JAVS Fall 1996

24

It never appeared. One week before the performance, we scheduled a rehearsal at the composer's home. I arrived to find the com poser running out the door, wild-eyed. ' 'I'm going to the Xerox place so you will have a score to read from." The sho player arrived, and I watched with great interest as he plugged in a hot plate and proceeded to direct it at a bundle of pipes in a circle-the sho. "What are you doing?" "I'm warming it up," he replied. "May I hear an A?" He played a G-sharp. "No, I need an A." He said, "That is an A." Uh-oh, I thought, then asked, "Are you going to transpose?" "No, the sho plays certain notes and cer tain chords, and that is what I am going to play." The shakuhachi player arrived and un packed the bamboo vertical flute.

"May I have an A?" I inquired. He played a B flat. "What was that?" "That is A on this instrument," he replied. "It's a little sharp." Uh-oh, I thought again. The composer returned with some large, unmanageable sheets of score; parts were scribbled out on a single score, but the staves were not lined up rhythmically. I had dealt with that sort of thing before. I decided to broach the subject of pitch. "You know," I said, "the sho is flat and the shakuhachi is sharp." "Oh," he said in some surprise, "I didn't think of that." I remembered that this person had a doc torate in ethnomusicology from one of the most respected institutions in the country. "So is intonation going to be an issue here?" I asked. "Oh yes," he said. "You answer the shaku hachi with the same material he plays, so it should sound the same." "Well, I suppose I can tune my strings sharp, but what about the supporting chords in the sho?" "I don't know." We spent the rehearsal trying to achieve some common ground in the pitch arena, correcting the numerous copy mistakes in the score and picking music off the floor where it kept falling (the composer had neglected to provide chairs or stands for the rehearsal, so we were sitting on the sofa, and I had the music propped up on my open viola case). I also attempted to learn the style of the thirteenth-century gagaku (Japanese court music), as rendered in twentieth-century notation, by imitating the turns and bends of the shakuhachi player, who was in turn trying to play flat on his instrument to match the sho. The composer played a large drum "to keep us all together," but his rhythm was irregular and he was distracted by the reality of his composition. That is, for the first time, he was hearing what he had written.

JOHN BRASIL

The NAME in QUALITY PERNAMBUCO WOODS and BOWS 1993 45 LOBBY EXHIBITIONS INTERNATIONAL ON 5 CONTINENTS Horst John & Cia. Ltda Box 606 - Rio de Janeiro BRAZIL

Reference: Bischofberger Violins 1314 East John Seattle, WA 98102 Tel: (206) 324-3119