Chapters with Listening Guide Repertoire, CW Links, and Quizzes:
Chapter 03
Chapter Goal
- To demonstrate how the ideas introduced in Chapter Two apply to musical examples from three different musical traditions.
3.2 – “Nexasa Shirabe,” performed by Tadashi Tajima (Japan)
“Nezasa Shirabe,” performed by Tadashi Tajima (Japan)
RTadashi Tajima, shakuhachi
(P) 1994 Music of the World
Courtesy of The Orchard
CW3.1 Bach’s World
The internet is full of links about the life, times, and music of J. S. Bach. For a reliable scholarly source on Bach (indeed, on all things about Western art music) see the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (8th edition). This source is available at many university and large public libraries. If your school has an online subscription, you can find it on your library’s webpage, often under: databases; Oxford Music Online.
Brief biographies
CW3.2 The Musical Offering
You will find Bach’s Musical Offering on these sites:
The theme is at the beginning of the ricercar movement.
CW3.3 Baroque Dance
For a short video clip of a Bourrée (not using J. S. Bach’s music) see:
For a video directory of dance steps from the Renaissance to the present see:
Here is a brief essay on Baroque Dance from the Library of Congress:
CW3.4 J. S. Bach, Suite in e minor, BWV 996
Bach’s Suite in e minor, BWV 996 was originally written for an instrument called the Lautenwerk, a soft, but resonant, keyboard instrument with gut strings. The instrument’s body was rounded into an oval bowl, like a giant lute. Click here to listen to an example of the composition played on a Lautenwerk:
The “Bourrée” is one of Bach’s most recognized pieces. Dozens of renditions can be found on YouTube, including:
- Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” (about 2:42 in)
- Ian Anderson’s “Bouree”
- Tenacious D’s “Rock Your Socks” (at 50 seconds in)
CW3.5 What is Gagaku?
The instrumental music of the Japanese imperial court is known as gagaku. The tradition reaches back at least to the year 700 and has its roots in the classical music of China and Korea. The music is stately and austere to the extreme and is performed by a large ensemble of percussion, string, and wind instruments. Melodies unfold slowly and are doubled by multiple instruments in a heterophonic style. Reflecting the genre’s extraordinary insularity is the fact that some of today’s practitioners are descendants of the original court musicians.
For more on Gagaku see:
and for sound examples of Gagaku, see this PRI link: