85 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
85 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
EAST ASIA'S GREATEST HITS
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Piece #1: Rokudan no Shirabe
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For the first in a limited series of classic music pieces from the Far East
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(limited only by the number of sheet musics I can get my hands on),
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I have chosen two versions - koto solo and koto accompanied by shakuhachi -
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of Rokudan no Shirabe (translation: "A Study of Six Levels"). This is one
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of the better known of the Japanese classics, and by far the best known
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piece of the type called danmono ("leveled pieces").
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The danmono format is one of the oldest formats of Japanese music,
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the other being kumiuta ("assembled songs"). A danmono piece
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consists of a number of sequential "levels", each of which varies
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slightly from the one before, and each of which use the material
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given in the first level. The "material" of the music is mainly
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a series of ascents and descents in fifths, and the main cadence,
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in terms of key C as the basis, is G-D-C. Most of the danmono are
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written in the tuning system called "hira-jo_shi", a pentatonic
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scale for which the open-string notes are C-D-D#-G-G#-C'.
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Intermediate pitches are made on the koto - a long zither tuned
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by raising the strings off the soundboard with bridges - by
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manipulating the non-playing area of the strings on the left
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side of the bridges with the left hand. The first string on the
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koto - the farthest from the player - is one fifth ABOVE the
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second string, and in fact has the same pitch as the fifth string.
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This first string is only used alone, or in combination with the second
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string to produce the open fifth chord called "shan", or when it
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will be echoed or accompanied by the fifth string. The "shan" chord,
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as will be heard, incorporates two of the primary registers of the
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tuning system, and therefore the melody departs from and returns
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to either or both of these pitches. The "shan" chord in some cases
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can be likened to a drone for musical purposes, and this seems
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an especially good analogy considering the drone of Scottish bagpipes
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consists of the same open fifth chord.
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Danmono begin with a cadence which expresses the three primary notes
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of the tuning system used. After this opening cadence, called the "kando_",
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come the levels, one after the other, each level containing 104 regular
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beats. The first level, from which all susbsequent levels depart, has
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basically three parts. In the first part, the piece reiterates the cadence,
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then slowly rises in register, eventually covering all the strings on the koto. This task completed, a short state which one musical analyst calls "crisis" or "climax", ensues in which the piece "knocks its head against the ceiling" - remaining mostly in high register, but marked by irregularly paced phrases and
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often unusual notes which are rarely found at any other time in the given
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level. Finally, a descent is made, first hesitant, then in earnest, back
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down through the registers, and finally sets itself up to repeat the main
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cadence, thus drawing the level to a close and readying for the next level.
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The final level often has a "hanging ending", which sets up for playing the
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cadence but never actually does so.
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#2 Godan ("Five Levels")
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This is the other Danmono piece I've chosen to include, partly because it is
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the shortest danmono piece, and partly because upon inspection I found that
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this piece makes a nice demonstration of the "tsuki-iro", or "stabbing color"
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technique described below. This technique occurs only once in Rokudan, but
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is used extensively in Godan to add "lilt" to certain notes in the middle
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of melodic strings.
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Enjoy!
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Oh, and... get some tea to drink. This piece is LONG. It took up nearly 60 blocks
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in the Soundsmith document.
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Times on my own computer for these pieces are:
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Rokudan: 7:35
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Haya-Rokudan: 5:00 (same piece as above, but different tempo changes)
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Godan: 4:30
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Thanks to Huibert for adding the pitch-sliding effects, which are NECESSARY
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to simulate the "ato-oshi" (after-push) which raises the pitch of a string
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after it is sounded, and the "tsuki-iro", which occurs in the first dan of this
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piece, in which a string is played, then the tuning part of the string is "stabbed",
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making a quick "lilting" rise and fall in the pitch. Thanks also for the tempo
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change effect, which makes simulation of the accelerating nature of Asian songs
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a lot easier.
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More pieces for the koto and the shakuhachi ("One Foot Eight Inches" - the
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length of the vertical flute called by this name), and a few others for
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Chinese stringed instruments ch'in and cheng, will follow as soon as I
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get some time.
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