A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave , in contrast to heptatonic scales , which have seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale ).
117-483: A shakuhachi ( Japanese : 尺八 , pronounced [ɕakɯhat͡ɕi] ) is a Japanese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo . The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the shakuhachi was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the fuke shakuhachi ( 普化尺八 ) . A bamboo flute known as the kodai shakuhachi ( 古代尺八 , ancient shakuhachi ) or gagaku shakuhachi ( 雅楽尺八 )
234-413: A shakuhachi . Other shakuhachi vary in length from about 1.1 shaku up to 3.6 shaku . Although the sizes differ, all are still referred to generically as shakuhachi . Shakuhachi are usually made from the root end of madake ( Phyllostachys bambusoides ) bamboo culm and are extremely versatile instruments. Professional players can produce virtually any pitch they wish from
351-530: A fundamental frequency . This may be derived by proceeding with the principle that historically gives the Pythagorean diatonic and chromatic scales, stacking perfect fifths with 3:2 frequency proportions (C–G–D–A–E). Considering the anhemitonic scale as a subset of a just diatonic scale , it is tuned thus: 20:24:27:30:36 (A–C–D–E–G = 5 ⁄ 6 – 1 ⁄ 1 – 9 ⁄ 8 – 5 ⁄ 4 – 3 ⁄ 2 ). (A minor seventh can be 7:4, 16:9, or 9:5;
468-530: A guitar uses the notes of an E minor pentatonic scale: E–A–D–G–B–E, contributing to its frequency in popular music. Stevie Wonder employed the minor pentatonic for the funky clavinet riff on the track " Superstition " (1972). The Japanese mode is based on the Phrygian mode , but uses scale tones 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 instead of scale tones 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7. The pentatonic scale (containing notes C, D, E, G and A) has five modes, which are derived by treating
585-559: A pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has
702-410: A C major scale , for example, one might omit the fourth and the seventh scale degrees , F and B. The remaining notes then make up the major pentatonic scale: C, D, E, G, and A. Omitting the third and seventh degrees of the C major scale obtains the notes for another transpositionally equivalent anhemitonic pentatonic scale: F, G, A, C, D. Omitting the first and fourth degrees of the C major scale gives
819-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
936-594: A complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
1053-441: A different note as the tonic : Ricker assigned the major pentatonic scale mode I while Gilchrist assigned it mode III. Each mode of the pentatonic scale (containing notes C, D, E, G and A) can be thought of as the five scale degrees shared by three different diatonic modes with the two remaining scale degrees removed: Each mode of the pentatonic scale (containing notes C, D, E, G and A) features different intervals of notes from
1170-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
1287-425: A gapped or incomplete major scale, using scale tones 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the major scale. One construction takes five consecutive pitches from the circle of fifths ; starting on C, these are C, G, D, A, and E. Rearranging the pitches to fit into one octave creates the major pentatonic scale: C, D, E, G, A. Another construction works backward: It omits two pitches from a diatonic scale . If one were to begin with
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#17327795160511404-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
1521-502: A hallmark of styles and schools, the fact of inlaying a mouthpiece historically could respond to a way of repairing the instrument due to wear or damage in particular in its blowing edge. The five finger holes are tuned to a minor pentatonic scale with no half-tones, but using techniques called meri ( メリ ) and kari ( カリ ) , in which the blowing angle is adjusted to bend the pitch downward and upward, respectively, combined with embouchure adjustments and fingering techniques
1638-493: A heavy emphasis on developing creativity through improvisation in children, largely through use of the pentatonic scale. Orff instruments , such as xylophones , bells and other metallophones , use wooden bars, metal bars or bells, which can be removed by the teacher, leaving only those corresponding to the pentatonic scale, which Carl Orff himself believed to be children's native tonality. Children begin improvising using only these bars, and over time, more bars are added at
1755-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
1872-461: A major sixth can be 27:16 or 5:3. Both were chosen to minimize ratio parts.) Assigning precise frequency proportions to the pentatonic scales of most cultures is problematic as tuning may be variable. For example, the slendro anhemitonic scale and its modes of Java and Bali are said to approach, very roughly, an equally-tempered five-note scale, but their tunings vary dramatically from gamelan to gamelan. Composer Lou Harrison has been one of
1989-591: A majority of their students are women. The 2004 Big Apple Shakuhachi Festival in New York City hosted the first-ever concert of international women shakuhachi masters. This festival was organized and produced by Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin, who was the first full-time shakuhachi master to teach in the Western hemisphere. Nyogetsu also holds 2 Dai Shihan (Grand Master) licenses, and has run KiSuiAn,
2106-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
2223-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
2340-460: A third anhemitonic pentatonic scale: G, A, B, D, E. The black keys on a piano keyboard comprise a G-flat (or equivalently, F-sharp) major pentatonic scale: G-flat, A-flat, B-flat, D-flat, and E-flat, which is exploited in Chopin 's black key étude . Although various hemitonic pentatonic scales might be called minor , the term is most commonly applied to the relative minor pentatonic derived from
2457-463: A variety of designs of inlaid mouthpieces that vary between certain traditional Japanese schools of shakuhachi . Thus, the Kinko Ryu, Myoan and Tozan Ryu, differ in different features in their line of mouthpiece design, coinciding in them the total non-use in their inlay of the semi-circumference formed by the natural cut of the mouthpiece in the bamboo. Beyond the fact that these inlaid forms were
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#17327795160512574-426: A very fast movement is used and each note has its corresponding repeat fingerings; e.g., for repeating C5 the 5th hole (D5's tone hole) is used. A 1.8 shakuhachi produces D4 (D above Middle C, 293.66 Hz) as its fundamental—the lowest note it produces with all five finger holes covered, and a normal blowing angle. In contrast, a 2.4 shakuhachi has a fundamental of A3 (A below Middle C, 220 Hz). As
2691-799: A year using Ji ( 地 ) paste—many layers of a mixture including tonoko powder ( 砥の粉 ) and seshime and finished with urushi lacquer—for each individual flute to achieve correct pitch and tonality over all notes. Specimens of extremely high quality, with valuable inlays, or of historical significance can fetch US$ 20,000 or more. Plastic or PVC shakuhachi have some advantages over their traditional bamboo counterparts: they are lightweight, extremely durable, nearly impervious to heat and cold, and typically cost less than US$ 100. Shakuhachi made of wood are also available, typically costing less than bamboo but more than synthetic materials. Nearly all players, however, prefer bamboo, citing tonal qualities, aesthetics, and tradition. The shakuhachi
2808-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
2925-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
3042-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
3159-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
3276-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
3393-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
3510-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
3627-575: Is derived from the Chinese bamboo-flute. The bamboo-flute first came to Japan from China during the 7th or 8th century. This style of bamboo flute, also called kodai shakuhachi ( 古代尺八 , ancient shakuhachi ) or gagaku shakuhachi ( 雅楽尺八 ) , was used for playing gagaku , but died out in the 10th century. Eight kodai shakuhachi remain in the Shōsō-in Treasure Repository. There are no records of musical scores related to
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3744-467: Is generally played using one of three five-tone subsets known as pathet , in which certain notes are avoided while others are emphasized. Somali music uses a distinct modal system that is pentatonic, with characteristically long intervals between some notes. As with many other aspects of Somali culture and tradition, tastes in music and lyrics are strongly linked with those in nearby Ethiopia , Eritrea , Djibouti and Sudan . In Scottish music ,
3861-417: Is hexatonic. Jazz music commonly uses both the major and the minor pentatonic scales. Pentatonic scales are useful for improvisers in modern jazz, pop, and rock contexts because they work well over several chords diatonic to the same key, often better than the parent scale. For example, the blues scale is predominantly derived from the minor pentatonic scale, a very popular scale for improvisation in
3978-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
4095-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
4212-551: Is longer and thicker than the kodai shakuhachi and has one finger hole less. It is longer and thicker than hitoyogiri shakuhachi and is superior in volume, range, scale and tone quality. Today, since the shakuhachi generally refers only to fuke shakuhachi , the theory that the shakuhachi is an instrument unique to Japan is widely accepted. The shakuhachi is traditionally made of bamboo, but versions now exist in ABS , ebonite , anodized aluminum , and hardwoods . It
4329-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
4446-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
4563-644: Is so well known that I'm sure you could give me examples of it, from all corners of the earth, as from Scotland, or from China, or from Africa, and from American Indian cultures, from East Indian cultures, from Central and South America, Australia, Finland ...now, that is a true musico-linguistic universal." There are two types of pentatonic scales: those with semitones (hemitonic) and those without (anhemitonic). Musicology commonly classifies pentatonic scales as either hemitonic or anhemitonic . Hemitonic scales contain one or more semitones and anhemitonic scales do not contain semitones. (For example, in Japanese music
4680-471: Is the basic scale of the music of China and the music of Mongolia as well as many Southeast Asian musical traditions such as that of the Karen people as well as the indigenous Assamese ethnic groups. The pentatonic scale predominates most Eastern countries as opposed to Western countries where the heptatonic scale is more commonly used. The fundamental tones (without meri or kari techniques) rendered by
4797-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
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4914-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
5031-502: Is used in Appalachian folk music . Blackfoot music most often uses anhemitonic tetratonic or pentatonic scales. In Andean music , the pentatonic scale is used substantially minor, sometimes major, and seldom in scale. In the most ancient genres of Andean music being performed without string instruments (only with winds and percussion ), pentatonic melody is often led with parallel fifths and fourths , so formally this music
5148-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
5265-399: The kodai shakuhachi , so details such as its playing method and scale are unknown. The average length was 40 cm (16 in), the diameter of the finger holes was 2 cm (0.79 in), and there were 6 finger holes – 5 at the front, 1 at the back. In the 15th century, the hitoyogiri shakuhachi ( 一節切尺八 ) appeared. It is characterized by a single bamboo joint in the middle of
5382-618: The shakuhachi in Dawn Mantras which was composed by Ross Edwards especially for the Dawn Performance, which took place on the sails of the Sydney Opera House at sunrise on 1 January 2000 and was televised internationally. The shakuhachi creates a harmonic spectrum that contains the fundamental frequency together with even and odd harmonics and some blowing noise. Five tone holes enable musicians to play
5499-413: The shakuhachi is also featured from time to time in electronica, pop and rock, especially after being commonly shipped as a "preset" instrument on various synthesizers and keyboards beginning in the 1980s. The General MIDI standard assigns the shakuhachi to programm number 78. One of the best known pop songs of the 1980s that uses this sound is " Sledgehammer " by Peter Gabriel . This was also used in
5616-527: The shakuhachi was officially forbidden for a few years. Non-Fuke folk traditions did not suffer greatly from this, since the tunes could be played just as easily on another pentatonic instrument. However, the honkyoku repertoire was known exclusively to the Fuke sect and transmitted by repetition and practice, and much of it was lost, along with many important documents. When the Meiji government did permit
5733-517: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
5850-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
5967-517: The Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from
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#17327795160516084-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
6201-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
6318-532: The harmonization of a pentatonic melody does not necessarily have to be derived from only the pentatonic pitches. Most Tuareg songs are pentatonic, as is most other music from the Sahel and Sudan regions. The pentatonic scale plays a significant role in music education , particularly in Orff-based , Kodály-based , and Waldorf methodologies at the primary or elementary level. The Orff system places
6435-448: The standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics ,
6552-1342: The "Black Key" etude, in the major pentatonic. Western Impressionistic composers such as French composer Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel used the pentatonic scale extensively in their works. Giacomo Puccini used pentatonic scales in his operas Madama Butterfly and Turandot to imitate east Asian musical styles. Puccini also used whole-tone scales in the former to evoke similar ideas. Indian classical music has hundreds of ragas, of which many are pentatonic. Examples include Raag Abhogi Kanada (C, D, E-flat, F, A), Raag Bhupali (C, D, E, G, A), Raag Bairagi (C, D-flat, F, G, B-flat), Raag Chandrakauns (C, E-flat, F, A-flat, B), Raag Dhani (C, E-flat, F, G, B-flat), Raag Durga (C, D, F, G, A), Raag Gunakari (C, D-flat, F, G, A-flat), Raag Hamsadhwani (C, D, E, G, B), Raag Hindol (C, E, F#, A, B), Raag Kalavati (C, E, G, A, B-flat), Raag Katyayani (C, D, E-flat, G, A-flat), Raag Malkauns (C, E-flat, F, A-flat, B-flat), Raag Megh (C, D, F, G, B-flat), Raag Shivaranjani (C, D, E-flat, G, A), Raag Shuddha Sarang (C, D, F#, G, B), Raag Tilang (C, E, F, G, B), Raag Vibhas (C, D-flat, E, G, A-flat), Raag Vrindavani Sarang (C, D, F, G, B), and others. (For Tamil Music System, See here - Ancient Tamil music#Evolution of panns ) The major pentatonic scale
6669-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
6786-465: The 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of
6903-598: The Deer" ( 鹿の遠音 , Shika no tōne ) , became well known as "tests": if one could play them, they were a real Fuke monk. If they could not, they were probably a spy and might very well be killed if they were in unfriendly territory. With the Meiji Restoration , beginning in 1868, the shogunate was abolished and so was the Fuke sect, in order to help identify and eliminate the shōgun 's holdouts. The very playing of
7020-465: The Fall and Braveheart by James Horner , Jurassic Park and its sequels by John Williams and Don Davis , and The Last Samurai by Hans Zimmer and Memoirs of a Geisha by John Williams . Renowned Japanese classical and film-score composer Toru Takemitsu wrote many pieces for shakuhachi and orchestra, including his well-known Celeste , Autumn and November Steps . The sound of
7137-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
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#17327795160517254-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
7371-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
7488-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
7605-510: The alms bowl"). They persuaded the shōgun to give them exclusive rights to play the instrument. In return, some were required to spy for the shogunate, and the shōgun sent several of his own spies out in the guise of Fuke monks as well. This was made easier by the wicker baskets ( 天蓋 , tengai ) that the Fuke wore over their heads, a symbol of their detachment from the world. In response to these developments, several particularly difficult honkyoku pieces, e.g. "Distant Call of
7722-508: The anhemitonic yo scale is contrasted with the hemitonic in scale .) Hemitonic pentatonic scales are also called "ditonic scales", because the largest interval in them is the ditone (e.g., in the scale C–E–F–G–B–C, the interval found between C–E and G–B). (This should not be confused with the identical term also used by musicologists to describe a scale including only two notes.) Anhemitonic pentatonic scales can be constructed in many ways. The major pentatonic scale may be thought of as
7839-444: The corresponding relative minor pentatonic, scale tones 1, ♭ 3, 4, 5, ♭ 7 work the same way, either as minor triad tones (1, ♭ 3, 5) or as common extensions (4, ♭ 7), as they all avoid being a half step from a chord tone. U.S. military cadences , or jodies , which keep soldiers in step while marching or running, also typically use pentatonic scales. Hymns and other religious music sometimes use
7956-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
8073-543: The fifth is often sung and played in early childhood; progressively smaller intervals are emphasized within primarily pentatonic as children progress through the early school years. At around nine years of age the music begins to center on first folk music using a six-tone scale, and then the modern diatonic scales, with the goal of reflecting the children's developmental progress in their musical experience. Pentatonic instruments used include lyres, pentatonic flutes, and tone bars; special instruments have been designed and built for
8190-496: The five holes of the Japanese shakuhachi flute play a minor pentatonic scale. The yo scale used in Japanese shomyo Buddhist chants and gagaku imperial court music is an anhemitonic pentatonic scale shown below, which is the fourth mode of the major pentatonic scale. In Javanese gamelan music, the slendro scale has five tones, of which four are emphasized in classical music. Another scale, pelog , has seven tones, and
8307-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
8424-495: The ident of the short-lived Coca-Cola Telecommunications . Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes
8541-457: The instrument, and play a wide repertoire of original Zen music, ensemble music with koto , biwa , and shamisen , folk music , jazz , and other modern pieces. Much of the shakuhachi 's subtlety (and player's skill) lies in its rich tone colouring, and the ability for its variation. Different fingerings, embouchures and amounts of meri/kari can produce notes of the same pitch, but with subtle or dramatic differences in
8658-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
8775-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
8892-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
9009-638: The largest and most active shakuhachi Dojo outside Japan, since 1975. The shakuhachi has grown in international popularity in recent decades. The first non-Japanese person to become a shakuhachi master was American-Australian Riley Lee . Lee was responsible for the World Shakuhachi Festival being held in Sydney , Australia over 5–8 July 2008, based at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music . Riley Lee played
9126-467: The length increases, the spacing of the finger holes also increases, stretching both fingers and technique. Longer flutes often have offset finger holes, and very long flutes are almost always custom made to suit individual players. Some honkyoku , in particular those of the Nezasaha (Kimpu-ryū) school, are intended to be played on these longer flutes. Due to the skill required, the time involved, and
9243-567: The major pentatonic, using scale tones 1, ♭ 3, 4, 5, and ♭ 7 of the natural minor scale . (It may also be considered a gapped blues scale .) The C minor pentatonic scale, the relative minor of the E-flat pentatonic scale, is C, E-flat, F, G, B-flat. The A minor pentatonic, the relative minor of C pentatonic, comprises the same tones as the C major pentatonic, starting on A, giving A, C, D, E, G. This minor pentatonic contains all three tones of an A minor triad. The standard tuning of
9360-818: The most recent proponents and developers of new pentatonic scales based on historical models. Harrison and William Colvig tuned the slendro scale of the gamelan Si Betty to overtones 16:19:21:24:28 ( 1 ⁄ 1 – 19 ⁄ 16 – 21 ⁄ 16 – 3 ⁄ 2 – 7 ⁄ 4 ). They tuned the Mills gamelan so that the intervals between scale steps are 8:7 – 7:6 – 9:8 –8:7–7:6 ( 1 ⁄ 1 – 8 ⁄ 7 – 4 ⁄ 3 – 3 ⁄ 2 – 12 ⁄ 7 – 2 ⁄ 1 = 42:48:56:63:72) Pentatonic scales occur in many musical traditions: Examples of its use include: Beethoven , Quartet in F major, Op. 135 , finale: Chopin 's Etude in G-flat major, Op. 10, No. 5 ,
9477-439: The natural asymmetry of bamboo create an individual spectrum in each direction. This spectrum depends on frequency and playing technique. The International Shakuhachi Society maintains a directory of notable professional, amateur, and teaching shakuhachi players. The primary genres of shakuhachi music are: Recordings in each of these categories are available; however, more albums are catalogued in categories outside
9594-425: The notes D-F-G-A-C-D. Cross (or fork) fingerings, half-covering tone holes, and meri/kari blowing cause pitch sharpening, referred to as intonation anomaly. Especially the second and third harmonic exhibit the well-known shakuhachi timbre. Even though the geometry of the shakuhachi is relatively simple, the sound radiation of the shakuhachi is rather complicated. Sound radiating from several holes and
9711-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
9828-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
9945-411: The outside diameter is 4 cm (1.6 in), and there are 5 finger holes – 4 at the front, 1 at the back. During the medieval period, shakuhachi were most notable for their role in the Fuke sect of Zen Buddhist monks, known as komusō ("priests of nothingness" or "emptiness monks"), who used the shakuhachi as a spiritual tool. Their songs (called honkyoku ) were paced according to
10062-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
10179-682: The pentatonic scale is very common. Seumas MacNeill suggests that the Great Highland bagpipe scale with its augmented fourth and diminished seventh is "a device to produce as many pentatonic scales as possible from its nine notes" (although these two features are not in the same scale) . Roderick Cannon explains these pentatonic scales and their use in more detail, both in Piobaireachd and light music. It also features in Irish traditional music , either purely or almost so. The minor pentatonic
10296-509: The pentatonic scale; for example, the melody of the hymn " Amazing Grace ", one of the most famous pieces in religious music. The common pentatonic major and minor scales (C-D-E-G-A and C-E ♭ -F-G-B ♭ , respectively) are useful in modal composing, as both scales allow a melody to be modally ambiguous between their respective major ( Ionian , Lydian , Mixolydian ) and minor ( Aeolian , Phrygian , Dorian ) modes ( Locrian excluded). With either modal or non-modal writing, however,
10413-555: The pieces featured on Yamaguchi's record was "Sokaku Reibo" , also called "Tsuru No Sugomori" (Crane's Nesting). NASA later chose to include this track as part of the Golden Record aboard the Voyager spacecraft. Shakuhachi are often used in modern film scores, for example those by James Horner . Films in which it is featured prominently include: The Karate Kid parts II and III by Bill Conti , Legends of
10530-406: The player can bend each pitch as much as a whole tone or more. Pitches may also be lowered by shading ( カザシ , kazashi ) or partially covering finger holes. Since most pitches can be achieved via several different fingering or blowing techniques on the shakuhachi , the timbre of each possibility is taken into account when composing or playing thus different names are used to write notes of
10647-465: The players' breathing and were considered meditation ( suizen ) as much as music. Travel around Japan was restricted by the shogunate at this time, but the Fuke sect managed to wrangle an exemption from the shōgun , since their spiritual practice required them to move from place to place playing the shakuhachi and begging for alms (one famous song reflects this mendicant tradition: Hi fu mi, hachi gaeshi ( 一二三鉢返の調 ) ; "One two three, pass
10764-418: The playing of shakuhachi again, it was only as an accompanying instrument to the koto , shamisen , etc. It was not until later that honkyoku were allowed to be played publicly again as solo pieces. The shakuhachi has traditionally been played almost exclusively by men in Japan, although this situation is rapidly changing. Many teachers of traditional shakuhachi music indicate that
10881-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
10998-415: The range of quality in materials to craft bamboo shakuhachi , one can expect to pay from US$ 1,000 to US$ 8,000 for a new or used flute. Because each piece of bamboo is unique, shakuhachi cannot be mass-produced, and craftsmen must spend much time finding the correct shape and length of bamboo, curing it for more or less of a decade in a controlled environment and then start shaping the bore for almost
11115-471: The realms of blues and rock alike. For instance, over a C major triad (C, E, G) in the key of C major, the note F can be perceived as dissonant as it is a half step above the major third (E) of the chord. It is for this reason commonly avoided. Using the major pentatonic scale is an easy way out of this problem. The scale tones 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 (from the major pentatonic) are either major triad tones (1, 3, 5) or common consonant extensions (2, 6) of major triads. For
11232-587: The same pitch which differ in timbre. The shakuhachi has a range of two full octaves (the lower is called 乙 / 呂 otsu , the upper, 甲 kan ) and a partial third octave ( 大甲 dai-kan ) though experienced players can produce notes up to E7 (2637.02 Hz) on a 1.8 shakuhachi . The various octaves are produced using subtle variations of breath, finger positions and embouchure . In traditional shakuhachi repertoire, instead of tonguing for articulation like many Western wind instruments, hitting holes ( oshi ( 押し ) , osu ( オス ) ) with
11349-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
11466-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
11583-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
11700-508: The teacher's discretion until the complete diatonic scale is being used. Orff believed that the use of the pentatonic scale at such a young age was appropriate to the development of each child, since the nature of the scale meant that it was impossible for the child to make any real harmonic mistakes. In Waldorf education, pentatonic music is considered to be appropriate for young children due to its simplicity and unselfconscious openness of expression. Pentatonic music centered on intervals of
11817-442: The tone colouring. Holes can be covered partially and pitch varied subtly or substantially by changing the blowing angle. The Honkyoku pieces rely heavily on this aspect of the instrument to enhance their subtlety and depth. Unlike a recorder , where the player blows into a duct—a narrow airway over a block which is called a " fipple "—and thus has limited pitch control, the shakuhachi player blows as one would blow across
11934-480: The tonic according to the table below. Note the omission of the semitones above (m2) and below (M7) the tonic as well as the tritone (TT). Ben Johnston gives the following Pythagorean tuning for the minor pentatonic scale: Naturals in that table are not the alphabetic series A to G without sharps and flats: Naturals are reciprocals of terms in the Harmonic series (mathematics) , which are in practice multiples of
12051-419: The top of an empty bottle (though the shakuhachi has a sharp edge to blow against called utaguchi ) and therefore has substantial pitch control. The term utaguchi ( 歌口 ) literally translates as "to the mouth that sings", referring to the upper and main hole of the flute where the mouthpiece or blowing edge is created by a natural diagonal cut in the bamboo. The history of the shakuhachi shows
12168-737: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Pentatonic scale Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancient civilizations and are still used in various musical styles to this day. As Leonard Bernstein put it: "the universality of this scale
12285-526: The traditional realm. As of 2018, shakuhachi players continue releasing records in a variety of traditional and modern styles. The first shakuhachi recording appeared in the United States in the late 1960s. Gorō Yamaguchi recorded A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky for Nonesuch Explorer Records on LP, an album which received acclaim from Rolling Stone at the time of its release. One of
12402-409: The tube. Although it flourished in the 17th century, it gradually fell into disuse due to the development and popularity of the superior fuke shakuhachi , and was no longer used by the 19th century. The average length was 33.6 cm (13.2 in), the outer diameter was 3 cm (1.2 in), and there were 5 finger holes – 4 at the front, 1 at the back. The flute now known as the shakuhachi
12519-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
12636-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
12753-413: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
12870-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
12987-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
13104-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
13221-505: Was derived from the Chinese xiao in the Nara period and died out in the 10th century. After a long blank period, the hitoyogiri shakuhachi ( 一節切尺八 ) appeared in the 15th century, and then in the 16th century, the fuke shakuhachi was developed in Japan. The fuke shakuhachi flourished in the 18th century during the Edo period , and eventually the hitoyogiri shakuhachi also died out. The fuke shakuhachi developed in Japan
13338-409: Was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the fuke shakuhachi ( 普化尺八 ) . This style of shakuhachi is longer and thicker than the older shakuhachi , and its volume, range, scale, and tone are superior to those of the older shakuhachi . It is made from the base of the bamboo, and the average length is 54.5 cm (21.5 in), which corresponds to 1 shaku 8 sun ;
13455-680: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
13572-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
13689-472: Was used by the monks of the Fuke Zen of Zen Buddhism in the practice of suizen (blowing meditation). The instrument is tuned to the minor pentatonic scale . The name shakuhachi means "1.8 shaku ", referring to its size. It is a compound of two words: Thus, the compound word shaku-hachi means "one shaku eight sun " (54.54 cm (21.47 in)), the standard length of
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