Utai
Utai (also called yokyoku) is the vocal music of the Japanese classical theater form called Noh. It is monophonic music influenced by Buddhist chant, especially of the shomyo tradition of the Tendai and Shingon esoteric sects that came to Japan from China in the Heian period (794–1185). Notation called gomafu or gomaten (literally, "sesame seed marking," from the way the notation marks look) developed from this same tradition and was consolidated in the Edo period (1600/1603–1868), with each mark having a slightly different form and a definite meaning for each of the Noh schools. Although the language and sometimes pronunciation, too, are classical and not always easily understood, the performance of utai is studied by amateurs of all ages as well as by professionals.
A Noh text develops through the progression of combinations of units of prose and of poetry in a 7/5-syllable meter. An actor speaks prose lines in kotoba (inflected speech) or chants lines solo or in exchanges with other characters. The chorus (ji-utai) expresses a character's speech or thoughts as well as describes a scene or narrates action during mimed sections.
Utai as chant is characterized by rhythm, pitch, and mode. The rhythm (nori) of Noh can be divided into hyoshi-awazu (incongruent) and hyoshi-au (congruent) chant to the drum patterns in an eight-beat system. Hyoshi-awazu chant may be found in short poetic sections. There are three kinds of hyoshi-au (congruent) chant. Hira-nori, the most common form, distributes the twelve syllables of the 7/5 meter over eight beats, with the syllables on the upbeat of the first, third, and fifth beats held. Chu-nori, also called shura-nori as it is often used in descriptive passages in shura-mono (warrior plays), distributes sixteen syllables of text over eight beats and is characterized by stress on every second beat. O-nori places one syllable per beat and is often used when the taiko (stick drum) is played for a strong or dynamic effect. Variations of syllables in lines in each of these styles create interesting syncopation. The pitch of utai goes through three centers: jo (high), chu (center), and ge (low), each a perfect fourth apart, following conventions of movement and embellishment for each section of the text. The chorus follows the pitch set by its leader, the ji-gashira. The two modes of utai express a wide range of emotions: yowa-gin, a weak or melodic mode for lyric passages, and tsuyo-gin, a strong, dynamic mode that uses microtonal pitch changes.
Noh-Kyogen
Further Reading
Komparu, Kunio. (1983) The Noh Theater, Principles and Perspectives. New York: Weatherhill/Tankosha.
Malm, William P. (1959) Japanese Music and Musical Instruments. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle. Tamba, Akira. (1981) The Musical Structure of Noh. Trans. by Patricia Matoreas. Tokyo: Tokyo University Press.
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