Gagaku Court Music

     Gagaku (雅楽, “elegant music”) is the oldest form of traditional music in Japan, and includes songs, dances, and a mixture of other Asian musics.   It employs the "yo" scale, a pentatonic scale with ascending intervals of two, three, two, two, and three semitones between the five scale tones.  Because key transpositions are difficult for the instrumentation, transpositions are based on modes not pitches (ie - works are interpolated and played in different modes).  The instrumentation is developed from the Shinto court Kagura (御神楽, Mi-kagura), but with some unique additions not found in any other genre of hogaku.

ryuteki, so, biwa, hichiriki, sho, da-daiko, shoko, kakko

Instrumentation:

• Winds: hichiriki (篳篥, double reed flute, plays main melodic line), ryuteki (龍笛, togaku flute), or kagura-bue (神楽笛, flute for Shinto kagura), or  koma-bue (高麗笛, for komagaku) (these flutes loosely follow the hichiriki line in heterophony), and sho (笙, mouth organ, 11 possible chords). 
• Percussion: da-daiko (鼉太鼓, giant hanging drum skin for bugaku), taiko (釣太鼓, tsuri-taiko), shoko (鉦鼓,  hung bronze gong), kakko (鞨鼓 or 羯鼓, lead double headed small drum used in togaku), san-no-tsuzumi (三の鼓, lead drum used in koma-gaku), shakubyoshi (笏拍子, sticks for vocal leaders).
• Plucked Strings: wagon (大和琴, 6-string zither), gaku-so (箏, so, a 13-string zither, 2 basic patterns), gaku-biwa (楽琵琶, 4-string lute).  The strings have a rhythmic/structural role.

Structure: “Jo-ha-kyu” form: Basically begin slowly, increase speed and variety in the middle, and then go very fast in the concluding section, slowing down once more at the end.

• Jo: intro/overture (Netori phase, introduced by sho, then hichiriki, flute, kakko, biwa/koto)
• Ha: dev/expo (led by flute/percussion, expands into full instrumentation tutti, increasing speed)
• Kyu: coda (Tomede phase, thinning texture, ends with biwa and gaku-so plucks)

     CD tracks with the indication "-no Ha" mean it is from the "Ha" portion of a Jo-Ha-Kyu piece.  Sometimes the Jo section is omitted for smaller gagaku groups.  "Jo-Ha-Kyu" is an important structural strategy also used in Noh, Kyogen comedy, koto and shamisen music.

There are 3 main types of gagaku:

• Bugaku (舞楽): with dance ("bu" indicates dance), often faster/more lively, no strings but employs da-daiko (giant, hanging drum centerpiece which creates low, booming thrums)
• Kangen (管弦): without dance (ex. “Etenraku”)
• Kayo: vocal songs and chanted poetry.  In these forms, the lead vocal and wood sticks (shakubyoshi) play the first phrase solo, with the full ensemble/chorus joining on the second phrase.  In Roie, each stanza is led by a solo vocal.

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Gagaku can also be categorized in more detail by 3 types of setting (ritual, court, and informal/semi-private):

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RITUAL: Seigaku (声楽): Japanese vocal and dance pieces performed primarily in private or seasonal Shinto ceremonies.  Ensemble vocals are accompanied by reduced gagaku instrumental ensembles without drums.  However, winds and strings are led by a shakubyoshi (clapper), and the melody can be heard in the sho.  Vocal/instrumental pieces can also be called kokufu kabu (“Japanese Song Dance”, indigenous Japanese court/shrine song and dance).

Mi-kagura (or Kagura-uta, 神楽歌) are performed in order to praise the virtue of the gods (especially during Shinto ceremonies).  The suffix "uta" means song or poem.  Mi-kagura is regarded as the most sacred form of music and has been performed in the heart of the Imperial Palace since the 11th century.
It consists of four sections:

• Purification of the ritual site
• Welcoming of a god
• Entertaining the god
• Seeing off the god

Azuma-asobi (東遊び, from eastern Japan) is a suite of folk songs and dances, often for ceremonies to pay respect to imperial Shinto ancestral spirits on both spring and autumn equinoxes. It is also offered at important special rituals in such grand shrines as Kamo jinja (Kyoto), Iwashimizu hachimangû (Kyoto), Kasuga taisha (Nara), and others.  Typically there are 4 singers with an instrumental ensemble.  The main sections below are often complemented by additional preludes and interludes:

• Ichi-uta
• Ni-uta
• Suruga-uta (dance)
• Motomego-no-uta (dance)
• Obire-uta

Kume-mai (久米歌, Kume-uta) is a dance for the Daijô-e, an emperor’s coronation ceremony, which commemorates the victory of imperial ancestors in local feuds.  It is often performed by palace guards.
Ruika is sung at an emperor’s funeral, its text taken from one of the poems in the 8th century Kojiki myth.
Yamatomai: dance of Yamato, performed at court and at festivals
Outa (ō-uta): Shinto "big songs"
Enkyoku: Heian banquet party music (or Enzui, "drunken pools", no surviving examples)
Gosechi-no-mai: 5-movement dance of young maidens
Fuzoku: ancient folk songs from other Western provinces but preserved at the imperial court

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COURT: Kigaku (器楽): The most "popular" form of Gagaku, these are imported 7th-9th century instrumental pieces and dances from the Asian continent.

Tôgaku  (or Kara-gaku): Chinese Tang Dynasty origin, later also including Indian and some Japanese pieces.  These are also known as "music of the left", and include both kangen and string-less bugaku dance forms.
            Kogaku: pre-Tang Dynasty
            Shingaku: post-Tang Dynasty

 Melodically, there are 6 Tôgaku modes:

Ryo modes (Mixolydian):

1. Ichikotsu-chô: (tonic) key of D
2. Sô-jô: key of G
3. Taishiki-chô: key of E

Ritsu modes (Dorian):

4. Hyô-jô: key of E;
5. Ôshiki-chô: key of A;
6. Banshiki-chô: key of B

The purpose of the modes is so that pieces can be played in different pitch registers (keys).  Pieces include Etenraku (越天楽), Kishunraku, and Dainichido Bugaku (大日堂舞楽, 9 sacred ritual dances with flute and taiko).

(from "Japanese Music", Malm)

Komagaku: ("music of the right") Manchurian and Korean (and new Japanese compositions) used in various court, Buddhist, and Shinto ceremonies.  Komagaku is only performed in bugaku dance form, using somewhat different types of reeds and percussion (various instruments brought from the Asian continent).  Sho and strings are not used.  Pieces include Seigaiha, Kitoku, etc...

Outdated Kigaku forms: Rimpagaku (S. Vietnam), Tenjikugaku (India), Rinyugaku (Indochina), Wagaku (Japanese)

Reigaku: 伶楽, contemporary Gagaku compositions

Rhythm:

Non-metrical (free) rhythms can be found in the Togaku prelude Bongen or the Komagaku prelude Ichôshi.

Other sections are in various meters:

Duple meter (2/4, 4/4, 8/4) (ose-byôshi, haya-byôshi, nobe-byôshi)
2 + 4 meter (tada-byôshi)
2 + 3 meter (yatara-byôshi)

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INFORMAL: Kayo: Sung Japanese/Chinese poetry in Kokufu kabu (accompanied vocal ensemble) forms, mostly established in 9th Century Japan.  These works were mainly performed for high-ranking noblemen in rather informal court ceremonies, and used reduced Gagaku instrumental ensembles without drums.

Saibara (催馬楽) are gagaku folk songs (Kuniburi-no-utamai), based on myths and legends, used for Emperor accession ceremonies (6 pieces survive). 

Rôei (朗詠, “poem recitation”) are poetic chants merged from Chinese poems, popular in aristocratic society.  Sometimes they are sung in Japanese (14 pieces survive). 

Imayo (今様, "contemporary songs") are derived from Buddhist Shomyo wasan (chant) texts.  This was a popular song form for courtesans, Shirabyoshi dancers, and court aristocrats (eventually replacing roei and saibara in the late Heian period).  The original melody is lost, but the Imayo verses themselves have been adapted to the melody of Etenraku (the "most popular" gagaku melody).

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRM_FNooJHc

Arbiter Records on Gagaku
Japanese Music & Musical Instruments, William Malm, 1959

https://www.britannica.com/art/gagaku#ref199083