Category Archives: music

Taiwanese Music in Martial Law

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Taiwan Ministry of Martial Law

Martial Law was laid in Taiwan on May 20, 1949. It is the beginning of 38 years of martial law. The Security Command has established various regulations to ban unauthorized gatherings, associations, demonstrations, and strikes to ensure stable Taiwan rule.

There are various reasons why popular songs are banned during martial law. “Too much left-wing” is not communist advertising, so it’s not possible. It’s not possible because “too erotic” is also decadent.

It was not possible. The lyrics were “dim” because the people were treated the same. According to government statistics, more than 3,000 songs did not pass the screening, and nearly 1,000 were prohibited from playing in public.

Reference

臺灣省戒嚴令

Taiwanese music under Japanese rule

Wen Ye Jian – Formosan Dance

 The period of Japanese rule of Taiwan refers to approximately fifty years during which time Taiwan was governed by Japan as a colony from April 17, 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan to Imperial Japan due to the defeat of the Sino- Japanese War to Octover 25, 1945, then Taiwan was put under the rule of the Republic of China.

The school’s music process at that time was centered around Western modern music, and Japanese songs were also incorporated. With this education, Taiwanese musicians began to stand out.

For example, Wen Ye Jian (1910-1983)’s “Formosan Dance” won the International Music Competition in 1936 and earned its name overseas.

Reference

江文也 – 台灣舞曲 (Formosan Dance)

 

 

New Album “The Market Had A One Bad Blip” (2020)

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about

Yasuharu Nagura has performed a new live recording entitled『The Market Had One Bad Blip』that is released on June 1, 2020.

“Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.” – Samuel Ullman (1840-1924)

The work is based on the idea of ​​“poetic computing.” He sketches by programming as if to write a poem every day, not for a huge project but his expression.

The tendency for huge companies with huge data and huge computational resources to solve problems using machine learning will increase more and more in the future.

The role of individual programmers is getting smaller and smaller, and they may replace AI.

Still, the program as a means of expressing the inside of the individual never loses its role.

Through creative activities by coding, he brings back his creativity.

credits

releases June 1, 2020

Yasuharu Nagura – music & coding

license

All Rights Reserved

 

Amish and Music

Sample-text The Ausbund

 The Ausbund is a collection of hymns written by Amish with only the lyrics.  Persecution of the Anabaptist has been clarified.

 Written a lot by the Anabbapt who was persecuted in the 16th century.

 It was first published in 1564, centered on a collection of 51 hymns written by the Swiss Anabaptist. After that, it became a collection of 140 songs.

 Mennonite is no longer using Ausbund.

 In worship, the lyrics are memorized, unaccompanied, and sung in unison. The selected conductor on the spot takes the lead.

Reference

Amish Hymn Singing by Jan Drexler

 

Spring Is Here

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　music: Richard Rodgers words: Lorenz Hart

Once there was a thing called spring
When the world was writing verses like yours and mine

All the lads and girls would sing
When we sat at little tables and drank May wine

Now April, May and June
Are sadly out of tune

Life has stuck a pin in the boat

Spring is here
Why doesn’t my heart go dancing?

Spring is here
Why isn’t the waltz entrancing?

No desire
No ambition leads me
Maybe it’s because nobody needs me

Spring is here
Why doesn’t the breeze delight me?
Stars appear
Why doesn’t the night invite me?

Maybe it’s because nobody loves me
Spring is here, I hear

Misty　　

music Erroll Garner  words Johnny Burke

Look at me,
I’m as helpless as a kitten up a tree;
And I feel like I’m clingin’ to a cloud
I can’t understand
I get misty, just holding your hand

Walk my way
And a thousand violins begin to play
Or it might be the sound of your hello
That music I hear
I get misty, the moment you’re near

Can’t you see that you’re leading me on?
And it’s just what I want you to do
Don’t you notice how hopelessly I’m lost
That’s why I’m following you

On my own
Would I wander through this wonderland alone

Never knowing my right foot from my left
My hat from my glove
I’m too misty, and too much in love

Too misty
And too much in love

 

 

What is Scat？

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 Scat is a voice that imitates an instrument. In the so-called Scat method, the voice is also an instrument.

On the other hand, there are vocalized tones and sounds that imitate human voices. Playing an instrument in the manner that you are speaking. This is called “talking” expression in wind instruments.

Some singers sing in meaningless words. Some singers sing the words into an instrumental solo. The tradition that gave birth to the Scat method is nothing that jazz occupies.

Musicians and singers from all over the world will also trace and play the sounds of musical instruments by voice. Scat is a common expression in Brazilian, Cuban, and Caribbean music.

Even in pop music, it has long been one of the corners of the 1920’s good tune “Boop-Boop a-doop” to Doowapp’s “Shoop-Shoop-Shoop-shoop”, and hip-hop “human beatbox (rhythm). ” When this technique is improvised, new things are born.

About Music School

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Those who are aiming to enter a music school from an early age, those who have already studied at a music school, are now enjoying the chorus and brass band in club activities, but you would like to study more professionally at a music school.

There are various relationships between life and music before entering school, such as those who are enrolled. In Japan, choosing a school or taking an examination seems to be a serious turning point and tends to be overly nervous because of the degree of further deciding on the subsequent life.

Keep in mind that it does not end at the music school, but it is a lifelong event. If you think so, it will be a little easier. For example, continuing learning after graduating from school is called “life-long learning” and sometimes “continued learning“.

What a music school can do is limited in time and ability. It’s best not to try everything in your twenties. It is not uncommon for a person who was unable to enter a music school at the age of 18 to enter a music school when he or she was in his 40s or 50s after finishing childcare and parental care.

This is called “recurrent education“. Recurrent includes the meaning of “make it according to the current trend” again, it means “update”, and it is sometimes translated as “regression education” or “return education”.

Currently said to be 100 years of life, you, as a student, will live for nearly 80 years. Imagine how you’re going with music 10 or 20 years later. If you can find the way you want to live, to do so, you should think about what you should do now and act it little by little.

Introduction to Composition

　Yasuharu Nagura「The Market Had One Bad Blip」(2020)

 I think that the most effective way to start writing music is to stack music blocks and make them intellectually related to each other. Such musical blocks, such as phrases and motives, are materials for building various types of larger units that are structurally necessary.

 In this way, contrast and diversity are expressed persistently, and the requirements for logicality, consistency, and intelligibility are met.