Good Example Of Music Critique: Random Street Concert Of Asian Music Essay

Last month, there were group of foreigners who suddenly performed a street concert that promotes the awareness of other cultures towards Asian music. The musicians were Asians and played traditional Asian music. A huge crowd gathered in front of the street to watch them as they perform the exotic music from Asia. For instance, one of the music played by the band was the theme of Dae Jang Geum titled Onara. It was a Korean drama based on a real historical figure of Jang Geum, Korea’s first female doctor. I recognized the music earlier and the instruments because I used to watch the show on the internet. The orchestra used varieties of instruments from the West, China, and Korea such as gayageum, pipa, erhu, violin, cymbals, dizi, and a red wooden gong. The tune of the Onara was polyphonic; the sound of the erhu, pipa, dizi, and violins first initiated the whole piece. Then, it was further accompanied by other instruments such as the gong while other performers occasionally plucked the strings of the gayageum to add more rhythm. The harmonious coordination of all the instruments made it possible for the band to create an atmosphere of stillness and relaxation. The soft vibrating sound of the erhu adds the beauty and exoticism to the orchestra that even passers-by stopped and listened to the unusual sound it produced. Aside from Onara, they also performed the two prominent pieces by the Japanese composer Kaoru Wada. For those who have watched the anime Inuyasha, the musical pieces I am referring to were To the Love’s End and Hanyo Inuyasha. What made their version different from the performances uploaded on the internet was their use of traditional musical instruments. Foremost, the orchestra played the two musical pieces as one; in other words, these two separate musical were joined and separated only by a signal sound from the wind instrument. Chiaroscuro was created by the combination of high pitched and low pitched sounds. As an example, when they played the first piece To the Love’s End, the tempo was andante; sounds were soft and dramatic due to erhu and the dizi. The violin, gong, and gayageum served as the transitional instruments that set the pace of music from andante to allegro. In the allegro part, all the instruments except for the erhu were used to establish an energetic, jovial, and fast paced rhythm of Hanyou Inuyasha. In this part, the players drew the bow faster and hard to stress the action and drama. Occasionally, cymbals were hit at second intervals of the piece. Overall, the performance was enjoying and relaxing because it is not frequently heard in Western countries such as the United States. In contrast with the use of Western instruments, the combination of Western and East Asian traditional instruments enabled the viewers to ‘feel’ the emotion of the music especially To Love’s End; the erhu made the whole slow tempo sad and emotional while the lack of it the later phase created the action-packed thrill of fighting music. Based from this performance, East Asian music is polyphonic; but it is relaxing, emotional, soft, and can be highly intense depending on how the musicians played their instruments. I particularly liked the sound of erhu and gayageum; erhu resembles a violin but it is round in shape and has only two strings whilst the gayageum only have 12 strings that can be adjusted to attain a desired pitch. I liked Hanyo Inuyasha because of its fast tempo. The street orchestra made me interested to learn more about Asian music and its history.