ANTH 204 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Korean Court Music, Sankyoku, Gagaku
Document Summary
Strong economy and constitutional monarchy (emperor and prime minister). Five historical periods alternating between openness and island. Early ancient: (200"s-500"s ce) imperial court and regional clan system established. Late ancient: (500"s-1110"s) buddhism spread from korea and china. Imperial court music (gagaku) based on chinese and korean court music. Highly refined theater (noh) patronized by regional aristocrats, buddhist priests and warrior class (samurai). Late medieval: (1400"s-1800"s)/ tokugawa (edo) period (1600"s-1867): military dictatorship (shogunate). Musical theater (kabuki and bunraku) and chamber music (sankyoku) supported by urban middle class. Modern/meiji period (1868-1911)/ showa period (1926-1989): self-isolation ended. Japan modernized and new music technology (cd and karaoke) developed. Japanese traditional musical genres: concert music (gagaku and sankyoku), theatre music (no, kaguki and bunraku), and religious and festival music (shomyo and matsuri-bayashi). Characteristics of japanese traditional music: pentatonic scales, monophony, and heterophony (distinct manifestations of a single melody based on the idiomatic nature of the instruments played). Timbral variety and musical space and silence (ma).
