Riley suggested I send this article..first printed in Australian Shakuhachi Soc. News letter. 1999/2000
What is being transmitted?
I have been reading Riley's Lee's thesis and have become intrigued with "what is being transmitted". In the following I
am "thinking aloud" for myself. Page references are to Riley Lee's thesis: Yearning for the Bell: A Study of
Transmission in the Shakuhachi Honkyoku Tradition Riley Lee 1998 UMI Dissertation Services.
In Western classical music, we attempt in our notation system and playing technique to reproduce the composer's
intentions faithfully. There are of course, interpretations, but these are necessarily very narrow as to what we can do
with the music as it is written. In Honkyoku we try to play without regard to any past or future performances, simply
concentrating on the present moment. This is very similar to "Zazen"- sitting meditation. ..."The act or performing
Honkyoku is more important than the actual sound produced"...P227 and..."Each performance is infused with the
individuality of the oral performer and the uniqueness of the moment of the performance"...P 230.
Notation in the Honkyoku is primarily used as a memory aid. The symbols do not represent the Honkyoku in the same way
as western notation does. They represent a set of instructions to play a certain note using certain fingering and in a
particular way of articulating any pitch bends or grace notes. In a similar way we cannot notate jazz music-we simply
do not have sufficient flexibility in our notation symbols to notate say, the "swing" feel of jazz. We cannot notate
the particular phrases, glisses, smears, attacks and graces that give jazz its unique and characteristic sound. It is,
like Honkyoku impossible to notate a music that exists only at the moment of performance. Every time a jazz musician
improvises even using the same phrases and notes it will not be played exactly the same way each time. There will be
differences that defy notation. The jazz musician's playing is the total of his/her past training, experience and the
very moment of playing.
If this is so, can we ask what is being transmitted in the case of a jazz musician learning her/his craft? We can say
definitely that fingering techniques, technical know-how, and the form of the music is being transmitted-how to play the
music. But the inner essence of the music? How is this transmitted from teacher to student?
I venture to suggest that the student of Jazz or Honkyoku first learns the fingering, notation and how to produce the
characteristic graces, slurs, glisses and phrases and then by the example of the teacher begins to realize the essence
of the music for him/herself. Just as jazz students find it difficult to play jazz with the correct swing and feel
initially, so then does the Honkyoku student find difficulty until a certain level of practice and experience has been
obtained. When the student begins to make the music "his/her own" then the student begins to transcend mere technique
and the musical form in a deeper sense. This deeper sense is the performance of the notes, the silences, and the
phrases in a way that reflects the ethos and spirit of the music. When the music is performed this it way it shows all
apects of the performers individual situation at that very moment. All learning and technique become secondary at the
moment of performance. Charlie Parker the great post World War II alto saxophonist was once quoted as saying..."Forget
about your technique and blow!" In some ways to describe what is being transmitted is like describing Zen: "A special
transmission outside the scriptures".
In the above the teacher-student relationship is very important. The teacher can show and guide but until the student
gets "inside" the music" - makes it "her/his own" the transmission will fall short. As Riley Lee suggests in the
conclusion of his thesis, p 417 ff., and I agree as a jazz musician and Honkyoku/Shakuhachi student..."that intuitive
understanding comes from direct experience"...
(c) Graham Ranft September 1999 Email ranftg@interact.net.au
deep bows.
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