I went to a lovely baroque concert in a church in
London the other night. 5 violins, 3 violas, 2
chellos, a double bass and a harpsichord. 2 things I
noticed; one was that the harpsichord sounded so
different from the strings. The contrast for me was in
that it was not dynamic. The expression of the strings
for me was somewhat close to the shakuhachi. I think
someone mentioned that before, about how the pitch is
not defined on either instrument like it is with frets
on a guitar, or the keys of the harpsichord. Somehow,
I felt the strings, like the shakuhachi, much more
expressive. Even, much more human. Actually, I noticed
also the great contrast between clarinet and
shakuhachi when I heard them together in Japan. The
clarinet sounded so clumsy.. no maybe not clumsy, but,
so unmanoeverable. They played that famous shakuhachi
duet, about the 2 deer - what's it called? Sorry, but
the clarinet coud just not do what the shakuhachi
could. A huge difference in how dynamic.
But what interested me most in relatino to the
shakuhachi about the concert with all those strings,
was the pitch. Since all the talk about pitch, and
being taught various pieces for shakuhachi with slight
differences in pitch for the "same" note (same in
writing that is) I seem to naturally pay more
attention. I didn't even notice, until, as I heard
these strings play, they would come to a note and I
would hear myself thinking "that's an interesting
choice". The might play a note, and I would think,
maybe if it were me, I would have played it slightly
sharper.
This brings questions:
On those occasions when I thought like that, was it
because I was thinking in Japanese pitch? Was it that
in most of my shakuhachi peices that note would be a
slightly different pitch, and because of that I
noticed the difference?
Or was it even that from playing alone I have become
accustomed to my own self-created variatin of the
pitches in the scale?
Or is it more like how I felt at the time, that there
was actually a choice? Had they CHOSEN those pitches,
to create an effect? They certainly did have an effect
on me. Almost like you could "push" the note that tiny
fraction of a pitch higher. A kind of tention. Or,
just a curiosity. I did feel that there WAS choice.
And I related that, to their strings. By the nature of
their instruments, unlike the herpsichord, but like
our shakuhachi, they CAN chose. But were they? Was it
through INTENTION? Or, do they simply always play that
note at that pitch - just a standard recipe of 12
fixed pitches?
Well, the nice thing for me was that it became free.
That, for me anyway, there was choice. They played it
one pitch, and it worked. And yet, I could have had it
at another too. The wall of only one right pitch
collapsed. Had OTHERS actually heard it at another
pitch comportable to me, would they have been okay? I
don't know. Perhaps my ears have gone crazy!
I'd love to hear feedback on this. From anyone! And
also from any people into classical western music. Is
there really this choice? Is that what my ears are
opening to, a world where here IS choice? Or, are my
ears just slipping beyond the concept-boundaries that
consensus-music works on?
Best wishes
Justin.
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