Traditional Japanese Music And Musical Instruments

"Malm's scholarship is impeccable... Of equal importance is the fact that he is an excellent performing musician who has studied extensively in Japan." -Choice

This interesting and authoritative book includes essential facts about the various forms of Japanese music and musical instruments and their place in the overall history of Japan. Japanese Music and Musical Instruments has three main orientations: The history of Japanese music Construction of the instruments Analysis of the music itself. The book covers in a lucidly written text and a wealth of fascinating photographs and drawings the main forms of musical expression. Many readers will find the useful hints on purchasing instruments, records, and books especially valuable, and for those who wish to pursue the matter further there is a selected bibliography and a guide to Tokyo's somewhat hidden world of Japanese music. It will be found an invaluable aid to the understanding and appreciation of an important, but little-known, and fascinating aspect of Japanese culture.

The unique sounds of the biwa, shamisen, and other traditional instruments from Japan are heard more and more often in works for the concert hall and opera house. Composing for Japanese Instruments is a practical orchestration/instrumentation manual with contextual and relevant historical information for composers who wish to learn how to compose for traditional Japanese instruments. Widely regarded as the authoritative text on the subject in Japan and China, it contains hundreds of musical examples, diagrams, photographs, and fingering charts, and comes complete with two accompanying compact discs of musical examples. Its author, Minoru Miki, is a composer of international renown and is recognized in Japan as a pioneer in writing for Japanese traditional instruments. The book contains valuable appendices, one of works Miki himself has composed using Japanese traditional instruments, and one of works by other composers -- including Toru Takemitsu and Henry Cowell -- using Japanese traditional instruments. Marty Regan is Assistant Professor of Music at Texas A&M University; Philip Flavin is a Research Fellow in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University, Australia.

Excerpt from The Music and Musical Instruments of Japan Any Preface which I write to the following pages must of necessity be so full of apologies for their shortcomings that I shall reduce it to the smallest compass possible. The book contains the results of observations made in leisure moments in Japan, supplemented by studies made since my return from the East. I am now painfully conscious how incomplete those observations must have been. I have, nevertheless, some confidence in the accuracy of the results of my Western studies, because I have had more than an author's fair share of assistance from others more competent than I to grapple with scientific difficulties. Sir John Stainer has, with customary kindness, helped me to unravel some of the mysteries of the Japanese scale: and, though I have no right to say that my conclusions are justified by his assent to them, I may plead his help to show that they have not been lightly arrived at. Mr. Southgate's erudition and historical knowledge have been placed so unreservedly at my disposal that I cannot but regret that the sheaf of notes with which he has contented himself is of such modest proportions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Long seen as a source of ritual power, Japan's musical traditions continue to serve as a primary realm of aesthetic experience for the nation's people. Fully illustrated and including both historical and present-day images, Japanese Musical Instruments is a comprehensive survey of Japanese traditional instruments. Easy-to-use and concise, the book provides an overview of the nation's musical heritage while describing the historical meanings and uses of the full range of instruments.