4. Overview of Japanese Music

This section provides an introduction to Japanese music, including its place in modern culture, as well as an overview of the traditional genres.

Today, there are considered to be three major classical musical cultures in Japan; traditional music, Western music, and Western influenced traditional music (Tokita and Hughes, 2008). Japanese traditional music, known generally as Hogaku, is one of the World’s most well preserved musical genres, with the majority of its features remaining unaltered. This is not so true for Western music, where there is constant experimentation and a desire to discover new musical genres. According to recent surveys (Tokita and Hughes, 2008), traditional Japanese music is actually one of the least popular musical genres in Japan. Western classical music was shown to be over twice as popular, with hybrid Western/Japanese classical music proving to be even more popular again. According to Malm (1959), the shift in popularity towards Western music is primarily due to the way in which music is transmitted. For example, certain sub genres of Japanese music have been passed down from generation to generation. There were also (and still are) schools that each taught a small number of compositions to their students. It was rare for new compositions to be added to their repertoires, which meant that the traditions were upheld.

Although traditional music is fading in Japan, its popularity is increasing in the West and elsewhere. In particular, Japanese influences have been used in an orchestral context in films and TV programmes. For example, John Williams’ score for Memoirs of a Geisha is a good example of the combination of an orchestra with Japanese instruments. In addition, Japanese video game companies such as Konami, Nintendo and Square Enix have brought the work of Japanese composers to a wider audience. Of the many Japanese game composers, Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu and Koichi Sugiyama are well known for large orchestral scores. These examples are predominantly Western in their approach, but they are a source of inspiration nonetheless. Listening to the music in video games was this author’s first experience of orchestral music by Japanese composers.

Japanese classical music can be divided in to the following major genres:

Of all of these genres, the Fantasia takes most of its inspiration from Gagaku court music. This is because Gagaku has the richest supply of traditional music theory, it is purely instrumental music (as is the Fantasia), and it is better documented than the other genres. Gagaku, which literally means ‘proper music’ (‘ga’ = proper, ‘gaku’ = music), is thought to be the World’s oldest style of orchestral music that is performed regularly today (Nelson, 2008). It can be considered ‘orchestral’ music as the ensemble has clearly defined sections of winds, strings and percussion. This court music is primarily performed at palace shrines to celebrate imperial and Shinto ceremonies, and more recently, it is performed throughout Japan’s concert halls.

In addition to Gagaku, theories from many of the other genres, especially koto music, Nō and Kabuki, are also used in the composition. The following sections will explore in detail the compositional theories of these genres, and how they are used in the Fantasia.