MUSIC 4TH QUARTER

1. MUSIC
TRADITIONAL ASIAN THEATER
MUSIC

2. AT THE END OF THE MODULE, YOU
SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
• Describe the instruments that accompany Kabuki and
Peking Opera.
• Listen to the music or accompaniment of the Kabuki and
Peking Opera.
• Appreciate diversity in music and culture of East Asia
(Japan & China) by describing how a story is
communicated through music in an Asian musical theater.

3. JAPANESE THEATER
(KABUKI)
The traditional form of popular theater began at the end of the
16th century and soon became the most successful theater
entertainment in the red-light districts of the great cities.
Kabuki is a Japanese traditional theatre art that is performed in a
stylized manner which combines acting, singing, and dancing.
This rich blend of music, mime, dance, costume, and props has
been in existence for almost four centuries. The term Kabuki in
modern Japanese means: ka, “song”; bu, “dance”; and ki, “skill.”

4. ” It is a highly play that actors show their wide range of skills in
visual and vocal performance. Kabuki was founded in 1603 by
Okuni, a Shinto priestess. She and her troupe of mostly women
performed dances and comic sketches on a temporary stage set
up in the dry riverbed of the Komagawa River in Kyoto. Her
troupe gained national recognition and their plays evolved into
kabuki that would later become one of the three major classical
theater of Japan.

6. There are Japanese musical instruments that accompany the Kabuki. These
instruments were already discussed in the 2 nd quarter. Some of the instruments
are: shamisen, tsuzumi, and odaiko.
Shamisen- The most common of kabuki
instruments. It is a plucked stringed
instrument.

7. Tsuzumi- An hourglass-shaped
drum.
Odaiko- A big drum.

8. VOCAL PATTERN AND TECHNIQUES
1) Ipponchōshi or the continuous pattern – used in
speeches building up to an explosive climax in the aragoto
(oversize, supernatural, rough hero) style; it requires an
extraordinary breath control that only few experts succeed in
achieving.
2) Nori technique – adapted from the chanting of jōruri,
implies a very sensitive capacity of riding the rhythms of the
shamisen (string instrument), declaiming each accompaniment.
3) Yakuharai technique - the subtle delivery of poetical text
written in the Japanese metrical form of alternating seven and
five syllables.

9. VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL FEATURES
Dances and movements are accompanied by shamisen music which
collected and popularized a number of aspects from all previous forms of
Japanese music, from gagaku (classic court music imported from China
during the 18th century), kagura (performed in Shinto shrines), nō (chant
derives from shōmyō, the sophisticated and rich tradition of Buddhist
chanting), down to the folk songs and fashionable songs of the day. The
most popular shamisen music was called nagauta (long song) which
reached a golden age in the first half of the 19th century as dance music
for the henge mono or quick change pieces.

10. Nagauta music is very flexible, can be performed by one shamisen or by
an entire orchestra of twenty musicians, of which ten are shamisen
players, while other play flutes (fue taken from the nō) and drums (small
drum-kotsuzumi; waist drum-ōtsuzumi; stick drum-taiko).
If you have a smartphone, check out the link below to hear an example of a Kabuki
Performance from Japan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9QHX0LTL0w

11. CHINESE THEATER (PEKING OPERA)
Peking opera is a form of traditional Chinese theater which
combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance, and acrobatics. It arose
in the late 18th century and became fully developed and recognized by the
mid19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty
court and has come to be regarded as one of the cultural treasures of
China.
Peking opera, also known as the Beijing opera, still follows
traditional Chinese arts in stressing meaning, rather than precise actions.
The opera artists’ goal is to make every performance exceptionally
beautiful in every movement they will make.

12. Performances are accompanied by music - usually played on three types
of instruments: wind instruments (aerophone), string instruments
(chordophone), and percussion instruments (membranophone or
idiophone).

13. THE MAIN INSTRUMENTS ARE CHINESE IN
ORIGIN
Jinghu - a two-stringed
instrument played with a bow Yueqin - a four-stringed
instrument that is plucked

14. Sanxian - a three-stringed instrument that is
also plucked
Variety of gongs and cymbals – creates
rhythmic and graceful melodies

15. VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL FEATURES
The main instruments are Chinese in origin: the jinghu, a two-stringed instrument
played with a bow, the yueqin, a four-stringed instrument that is plucked, a sanxian, a three-
stringed instrument which is also plucked, the suona horn, Chinese flutes, and a variety of
gongs and cymbals. The melodies are rhythmic and graceful.
The melodies played by the accompaniment mainly fall into three broad categories.
The first is the aria. The arias of Beijing opera can be further divided into those of the
Erhuang and Xipi varieties. An example of an aria is wawadiao, an aria in the Xipi style that
is sung by a young Sheng to indicate heightened emotion. The second type of melody heard in
Beijing opera is the fixed-tune melody, or qupai. These are instrumental tunes that serve a
wider range of purposes than arias. Examples include the "Water Dragon Tune" (shui long
yin), which generally denotes the arrival of an important person, and "Triple Thrust" (ji san
qiang), which may signal a feast or banquet. The final type of musical accompaniment is the
percussion pattern. Such patterns provide context to the music in ways similar to the fixed-
tune melodies.

16. For example, there are as many as 48 different percussion patterns
that accompany stage entrances. Each one identifies the entering character
by his or her individual rank and personality.
If you have a smartphone, check out the link below to hear an example of Peking
Opera Performance of China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73_9UvNX920