Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

black tea wrote:

Does anyone recognize this piece of music--
or know where notation for it may be found?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4DV2wMXxKs

way beyond my ability but maybe someday. . .

I could be wrong, but I doubt it's even Japanese traditional music. Might be a Minyo piece, but I don't think so. Most likely someone just
fooling around with a theme.

It's a pretty simple piece, actually; played on a 1.8 flute, and there are no meri notes in it.

Why not sit down with it and your 1.8 and try to transcribe it, phrase by phrase? The most difficult part for a
beginner would be the Go no Ha, I think (the highest note, in the third phrase, near the beginning).

If you can't download it, email me off-forum, and I'll send you an mp3 of it.

edosano[at]yahoo[dot]com

Last edited by edosan (2009-04-08 11:36:19)

My impression relates not so much to the music, but the people that pass by.  I could be wrong here of course, as the piece used sped up images of people passing by while our basket-wearing shakuhachi player stood still amid the chaotic flux.  A nice visual metaphor to be sure, but what really stood out for me was the fact that no one seemed to pay any attention to him.  In fact, in typical fashion, they did their best to pretend he was not there and went out of their way to ignore him.  I doubt this is a respect thing, and more along the lines of people being so much in their own heads that any time something unsuspected confronts them they do their best to pretend that it does not exist.  Eyes forward, keep walking, pretend that all is normal. 

It's a good thing I was not there during the filiming of this, as you would see alltogether way too much of me sitting and watching him, which would mess with whole imagery of the piece I suppose.  I may be imagining things (as usual) but I thought I caught the occasional furtive glance from some people while waiting for the street light to change.  Sometimes I sensed a kind of confused curiosity, and other times it looked like thinly veiled shock.  All in all, quite informative.  Oh yes, and the actual shakuhachi was interesting, though perhaps a little much like Japanese style bottled for western taste, if that makes any sense.  Or as Brian said, "meandering pentatonic"

Last edited by Lorka (2009-04-09 10:27:59)

Thanks Geni-

I'll get back to you if I can't work out the notation or some facsimile thereof.

Dun Romin wrote:

My two cents of this youtube-film: I got the impression it was just some bluescreen editing job. Not even nicely done, because there is, like Lorka said, no interaction showing between player and surrounding. Not even his clothes move when the quick big traffic passes by. It's also my impression that the sound is edited, because the fingers move not conform the sound. Where I come from this kind of editing is part of the regular excercise for film-students.

To be sure, the flute in the video is too long to be 1.8, and the song is recorded on a 1.8 flute. The player may indeed be composited in, but in Japan, people are just as likely to ignore someone like that. Now, if it were a gaijin standing there playing, bald-faced....

Last edited by edosan (2009-04-09 16:57:55)

rpowers wrote:

The lack of reactions from passing pedestrians is completely normal in Japan. Confronted with something that odd and unexpected, they will simply refuse to acknowledge its existence.

"

Frequently Japanese pass by the tea shop and are completely oblivious to the shakuhachi gaijin playing inside. They look at it and don't register anything.

For those of you interested in the technical effects of the video, my opinion is the artist just changed the frame rate or "speed" of the filming slower and slower as the song progressed.   I have worked in the film industry for over 30 years, and this is a normally used technique to express motion vs. stillness.   In film a "normal " speed to show real time passing is 24 frames per second. If you adjust the camera speed to half at 12 fps, less film is exposed and everything moves faster when played back.  Things that don't move look normal.      So the artist, using video where 30 fps is the "normal" speed, recorded the 1st segment at 30 fps, the 2nd approx. at 15fps and the later segments at approx.  8fps , etc., etc.    That is why the people and the traffic is moving faster and faster and the blurring effect is increased.  The komuso is told to move as little as possible, thus his stillness amongst the " rushing of mankind".    His bottom hand is either clapping the flute with all four fingers and the top hand fingers occasionally play so I'm assuming the komuso is not even a shakuhachi player.          All in all, this is not a critique,  I say a video well done and thanks for the contribution and for the music.      For Dun Ronin, this could be done with blue screen,  but why because this is so easy to attain in one shot with straight video,  why spend the time?  The komuso's clothes are not moving in the wind because the traffic  is not really moving that fast,   the video frame speed makes it look so.       There is no need to match the music with the fingers, I think the artist just wanted a soundtrack for his video.         For those loving this effect, look up the classic films 1980's ???  Hoyannisquatsi ???and the sequel Poyannisquatsi??? where the filmmaker shot  full length films using this technique and the total opposite " high speed" or "slow motion" to represent the decline and ruination of our civilization, nature, and our world. There  is also a film  running current right now which I can't remember the name of but excerpts in ten differents segments are on youtube to publicize the state of our world, also using these two techniques,  like an updated or modern version of the two films above.            I hope this interests  someone, and possibly is better reading than my more immature posts about my wearing of a Speedo and drinking at Ro camp and finely tattooed male breasts and white demons.............       Ganbatte!!!!!!!!!!!!      Clinton Moy