Disclaimer: I wanted to write “how did blind players read notation?”
Hello!
I noticed on Internet there were lots of blind composers in shamisen and koto music. I’m surprised, because most compositions are written in standard traditional Japanese notation and, to learn the piece, you must read the notatioin. And for blind disciples? How the notation system works? Being blind and learning piano, I studied Braille notation system:
http://www.duxburysystems.org/downloads/library/history/music_1929.pdf
and still use it to learn piano pieces… but how did shamisen/koto blind composers and players? Did learned the pieces from listening to the teacher’s execution? If someone knows about this, can please let me know?
Thank you very much!
Sakuraharu
surely and especially also in old times a lot was learned from listening to other players. I don’t know if there is any shamisen notation available in braille system . . .
They learned mostly by ear, although there are onomatopoeic words that could be used to assist learning. You listen to your teacher, and you repeat the phrase back to them.
Some modern teachers continue this tradition. Both my general min’you and tsugaru teachers teach me to play by listening first, and only switch to gakufu if I’m really struggling/if I request it for home practice.
To be honest, I find it infinitely easier to memorize a piece if I’m learning by ear and muscle memory rather than staring at a sheet of paper.
Hi! What I thought. My friend, who plays koto, is blind like me, but I’ve never asked him how did he learn pieces…
My teacher says reading is very important for all, because the piece remains in your head…
But I didn’t understand well the fact about the gakufu:
Some modern teachers continue this tradition. Both my general min’you and tsugaru teachers teach me to play by listening first, and only switch to gakufu if I’m really struggling/if I request it for home practice.
I’ve understood about your teacher… but not the gakufu…
Ah, and, maybe, blind composers (Yatsuhashi Kengyo, Mitsuzaki Kengyo, Fukakusa Kengyo, Yoshizawa Kengyo etc.) were helped by a sighted person… the composer dictated the notes and the other wrote… It’s only my opinion, I don’t know…
Gakufu is just the Japanese word for sheet music.
I would suppose that blind players who composed would be assisted by a sighted person, but I’m unsure. There’s something called guchijamisen (literally “mouth shamisen”) that uses specific syllables (such as shi ki sa ka) to indicate notes and onomatopoeic mnemonics or express directions to instruct techniques.
There’s actually a book on nagauta that talks about it. I’ve been meaning to read it.
Ah, I remember that I watched a video regarding koto… in the video the teacher (supposed she was old listening her voice) sang the number of the string while playing… I haven’t understood very well the numbers, but I think I’m right…
The link is:
I imagine the teacher is blind… It’s an expectation… It’s really so?
Sakura - No, everyone in that video is sighted. And they are using koto music books.
Sakura, in the old days, (when it was a requirement to be both blind and male in order to get to the highest ranks of koto!), sheet music was not commonly used. As people said above, students learned by sound. Also, koto used an onomatopoeic vocal system called “shouga”, similar to the kuchi-jamisen system used for shamisen. The shouga sound used referred to a particular technique. For instance “shan” meant to play strings 1 and 2 together. Or sometimes it meant to play the upper and lower strings of an octave (such as string 2 and string 7 for koto).
I had a blind koto student for about four years. She found it very difficult to try and use the Braille music system and then relate it to koto. So we invented our own notation, based on a simplified version of shouga. It was something she could transcribe into Braille for herself, and it could also be typed out in English numbers, letters, and symbols. So a sighted person could share the same sheet music as she had. (If you are interested in finding out more about it, you can PM me and I could give you her contact information.)
Hello!
I’m dreaming… maybe…
I’m very (1000 times) glad to have a reply by Linda… It’s a dream…
However, I’m very intrested to know and share ideas with your blind student!!! 
I would love to learn koto and jiuta-shamisen (also juushichigen), but it’s very difficult because, in my country, there aren’t koto players. and I’m attending the 5th year at the conservatory… but I want to stop Learning piano for personal reasons…
Sakura, where are you? Even if there are no koto or shamisen (or any other music teachers) near you, you might always find a teacher on the Internet. That was how my blind student found me. (She lived almost 5000 km away from me.) At the very beginning, she did fly to Toronto just a few times to meet in person. That way she could feel what I was doing with my hands and my body, she would let me move her hands in the correct technical way, etc. But after that, we did almost lessons by Internet, and she would come in maybe once per year. So I’m sure you could find someone. But you would need to get your own koto or shamisen first, of course.
I will send you a private message here on Bachido. Please check your inbox soon.
Hi Linda!
where does your blind student live?
I’m in Italy, but I promised myself that, when I grow up, I want to learn Japanese instruments… but I don’t know what instrument, because I love both koto and shamisen and also juushichigen…
Ah, Linda, do you play juushichigen? It’s because I have a friend who plays koto, shamisen and juushichigen. Now he is hill and he needs to sleep. DO you have students who play juushichigen? If so, can you give me contact information? I asked this because I want to make a surprise to him, playing a song composed by me… but I need a juushichigen player!
But why koto players must learn also shamisen?
I forgot: are you on skype?