Hi All--
I've been following the conversation on pitch with some interest and
some frustration. This is a topic that inevitably comes up among
beginning shakuhachi players, not without reason, given the difficulty
in establishing and maintaining correct pitch. It seems quite
plausible that traditional shakuhachi players, whether honkyoku
performers or ensemble performers, may have had little regard for
absolute pitch, but I don't think that justifies a laissez-faire
attitude about it. It may not be important whether your A is 440 or
435, but if you don't have a solid technical competence in maintaining
consistent pitches and intervals, then your playing will not reflect
the potential inherent in the pieces you're working with. Once you can
maintain consistency, then, of course, it's your call whether you make
a given "tsu-meri" just a half-step above "ro" or less or more than a
half-step, but you have to be able to play precisely that half-step
before you are in a position to choose not to play it.
Best,
Tom Hare
On Monday, April 5, 2004, at 04:02 AM, Bill O'Connor wrote:
>
>
> Hi Folks,
> Pitch is certainly important if you are playing Shakuhachi in an
> ensemble,
> my experience of ensemble playing in Japan the Koto players will
> consult the
> Shakuhachi players before tuning their Koto. Shakuhachi pitch is always
> going to be a bit high when the ambient temperature is around 30degC in
> summer.
> Sounds bloody awful if everyone is out of tune...sadly this is all too
> often
> the case.
>
> Seems that tuning a Koto is not that straightforward, they need regular
> professional attention to sound really good.
>
> Yokoyama-Sensei was always very strict on pitch, I presume he still is.
> Clearly WatazumiDo was not strict about pitch in the sense of the
> western
> equal temperament scale...didn't we do this discussion before on this
> list a
> few years back. Can anyone link to the relevant archive pages?
>
> Cherry blossoms are out in Southern Nagano now, good time for
> Shakuhachi
> playing...Spring festival next weekend, once every seven years we
> carry a
> bloody big log (I mean BIG) around the town for no apparent reason,
> getting
> drunk along the way...all very pagan, I'm looking forward to it.
>
> I take the digest form of this list, so if my reply is out of synch
> (chronologically or metaphysically) with the thread please excuse me.
>
> Bill.
>
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>
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>
Yours truly,
Tom Hare
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Comparative Literature
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 084544
thare@princeton.edu
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