Introduction
Mankind is recognized as the most developed species on the planet. This became possible due to a highly advanced system of social relations between its representatives. All the sides of the social and personal life are reflected in the culture of the people.
Culture finds its expression in architecture, language, customs, painting and finally dance and music. Each nation possesses its unique musical tradition. The culture of the countries which are close to each other is regarded as similar and pertains to a constitutive cultural tradition of the whole region.
This essay is dedicated to the comparison of Japanese, Chinese and Korean music and proving the fact of their sufficient continuity or similarity by means of detailed analysis of the original sources of the national musical traditions, instruments, rhythms, trends and styles.
The contiguity and differences of the styles discussed
All of the countries pertaining to Eastern Asia, thus they might share similar trends in their culture. For establishing the contiguities let us take a look at the way of forming traditional music. Chinese music has the longest history and the fact of its appearing is cloaked in legends and mystery. By one of them, the founder of Chinese music is Ling Lung, who imitated the songs of birds by the bamboo pipes.
The oldest known written music is Youlan or the Solitary Orchid, attributed to Confucius. The first major well-documented flowering of Chinese music was for the qin during the Tang Dynasty, though the qin is known to have been played since before the Han Dynasty (Lau, 65).
The position of the musicians in the ancient time was many lovers that other artists like painters, nevertheless folk music was considered by the Chinese rulers as a source balance between people and state power. There were even special formations of soldiers which aim was to gather folk songs from the neighboring villages. The ancient nobles organized street festivities like Dragon Dancing, which is based on folk music rhythms. Apart from this, the Dragon festivals are a characteristic feature of a whole Eastern Asian region and also typical for Korean and Japanese folklore.
Japan also possesses its own ancient musical tradition which finds its manifestation in two main styles like shomyo and gagaku. These steles are of the court origin as well. Another traditional Japanese style is honguyko, which takes its origin from the chanting of Zhen Buddhism monks who devoted their music to the aims of people enlightening. This style also found its further development in the performances of samurai who used the original rhythm in their meditations.
Besides the national theatre of Noh and a puppet theatre is also based on the traditions of folk music. Thus, Japanese music also takes its origin from the court melodies, but the enlightening and religious themes are also relevant for the ancient forms of music in this country. Apart from this, like in China, the music serves folk theatrical art.
As for Korean music, it is less independent. During its history, it underwent the influences of Chinese and Japanese cultural traditions during the way of its forming. While Korean folk music preserves some originality, the court music is mainly based upon yayue – the court music of China and Japanese gagaku.
There are three kinds of Korean court music: aak, an imported form of Chinese ritual music; a pure Korean form called hyangak, and a combination of Chinese and Korean styles called dangak. There is also a genre of aristocratic chamber music called jeongak. (Lau,107)
In ancient times there were two main musical national traditions: the Chinese, mainly based on the folklore songs and festival rhythms; and philosophically and religiously moderate Japanese music. The Korean court culture was greatly influenced by both of these styles. Thus, it is possible to suggest that traditional continuity and similarity are partially presented in the example of Korean music, meanwhile Chinese and Japanese cultural traditions are developing in their own and unique way.
The music is impossible without the instruments it is performed on. The instruments form the uniqueness of the style, its genuine character and help to transmit a rhythm and a message. The types of instruments, their origin and the materials they are made by also greatly bias the features of the music style. “Traditional music in China is played on solo instruments or in small ensembles of plucked and bowed stringed instruments, flutes, and various cymbals, gongs, and drums. The scale is pentatonic.” (Lau, 87)
The most common Chinese instruments are bamboo pipes and qin, which is a seven-string instrument of the zither family and is regarded as the father of Chinese music. The most common materials for instrument production are the representatives of the Chinese sacral rudiments of the world: wood, earth/clay, metal, stone. The percussion and stringed instruments perform the dominating part in the Chinese orchestras.
The Japanese musical culture is also based upon the predominant part of the percussion instrument. One of the most well-known and widespread Japanese instruments is the Taiko drum, which can be of different sizes and used in different musical styles. There are some more representatives of percussion family like a kane (a metal dish-shaped bell), kakko (double-headed wooden drum), shime-daiko (a dram with animal-skin drumheads) and an exotic hyoshigi which resembles two bamboo pieces connected by ornamental rope.
Thus, the materials and the types of instruments are similar to those of Chinese origin. But more philosophical and moderate music tradition of Japan demands more delightful instrument which produces an elegant and delicate sound. Thus, different kinds of flutes and stringed instruments are also typical for the traditional style of gagaku music.
One more specific feature of Japanese folk music is the performances of groups of blind musicians and blind women – goze – who traveled around the country and sang songs accompanied by the drum or traditional stringed instruments like biwa, shamisen or sanshin. The tonality of Japanese music still resembles Chinese but with few national adoptions “A pentatonic scale, which coincides with the major pentatonic scale of Western musical disciplines, is often heard in min’yō from the main islands of Japan, see minyō scale.” (Wade, 63)
Korean music was greatly influenced by the trends of Chinese and Japanese origin. Therefore the dominating instruments are also divided into three main groups: percussion, string and wind. The most typical instrument is gayageum – a twelve-stringed zither. There is a large variety of the zithers used for performing the court music, starting from 7-string and finishing with 25-string.
Pansori and Pungmul are the national folk styles of singing and dancing which are impossible without strong percussion parts. Pansori is based upon the vocal performance of one singer accompanied by one drummer. And Pungmul is a type of national fest which includes singing, drumming and dancing of dozens of participants.
Thus, the family of the Korean folk percussion instruments is also abundant: a wide metal gong – jing, a barrel drum – buk, the bronze bells called pyeongjong and a kind of stone chimes. The melodic pattern contiguity of the music is explained by the similarity of the materials used for instruments production.
Conclusion
In addition, it is possible to say that the trends under discussion are similar in the choice of groups of the instruments used for playing. The similarity of the regional outlooks also predetermines the likeness of the choice of materials used for playing.
Some differences are noted in the spheres of religious and court music styles, while folk music is characterized by the predominance of percussion part in all studied trends. This fact enables us to make a conclusion that there exists a continuity and interrelation between Japanese, Chinese and Korean nations which is preserved in the similarity of the traditional folk music.
Sufficient continuity and similarity from culture to culture are partially relevant for the musical traditions of countries under discussion. It becomes apparent in the examples of melody, contiguity of musical instruments, tonality and folk music. Nevertheless, each country preserved its own way of expressing national mentality in music.
Works Cited
Lau, Frederick. Music in China: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Global Music Series, 1998.
Wade, Bonnie C. Music in Japan: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Global Music Series, 1998.