University of Texas Press The Donkey's Ears Go Flop, Flop: Miyagi Michio's Koto Works for Children Author(s): Anne Prescott Reviewed work(s): Source: Asian Music, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Winter - Spring, 2005), pp. 27-43 Published by: University of Texas Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4098502 . Accessed: 29/05/2012 23:35 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of Texas Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Asian Music. http://www.jstor.org The Donkey'sEars Go Flop, Flop: Miyagi Michio'sKoto Works for Children Anne Prescott Abstract:Miyagi Michio gilA L (1894-1956),koto performer,composer, and edu- cator,was a musicalinnovator who modifiedtraditional instruments, incorporated new ideasinto the bodyof workcalled s6kyoku Z 0,' andadopted compositional and playingtechniques from Western music and instruments.He was also one of the first Japanesecomposers to createpedagogical materials and entertainingworks that were appropriatefor children,and thoseworks are still widelyused todayto teachkoto- playingto beginners,particularly children. This paper will providean introductionto the Miyagischool of kotoplaying, examine the traditionalmethod of teachingkoto to children,investigate Miyagi's motivation for creatinga pedagogicalmethod for chil- dren,provide a historicaloverview of Miyagi'sdakyoku @ (children'ssongs), and finallyanalyze several of theseworks. The Miyagi School of Koto Playing Koto players generally follow one of two major traditions of koto playing: Ikuta-rytit (the Ikutaschool), founded by IkutaKengy6 I t (1656- f. 1715),or Yamada-ryfti 1 fLj (the Yamadaschool), founded by Yamada_• Kengy6 [I BH3i t (1757-1817).These two traditionsare distinguishedby differingreper- toires, playing techniques and patterns, and geographic origins.2 Only a few kotenE-& (classicalworks) are sharedby the two schools. Groupedwithin each of these broadly defined schools are smaller associa- tions or schools that trace their lineage to an esteemed teacher who was the founder of that association.These smaller associationsare also often referred to as schools in English,and some of them develop into powerfulgroups, often specializing in the compositions of the first or successiveiemoto *- (head of the school). GeimeiEE, artisticnames, as well as the licensesthat certifylevels of achievement,are grantedby the iemoto.Today perhaps the best-known asso- ciations within the Ikuta-ryz[are the Miyagi Kai ij centered on Miyagi Michio, the Seiha H6gaku Kai IE?~hi , and the Sawai S6kyokuin ?jR#T- Miyagi Michio was born and spent his early years in the foreign concession in Kobe. His fatherworked for a Britishtea company, so Miyagi grew up sur- rounded by people speaking foreign languages and he heard Western music streaming from hotels, churches, and homes. He lost his sight by the age of @ 2005 by the Universityof TexasPress, P.O. Box 7819,Austin, TX 78713-7819 28 AsianMusic: Winter/Spring 2005 seven and did not have the opportunity to attend school, so in 1902his family apprenticedhim to NakajimaKengy6 II -i~t a11 , a renowned local koto andjiuta iftO shamisen master of the Ikuta-ryti.3Miyagi made rapid progress in his daily lessons; by 1905he had reached an advancedlicense level and was given the geimei NakasugaMichio V~i•V~. The Miyagi Kai considers 1905 to be the year that the Miyagi style of koto playingwas established,but the reformsand innovationsthat make this school distinctive did not begin to be put in place until four years later. The gene- sis of the Miyagi style occurred in the years from 1907 to 1917,when Miyagi taught and performed in Chosen (Korea), first in Inchon and then in Seoul. His father,Kunijiro, and the rest of his family had moved to Chosen in 1905, but Miyagi had stayed behind in Japanwith his grandmotherto continue his music studies. When Kunijir6was injured and unable to work, he sent for his young son to come and support the family by teaching koto. During his years in Chosen, Miyagi had many opportunities that would have been unavailable to him as a young koto player in Japan,where age and hierarchicalrestric- tions were strictly observed. From the organizationalform and playing tech- niques, to the lyrics (taken from his brother'sscience textbook), Miyagi'sfirst work, "Mizu no Hentai" * 0) !ft (Transformationsof Water,1909) was un- like any koto composition by any composer prior to that time, and this marks the true beginning of the Miyagi style of koto playing. Miyagi'searly expo- sure to Westernmusic in Kobe, his furtherexperience with Westernand other non-Japanesemusics in Korea, and his removal from the strict traditions of Japangave him the freedom to compose his own works in a completely new style, influencedby Westernmusical techniques, and to perform those works in public. On his return to Japanin 1917,Miyagi's radical (for that time) new com- positions soon came to the attention of both the traditionalkoto world and a numberof musicianstrained in Westernmusic. While many traditionalmusi- cians initially shunned him, his music was welcomed and his activities were supportedby those trained in Westernmusic. By the late 1920s,in the midst of a Westernizationboom in Japan,traditional musicians also began to support Miyagi'snew style of music. By the early1930s Miyagi was securelyestablished as the leaderin the creationof a new style of music for the koto, and the Miyagi playing tradition was firmlyin place. Music Education in Japan In Japan,musical training practices for traditionalinstruments and for Western instrumentshave long been kept separate.Policies enacted by the government Prescott:Miyagi Michio's Koto Works 29 at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912)dictated that the music taught in schools would be Western,that the teaching would follow Westernprinciples for music education, and that students would study Western composers, in- struments, songs, and genres. In 1880 the Japanesegovernment hired Ameri- can music educatorLuther Whiting Mason to help set up a school-basedmusic education and the TorishirabeGakari (Music In- system, Ongaku ffA-{, vestigation Committee)was establishedin the same year (Berger1991:19-20).4 One of the duties of the Ongaku TorishirabeGakari was to compose new songs in Japanesethat were a blend of traditionalJapanese and Westernmusi- cal elements in order to acclimateschoolchildren to Westernscales, melodies, and harmony.Accordingly, students were taught to sing Westernsongs or these newly composed songs in a Westernstyle and to playWestern instruments such as the recorderand piano. Parents increasinglypreferred that their children learn to play the piano or the violin ratherthan traditionalinstruments. By the earlytwentieth century severalgenerations of childrenhad learnedWestern or Western-stylecompositions, and the Westernmusical vocabularyhad become the norm. In recent years only three pieces of traditional Japanesemusic (one each from gagaku*?C, sokyoku,and kabuki )R~f) were included in the curricu- lum governing the nine years of compulsory education. Beginning with the new school year in April 2002, a change in the music curriculum mandated the addition of a full year of traditionalmusic instructionin the second year of junior high school. This instruction theoreticallyincludes hands-on instruc- tion as well as appreciation,but music teachers rarely have any training in either area. At this time traditional music instruction seems to be limited to whatever in-service training the teacher can obtain or the availabilityof suit- able resourcesin the local community. There has been virtually no pedagogical interchangebetween Western and traditional music. Western musical learning follows Europeanand American models, while koto, shamisen, and other traditional instruments and genres are still taught in the traditionalmanner popularized during the Edo period (1603-1867),in which students learn under the direction of a master to whom they owe their musicalloyalty. Lessons are based on the master-disciplemodel, where the teacher has the final word, and students play exactly as the teacher instructs,with no individualityin style or interpretation.Licenses are granted for levels of achievement,and geimei are still bestowed in some schools. Today some "cultureschools," operated by local governments,department stores, or other entities also offer traditional music instruction, but students in those schools are still allied with the artistic school of the instructor,and traditional teaching methods are used. 30 AsianMusic: Winter/Spring 2005 The TraditionalMethod for Training Beginners Koto teacherstoday use a varietyof beginningbooks, many followingthe same approachpopularized by Miyagi.They begin with a volumecontain- ing introductoryetudes that familiarizestudents with the stringsand nota- tion, introducingnew techniquesand playingpatterns one or two at a time. Short,newly composed exercises and simple folk tunes (sometimes even non- Japanesemelodies) reinforce the techniquesbeing taught.Gradually, longer newlycomposed songs areintroduced as preparationfor the traditionaland