Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2015. 4:15 PM.
Location: Braun Music Center, Room 131
Takanori Fujita, Professor, Kyoto City University of Arts The music meter of Japanese Noh drama has attracted scholars because of its flexibility, which, according to Professor Takanori Fujita, is related to Noh’s learning process. Faithful imitation of a teacher for life is the central moral in lesson community. In performance, players are taught not to synchronize too much with each other. Especially, singers are strictly kept ignorant of basic music meter that underlies songs. How do players, under such condition, coordinate with each other beat by beat and develop the flexibility of meter? Showing basic variants of the original 8 beats meter produced by drummers, Fujita will first demonstrate the range of flexibility in beats. Then he will introduce players’ devices to allow for occasionally enormous flexibility in performance.Professor Takanori Fujita (Ph.D.) teaches ethnomusicology in the Graduate School of Music and the Centre for Japanese Traditional Music, Kyoto City University of Arts. As a participant observer, he has developed unique historical studies on musical production of Japanese Noh drama and related folk ritual music and dances. His papers translated in English include “No and Kyogen: Music from the Medieval Theater," (The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, 2009), "Continuity and Authenticity in Japanese Traditional Music" (The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 7: East Asia, 2002).
Location: Braun Music Center, Room 131
Takanori Fujita, Professor, Kyoto City University of Arts The music meter of Japanese Noh drama has attracted scholars because of its flexibility, which, according to Professor Takanori Fujita, is related to Noh’s learning process. Faithful imitation of a teacher for life is the central moral in lesson community. In performance, players are taught not to synchronize too much with each other. Especially, singers are strictly kept ignorant of basic music meter that underlies songs. How do players, under such condition, coordinate with each other beat by beat and develop the flexibility of meter? Showing basic variants of the original 8 beats meter produced by drummers, Fujita will first demonstrate the range of flexibility in beats. Then he will introduce players’ devices to allow for occasionally enormous flexibility in performance.Professor Takanori Fujita (Ph.D.) teaches ethnomusicology in the Graduate School of Music and the Centre for Japanese Traditional Music, Kyoto City University of Arts. As a participant observer, he has developed unique historical studies on musical production of Japanese Noh drama and related folk ritual music and dances. His papers translated in English include “No and Kyogen: Music from the Medieval Theater," (The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music, 2009), "Continuity and Authenticity in Japanese Traditional Music" (The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 7: East Asia, 2002).