App Profile: Ohayashi Sensei

The Japanese classical drama - Noh, is considered one of the oldest still existing performing arts in the world. Its peculiar and mysterious music style called Hayashi, has never ceased to mesmerise the audience, whether it be the samurai warriors of ancient Japan, or the punctual Japanese businessmen of modern times. The musical instruments used in Noh are four - three drums and one flute. With Ohayashi Sensei you have the unique opportunity to experience the exquisiteness of the music of Noh, as well as play the instruments yourself - in an easy and fun way. Pick any of the four instruments and start practicing right away.

In OHAYASHI SENSEI you can play all four instruments used in Noh drama - flute (fue), shoulder drum (kotsuzumi), hip drum (ootsuzumi), and stick drum (taiko). You can also play the yelps and shouts (kakegoe), used by the musicians to synchronise their performance. For every instrument there is a gameplay mode, in which through visual indications you can learn the rhythm of the most common melody in Noh drama, chuu-no-mai, and test your musical skills.

OHAYASHI SENSEI was developed with the support of the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs in order to help elementary school teachers present the peculiar instruments and styles of Japanese traditional music. The app represents all four instruments very faithfully - all of the recorded sound samples were performed by professional hayashi musicians on the Noh stage of Yamamoto Nohgakudo in Osaka, Japan. There are also explanations about the role and peculiarities of each instrument.

Highlights of the app:
- Beautiful and faithful representations of each of the four different instruments.
- All types of synchronisation shouts (kakegoe) by professional musicians.
- Test your skills and learn the basic melody in Noh in a fun way.
- Japanese and English interfaces.
- Informative explanations and modes of playing for all instruments.