Japanese Music

This has many points of similarity, practically amounting to identity, with the music of China. History and tradition, as well as the relics of ancient music, the character of its practitioners, and the instruments, indicate that Japan drewits musical culture originally from China, though a Japanese mythological account of its origin exists. Unlike China, Japan has opened its gates to the Western art. In 1878 the government appointed a commi ion to inquire into European music with reference to its adoption in the public schools. An Institute of Music was established in connection with the Tokio Normal School, and in 1880 an American teacher, L. W. Mason, was engaged as Instructor of Music. He remained two years, and was succeeded by a German, who undertook to fit the school songs with harmonies for string instruments. The policy of the school was "to secure new and suitable music... by selecting the best from both European and Oriental music." While the popular music retains its old characteristics, the new is strongly influenced by Western melody. In fact, our popular melodies are common in Japan; in the war with China, 1895, the melody of an American war song was set to a Japanese hymn.