Re: [Shaku] Stan Richardson's Tsuru no Sugomori

--- On Fri, 3/6/09, Bruce Jones <bjones@weber.ucsd.edu> wrote:
> >From: Karl Signell <signell@umbc.edu>
> >
> >Writing a musical phrase on paper interposes an alien
> obstacle and
> >subtly (or not so subtly) transforms the music into
> another medium.
> >The music is in the sound, not on the paper.
>
> ..and the finger is not the moon...
>
> I would argue that transcribing is a useful part of
> figuring out what the
> player is doing.

Hi Karl and Bruce
I would agree. There have been several pieces I have wanted to learn which had no notation, which I have transcribed by ear, and I have found it an exceptional aid to listening. When I want to write exactly what someone plays, it really forces me to listen and has opened up a lot for me, really deepening my understanding of what is going on. Also my memory is quite short, so writing it down certainly helps me in my learning process for the piece. For me notating the piece is actually a case of learning small pieces by ear, I guess like you said Karl with "nothing in between", and then noting that down, noting what I have worked out, so that I don't forget it. But that notation would never replace the sound for me. It would just help me remember which sound comes where. Also I find that it takes me so long to notate a piece properly that I need to listen to each phrase so many times, checking and checking, that it actually gets quite embedded into my
 audio memory in the process. So even though the aim is writing, I find it largely a "learning by ear" process.

Stan has a great sound. Must have been lovely to notate that! By the way, 2 points about the notation.
1) I think the composer of this piece was Miyata Kohachiro. Could be good to credit his name on the score.
2) The beginning is written "ri tsu re...chi....chi meri....chi dai meri"

I would write "ha tsu re" rather than "ri tsu re", but that's a minor point. It is ha not ri but at least they are the same pitch. Then it is written "chi...chi meri...chi dai meri" This part took me ages to figure out, when I tried to learn the piece from Miyata's original recording several years ago. From chi he went one step down, then another, yet whenever I did that, I ended up at a lower pitch than he did. Finally I realised, he is using a quarter tone. So it is actually something like this "chi...chi 1/2 meri (quarter tone down)......chi meri"
From listening to Stan's recording he also seems to be following this. I found that a most wonderful effect, and was glad when I realised how he was doing it. Quite innovative.

Best wishes
Justin

http://senryushakuhachi.com/

      
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Received on Thu Mar 5 18:37:58 2009