A Transformational Approach to Gesture in Shō Performance

Abstract

Through an analysis of contemporary shō performance practice, this article explores the relationship between instrumental gesture and modal theory in contemporary gagaku. I demonstrate that the idiosyncratic arrangement of the pipes on the shō is closely related to the pitch structure and tonal function of the aitake pitch clusters. My analysis synthesizes two approaches. First, I adopt David Lewin’s (1987) transformational a itude to conceptualize the aitake not as static musical objects but as processes of motion enacted by the te-utsuri—standardized fingering movements for shifting between two aitake. Second, I treat the aitake as sonic byproducts of a performer's instrumental gestures to examine how the aitake are related to one another kinesthetically, and whether these relationships correlate with the pitch structures of the aitake. I argue that relatedness between aitake is determined by the parsimony of te-utsuri. The most parsimonious movements can be enacted between four aitake: bō, kotsu, ichi and otsu. These aitake are identical to the clusters that accompany the fundamental tones of five of the six modes: Ichikotsu-chō, Hyōjō, Taishiki-chō, Oshiki-chō and Banshiki-chō. These findings demonstrate that the pipes of the shō, while seemingly arranged in no discernable order, prioritize parsimonious te-utsuri between each of the aitake accompanying the fundamental modal degrees. An analysis of the pitch structure of aitake through the lens of te-utsuri reveals a striking correlation between gestural parsimony and tonal function. DOI: 10.30535/mto.26.4.4 Volume 26, Number 4, December 2020 Copyright © 2020 Society for Music Theory [1.1] Post-war scholars have challenged the conceptualization of gagaku (雅楽) as a musical practice that has been largely unchanged since its importation into Japan in the eighth century, engaging in comparative analyses of historical and contemporary melodies in tōgaku (唐楽)—a genre of gagaku (雅楽) court music that originated in Tang China.(1) Through studies of historical notation, initial research undertaken by Hayashi Kenzō and Laurence Picken’s Tang Music Project in the midtwentieth century has identified a disjuncture between modern tōgaku and its predecessors (Hayashi 1969; Picken et al. 1981, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1997, 2000).(2) Building upon their work, more recent studies have sought to reconstruct and decipher scores from the Heian period (794– 1185) (Endō 2005; Nelson 1986, 1988; Ng 2017; Terauchi 1996), trace the historical modification of tōgaku melodies (Endō 2004; Mare 1985, 1986; Ng 2011; Terauchi 1993; Tsukahara 2009), and examine similarities and inconsistencies between contemporary Japanese practice and Chinese theories of mode (Gamō 1970; Hayashi 1954; Masumoto 1968; Ng 2007; Ono 2016; Terauchi 2011). [1.2] While this monumental body of research has been invaluable for tracing the historical development of tōgaku and dismantling the characterization of gagaku as a timeless tradition carefully preserved over centuries, few existing studies have examined the relationship between modal theory and performance practice in contemporary tōgaku, a concern that has been raised by Robert Garfias (1975) and Terauchi Naoko (2007). In particular, Garfias has suggested that the aitake (合竹)—fiveand six-note pitch clusters played by the shō (笙) in tōgaku repertoire—can illuminate our understanding of how performance practice and theory interact with one another. Aitake is produced by covering five or six of the shō’s seventeen pipes, and sound can be generated by either inhaling or exhaling into the mouthpiece. For Garfias, the aitake is essential for understanding the principles of modality in gagaku: Ordinarily, discussions of theory in the traditional sources in Chinese and Japanese limit themselves to the consideration of scale and modal structures. These subjects have provided fodder for the theorists for hundreds of years and have enabled them to ensconce themselves in the complexities of theory while comfortably avoiding the problems of defining practice. One of these neglected aspects of practice, the harmonic structure executed by the mouth organ, shō, provides a convenient link between theory and practice. (1975, 63) Using Garfias’s hypothesis as a starting point, this article explores the relationship between the performer’s instrumental gestures—physical movements necessary for generating sound from an instrument (Montague 2012)—and modal theories of tōgaku. Through an analysis of te-utsuri (手移 り), the standardized ordering of fingerings to move from one aitake to another, I demonstrate that the idiosyncratic arrangement of the pipes on the shō is closely related to the pitch structure and function of the aitake. [1.3] This article, inspired in part by my experience as a member of the Columbia University Gagaku Ensemble, synthesizes two approaches.(3) First, I adopt David Lewin’s (1987) transformational a itude to conceptualize the aitake not as static musical objects but as processes of motion enacted by the te-utsuri. Transformational theory offers a particularly fruitful framework for theorizing the role of te-utsuri in connecting each of the aitake. I draw upon Lewin’s oft-cited question “I am at s; what characteristic transformation do I perform in order to arrive at t?” (xxxi) to conceptualize te-utsuri as an operator of musical transformation, focusing on the process of change between the aitake rather than the distance between them. A transformational perspective therefore situates performers “inside the music,” in the words of Lewin (159). Rather than observing the distance between two static musical objects, a performer experiences the motion from one hand position to another when acting out the te-utsuri movements to arrive at the new aitake. As such, transformational theory offers an ideal methodology for demonstrating how pitch structures and bodily gestures are intertwined in contemporary shō performance. [1.4] Second, by treating the aitake as sonic byproducts of a performer’s instrumental gestures, my analysis examines how each of the aitake is related to the others kinesthetically, and the ways in which these physical relationships correlate with the pitch structures of aitake. A transformational analysis of te-utsuri quantifies the motion between aitake in two ways: 1) the number of finger holes a performer must traverse to get from one aitake to another; and 2) the number of fingers that are in motion. The first part of the article argues that relatedness between different aitake is determined by the gestural proximity of te-utsuri—as opposed to that of voice leading in pitch space.(4) This framework is consistent with gagaku performance practice: shō players refer to each tone of the aitake by the name of its pipe, rather than by the name of its sounding pitch.(5) In the second part of the article, I demonstrate that pa erns of te-utsuri can help illuminate Garfias’s (1975) criteria for “consonance” and “dissonance” in gagaku. By analyzing kinesthetic relationships between aitake, I draw a ention to the correlation between gestural proximity of te-utsuri and underlying tonal functions of aitake. The Shō: An Overview [2.1] Descending from the Chinese sheng (also wri en as 笙) and introduced to Japan from Tang China between the seventh and eighth centuries, the shō is a free-reed mouth organ comprised of seventeen bamboo pipes, each made from tubes of equal thickness but with different lengths (Miki 2008, 64).(6) As shown in Example 1, the seventeen pipes are a ached to a wind chamber at the bo om and laid out in a circular fashion. Sound is produced by covering the finger holes above the reed and inhaling or exhaling into the mouthpiece, a mechanism similar to that of a Western harmonica (Video Example 1).(7) [2.2] Each pipe of the shō is assigned a different pitch with the exception of two muted pipes, ya (也) and mō (毛), as shown in Examples 2a and 2b.(8) There are specific ergonomically designed rules for fingerings, and the performer must be aware of which fingers should cover which holes. The kotsu (乞) pipe, for example, should only be covered by the left-hand ring finger. There are ten aitake in total, with eight six-pitch aitake and two five-pitch aitake (Example 3). Each aitake contains a fundamental tone, as indicated by the black noteheads in Example 3. Usually the lowest note of the aitake, the fundamental tone determines the name of each aitake and functions as a melodic cue for the hichiriki (篳篥; double-reed flute) and ryūteki (龍笛; transverse flute) during the shō’s process of te-utsuri. [2.3] In order to perform the shō at a high level, the performer must perfect the timing of the teutsuri—the ordering and timing in which the fingers shift between holes to move from one aitake to another—and kigae (気替)—the changing of breath. As replicated in Western notation in Example 4, te-utsuri and kigae work in tandem to execute controlled dynamics, smooth out the melody, and create continuity between aitake (Masumoto 1968, 22). Each aitake, which typically lasts four beats, begins quietly and gradually crescendos into the fourth beat, followed by the te-utsuri motions that transition the fingerings into those of the new aitake. In Video Example 2, I demonstrate te-utsuri from aitake kotsu to aitake ichi. The left side of the screen captures movements in the left hand, whereas the right side of the screen displays the right hand. The diagram in the center of the video gives a bird’s-eye view of the wind chamber, showing all seventeen pipes. The yellow circles indicate the covered finger holes. As I execute the te-utsuri to move from one aitake to another, the yellow circles also shift to track the fingering movements involved in the process. [2.4] Whereas te-utsuri is completed between the fourth and first beats, kigae occurs on the arrival of the first beat.(9) In some cases, the te-utsuri occurs over two phases (Example 5): the first step