5/29/22, 11:08 PM Music of East Asia: Scales, Themes, Instruments & Characteristics - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.

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Music of East Asia: Scales, Themes, Instruments & Characteristics

Contributors: Daniel Groucutt, Christopher Muscato

Learn all about Asian musical instruments and what the oriental riff is. Explore the scales, types of
instruments, and characteristics of Asian instruments.

Table of Contents

 Asian Musical Instruments

 What is the Oriental Riff?

 Lesson Summary

Asian Musical Instruments

String instruments are popular throughout Asia. Almost all Asian musical instruments use
vibrating strings that resonate within a soundboard or resonating chamber. Though these
instruments have evolved over time, many of them originated in ancient times. Archaeological
evidence shows that China had a strong musical tradition as early as 3,000 BCE. China had a
large influence on the musical history of many other cultures in East Asia, and many Chinese
musical instruments have their counterparts in other East Asian countries. For example, Chinese
and Japanese songs both use the pentatonic scale, which is a scale using five notes in an
octave. Also, the Japanese koto, Korean gayageum, and the Vietnamese dan tranh have
similarities in structure and playing technique to the Chinese ghuzeng, or plucked zither.

Types of Instruments
Many different instruments are found in Asia, but string instruments are among the most
popular. Traditionally, in ancient China, instruments were categorized by the materials they
were made from. The eight material categories for instruments were hide, clay, metal, stone,
gourd, wood, silk, and bamboo. This system of categorizing musical instruments was one of the
first of its kind in world history.

Some popular Asian string instruments include:

Pipa - A Chinese plucked lute with four strings

Erhu - A Chinese bowed spike fiddle with two strings

Ghuzeng - A Chinese plucked zither that traditionally had twenty-one strings

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Gayageum - A Korean plucked zither that traditionally had twelve strings, similar to the Chinese
ghuzeng

Dan tranh - A Vietnamese plucked zither with sixteen strings, similar to the Chinese ghuzeng

Dan bau - A Vietnamese one string zither

Koto - A Japanese plucked zither with usually thirteen or seventeen strings, similar to the Chinese
ghuzeng

Shamisen - A Japanese three-string banjo-like instrument

Veena - An Indian plucked lute with a variety of types. The modern sitar is similar in some ways, but
the Veena is a much more ancient instrument.

A woman playing the Japanese koto

Transparency is an important quality in Asian music, which means that each instrument in an
ensemble is equally important and deserves to stand out for at least part of a performance and
be heard on its own merits. Due to the transparency in Asian music,, instrumental ensembles
tend to be small, unlike the orchestras that are common in Western classical music, for
example. Another difference between most Western music and Asian music is that the melodic
instruments in an ensemble perform the same melody in Asian music, and there are typically no
instruments used to create a separate harmony or background melody.

Scales Used in Asian Music

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The most common scale used in Asian music, especially in East Asian music, is the pentatonic
scale. The pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. The five major scales that make
up the pentatonic scale are formed by structuring a song using the keys of C, D, E, G, and A.
These five major scales are:

Major pentatonic scale - in the key of C, based on the Ionian mode

Egyptian suspended scale - in the key of D, based on the Dorian mode

Blues minor scale - in the key of E, based on the Phrygian mode

Blues major scale - in the key of G, based on the Mixolydian mode

Minor pentatonic scale - in the key of A, based on the Aeolian mode

The pentatonic scale could almost be thought of as the Chinese music scale, since it is so
prevalent in traditional Chinese and Mongolian music.

What is the Oriental Riff?

The Oriental Riff, also known as the East Asian Riff, is a musical riff or phrase that is used in
Western music as a stereotype of East Asian music. The sound of a gong is sometimes used in
Western songs that use the riff. Since the riff uses notes from the pentatonic scale, it sounds
East Asian to Western listeners who are unfamiliar with East Asian music, but the melody itself is
not from the East Asian folk music tradition. The first known use of the riff was in the song
''Aladdin Quick Step'' in an 1847 stage show called The Grand Chinese Spectacle of Aladdin or The
Wonderful Lamp, and it was later used as the intro to the song ''Kung Fu Fighting.'' Those who
would like to learn more about real East Asian music are recommended to listen to East Asian
musicians, such as the pipa virtuoso Wu Man or the dan tranh virtuoso Van-Anh Vanessa Vo.

Lesson Summary
String instruments have been popular throughout Asia since ancient times. In East Asia, China
had a major influence on the music of other countries, especially Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
One of the first ways of categorizing instruments was the ancient Chinese method of grouping
instruments based on the materials they were made from: hide, clay, metal, stone, gourd, wood,
silk, and bamboo. Common Asian instruments include the pipa, the erhu, the ghuzeng, the
gayageum, the dan tranh, the dan bau, the koto, the shamisen, and the veena. One difference
between East Asian music and Western music is the importance of transparency, or the idea
that all the instruments in an ensemble are equally important and deserving to be heard. East
Asian ensembles also tend to be fairly small, and each instrument usually plays the main
melody rather than some instruments being used to create harmony. Another difference is the
fact that East Asian music uses the pentatonic scale, or scale using five notes within an octave.
The five most common pentatonic scales based on the keys using the five basic pentatonic
notes are the major pentatonic scale, the Egyptian suspended scale, the blues minor scale, the
blues major scale, and the minor pentatonic scale. A famous riff that uses the pentatonic scale is
the Oriental Riff. This riff was first used in the 1800s and later was used in movies and famous
songs, such as ''Kung Fu Fighting.'' The melody to the Oriental Riff was actually a Western

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creation and was never a part of the traditional East Asian repertoire. Since the Oriental Riff is
actually a Western stereotype of East Asian culture, it does not represent the depth and variety
that can be found in East Asian music.

Video Transcript

East Asian Music

Take a listen to this (available in the video).

What culture is that from? That's called the Oriental riff. It's a stereotypical Asian-sounding
melody actually composed by Western musicians in 1847 who needed something that sounded
'oriental' and exotic for a theater production. The point is, we all know that the music of East
Asia, the region including China, Japan, and the Koreas, is different than what we are used to in
the West. Western music is built on certain rules and expectations and East Asian music has
rules of its own. Now, that's an oriental riff.

Scales & Notes

Let's start at the most basic question of what makes East Asian music sound East Asian. Now, I
should preface this by saying that China, Japan, and the Koreas each have their own distinct
musical traditions, so these rules do not always apply to all of East Asia. However, in general,
East Asian music is based on a pentatonic scale, a musical arrangement of an octave with five
notes.

In Western music, we have a heptatonic or seven-note scale. See this scale?

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The lowest note is a C, and the highest note is a C. That's an octave. In Western music, there are
seven different notes in an octave. In East Asian music, there are five; that's the pentatonic scale
and one of the main reasons that East Asian music sounds different to us, since the relations
between notes in a scale are different than we're used to.

Like Western music, the East Asian pentatonic scales are actually based on mathematical
formulas, in which the distance between notes is decided by ratios of pitches. Also like in
Western music, the scale is based off of the first note. So, similar to how our C major scale starts
with a C major note, or an A minor scale starts with the A minor, pentatonic scales start with a
single note, then add the other four notes in relation to that.

Characteristics
Aside from the use of a pentatonic scale, East Asian music shares three general characteristics.

The first idea is linearity, the emphasis on melody. In Western music, we have instruments that
play the melody, or the main musical theme, then other instruments that play harmonies,
supporting chords and notes. East Asian music is all about the melody. Harmonies are very rare
and when used at all, aren't really part of the tension or release of the music. They're just there
for a little extra color.

The next major characteristic of East Asian music is transparency, the focus on individual
instruments. No matter how big the orchestra is, each instrument has an individual role and is
meant to be heard playing its own melody. Again, since harmonies are rarely used, instruments
aren't meant to provide background texture. They each carry their own melody and so you want
them all to be heard. This does mean that instrumental groups tend to be pretty small.

The third of the major characteristics of East Asian music is word orientation, which just means
a very low use of abstraction in music. What I mean is that music is not just for music's sake.
Traditional Asian music has a title or lyrics, and that is exactly what the piece is about. Think of it
this way. What is the subject of a symphony entitled Concerto in D major? Now, what is the
subject of the Chinese song Moon Over the Cascade? Don't worry, that's not a trick question. It's
about a moon over a cascade! Eastern Asian music is generally focused around an event, place,
or mood that dictates the feel of the piece.

Instruments

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Okay, there's one last important thing to talk about here. What sort of instruments are we using
to play this music? East Asian instruments are often sorted into one of eight categories originally
developed by the ancient Chinese.

First are silk instruments, or what we'd call string instruments. These include things like
Chinese guitars and harps, which were originally made with twisted silk for the strings. Bamboo
instruments are woodwinds, flutes made of bamboo. Wood instruments are generally
percussion instruments made of wood pieces that are hit with something or hit together. Stone
instruments are chimes made of stone and metal instruments are metal bells and gongs.
Clay instruments are ocarinas, or pots made of clay that can be melodic or percussive. And
next, we've got gourd instruments, mouth organs made with gourds, and finally, skin
instruments, drums made with stretched skins hit with sticks.

Those are the most general categories, although throughout East Asia, there are other
instruments as well. Voice is a major one not listed here and vocal performance is very
important to East Asian music. That's East Asian music in a nutshell. There's still a lot more to it
but hey, at least now you know more than just the Oriental riff.

Lesson Summary
The music of East Asia, the region including Japan, China, and the Koreas, is amongst the oldest
artistic traditions in the world. The music is generally based on a pentatonic scale, in which five
notes create an octave. That's different than the Western scale, which uses seven notes.

East Asian music is also characterized by linearity, an emphasis on melody, transparency, the
focus on individual instruments, and word orientation, the low use of abstract music. Most
East Asian music contains these traits. It is a very diverse region, however, so these rules don't
apply everywhere.

This region also features hundreds of instruments, although a traditional Chinese system
categorizes them as silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd, or skin instruments,
depending on how they're made. Altogether, this is one of the oldest and most complex systems
of music on the planet. Much more than just an oriental riff.

Lesson at a Glance
Characterized by an emphasis on melody, a focus on individual instruments, and the low use of
abstraction, the music of East Asia is as unique as the region from which it originates. Using
instruments made from natural elements, East Asian music is one of the oldest and most
complex systems of music on the planet.

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East Asian music focuses on transparency, the focus on individual instruments.

Learning Outcomes
After reviewing this lesson, you should be able to:

Contrast the music of East Asia with that of the West, regarding scales and notes

Describe the general traits of East Asian music

Identify the different musical instruments used in East Asian music

Frequently Asked Questions

What scale does Chinese music use?

Chinese music uses the pentatonic scale. The pentatonic scale is a musical scale that uses
five notes within an octave.

What are some Asian string instruments?

Some common Asian string instruments include the Chinese pipa, the Chinese ghuzeng, the
Chinese erhu, the Japanese koto, the Japanese shamisen, the Korean gayageum, the
Vietnamese dan bau, the Vietnamese dan tranh, and the Indian veena. Many Asian
instruments have counterparts with different names in other Asian countries. For example,
the ghuzeng, the koto, the gayageum, and the dan tranh are all closely related plucked
zithers.

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