When I came to Japan years ago, I thought I would explore Japanese chords and harmonic movement, but as soon as I sat down with my professor at Osaka Geidai and discussed what I wanted to learn, my professor shot that idea down. She told me that there is no such thing as chords or chord progressions in traditional Japanese music.

A lot of Japanese string instruments do in fact play double stops or have what sound like drones.

The koto has tons of strings, 13 in fact.  Yet they are never used in a G B D triad style.

In the tuning called Hira joshi with the root of D, the strings 1-13 are tuned as follows:

D – G – A – Bb – D – Eb – G – A – Bb – D – Eb – G – A

with ascending pitch, except:

String 1 is in unison with string 5 in classical pieces.

String 1 is usually an octave below string 5 in modern pieces.

That being said, common double stops in traditional music are usually two strings played in one stroke.

So, D+G, G+A, A+Bb, Bb+D, D+Eb, Eb+G, G+A ad infinitum…

Often times an octave jump occurs after the double stop.

ie. G2+A2 to G3 (major 2nd)

A2+Bb2 to A3    (minor 2nd – good tension)

D2+G2 to D3 or Eb3 (5th or 4th depending on D2 or D1)

Bb2+D2 to Bb3  (major 3rd)

Eb3+G to Eb4 (major 3rd)

Here is a video of Yatsuhashi Kengyo’s Midare or 12 step danmono piece.  There are many double stops in this Hirajoushi piece.

In the tuning of kokin joshi with D as the root, the strings 1-13 are tuned as follows:

D – G – A – C – D – Eb – G – A – C – D – Eb – G – A  ascending

similar sounds in this scale except

A2+C2 to A3  (minor 3rd)

Watch this near perfect performance from a student or teacher from Senzokugakuen music school of Chidori no Kyoku tuned in Kokin Joshi.

You will notice that a lot of times the strings ring out after  being played in order.  Often strings are played in order and left to ring.  This gives a sense of harmony or chord.

COMMON TONES LEFT OPEN
G  Eb D

A G  Eb

G + D  A

A G Eb D

G + D to any note of the scale

 More koto tunings here! 

As for other instruments, I am not too familiar with the Biwa or the Shamisen but from what I have played of the Shamisen, I do know that a lot of what I learned was very parallel to the koto style of playing and harmonic motion. The only big difference was there is usually a slight drone that buzzes on the Shamisen on the D string.  Sometimes the instrument is tuned D-G-D or D-A-D and those strings are often played in twos sometimes all together.

Notice there is no real minor or major chords.  At least in the sense of a western triad sense.

Anyway, that’s all for today!

I recently made this arrangement of a tune by a DJ named Sudoh. I’m guessing he’s kind of a soft hip hop beat maker of some sorts.

A group of dancers approached me and asked me to make the song sound appropriate for dancing under cherry blossom trees.

Beautiful Field JD Remix

I followed the quartal skeleton rule as close as possible when working on parts for the 2 koto.

I also added a shamisen part. Very simple with some rhythmic variation using left hand pull offs.

Here is the original I based my arrangement on

beatufiul field

Here’s the whole song laid out in the Japanese “nuclear tone” melody theory.

:                                            Bb
:                                           /
:        Bb         Eb              A
:      /             /                /
:   A ==== (D) ====  G
:
:

The Bb connects to D (nuclear tone)

The Eb connects to G

So the first phrase starts on G and goes up to A twice.

G G A

G G A

:
:
:                                        A
:                                       /
:                                     G

then

G A Bb A G A G

:                                           Bb
:                                           /
:                                        A
:                                       /
:                                     G

down to Eb

:                                           Bb
:                                           /
:                       Eb             A
:                                       /
:                         ====  G

now the melody shifts to the root (nuclear tone): D

:                                           Bb
:                                           /
:                       Eb             A
:                       /              /
:                    D ====  G                    (this is the Miyako scale shape)

the next section from D:

D Bb D Eb D D Bb A

:
:
:        Bb         Eb
:      /             /
:   A ==== (D)
:
:

Now it jumps back up to G above D …. you may ask…”but Justin, why can it skip over D?”

:                                            Bb
:                                           /
:        Bb         Eb              A
:      /             /                /
:   A ==== (D) ====  G
: /
G

because G is connected to A by a whole step below, thus, playing the same note an octave up was not strange to the Japanese ear.

The melody then follows the whole skeleton shape here and ends on D.

:                                            Bb
:                                           /
:        Bb         Eb              A
:      /             /                /
:   A ==== (D) ====  G
:
:

Here’s a video of the piece. See if you can hear how the koto is tuned in octaves to the MIYAKO scale
(not a very professional group, but the best I could find using an English only computer at work!)
 

 

I’ll talk about the intro with the dissonance you can hear in the koto parts when jumping octaves next time.

This is Etenraku. One of the most popular and well known Gagaku pieces of music.

Notice how the instruments are staggered as they enter.

The Koto and the Biwa, have a almost percussive like role in the music.

The timing is natural, only based on the feeling of musicians.

The closest thing to a director here, is the guy in the front playing the drum that looks like a tsuzumi drum called Kakko.

I believe the reason there is no set tempo, has to do with the fact that the Japanese have always long obsessed over nature and the natural flow of imperfection.

猿も木から落ちる “Even monkeys fall from trees”