madyaas
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Post by madyaas on Sept 26, 2005 21:43:38 GMT -5
So, I'm wondering, what instruments are period? Drums are always "old school", but I wonder about this one: I had bid on it, but I decided no, because I've been eyeing a Banduria (Made of rosewood, from the Philippines), so I didn't compete in the auction except for a couple of bids. I was especially glad I didn't really compete since it ended up selling for $91.00, which was close to the price for the shipping AND the banduria itself! I'm sure the drum was old, but really, I can live without it . I did win an old shakuhachi: It was part of an estate sale, and they estimated the previous owners bought it in Japan around 1940, so it may be older. It probably needs to be repaired and cleaned before it can be useable anyway. I ended up getting it for a good price since no one bid on it. I tend to buy instruments as pieces of art, since I can't play any .
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Saionji Shonagon
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One dreamed of becoming somebody. Another remained awake and became. (Found in a fortune cookie.)
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Sept 26, 2005 22:36:23 GMT -5
Good evening, Barry-dono! I don't know whether you remember the recent posts about gagaku. It's the music of the Imperial court. In this photo, from left to right, front row, koto and biwa; back row, ryuteki (transverse flute), hichiriki (sounds like the Duck Call of the Apocalypse) and sho, a bamboo mouth organ that sounds like a harmonica, only more ethereal. Drums and gongs may also be part of a gagaku ensemble. www.emusic.com/album/10865/10865545.html has some sound samples from an album - Track 8 has a snippet that includes sho, hichiriki and percussion. www.sonic.net/~tabine/Heike/Heike_performing.htmlis an interesting website on the tradition of oral performance accompanied by biwa of the "Tale of the Heike." It also includes an audio clip. Still learning about a lot of this myself! Saionji
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Post by solveig on Sept 27, 2005 19:18:22 GMT -5
Noble Cousins!
Greetings from Solveig! Gagaku sounds a bit like a choir of cats being killed slowly. It is interesting stuff. I once attended a sho concert at the ROM in Toronto. That was interesting as well.
Your Humble Servant Solveig Throndardottir Amateur Scholar
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Post by Abe Akirakeiko on Sept 27, 2005 20:27:31 GMT -5
Greetings from Solveig! Gagaku sounds a bit like a choir of cats being killed slowly. Yes, but I find it does grow on one. Rather like fungus, actually. -Kotori (who had the good fortune to see a gagaku performance about a year ago...gorgeous...)
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Saionji Shonagon
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One dreamed of becoming somebody. Another remained awake and became. (Found in a fortune cookie.)
Posts: 7,240
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Sept 27, 2005 21:21:36 GMT -5
Solveig-hime wrote: Greetings from Solveig! Gagaku sounds a bit like a choir of cats being killed slowly. My alter ego plays a hurdy gurdy which is far more feline, being a mechanical violin. I imagine a large flock of Canada Geese and an untuned banjo trapped inside an 18th century German pipe organ. Reigakusha played Cal Berkeley this spring. I thought it was amazing. And the animation on their home page is just too cool! www.reigakusha.com/Saionji
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Post by Takeda Sanjuichiro on Sept 27, 2005 22:00:53 GMT -5
...imagine a large flock of Canada Geese and an untuned banjo trapped inside an 18th century German pipe organ... I hate my imagination, I think I actualy hear it in my mind... I think I may have just had an annurisim. Nice description!
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Post by sebastian on Oct 3, 2005 2:30:34 GMT -5
anyone know the name of the instrument played somewhat like a guitar? It's like the one on the far right in the picture but is composed of a small box-like base and a long slender neck. I can't for the life of me recall what it's called. But I've been trying to find one to buy and a way to learn how to play forever.
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Post by Nagamochi on Oct 3, 2005 2:57:07 GMT -5
Sebastian-dono, I do believe you are talking of two different instruments. The one in the picture is a biwa, while a shamisen (or samisen if you're Okinawan) has a small square box with slender neck.
My two sen Nagamochi
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Post by sebastian on Oct 3, 2005 3:12:09 GMT -5
Ahh! That's it! I was only using the biwa as a similar instrument (both played similar to a guitar), the Shamisen was the one I was looking for. Thanks!
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Saionji Shonagon
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One dreamed of becoming somebody. Another remained awake and became. (Found in a fortune cookie.)
Posts: 7,240
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Oct 3, 2005 8:37:11 GMT -5
And in case you care whether it's period, biwa is, samisen doesn't turn up until the 17th century.
Saionji no Hanae
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Post by Date Saburou Yukiie on Oct 3, 2005 8:58:41 GMT -5
I have a shakuhachi I am told I can play reasonably, without killing people, and I play an Odaiko...I know both of them are period Date
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madyaas
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Post by madyaas on Oct 4, 2005 11:25:02 GMT -5
Woah, I thought this thread died a while ago Anyway, I had no idea the Koto was that old. The picture reminds me, i saw a biwa being sold on ebay. Unfortunately I think it was going for a couple hundred dollars. Someone once said that the Shamisen was the "Sound of a plucked nerve"
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Saionji Shonagon
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One dreamed of becoming somebody. Another remained awake and became. (Found in a fortune cookie.)
Posts: 7,240
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Oct 4, 2005 20:15:56 GMT -5
The Alameda adult school is offering taiko classes. The bad news is it's on Tuesday nights and that's meeting night for our province (I'm seneschal, so I cannot blow it off). The good news is that I just remembered that there's a taiko dojo over in Emeryville. Beginner classes on Wednesday nights, intermediate (if I stick with it) on Thursdays. Hmmm, that could be fun. www.etaiko.org/S.
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Solveig Throndardottir
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Post by Solveig Throndardottir on Oct 16, 2005 0:32:18 GMT -5
Noble Cousins! Greetings from Solveig! The Alameda adult school is offering taiko classes. ... there's a taiko dojo over in Emeryville. These can be great fun. I wonder though what your goals are. While I am not familiar with either of these schools, the chances are very good that at least some of the drumming is quite modern and may not be well differentiated. As much as I am fond of the Kodo people, you should understand that a lot of what they do is modern and highly influenced by world music. A lot of popular taiko drumming groups are in turn influenced by Kodo. If you are interested in premodern drumming, then there are alternatives available. One alternative is to learn music of the Noh theatre which was popular with bushi of the Muromachi period or learn gagaku which was presumably popular with kuge of the Heian period. There are a number of other premodern musical forms around and some of them are more accessible than others. However, I can pretty much gaurantee that there are resources around for both gagaku and nogaku as I have such resources in my scant library. Finally, please understand that when Japanese art forms are popularized in North America they are frequently altered and sometimes highly altered. This phenomenon is very common in the martial arts. Your Humble Servant Solveig Throndardottir Amateur Scholar
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Solveig Throndardottir
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Post by Solveig Throndardottir on Oct 16, 2005 0:42:39 GMT -5
anyone know the name of the instrument played somewhat like a guitar? It's like the one on the far right in the picture but is composed of a small box-like base and a long slender neck. It may be a biwa. Take a look at: home.planet.nl/~d.v.ooijen/sashimisen/biwa.html
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