Listeners may experience Bach's cello suites with more directional
ambiguity than Bach's more fully scored pieces because
most listeners aren't in the process of looking for memorization cues and
haven't been trained to follow the "implied" harmonic
structure. When comparing the task of memorizing a Bach solo cello suite to
that of memorizing Japanese music for shakuhachi,
I think performers may have a leg-up with Bach.
Bach solo cello suites (as well as most Western music) have a set of
hierarchically nested harmonic substructures
that serve as "grouping mechanisms" for the purposes of memorization. I'm
not placing a positive or negative
value on this in comparison to the way honkyoku or pieces like Kurokami are
organized, but I'm tempted to think that
the absence of harmonic substructures in shakuhachi music makes it more
appropriate for meditation but more difficult
to memorize.
At 05:20 PM 11/08/2001 +0000, you wrote:
>>Shakuhachi music seems to be unique, it has that detatched
>>quality of Buddhism. It's not strophic like pop music,
>>doesen't have melodies that get stuck in one's mind, nor
>>has text that that the melody hangs upon as western music.
>
>Not that shakuhachi music isn't unique - but there are many peices in the
>canon of western music that provide the listener with a comparable
>experience. The best example I can think of are Bach's solo chello suites.
>
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