By: Christopher Stetson

Christopher Stetson — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 23:45:21 +0000

Ah, I just followed the link to see the actual music of the “third piece”. I can’t say for sure which instrument it’s written for, but the little staves at the top give tunings for koto and shamisen, so I presume this is the part for shakuhachi, perhaps arranged for violin, though one of the features of shakuhachi is the ability to play rubato, like the violin. Again, in my limited experience use of staff notation in this repertoire is unusual, the shakuhachi parts more commonly being notated with the system developed by Tozan himself. A Japanese reader ought to be able to clarify some of the questions, though!
Best of luck, and thanks again for an interesting question.
Chris.

By: Christopher Stetson

Christopher Stetson — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 23:24:41 +0000

Hi, Lisa, Michael, and all. I play shakuhachi, an end-blown flute traditionally made of bamboo, though modern wooden instruments are available. I don’t have specific knowledge of these pieces, but Tozan did write for the sankyoku (“three music”) ensemble of shakuhachi, shamisen, and koto seen in the video. Tozan was a pioneer of writing music for traditional Japanese instruments in the early 20th century in an attempt to save the tradition from extinction. Usually the music is written in separate parts for each instrument, and without seeing the music itself, it’s hard to say which part you have. Your post implies that this is written in staff notation, which is unusual in my experience. Most that I’ve seen is written in traditional Japanese notation for each instrument. I can be fairly certain, though, that the music wasn’t originally for a bowed instrument, though a traditional Japanese bowed instrument, the kokyu, was used in sankyoku ensemble until the late 19th century, it being replaced by the shakuhachi at that time. Perhaps this is an edition for violin, which would not be unheard of, given Tozan’s desire to bring the tradition forward into modern times. As you already know, Tozan lived well into the 20th century, and if my memory serves he studied violin in France. There are also tape recordings of his shakuhachi playing preserved at the John Knowles Paine Music Library at Harvard University. I don’t know of any connection between Tozan and Machaut. It’s possible that an owner of the music was interested, like me, in both Asian and ancient European music. Lastly, I don’t speak Japanese, but I believe “Jishi” means “Lion Dance”, and Azuma is one of the old Japanese provinces, so “Azuma Lion Dance” would be my guess.

Comments on: Help Solve A Special Collections Musical Mystery

By: Christopher Stetson

By: Christopher Stetson