Music Theory
In Japan, there are several different types of music and for each different type there are different scales and musical theory that go along with them. Japanese music theory is very different than any Western scales or theory. In Japan there is an important instrument called the sho. The music for the instrument only shows one note for every 4 in a piece of music, establishing a chord and also making the musician's memory much better.
Musical scales in Japan get most of their influence from the Chinese twelve tone scale, but most Japanese traditional music is based on the pentatonic (5 tone) scale and heptatonic(7 tone) scale. In Japan, the scales are very important in their culture. In a pentatonic scale, the 5 notes are often portrayed as male and female and each one of the 5 notes represent one of the basic 5 elements. The root note in the scales is also the third note rather than the first.
Two main scales in Japan are the Insen scale and the Hirajoshi which are both used in traditional Japanese music.
The In sen scale is used for the tuning of an instrument known as the koto, and is different than the Hirajoshi scale by only one note.
Musical scales in Japan get most of their influence from the Chinese twelve tone scale, but most Japanese traditional music is based on the pentatonic (5 tone) scale and heptatonic(7 tone) scale. In Japan, the scales are very important in their culture. In a pentatonic scale, the 5 notes are often portrayed as male and female and each one of the 5 notes represent one of the basic 5 elements. The root note in the scales is also the third note rather than the first.
Two main scales in Japan are the Insen scale and the Hirajoshi which are both used in traditional Japanese music.
The In sen scale is used for the tuning of an instrument known as the koto, and is different than the Hirajoshi scale by only one note.
Here is an example of the Insen scale shown in C. As you can see it only contains 5 notes.
This is an example of the Hirajoshi scale in C.
In Japanese sheet music, they had a column of syllables called shoga and these syllables would help the musician memorize their part by singing it, and therefore if there was an instrument missing it could easily be substituted by vocals. Japanese music was written more for helping the musician remember the music than actually read it consistently. Oral was a very important part in their music, and helped with memory. Music was rather to be felt to a pulse, and many notes were oriented with words.