koto tunings

Bonkox asked if kotos were tuned in JI...after playing, over the last
2 years, with two very accomplished kotoists, I didn't see much evidence
of this at all. I checked my Maj 3rd against one of the kotos during a
rehearsal, and her 3rd was higher than 12 eq...probably based off of a
non tempered cycle of 5ths. Yoko Hiraoka and I chatted a bit about
tunings...she said she would tune her 1/2 step to 90 cents, but she
sometimes used 85 cents instead. It's funny how much, at times, the koto
and 12 tone guitar would sound very close...yet, at other times, they
were obviously not in synch. Also, I found that I was more interested in
just playing music, rather than trying to figure out the tunings
involved (although I was curious). And, I began using my fretless to
play Sakura with Yoko, and just tried to find the pitches by ear..and I
did. I get the feeling that tuning theory, per se, was not a big part of
either koto player's training...not unlike western musicians. I have
been told that Japanese music derives from Chinese, which would seem to
indicate a 5ths based system...also, since a lot of traditional Japanese
music uses pentatonic scales, the 5ths based system is a natural.
Then, on the other hand, I'll bet there's a lot of individual
tweaking that may go on from player to player, depending on the tune and
the ear of the player...kotos are mighty flexible. Also, of great
interest to me, was the fact that, although many Japanese tunes are
basically pentatonic, I found as many as 11 separate tones in one
particular piece; and, Yoko would do some mighty microtonal sounding
bends in other pieces. It seems that it may be a bit over simplistic to
categorize Japanese/Chinese music as pentatonic...at least, that's been
my experience. I would invite any Oriental players on this list to add
their viewpoint...hope this helps..Hstick

I thought that they where in Pythagorean, tuned in fourths. I have always been intrigued how
Gagaku has different tunings (possibly) side by side.

Neil Haverstick wrote:

> Bonkox asked if kotos were tuned in JI...after playing, over the last
> 2 years, with two very accomplished kotoists, I didn't see much evidence

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
http://www.anaphoria.com

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