Noh theater - Funabenkei

For our analysis of Japanese Noh theater, I chose to examine a performance apparently entitled 'Funabenkei'. If anyone can read japanese characters, this 能楽 [船弁慶]　抜粋 (後シテ)
第五回 若者能 公演記録 (2009.1.10喜多六平太記念能楽堂) may say something worthwhile.



The performance is arranged on a traditional stage, with the performers, called Hayashi either seated or kneeling on the floor. The instrumental performers, including one aerophone and three distinct membranophones, take their place behind the main actor or actors, and a chorus of vocalists are relegated to a side section of the theater floor.

The performance begins with a very disjunct combination of vocal melody from the actor, three separate drum beats, and a series of vocalizations shouted from the drum performers, called Kakegoe . The drums, identified as the Ko-tsuzumi (small drum), Otsuzumi (hip drum), and a small version of the Taiko drum, play a rhythm that feels non-pulsatile due to multiple layers of repeated patterns that are disconnected from most of the melody.

Another melody is played (separately from the vocal melody) by the Nohkan flute. This additional melody is used to signal a transition in the performance after the vocal melody stops and the actor singing it begins a more dance- based performance. The chorus vocalizes throughout the dance performance (called kotoba), and lends the overall performance a more quasi-pulsatile structure. Also in the performance are two actors with smaller roles, one of which plays a small idiophone, done briefly to characterize some action or exchange between the two characters in the play.

The disjunct melody and layered rhythmic patterns supports the idea that Noh theater is conveying an otherworldly or ethereal peformance.

Understanding Hindustani

For my commentary on Hindustani classical music, I chose an instructional video. I suspect that this performance might contain many of the core elements of this music culture. It even says 'Elements of Hindustani Classical Music' on the banner in the background.



The video begins in mid- performance. Playing together are a collection of chordophones, membranophones, and aerophones, as well as a lead male vocal. In constant drone is the combination of 'Tamburas', the large upright chordophones in the rear. The drums, called 'Tabla', are playing in a complex meter, and as the melody progresses, they also improvise in tandem with the vocal. The performance is quasipulstile, but there is a constant rhythm phrase that is repeated, which I suppose is called the 'Tala'.

The vocal melody seems to be highly improvised. The use of 'Ragas', or common modes, apparently define the leeway the soloist has in improvisation in this performance. The melody also uses embellishments and ornamentations such as melisma comparable to that of middle eastern musical tradition. Accompanying the vocal is the small aerophone that plays a similar melody with it's own embellishment in heterophonic fashion. The nature of the music culture seems to be one of soloist improvisation with complex guidelines in mode, tonal center, and rhythm, and I think this performance is evidence of that.

GOOGOOSH: Iranian Pop Star (Until the Revolution)

For this portion of the course I chose to listen to the Googoosh song گوگوش بمون تا بمونم. I have no idea what the title is, or what it is about. But let me take a stab at some of the musicology.

Here it is so you know which one I'm talking about:



The music starts off with a full compliment of aerophones, membranophones, and even an idiophone, in a western jazz-like style in triple meter. Googoosh sings the melody, which is highly ornamented with melisma type vocal trills. This gives the melody it's distinct Middle Eastern character, while creating a very pop music like sound against the western band style backdrop.

When vocal melody begins, an aerophone, most likely a flute, plays a slightly different version of the melody in heterophonic fashion for a short time into the performance. Googoosh also performs a dance before singing the melody; a rythmic series of hand gestures, hip and head movements, and clapping.

EXTRA CREDIT: The Father of Chinese Rock

Last Thursday's cultural exchange was a bit awkward, at first. Breaking the cultural ice revealed, most of all, an eagerness for each group to tell the other just a little something about their musical culture.

Honestly they came better prepared, being as they were the traveling performing arts troupe of a Chinese university. We were treated to a few performances of Peking Opera, including a duet that I thought was just great, and some contemporary sounding folk using guitar and tradition Chinese percussion instruments. Of note was the depth they had to draw upon; they had come representing a very old musical culture, and that identity is maybe something we lack, through no fault of our own. It made me think; do we, as Americans, have a pervasive sense of music tradition? It seems like we are too preoccupied with difference to come to a consensus on what actually is 'American music'. And maybe that's not such a bad thing, either.

Then we discovered the Godfather. Cui Jian.




He started playing guitar after listening to American folk style music like Simon and Garfunkel. He was there at Tienanmen square in 1989; people were rallying behind his music. And I had no idea that such a man existed.

An Evening of Latin Music (Holy crap the accordian is awesome)

The 40th Anniversary celebration concert was a pleasant experience in music, to be certain. I did enjoy all of the pieces, but the last of the evening was my favorite, Tango Di Tango. Being that it was the last piece, the audience knew the performance was drawing to a close, and the nature of the piece seemed like a drawn out tease. It literally made me anxious. In triple meter, the violin and accordion seemed to create a foreboding atmosphere, alternately attacking and retreating ground to the other. They would always play the same motive, but with slight variations at each transfer between the two instruments.

The performers, UTD faculty members, gave the impression of a great understanding of the intent of the piece. The composer, Robert Xavier Rodriguez, also gave a short introduction to Tango Di Tango, in which he explained why exactly the tango was previously declared a 'sin' by the Roman Catholic Church, and outlawed in practice in parts of North America. I think that really added a lot to the audience's understanding of the performance, and maybe even added to it. I had only wished that more students saw this performance, given that a sizable number did not bother to stay past the intermission. Also undoubtedly interrupting from the audience's experience of the performance was the number of illuminated iPhones that were in attendance, as guests of the students.