＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
The NHK morning drama series “Yell” began airing today (March 30, 2020). This drama tells the turbulent life story of composer Yuji Koseki (1909–1989), a representative figure in Japanese music history during the Showa era, and his wife Kinko Koseki (1912–1980), who was also a successful singer.
The opening scene of the first episode depicts, in a light-hearted and comical way, how music has been a part of life since prehistoric times 10,000 years ago.
So, this time, I’d like to reflect on music.
1. The Origin of Music
What are the origins of music?
– It began with imitating bird songs and other animal sounds.
– It was born from the stress and pitch of words.
– It originated from the rhythms used when walking or making stone tools.
– Musical instruments were born from sounds made to send signals over long distances.
– It was born when people wanted to express their wishes strongly, such as when praying for rain.
There are many theories, but no definitive answer is clear.
However, I believe that music is something that emerged spontaneously from the expression of human emotions and feelings, such as joy and sadness. When people were sad, perhaps expressing their feelings through music, either vocalizing them or playing an instrument, served as a kind of “spiritual catharsis” to soothe their sorrow.
2. History of Music
(1) History of Western Music
Reliefs depicting people playing instruments such as harps, lyres, flutes, and drums have been discovered in the ruins of Mesopotamia, the world’s oldest civilization.
In ancient Egypt, music appears to have been widely performed during ceremonies and festivals since around 3000 BC.
In ancient Greece, considered the birthplace of Western civilization, music appears to have been popular since around 1000 BC.
Music, along with philosophy, literature, and physical education, was highly valued in education. Musical theory was also studied, and various scales and rhythms were established. Greek theater featured choirs, which later gave rise to opera.
The roughly 1,000-year period from around the 5th century to the mid-15th century was a time when Christianity was most fervently practiced in the West, and music developed primarily around the Christian church.
Music from the 17th to mid-18th centuries, when Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, and others were active, is called “Baroque music,” but as instrumental music developed, vocal pieces also began to grow in size.
From the mid-18th to early 19th centuries, when Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven were active, mainly in Vienna, music that had previously been the preserve of courts and churches began to be listened to by ordinary citizens. The music of this period, when string quartets and concertos emerged, is called “Classical music.”
In the 19th century, many musicians in the music world were free to create unique music, each valuing their own emotions. They composed beautiful melodies and colorful chords freely, unconstrained by previous forms. This is called “Romantic music.” Representative musicians of this period include Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, and Mendelssohn.
From the mid-19th century, people began to create artistic music that strongly expressed their country’s ancient legends, history, climate, and national sentiment, and based it on local folk songs and dances. This style became particularly popular in Russia, Bohemia, and Northern Europe. This style is known as “national music.” Representative composers include Tchaikovsky, Smetana, Dvorak, Grieg, and Sibelius.
(2) History of Popular Music
The world is divided into “elite culture” (classical music), such as “religious music,” “court music,” and “music of the classical arts,” and “music for the enjoyment of the general public” (popular music), such as “popular music” and “folk music.” One way of thinking about “popular” is to divide it into “narrowly popular” and “folk music.”
“Narrowly popular” refers to commercial music that has spread worldwide, centered in the United States.
“Amazing Grace,” created in the early 1800s, is a hymn with a memorable refrain similar to gospel.
Later, genres such as “country,” “spirituals,” and “blues” emerged, leading to “jazz” and “rock.”
(3) My Musical History
Traditional Japanese music includes gagaku (traditional Japanese court music), dengaku (traditional Japanese music), sarugaku (traditional Japanese music), noh (traditional Japanese music), kyogen (traditional Japanese revival), and joruri (traditional Japanese puppet theater), but I’m not particularly interested in them.
For me, the early music I was familiar with was American jazz, pop, and rock that aired on the radio after the war, Japanese pop songs, and the children’s songs and elementary school songs influenced by Western music that I learned in elementary school.
Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, and Elvis Presley are American singers I have fond memories of.
Last year, DA PUMP’s “U.S.A.” was a big hit, but it was a cover. Postwar pop songs often involved quickly adding Japanese lyrics to American hits like “Vacation” and “The Locomotion.”
Since then, many of my favorite singers have emerged, including Misora Hibari, the Carpenters, Yashiro Aki, Teresa Teng, Tanimura Shinji, Ogura Kei, Dreams Come True, and Oda Kazumasa.
In high school, music and art were electives, and I took art, but looking back, I regret not taking music.
3. The benefits of the development of AV equipment
With the invention of records and gramophones, it became possible to enjoy music easily without having to go to a concert. The invention of CDs and CD players made things even more compact, and now it’s common to listen to music from YouTube on even the smallest smartphones.
When I was a child, I lived in a house built in the 1880s that had an old gramophone and SP records, but they broke down and stopped working, so we threw them away. However, thinking about it now, it’s a shame because even though they were broken, they probably still had cultural value.