MusicBy: James, Marco, and Brandon

Traditional Instruments

The traditional Japanese Koto is a long, stringed instrument. It is approximately 71 inches in length, and has 13 strings. Each string has one moveable bridge. The bridge moves to change the pitch one each string.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L24Nb4CJzV4

こと　

事

たいこ

太鼓

Taiko means drum, or great, wide drum. The Taiko drum is often performed in a show about 5 to 25 minutes long. The performance can consist of slow, long drum beats to fast short rapid hits of the drum.

http://w w w .y outube.com /w atch?v = Df6Fq13Nb80　

三味線

しゃみせんThe Shamisen is a traditional Japanese instrument with three strings. The name literally means “three strings” as you can see the kanji for three in the title. The neck is very thin. The shape of the Shamisen resembles a banjo. The cover over the body of the shamisen is usually made of hides or plastics. A high quality Shamisen might use the hide of a cat. This is a video of a shamisen duel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5rs7pfZuPs

呼吸

こきゅうThe Japanese Kokyuu is an instrument similar to the Shamisen, only a little bit smaller in size. The Kokyuu, generally has three strings, but sometimes four.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG_i9yzB-r4

The shakuhachi is a traditional japanese end blown flute. It can range anywhere from one to three feet in length. It has five holes to cover, which change the pitch of the instrument. It is usually made of hardwoods or bamboo.

しゃくはち

尺八

篳篥

ひちりきThe Hichiriki is another Traditional Japanese instrument. Is resembles a flute, but is much harder to play. It is a double reed flute. It is considered sacred and is sometimes even played at shinto weddings, and gagaku performances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYdCt9XbA8w

J-Pop has been around since about the 60’s, when pop and rock bands were starting to invade the west. J-pop has usually imitated the western culture in terms of music. In the 60’s, an example would be the Beatles (who are they?) even earlier than the 60’s, was a thing called “ かようきょく” which means “lyric singing music” it had been around since the early 20th century, but was changed to J-pop around the 80’s. some modern J-pop bands are Southern All-stars, and Yellow Magic Orchestra.

J-Pop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07CrSpcKVVY

A cool song by じゅん　かみくぼ , released in the early 70’s ： http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX7nRK-mXhM

Japanese Classic Rock

The Tempters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8WJkRPNgvI

Japanese Classic Rock, like J-pop, imitated western bands. Some bands were the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. A few Japanese groups were The Tempters, The Spiders, and The Tigers. The last three bands came together and formed a super-group called Pyg.

All over the world, extreme metal and metal core is becoming more popular. It is a modern form of heavy metal, mainly in the underground scene. Japanese metal bands tend to imitate the style and form of western metal music. There are bands such as Lost Eden, Sigh, and Sabbat.

Lost Eden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5eMUCSZCjc

Japanese Extreme Metal

Early on in the gaming world, the primitive video game systems had small sound chips, and could only hold certain range of sounds. One of the largest game companies, Nintendo, originates in Japan. Without them, we might not have masterpieces such as this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiAxiGZKpGQ

Game Music

雅楽

ががくががく　 is traditional Japanese court music. It is performed in a group. The instrument used in a ががく performance are the ひちりき , しゃくはち , がくびわ , and かっこ . Dances are performed. ががく can almost be described as a small Japanese orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OA8HFUNfIk 　

Noh performances are like a Japanese musical play. There is usually one or two people on stage. The main character is the して /四手 . A few people sit in the background and either sing, or play instruments. The play flows in time with the rise and fall of the vocalists/musicians. The actors are usually masked, and men play the parts of both males and females.

Noh Performances

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUTG6N0KFj4

ありがとう　ございます！

Thanks for watching!