Download STUDY GUIDE : THE MUSIC OF JAPAN

STUDY GUIDE : THE MUSIC OF JAPAN
Traditional Japanese music genres have long histories but have changed little in hundreds of
years. In a modern world, it could be perceived as stagnation, but it is in fact the reflection of the
Japanese value of stability. Performances are uniform with great decorum. Music types include
court music, musical drama, chamber music, and chant. Traditional Japanese music is performed
today in recital halls inside great department stores in the Ginza area of Tokyo. The music is
primarily pentatonic with auxiliary pitches.
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What is a pentatonic scale? How would you describe its sound?
Introduction
Explain the following terms:
Hogaku
Gagaku
Noh
Kabuki
Bunraku
Sokyoku
Sankyoku
Koto
Shamisen
Shakuhachi
Ryuteki
Nokhan
Fue
Hichiriki
Sho
Chobo
Debayashi
Nagauta
Kyogenkata
O-daiko
Kabuki (theater)
What is the significance of the following:
Kabukiza
Degatari
Geza
Bunraku (puppet plays)
Gidayubushi
Chikamatsu Monzaemon
Noh (theater)
 What are the origins of Noh?
 Who was Zeami Motokiyo? What did he do?
Explain the following:
Uta
Hayashi
Taiko
Kakegoe
Yokyoku
Kotobe
Fushi
Yowagin
Tsuyogin
Ko-tsuzumi and o-tsuzumi
Shinto Music
Define the following terms:
Mikagura
Kagura
Buddhist Music
Wagon
Kagura-bue
Shakubyoshi
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What is Shomyo?
What are the Nara and Heian periods? Why are they significant?
What is Mahayana Mahayana Buddhism
What are the Ryo and ritsu?
Sokyoku (koto music)
 What is the Kumiuta?
 What is Danmono?
 What is Jiuta?
 What are the three part of Tegotomono?
Gagaku
 What are the togaku and komagaku? How did they come to be?
 What are Kangen and Bugaku?
 Explain the constituent parts to Jo-ha-kyu?
Gagaku Instruments
 What are the different instruments used in Gagaku? What are role or function does each
play in music?
Deeper Discussion
 Generally, in comparison to Japan, how does our culture regard the performance and
listening of music 1,000, or even 500-years-old?
 How can the development of Western opera or musicals be compared to the development
of Japanese genres such as noh and kabuki?
 How may we account for the lack of musical puppet theater in the West, and what might
be in its place?
 How do the practices of sokyoku and sankyoku compare to their contemporary musical
counterparts in Europe?
 What is Gregorian chant? How does it compare with Buddhist chant? How does it
contrast it with Shinto music?
 May we find equivalents to court music in the West? Why or why not?
 How have women been regarded in musical performance in the West in comparison or in
contrast to Japanese women from Edo to the twentieth-century?