Joel,
Since honkyoku has been taken as far out of its original context as it's
ever going to be, it seems to be experiencing some unusual stresses; the
sort that create evolutionary change. From that stand point, I think that
what is evolving is a new beast, initially similar enough to its starting
point, but nonetheless, different and moving in a direction away from its
origin. As such, discussions of finding or adapting or mutating a notation
system to specifically describe a piece are an attempt to flesh out that new
reality. In fact, it would seem to me that abosultely anything is worth the
experiment. Whether it was good or right or better or has merit will be
judged in retrospect no doubt as things tend to be. Is this the start of a
rennaisance?
jeff cairns
----- Original Message -----
From: "shakuhachi" <shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu>
To: <shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2003 5:25 PM
Subject: shakuhachi V1 #483
> shakuhachi Thu, 18 Dec 2003 Volume 1 : Number
483
>
> In this issue:
>
> Shakuhachi Notation- A problem/opportunity space?
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 02:00:09 -0800
> From: joel taylor <joel.g.taylor@comcast.net>
> To: <shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu>
> Subject: Shakuhachi Notation- A problem/opportunity space?
> Message-ID: <a05001900bc05ce850869@[12.224.154.30]>
>
> This discussion about notation is close to my heart. And important to
> those composing for the instrument.
>
> I think Kinko notation is the best we have so far, but it's
> incomplete even for it's own repetoire, is it not? In the following
> sense: Please correct me if I'm wrong, I do not wish to pretend to
> be any kind of authority, I'm not. But are there not substantive,
> sometimes important aspects of most of the honkyoku performance
> practice that are not encapsulated in the notation? And these things
> sometimes change from teacher to teacher or school to school to
> various degrees, but it is not as if these things were completely
> optional, or completely open for "interpretation" or improvisation.
> So, if I'm right, the notation does not encapsulate, or represent,
> the music in any one to one way.
> Rather, the notation is a rough guide to how to perform the piece,
> with the details, the sense of ma particular to that piece, etc.
> being dealt with by the classical oral tradition method of direct
> transmission.
>
> Kinko notation as it functions is a very interesting animal in the
> musical notation world. It is both a proscriptive and a descriptive
> notation to some degree. Mostly proscriptive, since most of the
> notation is fingering symbols, but there are the graphic notation
> aspects (movement of line from left to right signifying low to high
> that give you some pretty decent ability to describe subtle pitch
> movements, and that ability is better than that given by adapting
> western notation by using distance left to right for duration and
> extending a pitch line following the notehead and moving it up and
> down for pitch....The grid provided by the treble staff isn't fine
> enough, alas. It doesn't work, trying to show the shape of a slide or
> meri melody between eflat and d on the treble staff...but Kinko
> notation does this very nicely...
>
> So, I guess that's the answer to one question...
> There is no one to one correspondence possible between Kinko and
> western notation. Further, Kinko remains more flexible than even
> modified western notation for expressing many contemporary musical
> ideas (for the shakuhachi). On the other hand, sometimes western
> notation is much better. If it's metered rhythm, complex
> polyrhythms, etc. that you need, Kinko notation fails.
>
> I've been able to adapt, or expand Kinko notation a little bit to
> incorporate some of the multiphonic and other extended technique
> things I do in my improvised music practice, because most of my music
> uses free time, it's unmetered, variable. I have to write some
> english on the side of the notation sometimes and I've created some
> special symbols but it's readable.
>
> Ned Rothenberg's pieces are in Kinko notation with additional
> "performance notes". Which seems very much in the tradition, except
> that in the case of the traditional pieces there are no performance
> notes, see your local sensei, if there is one...and if not, find
> recordings, preferably with matching scores. Yes? No?
>
> Some of the Japanese composers use modified western notation, but if
> they want to incorporate many of the subtleties (like alternative
> fingerings) that are standard shakuhachi practice they have to use
> fingering charts (awkward but effective), or print the standard
> shakuhachi notation for special fingerings above the staff... and/or
> create a glossary of graphical markings for the various types of
> fluttertongue, windsounds, etc...so.this is..not standard western
> notation at all...and not a satisfying solution either, if the
> composer wants to indicate subtle pitch motion...
>
> Very interesting problem. It would be nice if there was actually a
> good solution.
> But this is a fundamental problem with musical notation systems. As
> music starts to take advantage of extended technique (and honkyoku
> music certainly does) and as composers start to specify more and more
> detail, it starts becoming very difficult to create a good notation
> system that actually encapsulates what's needed to know how to play a
> piece....
> If a notation system becomes too cluttered and contains too much
> information it begins to loose utility for any kind of sight
> reading...
> On the other hand, if it doesn't encapsulate enough about the piece
> it doesn't serve the primary purpose of notation...
>
> Any comments, ideas?
>
> --
>
> Joel Taylor
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of shakuhachi V1 #483
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