My Science School

          Kabuki is a lyric music of Japan. Like most of the other narrative forms, it began with a close relation to the Kabuki popular theatre of the Edo period. The Eastern part of the present capital city of Tokyo was originally called Edo. The Edo period refers to the dynasty founded by Tokugu wa Ilyasu – a local warrior during 16th century. The word “Kabuki” means the art of singing and dancing.

            Its musical events can be divided into on-stage activities and off-stage performance. In plays, derived from puppet dramas, the musicians called Chobo are placed on their traditional big size platform behind a curtained area of the stage close to the exit point. Although nearly all of the music can be heard in concert form today, still Kabuki productions are different form of narrative as well as lyrical styles. The most common dance scene today, however, is the one, in which the on-stage group consists of musicians who also take part in performance. The performers are placed on the stage according to the needs of the play.

          In this process there are as many different types of music as they are used in Chinese or Western opera. The most interesting side of this is the combination of a variety of modern musical instruments with that of the musical instruments belonging to the Edo period, like bamboo flutes or drums.

          Kabuki actor’s use elaborates costumes and their faces are heavily painted. Heroes usually are in white and villains in red costumes. Actors, all men, often fight pretended duels and mime actions such as drinking of milk or tea from invisible pots.

          Kabuki is still very popular in Japan.

 

          Mickey Mouse, one of the most popular characters in the history of cartoons, is a very familiar name with all of us. This interesting character has entertained the people all over the world since a long time through its appearances in films, television and amusement parks. In the process, its creator became as famous as the creation. Do you know who was the creator of this well-known cartoon? 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Mickey Mouse was the brain child of the famous American motion picture producer Walter Elivas Disney. He was very fond of making cartoon films and also became a successful animator. Mickey Mouse was introduced by him in 1928 in his silent cartoon film Plane Crazy. The first talkie (sound film) presenting Mickey Mouse was Steambout Willie made in 1929 by Disney. Thereafter it remained one of the most important characters in Walt Disney’s stock company of animated figures. The character was always drawn by Ub lwerks, one of Disney’s indispensable co-workers. The voice of Mickey in the films was the voice of Disney himself. Disney won a special Academy award in 1931-32 for creating Mickey Mouse. 

 

          Disney was born in Chicago on December 5, 1901. He started producing advertising films in Kansas City in 1919 and then turned to animation but only with limited success. Later he moved to Hollywood where he and his brother Roy become partners. When the first sound track movie featuring Mickey Mouse (Steambout Willie) was made in 1928, the character as well as its creator became instantly famous all over the world. Walt Disney also produced animated feature films like Snow white and the Seven dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1940), Pinocchio (1938) etc. When the cost of making animated films became prohibitive, he ventured into true life adventure films such as Seal Island (1948), Beaver Valley (1950) etc. Later he made live action family films that include Davy Crocklet (1955), Mary Poppins (1965) etc.

          Disney introduced a new method of synchronizing sound with animation and also was the first to make a television series in colour in 1961. But he is best remembered for the two amusement parks he created - Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida.

          This great showman died in Los Angeles on December 16, 1966. 

               Music has been a main component of our culture since times immemorial. Generation after generation, people have enjoyed and experienced different forms and varieties of music. As a consequence every period of history has produced its own breed of musicians but only a few could make a lasting impact in the minds and hearts of people. Mozart was one such product of the 18th century music and went on to become one of the most brilliant composers in the history of music. His great genius was his ability to compose every form of music that included operas, choral, orchestral, and chamber music.

               Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756. His father was a musician at the court of the Archbishop and his sister was also a talented musician. Even as a very young child Mozart could play violin and harpschord so well that his father took him on a tour to Europe to play before the Royalty. The trio consisting of Mozart, his father and sister, were acclaimed wherever they performed. The young Mozart began to compose at the age of five. Later he studied music in Italy.

               During his brief life, Mozart could be able to change the trend of music of the earlier era by providing a tone of emotion to it as the symphonies, sonatas and other instrumental works. In the pre-Mozart era, music almost lacked any kind of emotional expression. He is generally considered as a classical composer because his symphonies, concerts and sonatas follow the rules of the musical forms of the classical period. What is not at all classical about some of Mozart’s music is his very personal note. Some of his finest compositions sound as if he was pouring his heart out of his music.

               Mozart composed some of the finest operas which include The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. He was one of the 18th century musicians who is bracketed with Beethoven and Haydn for evolving and perfecting the orchestral music. His operas reflected every change of mood and twist of plot. The characters were presented as real people rather than theatrical puppets.

               Though Mozart captured great attention as a child artist yet the popularity waned with his growing age. As a result he had to earn his living as a humble musician. He spent a greater part of his life in poverty and his health suffered consequently. He died in 1791 at the young age of thirty-five. Unfortunately he died so poor that only the grave digger attended his funeral. 

          For centuries, man has loved the birds like parrot and myna. Both these birds can be taught to imitate the human voice. There are many species of parrots and mynas which, if properly taught, can clearly speak many words and smaller sentences like human beings. Do you know how they can do it?

          The parrot has a long and thick tongue. And so some people believe that because of this fact it can speak like human beings. But this is not the fact. We know that hawk and eagle also have long and thick tongues but they cannot imitate human voice. On the contrary, myna, without having such tongue is able to speak like us.

          In fact, parrot and myna are more intelligent than other birds and thus can imitate the human voice. Their speech and hearing mechanism are slow. As a result, the sounds coming out of their mouth resemble that of human beings. It is interesting to note that parrot and myna themselves do not understand what they speak. They are able to imitate human voice by noticing our lip movements. A female parrot named ‘Prudle’, now in the care of Iris Frost of East Sussex, won the ‘Best talking parrot-like bird’ title of the National Cage and Advisory bird show in London for 12 consecutive years (1965-76). This bird from Uganda was captured in 1958 from a nest. It knows a vocabulary of nearly 800 words.

          There are about 320 species of the parrots. Most of them are green. Their beaks are sharply pointed. Their length varies from 15 cms to 90 cms. Macaw, a long tailed parrot found in South America, is 90 cms long. They can live upto the age of 50 years if proper care is taken of. The females of all species of parrots lay white eggs. Parrot is a carrier of the virus causing disease called psittacosis.

 

 

          The people of Japan always keep a keen interest in their old customs and traditions. The case of Japanese sport lovers is no exception. Traditional games of the past awaken their curiosity and enthusiasm. Every traditional sport in Japan has been ritualized. Participants mostly follow a strict code which results in quality and artistic performance of the games.

          Sumo is one such traditional style of wrestling which is still popular in Japan. It is believed that the sport originated in Japan in the 1st century B.C. This game finds a mention in many Japanese literatures. Originally the objective of the game was to kill the opponent or force him to surrender. But the killing part of the game was eliminated from the rules in the 8th century A.D.

          The game, in fact, has been professionally practiced in Japan since the 16th century A.D. Modern sumo wrestlers are stoutly built with well-developed muscles. They are trained by a master wrestler in a traditional training school.

          A sumo match takes place in a small circular sand-covered area which is slightly over 15 feet in diameter. The heavily built wrestlers, wearing only elaborate belts and loin clothes grapple each other, making sudden forward movements of their body.

          One wrestler tries to force his opponent either to step out of the ring or touch the ground with some part of his body other than the soles of his feet.

          The contest seldom lasts for more than two minutes. The contestants devote about six minutes to some proceedings before the game that include the rituals of squatting up, scattering purified salt etc. The wrestlers approach each other several times only to be waved back by a gesture of the referee who is generally bearded and clad in a tinted robe, wearing an ancient court hat. The wrestlers fight barefoot and their hairs are long and tied up in a traditional knot. The more the weight of the wrestler, the better the advantages for him in the competition. Weight is amassed by over-eating with a high protein stew called chankonabe.

          Kuramac Kokngikan arena of Tokyo is famous for sumo wrestling. Another interesting fact is that in 858 A.D., the two sons of the then emperor of Japan wrestled for the throne. These days it is attaining increasing popularity.