Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, places of mystery and attraction
to the western civilization. Long a cradle of art, religion and civilization,
Asia has always been an enigma and a land of the unknown and exotic ways for
those of us in the Western world. In earlier times, many myths and misunderstandings
prevailed about Asia due to its inaccessibility and hard to understand languages
and ways. Today, we've learned much about Asia and now have a better understanding
of the wonderful peoples of that far away continent. It was not always so.
In the middle 19th century, Asia became more open for the west
and peoples from Asia began to emigrate to other parts of the world seeking
opportunity and bringing their culture and manners to other parts of the world.
As with many such influxes, much misunderstanding and misinformation resulted
and as well, the ugly face of stereotypes, racism and prejudice raised their
heads and took over reason. As we moved into the late 19th century and the early
20th, some better understanding was occurring but still, most Westerners and
particularly Americans held inaccurate beliefs and understandings of Asian cultures
and manners. The world of music was reflective of these misunderstandings and
as Tin Pan Alley took on the subject of Asia and Asian music, we saw a large
number of songs emerge that idealized Asian culture and mostly missed the mark
when it came to accuracy.
This months issue looks at some of the music from Tin Pan Alley
that used Asian and Oriental themes as a basis for the music and lyrics. As
we will see, many of the composers and lyricists did a wonderful job of writing
music but failed miserably when it came to accuracy about the lands and peoples
and their music. Nonetheless, as always, the writers of American songs managed
to provide us with great songs and entertainment. After all, that is what it
was all about.
Come with us now as we visit exotic Asia and the Orient as seen through the
eyes of Tin Pan Alley's early songwriters. As always, this issue is on two separate
pages so don't miss page two of this
issue.
The
Heathen Chinee
1870
Music by: "F.B"
Lyrics by: Bret Harte
Cover artist: unknown
We begin this month's survey with one of the earliest, and ugliest, songs
about people of the Orient. In the mid 19th century, the American west
saw a huge influx of workers from the orient who were imported as cheap
labor to help build the transcontinental railway as well as to work in
the gold fields during the California gold rush. Just as today, hard feelings
developed among American workers for jobs lost to cheap imported labor
and that, combined with a lack of knowledge of Oriental people resulted
in a great deal of prejudice and racism directed at the people. Though
many of the people arrived at our shores from many Asian countries, to
Americans, they were all Chinese.
This song is reflective of the hatred and racist views of the Chinese
who came to America. Written by one of America's greatest authors of the
period, it shows the ugly side of American music. Of course, we've explored
the racist side of American music before in our acclaimed articles about
Coon Songs and Racism in Music but even those articles don't tell
the complete breadth and depth of the issue. Songs such as this one are
threaded throughout American song, even to this day as evidenced by current
trends in "Rap" and other urban hate music. As with most of
Harte's novels, the lyrics of this song tell a tale of a card game in
which a Chinese man feigns lack of knowledge of the game of poker yet
takes all in a game where he is discovered to have been cheating. In a
commentary about Chinese clothes, it was said the deceptive "Chinee"
held twenty-four packs of cards up his sleeve. Of course, one of the other
players, an American held Aces and "bowers" up his sleeve and
little was made of that. The players were incensed that they had been
out-cheated and suffered the wrath of the players. In my own opinion,
this song represents an intentional twist of irony by Harte and behind
the obvious is a clever and well disguised lesson about racism. I believe
Harte knew exactly what he was doing and the song is a slam of the prevailing
unfair stereotypes of the Chinese people.
Bret
Harte was one of America's greatest "western" authors. Though
New York born (Albany 1839), his family moved to California in 1854 where
he worked in a number of jobs from miner to journalist. It was there he
met Mark Twain and other notable writers of the period. While working for
the Overland Monthly as editor, Harte wrote a short story titled
The Luck of The Roaring Camp which immediately became popular. He
wrote a number of other stories about the American West as well as poetry,
and at least this one song lyric. Harte returned to New York in 1871 and
in 1878 was appointed U.S. Consul in Germany. In 1880 he moved to Scotland
and later to London where he died in 1902.
(Image & biographical source material http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/harte.html
)
Hear this early "Chinese"
work
Printable sheet music (scorch format only)
listen to MIDI version
Lyrics
|
In
The Land of Far Cathay
1903
Music by: J. Arndt Morris
Lyrics by: Mary Wood
Cover artist: H.B. Eddy
With is quite nice song, we experience an early attempt by a songwriter
to create an Oriental sounding song. Using a staccato, choppy style using
fifths combined with a flowing melody and bass chords songwriters tried
to imitate the sounds heard in Oriental music. In some respects their
efforts mimic some elements of Chinese music but only manages to use some
stereotypical elements and create a similarity of the sound of Chinese
music. We also find that at this time, all songs related to Oriental and
Asian countries seem to take on the same sound illustrating the confusion
and ignorance on the part of the west as relates to the differences between
various countries in Asia.
Early Chinese music was defined more by religious and philosophic leaders
rather than secular ones. Confucious believed that music should be used
for education and that moderation should be applied. As a result, we see
the development of a music that is rich in harmony, melody and metaphysical
impact, yet simple in terms of fundamentals. As with much Western music,
the Chinese system developed with the concept of the octave and 12 pitches
within the octave termed the lü. The 12 lü are
very precisely defined in mathematical terms as specific relative ratios
that result in a series of perfect intervals that begin with a fundamental
note, the huang-chung. Listen
to the 12 lü scale. The Chinese pentatonic scale, the
first five of the 12 lü, is the scale used that creates the
unique "Oriental" sound that westerners are more accustomed
to. Hear the pentatonic scale.
Though not precisely the same as notes defined by Western scales, they
are approximate to C-D-F-G-A.. As if all this were not confusing enough,
a seven tone scale was also used in Chinese music. Hear
the hepatonic scale. Once you've listened to all those, refresh yourself
as to the more familiar octave scale
used in our music. It is the pentatonic scale most often used to "imitate"
the Oriental sound in western music.
J. Arndt Morris & Mary Wood are two of our many creative
composers and lyricists whose life story has become so obscure as to be
nearly impossible to find. This song appeared in the New York American
and Journal on Sunday November 29, 1903 as a music supplement. As with
most of our newspaper music supplements, it has deteriorated badly and
soon will be nothing more than a pile of dust.
Enjoy
this early "Chinese" hit
Printable sheet music (scorch format only)
listen to MIDI version
Lyrics
|
I
Like You
1903
Music by: Wm. F. Peters
Lyrics by: Richard Carle
Cover artist: Keller
In 1903, Richard Carle and Wm. Frederick Peters staged the musical operetta,
The Mayor Of Tokio. Not a big hit, nonetheless, music from the
musical was published and some songs became popular on their own. Later,
in 1905, the operetta enjoyed a run of 50 performances (definitely not
a hit) at the New York Theater, with Carle playing one of the leading
roles. The New York Theater was built in 1895 and was the venue for many
of the era's greatest stage works including Naughty Marietta
in 1910 and Ben Hur in 1903. Interestingly, though the work carries
a Japanese theme, there was absolutely no attempt by Carle and Peters
to imitate Japanese music or oriental musical construct. What we have
here is a plain and simple American song from an American stage play with
a Japanese setting. A nice song, in the American Tin Pan Alley tradition.
Richard Carle ( b. Jul. 7, 1871 Somerville, MA, USA - d. Jun 28,
1941 North Hollywood, CA, USA ) Was a prominent producer, writer, lyricist
and composer who is best known for his many musicals, musical revues and
stage plays. He enjoyed a fairly long and productive career and staged
many works from 1899 to 1930. Among his works are; The New Yorkers,
1930; Adrienne, 1923; The Broadway Whirl, 1921; The
Cohan Revue of 1916, 1916; Jumping Jupiter, 1911; The
Hurdy-Gurdy Girl, 1907 and Children of the Ghetto, his first
staged work in 1899.
( Biographical data and play list from the Internet Broadway
Database at http://ibdb.com/person.php?ID=8297
)
Listen to and see this
"Japanese" song (scorch format only)
Listen to MIDI version
Lyrics
|
Hi-Ko,
Hi-KO
1904
Music by: Gustav Luders
Words by: none, piano solo
Cover artist: unknown
Touted as from "The Korean Opera, Sho-Gun," by Luders, we have
here an excellent sectional composition for piano that from the cover,
one would think is a genuine Korean dance. Whether it really is or not,
is open for discussion. In my opinion, it is not. The title of the opera,
Shogun, is our first clue that we have yet another composer who
is confused as to Asian tradition, geography and terminology. Of course,
I'm no expert but it seems that the term Shogun (or Sho-gun) is of Japanese
origin, not Korean. According to the Encarta Encyclopedia, Shogun,
was the title of the military dictators who ruled Japan almost continuously
from 1192 to 1867. Secondly, the music, though again a bit oriental sounding,
is not necessarily Korean in nature. On listening, if anything, the music
sounds almost Native American. Of course we've said in our essay
about Native American music that Native American music sounds as though
it may have been influenced by Asian music (supporting the "land
bridge" from Asia theory). In some respects, the music also has passages,
particularly the "Billboard Dance" that sounds even middle eastern
in style.
Korean music has its origins in court and classical styles with folk
music rarely mentioned in historical accounts. According to the New Grove
( v. 10. p 192) there were seven distinct historical periods and music
was classified into several styles. Those styles are aak (elegant
music), chôngak (right music), P'ansori (vocal and
theatrical music) and sogak (secular music). Most Korean music
is based on tritonic or tetratonic models and there are eight different
types of notation used. The scales or pitches used are different for aak
and art songs. Korean music is quite complex with many different modes
and scales used depending on the style of music. A typical scale for aak
may sound like this and a scale for an art song may use this scale. Both
scales are chromatic and as scales go, sound very modern. Here is a short
excerpt from a Confucian ritual.

I think we could agree, here is another case of Asian confusion and misinformation
in this work. Regardless, I think it is an excellent piano work and find
it very entertaining.
Gustav Luders (b. Dec. 13,1865 Bremen, Germany d. January 1913,
New York, NY.) wrote a fairly large number of musicals
and stage plays from the period 1900 to 1913. After a long absence, he
produced one work in 1930 and nothing after that. His work, Shogun
opened October 10, 1904 at Wallack's Theater and ran for 125 performances
(Internet Broadway Database).
Musically trained in Europe, Luders emigrated to Milwaukee, WI,
in 1888, when he was 23 years old, and started conducting theater and
beer hall orchestras. The eminent composer, Charles
K. Harris (After the Ball) encouraged him to follow career
in music publishing, in Chicago. He found work as an arranger, in the
Chicago office of Isidore Witmark Publishing, but also continued to conduct
theater orchestras there
In 1899, Luders' first operetta Little Robinson Crusoe opened
in Chicago. It starred Eddie Foy. Henry W. Savage heard it and commissioned
Luders to score the operetta 'The Burgomaster', which also opened
in Chicago. At this time, Luders formed a team with Frank Pixley, the
editor of the Chicago Times-Herald Newspaper, with Pixley writing text
and lyrics. (From the Tunesmiths database, http://www.nfo.net/.CAL/tl6.html#Luders
)
Hear this "Korean"
dance Printable
sheet music (scorch format only)
Listen to MIDI version
Lyrics (NONE, piano solo work)
|
Lotus
San
1908
Music by: Edward Madden
Lyrics by: Dolly Jardon
Cover artist: Starmer
Featuring a gorgeous cover by Starmer, we find a song that has a clearly
Japanese theme as far as the cover, but what about the music within? Give
it a listen and compare it to the Hi-KO piece above, you'll probably hear
some similarities, again probably due to the same confusion and lack of
knowledge displayed in all our other songs this month. Regardless, it
is a pleasant love song about a Japanese girl who fell in love with a
soldier from the west.
A look at Japanese music finds similar attributes to the music of Korea
and China that we have explored already. However, modern Japan, since
1868 finds Japanese music influenced greatly by Western traditional music
and other international trends. The opening of Japan to trade and the
modern Meiji restoration brought about changes in culture and music that
have made Japan a cross cultural society. You find a great deal of interest
in Western music, particularly classical music and popular song that seems
to overshadow traditional Japanese music. As with America, Japan;s music
evolved based on its social and political history. Traditional Japanese
music has a great deal of relationship to Chinese music and the tonal
systems, scales and modes are derived in theory from Chinese practices
(New Grove, Vol. 9, p. 511)
Traditional Japanese music is similar to Chinese in that we hear most
often the pentatonic scale. Here is an example of a traditional song from
a stage play that illustrates the sound and often simple harmonies and
instrumentation often found in Japanese music.
Listen to it and decide for yourself, did Lotus San have authentic
Japanese musical elements?
Not exactly, but still, it is a nice work. By this time we are seeing
a standard set of riffs that composers are using to connote "Asian"
music, be it Chinese, Japanese, Siamese or any other sort of "ese."
Edward
Madden (b. 1878, New York City, d. 1952, Hollywood, CA.) was a charter
member of ASCAP and a respected lyricist best remembered for a pair of
moon songs"; By The Light Of The Silvery Moon, a 1909 collaboration
with Gus Edwards, and Moonlight
Bay (Scorch format) a 1912 collaboration with renowned composer
Percy Wenrich Madden collaborated with a veritable who's who of American
popular song composers including Theodore F. Morse, Harry Von Tilzer,
Louis A. Hirsch and Jerome Kern. Madden was educated at Fordham University
and was a writer for the great Fanny Brice and other singers as well.
He founded his own publishing firm and enjoyed great success as a key
member of the Tin Pan Alley inner circle. Maddens partner in this venture,
Dolly Jardon is known to have composed a number of other popular
songs including Her Little Soldier Boy, (1906). however, as with
many of the women composers from the period, little else can be found
about her.
Enjoy
this great "Japanese" song (scorch)
Listen to MIDI version
Lyrics
|
Along
The Road To Singapore
1915
Music by: Hans Von Holstein & Alma Sanders
Lyrics by: Richard W. Pascoe
Cover artist: "BST"
Though a song a bout Singapore and what lies there for a traveler longing
to be with his "Hindoo Pearl", this song is pure American Tin
Pan Alley fare. A delightful tune, upbeat with a good set of lyrics, we
can only enjoy it for what it is..a good song about a far away exotic
place. Though there are some interesting harmonies at the beginning of
the chorus that are reminiscent of Asian sounds, once again we have a
great song where the composer uses stereotypes or simply imagined passages
that might make the listener think of South East Asia. Of course again,
we have some confused writers and the music is nothing like that found
in that region at the time and it seems he has even managed to misplace
India's Hindu's into an area largely Muslim, Taoist or Bhuddist. However,
in today's Singapore, some 4% of Singaporeans are Hindus, almost all Indian.
The music of Maylasia and South East Asia is some of the most diverse
found in Asia, yet contains a number of common features that underlie
the various styles. The music of this area embraces a wide area and includes
Indonesia, the Phillippines, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Maylasia and Thailand.
Singapore, on the Maylay peninsula is now independent (since 1965) but
when this song was written was a part of Maylay. Perhaps one of the most
prominent musical traditions of this area are the gong-chime ensembles,
often called gamelans, that consist of different types of gongs and slabs
or keys made of bronze brass or iron. In ancient times, the slabs were
actually made of tuned rock (called lithophones) which produce a soft,
pleasant sound. The resulting sound of the brass slab and gong ensemble
can be both pleasant or unpleasant depending on your point of view. Sometimes
sounding cacophonous, the music is based on a number of different scale
systems ranging from as simple as three tones to seven. The music of this
area is more melodic than harmonic, that is, chords are not as important
as the melody. Though that may be the case, the layering of melody within
an ensemble, can create the perception of harmony but the New Grove describes
it more as a stratification of instruments that gives rise to a rich harmonic
structure. (New Grove, Vol. 17, p. 764). In addition,
the quality of sound is described as homogenous, without the variety of
differing tone quality and instrumental timbres which we are used to in
Western orchestras and ensembles. Bali has perhaps the most world famous
gong or gamelan orchestras. The music in my opinion is more an acquired
taste, one I've not developed. Hear
a 5 second gong ensemble in action (wav file, 80kb) and decide for
yourself. Wav file courtesy of the website; Bali:
The Online Travel Guide
Listen to this great
old song (scorch format)
Listen to MIDI version
Lyrics
|