What is your Fav.instrument u like to hear on japenese songs

I guess violins can make many more kinds of sounds rather than sadness

People, we have a music forum: https://www.fakku.net/viewforum.php?f=43 for all things musical.

I suppose the violin because they tend to have a bitchin melody that makes the song so much greater. That, and all the electronic equipment that adds that alternative/electronica/punk/techno/trance feel to their songs.

Personally, viola and zither/koto type instruments. They both have a full sound and a nice range. I find the violin, even when played well, has more of a crystalline sound in the higher registers. Alone, it lacks the timbre flexibility of many of the wind instruments and the depth of sound of the larger strings, both of which are better suited to the type of music usually played in Japanese anime/video game music. There is some amazing Japanese music featuring violins prominently, but for me, it tends to be more along the lines of Takemitsu.

Piano is a nice enough instrument, but the music I associate it with in anime/video games tends to be overwhelmingly distasteful to me. For music that doesn't modulate too much or use nontonal or modal scales, it also has the disadvantage of equal temperment.

@WhiteLion: Still, the piano does have an advantage of playing more than one melody at a single moment due to the use of both hands on the keyboard. Even pianos have those pedals underneath that help modulate the music, but not much. (Electrical pianos are much different in that regard though.) I've heard some great songs done on the piano, and artists such as Angela Aki and angela (different band) are really skilled at the piano in making it the choice instrument.

Piano is a wonderful instrument, but the quality I am referring to is the intonation. Due to the way pythagorean tuning works, the piano is inherently out of tune. I don't plan to go into deep detail, but you have probably heard it said that Eb and D# are different notes. This is true in pythagorean tuning because they appear in different harmonic contexts. On the piano, they are one key, a key which always creates the exact same pitch when played. It's a compromise called equal temperment in which each octave is divided into 12 equal half steps. When trying to play lyrical melodies with lush harmonic accompaniment, this is a disadvantage. There's really no good way to fix it either. Other systems, such as just intonation, will make the piano play well in some keys but truly awful in others. Doubling the number of keys on the instrument would make it harder to play. (What pedals are you referring to? The three standard pedals are for making the string vibrate more or less freely affecting the ringing of the sound, they aren't supposed to change the pitch.)

This intonation "problem", however, is part of the piano's nature and great piano composers use it as an advantage. Impressionists such as Ravel and Debussy used it to create a blended wash of sound, like a fresh painting dissolving in rain. Composers such as Piston sketched depths of growling dissonance. Ives went even further and tuned pianos apart to replicate the ringing of bells.

I just find that the anime piano music I encounter doesn't utilize this aspect of the piano. It is generally treated like any other melodic instrument except that it has the ability to play chords and accompany itself. It's not really a matter of skill of the players, but rather the music. Nor am I saying that it is a terrible instrument, simply why it is not my favorite.

I meant Perform. I used to be in a band. [sigh] I miss high school...

@Whitelion: I'm actually getting what you're talking about, even though I'm not a music major but a music aficionado. You're right about the three pedals because they don't change the pitch, but in a sense it goes towards "modulating" the melody. (Leastwise that's how I took the word "modulate" in its context.) I've played the piano myself, and compared to other instruments, I always had a hard time trying to get damn "feeling" into the song simply because of the way the piano was constructed and particular sound it produces. Simply plunking down keys wasn't enough, partly because the intonation screwed in up certain keys like you mentioned, and partly because I couldn't vary the pitch like I could with the violin.



I see your point in regards to anime and game music. I think that other artists who use the piano specifically make the piano much more than just an accompanying instrument.

The guitar work in Japanese music is amazing, always creative and very interesting to listen to. Also, they experiment a lot with different instruments. I've heard a violin, cello, synthesizer, and other stuff like that. It's interesting, to say the least.