I've just started guitaring about 6 months now and just beginning to learn pentatonic scales.
So please bear with me with my question.
Mostly out of curiosity:
It deals with Western civilization (Europe) coming into contact with the East(ern) civilizations (primarily China and Japan). What was that about 600 or 700 years ago? Anyway, I imagine music had developed independently over hundreds (if not thousands) of years in these two civilizations.
My questions are, when they met:
Which civilization had the more advanced theory on music? (or which was more sophisticated in their music?)
What did they both have in common? (basic principles in common?)
Were things like pentatonic scales common to both?
Seven notes, seven keys in common?
Did the East have written music (like sheet music or tablature?)
Were concerts or symphonies common to both civilizations?
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
Interesting question. Here are some of my (unprepared) thoughts on this:
Which civilization had the more advanced theory on music? (or which was more sophisticated in their music?)
It's not possible to say which had the more advanced theory as you are comparing different systems. While the West was becoming obsessed with the comparitively recent discovery of harmony and tonality, the East was more focused on rhythmic and melodic variety and tone colour of various instrumental ensembles (e.g., the Indonesian Gamelan)
What did they both have in common? (basic principles in common?)
What they had in common were the balancing principles of unity and variety, which all great music strives to attain.
Were things like pentatonic scales common to both?
Pentatonic scales were (and still are) common and important in the Eastern systems but Western 'art music' at that time was heavily based on several of the diatonic modes. (Dorian, Lydian, etc) Pentatonic scales featured strongly in Western folk music, though.
Seven notes, seven keys in common?
7 notes yes - 7 keys no
The western scales (modes) were 7 notes with the temporary addition of accidentals (sharps and flats) where required. The East had a variety of scales, including 7 note scales, with strict methods regarding their use in formal composition. The theoretical concept of a 12 note chromatic scale had been known to both civilisations since at least the Pythagorean era over a thousand years earlier.
Keys in music (as we understand them) is a Western concept that lay in the future, although things were clearly heading in that direction at the time in question.
Did the East have written music (like sheet music or tablature?)
Yes - and before the West. (obviously not the same as Western notation, though)
Were concerts or symphonies common to both civilizations
Yes - rich people have always had the luxury of organised concerts.
Symphonies? Americans use the word symphony to mean a large orchestra, right? If that's what you mean, then yes there were fairly large ensembles in both Western and Eastern civilisations but nothing like on the scale of a modern symphony orchestra.
The other meaning of symphony is a highly evolved musical form which is a western invention that came along 3 or 4 hundred years later.
Most informative answer, Fretsource.
Thank you so much for taking the time to post it.
Very kind of you.
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
