Blog 6: Japanese Noh

For this assignment we were to find a video of Japanese Noh theater and discuss the elements of music that exist within this art form. After a bit of searching I decided to go with a small clip of a performance from Tokyo.



This performance included a nohkan, ko-tsuzumi, and an o-tsuzumi along with the male vocalist which was performed by the o-tsuzumi and possibly the ko-tsuzumi (I did not have a good view of his mouth) as accordance with kakegoe.

During this performance the o-tsuzumi and ko-tsuzumi seemed to be the maintaining a beat for the first part (which relied on a repeating pattern) however around 1:30 they changed their pattern and became less noticeably pulsatile. The nohkan flute on the otherhand seems to remain nonpulstile for the entire performance. Also it should be noted that when I found beat for the first part (1:30) the kakegoe also aligned itself with this beat.

The actor acted at slow rate to further emphasize the feeling of dreamlike meditation instilled by these performances. Also while likely not relevant I found it interesting that he began wielding his fan about the same time the drumming became nonpulsatile for me.

So while there are pulsatile parts it seems the majority of Noh theater is nonpulsatile (considering that only the drums were at a noticeable beat for part of the performance). Also slow movements are emphasized as to promote a sense of meditation which the performance is to promote. Also to note is that the atmosphere and likely the audience also reinforced this by the silence and attentiveness.