There are no real conventions for writing shakuhachi music in Western
notation.
Remember that in Western music the tie sign between notes of different pitch
can mean that the notes are not separately articulated -- on a string
instrument the bowing stays the same, on a wind instrument you do not tongue
the second note. This is confusing on shakuhachi, where tonguing is not
typical in the traditional music. However, in addition to tonguing there are
different ways to articulate notes: finger hit, breath, etc. I would
interpret a tie between notes of different pitch, when you're sure it's not
a more general phrasing mark, as meaning "don't articulate the second note
in any way, even if this is a melodic fragment in which the second note
would normally be articulated in typical shakuhachi technique."
As for the ties between the dotted quarters, that's not too unusual in
Western notation. In a 12/8 situation where the pulse is the dotted quarter,
it's marginally easier to read tied dotted quarters than, say, a whole note
tied to a half note, which might suggest a different pulse, or two tied
dotted halves, or a dotted whole. I would say that's definitely a tie, and
that way of expressing it, while less elegant and more naive, is more
intuitive and easily readable on the fly. It's how Bartok would have done
it.
Though Western notation is The Standard, there's plenty of fun slop left in
it.
>From: James Jennings <jennings@megaseattle.com>
>Reply-To: Shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu
>To: Shakuhachi List <Shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu>
>Subject: Reading Staff Notation
>Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 02:01:42 -0700
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>I'm currently learning a shakuhachi and koto piece called "Ryuuka" by
>Miyashita Shin. The shakuhachi part is in western staff notation, which
>mostly isn't a problem for me, but there are some odd things about it that
>I can't figure out.
>
>In particular, there are two levels of ties. The first set of ties look
>like phrasing marks, indicating where you breath more than anything else.
>The second set of ties are inside the first set, and I can't figure out
>what they're supposed to signify. Sometimes it looks like they should
>simply be tieing together notes to make notes of unusual duration, like a
>quarter note plus a sixteenth, say, or holding a note across a measure
>line. Other times that would make no sense, either because they tie notes
>of different pitches, or the durations are two simple, like two quarter
>notes.
>
>For example, there's a measure in 12/8 time, with four dotted quarter notes
>(one beat each, the way I'm counting it), all the same pitch (high Ro), and
>all tied together. Am I supposed to hold the note or articulate it?
>
>A more general question is, are there conventions for writing shakuhachi
>music in western staff notation? Or do different composers and/or
>publishers generally do different things?
>
>Thanks.
>
>James
>____________________________________________________
>
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