The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music

Description

Music is a frequently neglected aspect of Japanese culture. It is in fact a highly problematic area, as the Japanese actively introduced Western music into their modern education system in the Meiji period (1868-1911), creating westernized melodies and instrumental instruction for Japanese children from kindergarten upwards. As a result, most Japanese now have a far greater familiarity with Western (or westernized) music than with traditional Japanese music. Traditional or classical Japanese music has become somewhat ghettoized, often known and practised only by small groups of people in social structures which have survived since the pre-modern era. Such marginalization of Japanese music is one of the less recognized costs of Japan's modernization. On the other hand, music in its westernized and modernized forms has an extremely important place in Japanese culture and society, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, for example, being so widely known and performed that it is arguably part of contemporary Japanese popular and mass culture. Japan has become a world leader in the mass production of Western musical instruments and in innovative methodologies of music education (Yamaha and Suzuki). More recently, the Japanese craze of karaoke as a musical entertainment and as musical hardware has made an impact on the leisure and popular culture of many countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas. This is the first book to cover in detail all genres including court music, Buddhist chant, theatre music, chamber ensemble music and folk music, as well as contemporary music and the connections between music and society in various periods. The book is a collaborative effort, involving both Japanese and English speaking authors, and was conceived by the editors to form a balanced approach that comprehensively treats the full range of Japanese musical culture. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of figures List of musical examples List of tables Stylistic conventions Foreword and acknowledgements List of contributors 1 Context and change in Japanese music 2 Court and religious music (1): history of gagaku and shōmyō 3 Court and religious music (2): music of gagaku and shōmyō 4 The musical narrative of The Tale of the Heike 5 The Kyushu biwa traditions 6 Nō and kyōgen: music from the medieval theatre 7 The shakuhachi and its music 8 Sōkyoku-jiuta: Edo-period chamber music 9 Gidayū-bushi: music of the bunraku puppet theatre 10 Music in kabuki: more than meets the eye 11 Popular music before the Meiji period 12 Folk music: from local to national to global 13 The music of Ryukyu 14 The music of the Ainu 15 Popular music in modern Japan 16 Western-influenced ‘classical’ music in Japan Bibliography Audio/Videography Contents of accompanying compact disc Index