characteristics of traditional japanese music

[k_k]

any things typically found in it. I am aware of the pentatonic scale but if anyone wants to give particular detail on it feel wlecome ( i recall two types being used?)

[setspeed]

giant robot dinosaurs everywhere, destroying kodo drums with their laser eyes and shit.

[deadly_habit]

instrument tuning and the specfic drums and such
hell photek used to have that on lockdown back when

[hurlingdervish]

the japanese used a only a basic pentatonic scale so think in fifths and fourths and avoid thirds

[juusu]

poor man's japanese pentatonic scale = hit only the black keys

[Sharmaji]

i get the feeling that wikipedia will be way more useful for this than the dubstepforum.

[yamaz]

Japanese music theory was wholly derived from Chinese musical theory which dated back at least to the fifth century BC. In Chinese music theory, the five tones of the musical scale (called a pentatonic scale) were intimately related to all the other "fives" based on the five material agents: the directions, the seasons, organs, animals, etc. The five material agents were a sophisticated theory of change: all change, including musical change, was governed by the relationship of the five material agents either as they engendered one another or conquered one another. These two possible relationships—the sequence of the five material agents as the either engender or conquer one another—in part governed the sequence of notes in the scale.

Wood - chiao (3rd note)
Fire - cheng (4th note)
Earth - kung (1st note)
Metal - shang (2nd note)
Water - yü (fifth note)

In addition, the five material agents were collapsed in a larger notion of yang and yin, the male (creation) and female (completion) principles of change in the universe. Likewise, the pentatonic scale was divided into a male scale and a female scale, or ryo and ritsu in Japanese. The most important note in the pentatonic scale is the third note of the scale, called the "cornerstone"—in the correspondences with the five material agents, the "cornerstone" corresponds to the agent wood (and so to Spring and the East, or beginnings, and jen , or "benevolence, humaneness," the most important of the virtues). While in the West we define tonal scales based on the first note of the scale (called the tonic), in Chinese and Japanese music, the scale is defined by the cornerstone, or third note. If the relationship between the first note (kung , which corresponds to the earth agent and the center) of the scale and the cornerstone form a perfect third (if you play middle C and E on a piano, you're playing a perfect third), the scale is male; if these two notes form a perfect fourth (like middle C and F on a piano), the scale is female. Here, check this out. Go to a piano and play only the black keys—that's a pentatonic scale. If you play a scale starting at C sharp, you're playing a male scale—the first note is C sharp and the cornerstone is F sharp, a perfect third. If you play a five note scale starting at D sharp, you're playing a female scale—the first note is D sharp and the cornerstone is G sharp, a perfect fourth.

Finally, Chinese and Japanese musical theory were based on the eight categories of sound (Chinese: pa yin ): metal (bells), stone (stone chimes), earth (ocarina), leather (drums), silk (stringed instruments), wood (double reed wind instruments), gourd (sho , or mouth organ), and bamboo (flute).

[cartoon_head]

Ha was wondering the same thing. Beautiful music and i'd love to be able to make some jap-influenced tunes. I downloaded a few MIDIs off Here to get a better idea how the songs were composed. Still haven't a clue on how i'd do it though, afraid i don't know enough about music theory just yet

EDIT

Cheers Yamaz! As soon as that starts to make sense to me i'll keep it in mind

[k_k]

i get the feeling that wikipedia will be way more useful for this than the dubstepforum.

i intend to do a bit more research when i get time but quite a few geezas on here know there stuff. Yamaz being an example

[mico viejo]

everything u need 2 know here: http://crab.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/fo ... lar-music/

[steakbox]

i intend to do a bit more research when i get time but quite a few geezas on here know there stuff. Yamaz being an example

you actually think he typed all that out on his own, just for you.

giant robot dinosaurs everywhere, destroying kodo drums with their laser eyes and shit.

that's really funny and original. did you come up with that on your own?

[grooki]

this could be an interesting thread... someone say something really interesting.

[k_k]

i intend to do a bit more research when i get time but quite a few geezas on here know there stuff. Yamaz being an example

you actually think he typed all that out on his own, just for you.

giant robot dinosaurs everywhere, destroying kodo drums with their laser eyes and shit.

that's really funny and original. did you come up with that on your own?

doesnt really matter, he obviously knows a good site and has shared the info and giant robot dinosaurs do sound quite interesting