Japanese Music Winchester College IGCSE
What the syllabus says:
Japanese Music
Court music and folk music differ, but some characteristics apply to all traditional music.
There is no chordal harmony.
Melodic parts seem to start at different times, only coming together at cadences.
Through-composed: a succession of new ideas, although there is musical form it does not depend on recognizable phrases being repeated.
Music is traditionally notated.
Improvisation is not a traditional element of the music.
Gagaku (Court music)
Typical features:
- Slow/free at the beginning, breaks away (speeding up), ends rapidly.
- Uses jo-ha-kyū
- Heterophonic texture often. Often sparse/thin texture
- Use of repeated notes getting faster on the kakko.
- Use of an ensemble with these particular wind/string/percussion instruments together.
- The instruments enter one after the other.
- Each piece is based around a melody played by several instruments playing heterophonically.
- The melody has to be memorised and not read from notation.
- The idea is to create a flowing composition.
Structure
- Pulse remains broadly the same throughout.
- Slow passage called ‘jo’ – rhythmic freedom.
- ‘Ha’ (breaking away) – structured pulse develops.
- ‘Kyū’ (hurried) – quick notes – musicians playing at speed.
- Music usually describes scenes, stories or individuals (nature).
- No improvisation.
Jo-ha-kyū (序破急). Roughly translated to "beginning, break, rapid", it essentially means that all actions or efforts should begin slowly, speed up, and then end swiftly.
Folk song and non-court music
Folk melodies are popular in their original form, or now as songs with piano accompaniment. They can also be a basis for instrumental pieces.
Typical features
- Free metre.
- Often a lyrical melody with an accompaniment.
- Wide variety of phrase lengths.
- Small number of instruments.
- Through composed.
- No drums.
Tonality: Gagaku & Folk Music
Two main scales: Ryō & Ritsu
The syllabus states that you will not be asked to differentiate them
Selected Instruments
Some string instruments
- Koto
- Biwa
- (Kokyū)
Koto
Many-stringed plucked instrument. Can pitch bend.
IDENTIFYING | often plays rippling accompaniment. Sounds resonant, notes sound for a while
Biwa
Four-stringed lute (guitar)—also plucked
IDENTIFYING | often sounds dry, and is strummed quickly in one go
(Kokyū)
Extra: not in syllabus but worth knowing. A three-stringed bowed instrument. Like an Erhu in Chinese music.
IDENTIFYING | it is melodic and is often identifiable as a non-plucked string instrument.
Some wind instruments
- Hichiriki
- Ryūteki
- Shakuhachi
- Shō
Hichiriki
Oboe-like double-reed instrument
IDENTIFYING | a shriekey sound, often using pitch bends
Ryūteki
Horizontally-blown flute (sort of like a modern flute only bamboo)
IDENTIFYING | soft flute sound but with a fairly direct tone quality
Shakuhachi
End-blown bamboo flute (like a recorder)
IDENTIFYING | soft flute sound, often with a breathy tone
Shō
Like a Chinese Sheng. A sort of mouth organ. Pipes produces the sound controlled by the small holes around the base
IDENTIFYING | produces a wash of notes all clustered together, sounds quite soft and is usually in the background of Gagaku
Some percussion instruments
- kakko
- taiko
Kakko
Small double-headed drum. Often playing slowly (reapeated noted) then speeding up at the beginning of a piece—in the Jo section.
IDENTIFYING | quite a high-picked, relatively unresonant drum
Taiko
Large / very large drum
IDENTIFYING | a deeper, more resonant sound