Comments on: Musicology: origin of stereotyped "oriental" music

Question: Musicology: origin of stereotyped "oriental" music

milovoo — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 20:03:45 -0800

Does anyone know the origins of the little melody used in movies, cartoons and old time radio to indicate all things oriental? (i.e. the beginning of "Turning Japanese")

By: amberglow

amberglow — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 21:35:50 -0800

someone here might know (I had always thought Flower Drum Song, but it's older than that)

By: Asparagirl

Asparagirl — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 22:50:18 -0800

It's apparently dates earlier than 1944--I have a collection of very politically incorrect Warner Brothers cartoons from the WWII days (yay, Kazaa), and I'm fairly sure it's used in "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips", among other cringe-inducing cartoons of the era.

By: dydecker

dydecker — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 00:28:29 -0800

It's a Chinese melody not a Japanese one if that helps any.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 01:03:09 -0800

I'm going to take a stab at this and say that the tune exists because it's the closest the 12 notes scale used in the west comes to overlap or approximate the eastern scale.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 01:14:17 -0800

I suspect the origin is Western clichés about Oriental music, rather than a specific native Asian original. It isn't Gilbert and Sullivan, but it may well be some other pastiche from the world of operetta or Tin Pan Alley. Keep in mind that there were intermittent fads for Asian culture even in the 19th century -- however inaccurately transmitted.

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 17:06:58 -0800

Possibly, it self-assembled.

Much Chinese influenced muisic is pentatonic.

Imagine pentatonic scale e g a b d e. Now imagine the rather nice Em7+a you get when you whack those notes together, or the slightly less plangent Em7. Now play an Em7 with an e as a top voice, and descend, keeping to the scale described above. Voila.

By: frykitty

frykitty — Sat, 07 Feb 2004 00:42:30 -0800

While I didn't find that particular clip, the work of Raymond Scott might be a good place to start. He created many of what we consider to be "cartoon cliches".