Thoughts on Shika-no-tone

From: Bruce Jones (bjones@weber.ucsd.edu)
Date: Fri Jun 27 1997 - 12:27:44 PDT


By way (round-a-bout) of a response to Ross Allen:

[Please note that these comments are not meant to be value judgements,
but rather a thinking-out-loud about differences in interpretation
and style.]

In the jacket notes for *Shakuhachi - The Japanese Flute* (Elektra
Nonesuch #97026-2), a recording by Kohachiro Miyata, David Lewiston
(the producer of the CD and apparently the author of the liner
notes), notes that Tsuro-no-Sugomori is a piece that "In the hands
of some players [...] has degenerated into little more than a
vehicle for virtuoso display."

I found this comment a good way to listen to different artists
interpret Shika-no-tone, not because I think that the artists
discussed below have caused the degeneration of the work (because
they definately have not), but because there are vast differences
in the styles of play - many that have to do with the differences
between the interpretation of virtuosos and the simply complex
nature of the piece. Lewiston's comment provided me with a way of
listening to and sorting out those differences.

Lewiston's comments point out a particular aspect of Miyata's style:
that he (Miyata) plays a more traditional shakuhachi. What stylized
elements there are in his play are quiet nuances that the listener
must attend to if she or he is to catch them.

When I listen to Miyata's interpretation of the work, I am struck
by how it can be played as a simple yet evocative piece. His
interpretation contains none of the elaborate moves that are found
in the versions of other artists.

I then turned to John Neptune's version of the same song, from
*Words Can't Go There* (Oasis NHCD-203). Neptune is clearly a
virtuoso with the shakuhachi, and his performance of Shika-no-tone
demonstrates his command and range of ability. His version is far
more elaborate than the simple, rather straightforward interpretation
of Miyata. It also shows what the work sounds like when the artist
puts more emphasis on the interpretation of elements than on the
sound of the individual notes. Miyata spends his time with each
note, exploring what can be found in each, while Neptune spends
his energy on the different things that can be done with the notes:
bending, over-blowing, shaking, etc.

Then I listen to another version, this one by Masakazu Yoshizawa
(recorded with his permission at a private function and unfortunately
not available publically). In Yoshizawa's version you can hear
the deer calling to each other (actually in this case, a single
deer calling out into the forest, because Yoshizawa does not repeat
phrases like Miyata and Neptune).

Yoshizawa has a third way of interpreting the work, and his falls
somewhere between that of Neptune and Miyata. Not as exquisitely
elaborate as Neptune, nor as deep as Miyata, Yoshizawa's play seems
to me to concentrate on the internal tension of the piece. There
are phrases where he stretches the notes out to the thin edge of
sound that almost begs for release, which he then provides as he
moves to the next phrase.

Shortly after I learned to play the shakuhachi well enough to be
able to handle more serious traditional music, I was given a copy
of Shika-no-tone to work on. I remember telling one of my teachers
that I thought that the work was "pretty." She disagreed, saying
that if the work was played in a way that rendered it pretty, then
it was being played incorrectly. In her view, the piece is the
calling back and forth of two (sometimes three) deer, and is meant
to express the longing and desire that are never fulfilled in life
(in the Zen sense that to eat is to survive to be hungry).

The way I read (hear?) these three different works, Neptune's
interpretation shows what can be done with the instrument in the
hands of a highly-skilled player, Miyata brings out the zen aspects
available in the piece and Yoshizawa's interpretation expresses
the idea that the song represents longing and desire, the discomfort
that arises out of desire, and the inescapable nature of wanting
that is both a part of life and the curse of it.

bj

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