bridges are movable to change tuning as needed

  • Came to Japan from China

  • Players pluck the strings with ivory or plastic picks attached to right hand thumb, first, second fingers

  • Left hand can press stings to get different pitches

The Shamisen –

  • Classification – lute-type chordophone

  • Three-stringed long-necked lute

  • Unfretted

  • Square wooden body covered with cat skin

  • Excellent for theater—express highly dramatic situations

  • Related to shansin of Okinawa and san-hsien of China

  • Shansin covered with snake skin, shamisen uses cat or dog skin.

Sankyoku music = three instruments

  • Koto, Shamisen, Shakuhachi

  • Old traditional – very restrained, very rhythmically sparse

  • May add a voice – tight in throat, strained, a little nasal

  • Everyone plays the same melody – but in own style of ornamentation heterophonic texture

  • Koto and shamisen – sound decays quickly, have very sharp articulation with silence between notes

  • Shakuhachi and voice have more flowing and continuous sound

  • Be able to hear the difference between Japanese Sankyoku Music and Chinese Silk and Bamboo Ensemble music

Japanese Taiko – A New Tradition

  • Taiko = Japanese word for drum

  • Classification – Membranophone

  • Struck with 2 sticks called bachi

Historical Uses of Taiko –

  • History goes back 2000 years –

  • Used on battlefield to threaten and frighten the enemy and give commands

  • Also used in daily village life – temple, religious rites, festivals, harvest celebrations

Modern Taiko –

  • Began in 1950s

  • Daihachi Oguchi assembled the 1st modern taiko ensemble – called kumi-daiko

  • Immigrants brought taiko to the US in early 1900s – mostly played in temples, martial arts schools or accompanying other arts

  • 1968 – 1st North American kumi-daiko group formed in San Francisco

 About the drums -

  • There are two categories of taiko –

  • Byou-daiko category – nail headed taiko

  • Shime-daiko – rope tensioned taiko

Byou-daiko category of drums

  • Nail-headed drum

  • Head stretched onto the drum held with nails

  • Body carved from a single log

  • Heads made of cowhide – 3-4 year old black Japanese cows

  • Cannot adjust tension once nailed into place

Standard byou-daiko

O-daiko = big fat drum

  • The head is 3-6 feetin in diameter

Shime-daiko category of drums

  • Rope tensioned drums

  • Heads tied into place with a rope – heads sewn onto metal rings and tied into place

  • Body is make from several slats fit together (barrel style)

  • Can adjust tension with ropes tied around the middle

Playing a taiko –

Basic rhythm:  

  • San = 1 beat

  • Doko = 2 half beats

  • 1 doko = same amount of time as 1 san

 

Practice:
1          2          3          4
San      San      San      San
(right) (left)    (right) (left)

doko    doko    doko    doko    [dokos should be played evenly]
 (r-l)    (r-l)    (r-l)    (r-l)

 

 

Drumming pattern 1:

 San         doko            San        doko
(Right    right left)      (Right    right left)
(long  short short)     (long   short short)

 

Drumming pattern 2:

Doko           doko            Doko         doko
(right left   right left )   (right left  right left )
(short short short short) (short short  short short)