home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The Best of the Bureau
/
The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso
/
dp
/
0037
/
00371.txt
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-08-07
|
18KB
|
324 lines
$Unique_ID{bob00371}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Japan
Music}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{International Society for Educational Information, Inc.}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Japan, Washington DC}
$Subject{music
japanese
dance
kabuki
noh
theater
japan
songs
classical
western}
$Date{1989}
$Log{}
Title: Japan
Book: The Japan of Today
Author: International Society for Educational Information, Inc.
Affiliation: Embassy of Japan, Washington DC
Date: 1989
Music
Nearly every evening Japan's major cities play host to a large number of
musical performances in concert halls that range in size from huge auditoriums
capable of seating 2,000 people to more intimate 100-seat halls. In addition
to Western classical music (including opera), rock, jazz, and Japanese popular
music concerts regularly attract full houses. Japanese traditional music,
meanwhile, continues to be performed and to maintain a special place in the
hearts of the Japanese. This coexistence of Western and traditional Japanese
styles gives the music world of present-day Japan a fascinating complexity not
seen in most Western countries.
Japanese traditional music
Japanese traditional music , which developed in close relation with
drama, dance , and other arts, is characterized by a predominance of vocal
over instrumental music.
Gagaku
Gagaku, the ancient court music of Japan, is played by an ensemble of
Japanese wind, string, and percussion instruments, including the yokobue (a
transverse flute), the sho (a cylindrical, standing instrument made from 17
bamboo tubes, each having a single reed), the so (a 13-stringed plucked
instrument that is the predecessor of the popular Japanese koto, which is
similar to a zither), the biwa (a pear-shaped instrument with four strings),
and taiko (drums). Gagaku is divided into instrumental, dance, and recitative
music. Though it resembles a Westernstyle orchestra, the central element of
the gagaku ensemble is its wind section.
The music of noh
Noh is a classical theatrical form that has its origins in the fourteenth
century. A noh troupe consists of the tachikata, performers who don masks,
act, and dance, and the hayashikata, musicians who are in charge of beating
time and intensifying the emotional atmosphere of the play. The noh wind and
percussion ensemble comprises the nokan (a vertical flute) and tsuzumi (small
hand drums). Before striking a beat on their instruments, the drummers voice
swooping shouts. The emphasis on timing is one of the characteristics of
Japanese traditional music.
The development of common people's music
Gagaku was the music of the nobility, and noh was patronized by the
samurai. During the seventeenth century, when Japan entered a long period of
isolation, there developed a music of the common people, represented by the
shamisen (a three-stringed plucked instrument) and the koto. The shamisen is
used to accompany joruri, narrative pieces that emphasize the lyrics over the
melody, and nagauta, songs primarily concerned with the melody. The music of
string instruments like the shamisen and the koto, as well as the shakuhachi
(a vertical bamboo flute), was fostered by an artistic sensibility quite
different from that which gave rise to Western music for the violin and cello
or for the flute and other woodwind instruments.
Folk songs
Japanese folk songs are classified according to the situation in which
they are sung or the function of the song. The first main category consists of
labor songs, including rice-planting, grass-cutting, and other songs related
to agriculture, songs related to fishing, and songs related to transportation,
such as boatmen's and herdsmen's songs. A second category includes songs for
festivals and celebrations, such as songs to welcome the gods before religious
rituals, songs to accompany the bridal procession to the house of the groom,
and New Year's songs. A third category consists of lullabies and other
children's songs.
The shamisen and the shakuhachi are sometimes used to accompany these
folk songs. Major changes in customs and life style in recent decades have
weakened the social foundation of folk songs, however, and they are now
performed mainly by professional folk singers and continued as an artistic
genre rather than as an essential part of the people's life.
Other types of music
Western classical music
In addition to Japanese traditional music and folk songs, the entire
range of Western classical music is practiced and performed in Japan. An
increasing number of Japanese performers are receiving top honors at renowned
international competitions, such as the Chopin International Competition for
Pianists and the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium prize for violinists and pianists.
Likewise, a growing number of Japanese performers have built a reputation for
themselves abroad. In the world of opera, soprano Azuma Atsuko, who sings at
the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Deutsche Opera Berlin, and elsewhere,
and Hayashi Yasuko, who is based in Milan, are active prima donnas on the
international stage. Iwaki Hiroyuki, the senior conductor of the NHK Symphony
Orchestra, Japan's oldest orchestra, is the chief conductor of the Melbourne
Symphony Orchestra, and Ozawa Seiji, the chief conductor of the New Japan
Philharmonic Orchestra, is also a music director at the Boston Symphony
Orchestra.
There are nine-full time orchestras in Tokyo, all of which give regular
performances. The programs span the baroque, classical, romantic and
contemporary periods-from the music of Bach to the symphonies of Mozart,
Beethoven, Schumann, ,and Mahler, and Debussy and Ravel's works for
orchestra, as well as ballet and opera. Japanese orchestras also give
overseas performances of recent works by contemporary Japanese composers.
In the past musical activity tended to be concentrated in Tokyo, but
these days it extends nationwide. Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, Sapporo, and other
major cities now have full-time orchestras, and a variety of musical festivals
are held throughout the country. Moreover, the number of foreign performers
visiting Japan continues to rise each year.
Activities of Japanese composers
In addition to pieces based on the standard forms and styles of Western
classical music, Japanese composers write a number of works for Japanese
instruments, or for a combination of Japanese and Western instruments.
Ensembles consisting only of Japanese instruments perform Japanese
contemporary music to audiences in and outside Japan. Takemitsu Toru, one of
Japan's most representative composers, has written not only purely orchestral
works like Textures, which employs avant-garde techniques, but also
commemorative works like November Steps for orchestra, biwa, and shakuhachi.
In addition, Moroi Makoto, who has experimented with electronic music, also
composed Taiwa Godai, a piece for two shakuhachi.
Since the 1970s works for taiko or for taiko and orchestra have also been
composed. In the 1980s composers have looked back even further, and thanks to
the activities of a number of Japanese, and also Western, composers, gagaku
and music for the sho have experienced a revival.
Popular music
Just as Japanese traditional music exists alongside Western classical
music, so Japanese and Western styles coexist in the realm of popular music,
too. Japanese popular music, called kayokyoku, embraces pieces based on the
distinct scales of traditional Japanese music, exemplified by enka, as well as
a genre labeled "new music," which features tunes that have been built on the
scales of Western music. "New music" has little Japanese influence and stands
in contrast to enka, which is based on Japanese musical scales, with
improvised grace notes and vibrato added that have their roots in the music of
noh.
Though less popular than kayokyoku, rock and jazz also have fairly large
followings and have had an impact on the other genres of popular music.
"Technopops," a recently developed genre of m