Music

• In Chinese opera, the performers use formal hand gestures to enhance their performance.
• Music of Korea is characterized by a slow tempo, peaceful and pensive character, and represents the soul and sound of traditional Korean Villages.
• Change-ak means “right music” and refers to ensemble music for men of high social status.
• Sog-ak or minsogak is music for the lower classes or for the public and is vibrant and energetic, including genres such as pansori and minyo.
• Pansori is a kind of music presented to audiences by skilled vocal singers and drummers, even the unskilled could sing these songs.
• Ryuteki, also called dragon flute, is a flute made from bamboo.
• Parallel bamboo flute (fue) is the only melodic instrument in China with no specific pitch.
• Hichiriki is a double reed Japanese flute (fue) used as one of two main melodic instruments in Japanese gagaku music.
• Sho is a free reed.
• Introduced by China during the Nara period, Shinobue, also called takebue, has a high pitched sound.
• Arirang means “the hill” or “my beloved one” and is a parting song, a Korean folk song used as a symbol of Korean and Korean culture, and a song of farewell.
• Kayagum (gayageum) is a traditional Korean zither like string instrument with 12 strings.
• Geomungo is a six string plucked zither with both bridges and frets.
• Haegum (two-string vertical fiddle) is a hollow wooden sound box with two silk strings and is held vertically on the knee of the performer, played with a bow.
• Piri is made of bamboo and is used in both the folk and classical music of Korea, its large reed and cylindrical bore gives mellow sound.
• Changgo is the most widely used drum in the traditional music of Korea, with 2 heads from animal skin, the two heads produces sounds of different pitch and timbre.
• Japan, also known as Nihon or Nippon, means “Land of the rising sun” and consists of 6,852 islands.
• Instrumental music in Japan is meditative in character, with Japanese chamber and solo music having a slow meditative pace.
• The history of traditional music in Japan is rich and varied, with imported Chinese music reshaped into Japanese styles.
• Instruments were adapted and newly created to meet local needs, with the shamisen, shakuhachi, and koto being the most important.
• Sakura is a Japanese folk song depicting spring, the season of cherry blossoms.
• Gagaku is ancient imperial court music and dance, Japanese classical music that has been performed at the imperial court in Kyoto.
• Sakura is a Japanese folk song depicting spring, the season of cherry blossoms.
• The history of traditional music in Japan is rich and varied, with imported Chinese music reshaped into Japanese styles.
• Percussion instruments in Japan include Odaiko, a large dum, reserved for the nagado style, Tsuzumi, a Japanese hand drum, and Tsuridaiko, a large barrel drum.
• String instruments in Japan include Koto, a 13 string zither, Shamisen, a plucked stringed instrument, and Biwa, a Japanese short necked lute for narrative storytelling.
• Wind instruments in Japan include Shakuhachi, a Japanese end-blown flute with 4 or 5 holes on the front face and thumb hole on the rear face, imported from China, and Nokan, a type of flute.