Chinese Music

• Chinese music is a highly influential Asian musical style rooted in ancient doctrines and beliefs such as those of Confucius.

Functions of Chinese Music

• Socio-political service
• Entertainment
• Work songs
• Religious practices, including outdoor rituals and Buddhist chants

Elements of Chinese Music

• Pitch is based on the five-tone/pentatonic scale (Wu Sheng)
• Vocal timbre is typically thin and nasal, with high-pitched or shrill qualities in northern China
• Meter/rhythm is mostly in duple meter
• Texture is often monophonic or heterophonic
• Nasal vocal quality

Types of Chinese Vocal Music

• Religious chants or ritual (temple) music is common
• Xiaoling is a vocal art song from the 12th to 13th centuries, based on Qu’s poems
• Zhugongdiao is an important genre of storytelling songs
• Folk songs describe the lives of Han Chinese people

Peking Opera

• Peking Opera is a traditional Chinese theater incorporating music, vocal performance, mime, dance, and acrobatics
• Emperor Qianlong accelerated its development
• The lead melodic instrument is the Jinghu, a small, high-pitched, two-string spike fiddle
• The second main instrument is the Yuegin

Musical Styles of Peking Opera

• Xipi is disjointed, high, and loud, reflecting Qinqiang opera, and often narrates joyous stories
• Erhuang reflects soft, low folk tunes of south-central China, and is used for lyrical stories

Accompanying Melodies in Peking Opera

• Aria is a long solo song expressing emotion or an ideal that doesn't necessarily advance the story
• Qupai is a fixed-tune melody serving multiple purposes
• Percussion patterns
• Utilizes both military (wuchang) and civil (wenchang) instrumentation

Music of Japan

• Like China, Japanese music is based on the five-tone or pentatonic scale
• Influenced by India and Indonesia
• Shomyo is Buddhist chanting
• Gagaku means elegant and refined music, and is Japan’s oldest surviving musical form

Basic Scales of Japanese Music

• Yo-sen is also known as the hard mode or male scale, does not have semitone intervals
• In-sen is also known as the soft mode or female scale, and includes semitone intervals

Kabuki Theater of Japan

• Kabuki is a highly stylized Japanese dance-drama known for high drama and elaborate makeup
• Dates back to the Edo period (1603-1867)
• Interest began with Okuni, a shrine dancer, in Kyoto in 1603
• "Ka" means songs, "Bu" means dance, and "Ki" means talent

Distinguishing Elements of Kabuki

• Dance began with folk and religious dance music
• Costumes stress the roles portrayed by the actors
• Makeup is elaborate and symbolic
• Wooden clappers signal the start or end of the play

Musical Features of Kabuki

• Ipponchoshi (continuous pattern) is used in speeches building up to an explosive climax in aragoto style
• Nori technique is adapted from chanting the joruri
• Yakuharai technique is the fine delivery of poetical material written in Japanese metrical form, with seven and five syllables alternating