Post on 15-Jul-2015
transcript
Introduction to Japanese Music
Week 1 - Gagaku
General Points
• Different development to European music
• Free and flexible rhythms
• Mostly vocal genres
• Polyphony rarely found
Nara Period: 710 - 794
Heian Period: 794 - 1185
Kamakura Period: 1185 - 1333
Muromachi Period: 1336 - 1573
Azuchi-Momoyama Period: 1568 - 1603
Edo Period: 1603 - 1868
Meiji Resotration: 1868
Music at the Court
• Music needed for rituals, ceremonies, festivals
• Shōmyō – Buddhist chanting
• Gagaku – music of the court
Left and Right
• The oldest extant orchestral music in the world?
• Tōgaku: music of the Left - Chinese
• Komagaku: music of the Right – Korean
• Bugaku: music with dance
• Kangen: instrumental music
The Ensemble
The Ensemble
• Hichiriki
• Ryuteki
• Shō
• Komabue
The Ensemble
• Koto
• Biwa
The Ensemble
• Kakko (san-no-tsuzumi)
• Shōko (ōshōko)
• Taiko (dadaiko)
Bugaku
• In the Heian period, dances were structured in pairs with a dance of the left and of the right
• Deliberately slow and reserved in movement
How is it Played?
• ‘It is often said that the kakko plays the role of conductor’ – not true?
• A complex co-relation between instruments
• ‘If the tempo is strict, it is not gagaku’
Form, Tempo
• Jo – Ha – Kyu
• Pieces begin with solo transverse flute
• End with a tōmete, or section in free rhythm
• Bugaku faster and more rhythmically strict
Melody, Theory
• Tōgaku often bi-modal or poly-modal
• Rhythms described by formuale:
‘haya-ya-hyōshi hyōshi-hachi’
• Use of Chinese seven-tone scales, Ryosen and Rissen
• Ryo (ryossen)
• Ritsu (rissen)
Shinto
• Kunibori-no-utamani
• Indigenous religious and ceremonial music
• Kagurabue, hichiriki, wagon, shakubyōshi
Other Gagaku forms
• Rōei
• Minamoto no Masanobu (920-93)
• Sung excerpts of Chinese poetry
• Saibara
• Share melodies with togaku, komagaku and folk songs
Saibara
• ‘Horse-tending music,’ or ‘Saibaraku’?
• Wind, strings and shakubyoshi drum
• Six pieces remain
Who plays music?
• Professional families of musicians and dancers from the Heian period
• ‘Gakke’ families
• Nobles also participated
Go-Shirakawa
• Emperor at the end of the Heian period (1155-85)
• Key figure in the Hōgen and Heiji rebellions, resulting in the establishment of a MinamotoShogun
• A great musician, who made a 20 volume collection of imayō texts and teachings.
Etenraku
• Exists on three modes, as essentially different pieces
• Hyōjō mode the most common
• Ki-sho-ten-ketsu form, something similar to
A-B-A
After the Heian Period…
• Much died out during the long period of warfare in the 15th and 16th centuries
• Gakke families fled Kyoto, traditions interrupted
• Saibara and rōei largely vanished
Notation and Transmission
• Shōga : mnemonic strings of syllables, indicating phrasing and pitch relations
• Largely oral transmission, with tablature collections
• Present-day gagaku united the three centres from the Edo period: Kyōto, Ōsaka, Nara
Writings and Sources
• Shinsen Ōjō-fu, Prince Sadayasu (920)
music notation for transverse flute
• Gagaku notation not published due to a lack of practicing musicians
• Meiji Sentei-fu (1876/88), standardized scores for complete repertoire
After the Heian Period…
• Emperor Ogimachi (1557-86) played a large part in restoring gagaku traditions
• Gagaku also found a place in other centres, such as Bizen province, under Mitsumasa
Post-Meiji Developments
• ‘Unchanged and unchanging’
• Kishimoto Yoshihide (1821-90)
• Toru Takemitsu, In an Autumn Garden (1973)
Melodic Theory
• Modern shō and biwa parts carry ancient Chinese melodies… ?
• Saibara melodies shared with tōgaku or komagaku cannot be heard… ?