Monday, February 22, 2010

Japanese Noh

For this blog I listened to a Japanaese Noh performance at the Tokyo Sendagaya Hatomori Shrine. The hayashi, or musical ensemble that accompanied the noh drama, consisted of three men playing membranophones and one man playing an idiophone in the background. The idiophone is most likely to be the nohkan. There were a few other people to the right the seemed to be just bowing down to a man dressed up in a white mask and colorful robes. Although at first the music seems to have a beat, the drumming patterns constantly change and do not have any real beat. It makes it very hard to listen for just one of the drums because it's beat is always changing and sometimes another drum will take its place. Each of the musicians movements are very subtle. While watching you notice that the drummers hit their instruments the same exact way every time very distinctly. The singer seems to be shouting and chanting instead of saying any real words also known as kakegoe which is usually done by the drummers. The men that are bowing on the side are actually singing together and it makes a type of harmony for the piece.

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