Music of Eastern Asia

1. Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan Music of Eastern Asia

2. Time to write… • What are your preconceived notions about Asian music? What do you already know? What do you think about it? What do you want to know or learn?

3. China

4. China • There is evidence of music in China as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC – 256 BC) • The legendary founder of music in Chinese mythology was Ling Lun, who made bamboo pipes tuned to the sounds of birds. A powerful ruler once asked him whether it was moral if he preferred popular music to the classics. The answer was that it only mattered that the ruler loved his subjects.

5. China • The Imperial Music Bureau, first established in 221–207 BC, was greatly expanded in 140–87 BC and charged with supervising court music and military music and determining what folk music would be officially recognized. • The oldest known written music is “Youlan” or the “Solitary Orchid,” attributed to Confucius • In ancient China the social status of musicians was much lower than that of painters, though music was seen as central to the harmony and longevity of the state. • Almost every emperor took folk songs seriously, sending officers to collect songs to inspect the popular will.

6. China Chinese notation (1410)

7. China • They divide their instruments into eight tones: silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and hide. This is one of the first musical classifications ever. • Silk instruments are mostly stringed instruments • Bamboo mainly refers to woodwind instruments • Wood instruments are usually ancient • Stone is mainly stone chimes

8. China • The famous dragon dance with music is also a remembered tradition. It is seen on Chinese New Year across the world by millions. It is not known when the tradition started, but it is believed to be thousands of years ago, as entertainment of former emperors, royals, and nobles. It was and still is a very important dance in the Chinese culture.

9. China • Traditional music • Traditional music • Weird modern pseudo traditional music

10. China • The New Culture Movement of the 1910s and 1920s evoked a great deal of lasting interest in Western music • A number of Chinese musicians returned from studying abroad to perform Western classical music, composing work hits on Western musical notation system • Symphony orchestras were formed in most major cities and performed to a wide audience in the concert halls and on radio. • Many of the performers added jazz influences to traditional music, adding xylophones, saxophones and violins, among other instruments

11. China • The golden age of music would come to an end when the Communist party denounced Chinese popular music as yellow music • Maoists considered pop music as a decline to the art form in mainland China. • In 1949 the Kuomintang relocated to Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China was established. Revolutionary songs would become heavily promoted by the state.

12. China • After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, a new fast tempo Northwest Windstyle was launched by the people to counter the government. • The music would progress into Chinese rock, which remained popular in the 1990s. • However, music in China is very much state-owned as the TV, media, and major concert halls are all controlled by the Communist party. • The government mainly chose not to support Chinese rock by limiting its exposure and airtime. As a result, the genre never reached the mainstream in its entirety.

13. Chinese Classical Music • High Mountains and Flowing Water • Guangling Melody • Spring Moonlight on the Flowers by the River • Chinese opera • And more Chinese opera

14. Chinese Modern Folk and Pop • Song Zuying • Pop • Momo • Pop

15. Important Chinese Traditions • Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is the most important and ceremonious traditional festival in China, alike to Christmas Day in the US. It is not until the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, the Lantern Festival, that the Spring Festival is ended. People clean their houses, hang up lucky symbols, and feast together. • Dragon Dance, Lion Dance, festival activities, and this song

16. Important Chinese Traditions • The Lantern Festival is celebrated on January 15 of Chinese lunar calendar. It is the first full moon night in the Chinese lunar year, symbolizing the coming back of the spring. Families on that night will light up fancy lanterns and go out to appreciate the moon, set off fireworks, guess riddles written on lanterns, and eat rice glue balls to celebrate the festival. • The city is decorated, and lanterns are lit

17. Important Chinese Traditions • Qing Ming: The Chinese on this day sweep off and clean the tombs of their ancestors. They also only eat cold food. • The Double Seventh Festival, or Ingenuity-begging Festival (the festival to plead for skills) falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. On the festival, girls beg for bright heart and knitting and needlecraft skills from the goddess in heaven. In the romantic evening, girls prepare melons and seasonal foods under the moon before worship and prayers for skills and a good marriage.

18. Important Chinese Traditions • The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is the most important festival after the Chinese Lunar New Year. The moon on the night of the 15th day of lunar August is believed to be fuller and brighter than in other months. A full moon is a symbol of togetherness. As such, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunion. • Fire dragon dances are usually performed in Hong Kong on the festival. To pay tribute to the moon, ethnic tradition is to perform a ball-holding dance.

19. Important Chinese Traditions • Winter solstice is a rather big festival attached with great importance by the Chinese people. It is the day when the Northern Hemisphere has the shortest daytime and longest nighttime in the whole year. All across China, sacrifice to heaven and ancestors is offered on this day.

20. Time to write… • First, brainstorm about American traditions and holidays. What are the relationships to music? • Write an essay comparing and contrasting our American holidays to the traditional Chinese festivals.

21. Japan

22. Japan • The earliest forms of music were drums and flute music accompanying the kagura shrine dances. • From the 6th century on, music came from Korean and Chinese courts and monasteries and was performed at the Japanese court under the generic name gagaku (court music). • The 8th-century court established a music bureau (gagakuryo) to be in charge of musical duties, both ritual and entertainment. 

23. Japan • Meanwhile with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan in the 6th century, Buddhist rites and liturgical chants gave rise to the development of a great variety of bells, gongs, wooden clappers, plaques, percussion tubes, and rattles, many of which found their way also into kabuki music of the Edo period (1600-1868)

24. Japan • From the 17th century, the shamisen (three-stringed plucked lute) became popular, providing the quick rhythm in kabuki and bunraku theatre. • In the bunraku puppet theater, a skilled chanter was accompanied by a shamisen. • In kabuki, shamisen solos or choruses were combined with flutes and drums and an assortment of folk and religious instruments.

25. Percussion Instruments • There are many large Japanese drums, or taiko. • Most have two membranes which are nailed or laced and are struck with sticks. • The most dramatic is the Odaiko (big drum). • The hourglass-shaped tsuzumi was introduced from the Asian continent around the 7th century. • Myth- Taiko was started by Ame no Uzume. One day, fed up with her cruel younger brother, the sun goddess, Amaterasu, hid herself in a cave. The world became pitch dark and the other deities tried to appease Amaterasu. They held a big party in front of the cave and Ame no Uzume danced, stamping her feet on a wooden tub. The gods laughed and cheered loudly and the noise provoked Amaterasu to come out her cave, bringing back light.

26. String Instruments • The koto is a 13-string zither, about 2 meters long and made of wood • The shamisen is a 3-string lute. • The biwa is a short-necked lute • The yamatogoto is a six- or seven-stringed zither which, unlike the koto and other stringed instruments, is believed to be truly native to Japan. • In the story of Amaterasu, Ame no Uzume also dances to music provided by the twanging of six hunting bows. The six bows are lashed together to form an instrument, and the first yamatogoto is born.

27. Wind Instruments • The most famous is the shakuhachi bamboo flute. It has 4 or 5 finger holes on the front face and a thumb hole on the rear face. • Other winds are the nokan used in theatre performances and the side-blown takebue and shinobue often heard during festivals. • According to ancient Japanese legend it is believed that the sound of the flute was able to reach the dead. Wind instruments are associated with contemplation, ethereal creatures, and celestial beings.

28. Japan • Japanese folk songs (min’yō) can be grouped and classified in many ways but it is often convenient to think of four main categories: • Work songs • Religious songs • Songs used for gatherings such as weddings, funerals, and festivals (matsuri) • Children's songs (warabeuta) • Many of these songs include extra stress on certain syllables as well as pitched shouts (kakegoe). Kakegoe are generally shouts of cheer but in min'yō, they are often included as parts of choruses  

29. Modern Japan • Festival •  In the 1950s, tango and other kinds of Latin music, especially Cuban music, became very popular in Japan. A distinctively Japanese form of tango called dodompa also developed. • Westernized pop music began around 1912. After WWII, kayōkyoku became associated became very popular. More Western-style music was called Japanese pop ( or simply 'JPop')

30. Modern Japan • In the mid 1980s, when 'world music' became a generally accepted term, some Japanese started to look at themselves and wonder what their own country had to offer. • There was traditional music, but this had mostly been preserved and held little connection to most Japanese people. • Pop music on the other hand, had lost virtually any trace of anything inherently Japanese. • Japanese musicians found themselves attracted to the music of Okinawa. Japanese roots music became very popular, and has continued

31. More JPop • And then this happened… • Electronic performer • Baby Metal

32. Contemporary Japan Genres • JPop • JRock • Punk Rock • Heavy and Extreme Metal • Electropop • Dance/Disco Music • Hip-Hop • Roots Music • Latin, reggae, ska • Noise • Theme music • Game music

33. Your Turn to Teach… • Investigate Japanese traditions. Select one and be prepared to present it to the class.

34. Traditions/Festivals • New Year (shogatsu) • Coming of Age (seijin no hi) • Beginning of spring (setsubun) • National Foundation Day (kenkokukinenbi) • Doll's Festival (hinamatsuri) • Spring Equinox Day (shunbun no hi) • Showa Day (Showa no hi) • Constitution Day (kenpokinenbi) • Greenery Day (midori no hi) • Children's Day (kodomo no hi) • Star Festival (tanabata) • Ocean Day (umi no hi) • Obon • Respect for the Aged Day (keiro no hi) • Autum Equinox Day (shubun no hi) • Health and Sports Day (taiiku no hi) • Culture Day (bunka no hi) • Seven-Five-Three (shichigosan) • Labour Thanksgiving Day (kinrokansha no hi) • Emperor's Birthday (tenno no tanjobi)

35. Korea

36. Korea • Traditional Korean music includes both the folk, vocal, religious and ritual music styles of the Korean people. • Korean music, along with arts, painting, and sculpture has been practiced since prehistoric times. • Two distinct musical cultures exist in Korea today: traditional music (Gugak) and Western music (yangak).

37. Korea • Korean music history is divided into three periods: ancient, medieval, and modern. • The ancient period dates from the ancient tribal states to the foundation of Goryeo dynasty. • The distinguishing characteristics of this period are: • The development of akkamu (music, songs, and dance) performed in the worship rites of heaven and earth of the ancient society • The introduction of some instruments from Central Asia during the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.-668 AD) • The development of hyangakki (indigenous instruments) in each of the Three Kingdoms

38. Korea • Also in this period, Buddhist and shamanistic dancing, and shamanistic drum music are present, as well as a melodic dance music called sinawi. • Traditional Korean music can be divided into at least four types: courtly, aristocratic, scholarly, and religious.

39. Korea • Court music refers to the music originally developed in the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1905) • Aristocratic music was a form of chamber music called jeongak. • Scholarly music was a form of music to challenge the musician and to study form • Religious music in Korea is centered on the three main religious influences in Korea's historical development: Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shamanism

40. Korean Folk • Korean folk music is varied and complex, but all forms maintain a set of rhythms, called Changdan, and a loosely defined set of melodic modes.   • In Korea there are many variations of Changdan with each name designating a certain type of meter, tempo, and beat. • The vocal styles and melodies change dramatically from region to region.

41. Korean Folk • Pansori is a long vocal and percussive music played by one singer and one drummer. In this traditional art form, sometimes rather misleadingly called 'Korean Opera', a narrator may play the parts of all the characters in a story, accompanied by a drummer. • Pungmul is a Korean folk music tradition that is a form of percussion music that includes drumming, dancing, and singing. Most performances are outside, with dozens of players, all in constant motion.

42. Korean Folk • Sanjo is entirely instrumental music that shifts rhythms and melodic modes during the song. It is played without a pause in faster tempos. The tempos increases in each movement. The general style of the sanjo is marked by slides in slow movements and rhythmic complexity in faster movements. • Chŏngak means literally "right (or correct) music", and its tradition includes both instrumental and vocal music, which were cultivated mainly by the upper-class.

43. Korean Folk • Nongak, means "farmers' music.” It is performed typically in an open area of the village • Shinawi is the shamanistic music which is performed during a Korean shaman's ritual dance performance to console and to entertain deities • Salpuri is a dance for soul cleansing and literally means , "to wash away bad ghosts". Salpuri’s modern movements represent the shown human hopes and aspirations.

44. Korean Instruments • Traditional Korean instruments can be broadly divided into three groups: string, wind and percussion instruments. • String instruments: • Gayageum (12-string zither) • Geomungo (six-string plucked zither) • Ajaeng (seven-string zither) • Haegum (two-string vertical fiddle)

45. Korean Instruments • Wind instruments: • Daegeum (large transverse flute) • Piri (cylindrical oboe) • Grass Flute • Hojok or Taepyongso • Saenghwang (mouth organ) • Panpipes • Hun (ocarina) • Danso (small-notch vertical flute) • Flute

46. Korean Instruments • Percussion instruments:  • Jing (large hanging gong) • Kkwaenggwari (hand-held gong) • Buk (barrel drum) • Janggu (hourglass drum) • Bak (clapper) • Pyeongjong (bronze bells) • Pyeongyeong(stone chimes) • Chuk (square wooden box with mallet) • Eo (tiger-shaped scraper)

47. Korea • After the division of Korea in 1951, Korea was split, into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or North Korea and the Republic of Korea or South Korea. • Revolutionary song-writing traditions were channeled into support for the state, eventually becoming a style of patriotic song called taejung kayo in the 1980s, combining classical and Korean traditional musical forms similar to Soviet patriotic music.

48. North Korea • In North Korea, culture, including music, is tightly controlled by the government. Listening to South Korean music "can be considered a crime.” Foreign music is lumped into one genre which the North Korean government calls "jazz.” • The characteristic marchlike, upbeat music of North Korea is carefully composed, rarely individually performed, and its lyrics and imagery have a clear socialist content. Some religious or original folk music may still exist in North Korea, but reliable sources are absent in the west. • Many North Korean pop songs are usually performed by a young female singer with an electric ensemble, percussionist and accompanying singers and dancers

49. South Korea • Music of South Korea has evolved over the course of the decades since the end of the Korean War, and has its roots in the music of the Korean people. • Contemporary South Korean music can be divided into three different main categories: Traditional Korean folk music, popular music (K-pop), and Western-influenced non-popular music.

50. Modern Korean Music • Kpop • Kpop more • Kpop again • And this • Korean Rock