Western influences in modern Japanese music

Modern American music is multi-ethnical, or derived from several ethnic groups from around the world. Its diversity was strongly influenced by many others, such as West African, Irish, Scottish and Mexican music traditions. The most well-known genres such as Jazz, Blues, Country, Hip-Hop, R&B, Pop, Techno, Rock, Metal, and Punk dominate most of modern American music. "The United States alone has the world's largest music market with a total retail value of 4,481.8 million dollars in 2012."[1] With a variety of styles and instruments, the number of genres are increasing every year.

In traditional Native American music, instruments, such as the flute, and many different kinds of percussion instruments, like drums, rattles, and shakers, were widely used around the Americas. In the modern western society, many diverse instruments are used such as the Banjo, Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, Foot Drums, Organs, Washboards, Ukuleles, and Acoustic Guitars. With many different unique sounds, each instrument has a place in modern American music. Each genre has its own set of instruments and are played in a specific manner.

In traditional Japanese music, there are three types, instrumental music, court music, and theatrical music. From these three music types, many different styles were created. Some of them include Kabuki, Gagaku, and Soukyoku.

Kabuki is a style of Japanese theatre. It is a mixture of many different live performers before live audiences. The performances include gesture combinations, speech, song, music, and dance. There are three types of Kabuki. Gidayubushi, a type of Japanese narrative music, Shimoza Ongaku, music played in the lower seats of the stage, and Debayashi, incidental music.

Gagaku, court music, is the oldest musical tradition in Japan. It includes songs, dances, and a mixture of other Asian music. There are two styles of Gagaku, instrumental and vocal.

Soukyoku uses the Chinese koto instead of the traditional Japanese koto, a large rectangular floor instrument with thirteen strings. There are two types of Soukyoku, Ikuta ryu, from Eastern Japan, and Yamada ryu, from Western Japan.

In traditional Japanese music, a large range of instruments were widely used, such as Koto, Hyoushigi, Kane, Taiko, Ichigenkin, Shamisen, Hocchiku, Shakuhachi, Hichiriki, and Horagai. Each of these instruments have unique sounds and ways of playing them.

The Japanese koto has thirteen strings and requires the player to use three finger picks to pluck the strings to create a vibrant melody. The instrument is usually placed on the floor because of its large rectangular size.

The Hyoushigi is a simple instrument. It consists of two wood blocks, or bamboo, connected by a thin rope. The blocks are played together to create a clapping melody.

The Taiko, in traditional Japanese, refers to any drum. Taiko performances usually use more than one taiko.

(Bi-Musicality In Modern Japanese Culture) Japan's music styles had shifted from their traditional and unique style to a more western approach during the 1870s to 1920s. This resulted in "parallel music cultures", the mixture of both traditional Japanese and Modern western cultures. (Alison Tokita 1).

With westernization taking its toll on modern Japanese culture, the use of the English language has also found it way becoming a part of everyday Japanese speech. With westernized music, the listener must become bilingual in both Japanese and English in order to both understand and appreciate modern Japanese music.[2]

Many Japanese artists are well known for the instruments that they play and many of the instruments come from the western world. Masahiro Ando, A Japanese guitarist, is well known for his talent in playing the guitar. Abingdon Boys School, a popular J-Rock boy band, is also popular for their western-style music in Japan.

J-Rock, or Japanese Rock music, gives a new meaning to modern Japanese music. J-Rock mixes heavy guitar playing and fast-paced drumming along with many English words and phrases thrown around to create a unique new sound. It takes the "western idea of rock" and uses the adrenaline of the Japanese to create this new age of Japanese music.

J-Pop, or Japanese Pop music, has also grown quite popular in modern Japan. It takes the western idea of pop and mixes it with Japanese style and culture. Along with its singing and dancing, J-Pop shares a lot of the Pop-like qualities in western style music.