I haven't written for a long time. Things are quite different from the last post (in 2009!).
Now I am an Associate Professor at the Ferris University in Yokohama, teaching European&Japanese music history, as well as Christian music (mass, requiem, hymnology etc.) and music journalism. This university consists of three department: the Faculty of Letters, the one of Global and Inter-cultural Studies, and the College of Music.
Students here, all women (as this institution is a women's university) are very passionate about what they are doing (of course, there are some who are not...) and seems to have a love for music. I learn a lot from them.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Friday, February 06, 2009
Memo: Music Written for Toei Anime movies.
When I was writing my first book, a survey of Disney film music, I did also a rough research on Japanese anime music, especially the music written for feature-length anime cartoons created by the Toei Anime Corp (東映動画). The company had a great ambition, according to the founder, to become an Asian Disney, and I was interested in the music used in their films and American "counterparts."
It was a few year ago when I watched these movies on DVDs, and I did not give a deep thoughts on the material. However, my vague memory tells that the way music is used in Toei anime films looked a bit different from the Disney ones. Even though both Toei and Disny films feature songs, songs in Toei anime films are not so integrated with the underscore or strongly enforced dramatically. Rather, songs were just "inserted" here and there to make some amusements for kids. Maybe I'm wrong, because the choice of composers for early Toei cartoons were just fascinating: Isao Tomita, Akira Ifukube, Michio Mimiya, among others.
I found an excerpt from Little Norse Prince (Taiyo no Oji Horusu no Daiboken, 太陽の王子 ホルスの大冒険 [The Great Adventure of Horus: The Prince of the Sun]) . All songs for this movie was composed by Mamiya, one of the greatest living composers in Japan, who has written many pieces based on the folk songs of his native land.
Well...I don't think this song is based on a Japanese folk song (sounds more like a European style to me), but very effective in this festive marriage in the village.
Anyway, as far as I remember, for this scene, Toei Doga production team made a sort of storyboard. Their version of storyboard (ekonte 絵コンテ) was different from that of Disney in that everything is written on the piece of the paper and the music notation was written under the each drawing.
So, my opinion on "integration" does not apply to this film, in which music does enrich the drama and was carefully written to coordinate with the visual event.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
First Post in 2009/MEV 40
I have not written for a long time. Well...I am alive and fine!
Currently, I am listening to the four-CD set titled MEV 40 (New World). A collection of 7 live performances by the American improvisation group called the Musica Elettronica Viva. I guess the use of this Italian name was mainly due to the fact that this group was founded in Rome, when all the core members were there. Only the first track of the first CD really sounds like avant-garde improvisation, in a sort of Cage/Tudor style. Others tracks were more like free-jazz, mainly due to their choice of instrument and performing style. For me it is like "The Foundation of MEV and After," because I know the group name only from books on new music (i.e. Michael Nyman's Experimenta Music). But overall, this set was quite enjoyable and reviewed in the Record Geijyutu.
Monday, January 07, 2008
New Year 2008
Hello music-lovers,
I have been writing about last year's music activities in the Hokuriku Area, which includes three prefectures: Fukui, Ishikawa, and Toyama, the last being my hometown.
For Fukui, I am focusing on the tenth anniversary of the Harmony Hall Fukui, a beautiful concert hall with a gorgeous organ. The hall presented a new piece commissioned by the Fukui Arts Foundation: an opera titled Ondine. The opera was written in the style of French impressionism. Yes, the subject matter of the opera is European and not the local story of this area, but the opera itself was sung in Japanese.
The anniversary concert also included the second performance of recently-composedFukui Sanka (Anthem for Fukui). Fukui Sanka is, I'll say, a secular anthem, featuring the organ in the hall and Japanese traditional taiko drumming with chorus and orchestra. The local musicians gave monumental performances of both pieces.
I also will write about the Takefu International Music Festival. The music director of the festival is Toshio Hosokawa, a well-known Japanese composer. Although the festival presented pieces by J. S. Bach, Mozart, Dvorak and other "standard repertoire" composers, its main purpose is to give living composers an arena to present their new compositions. That is why the Composers' Workshops are part of the festival. I will write about new music presented in this festival. Composers presented in the festival, among others, were Akira Nishimura, Misato Mochizuki, Tetsuji Emura, Masamichi Kinoshita, and of course, Toshio Hosokawa.
For Ishikawa, I deal with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (OEK), the only professional orchestra in the Hokuriku Area. The orchestra welcomed a new music director Michiyoshi Inoue. On 25 February 2007, OEK with the conductor Inoue performed Maki Ishii's piece, featuring the Japanese traditional court music, gagaku, and the Buddhist chants, shomyo. The audience was given a bottle of sake. Isn't that wonderful. I wish I were there (well... for music, not the sake ;-)
For Toyama, I would like to write about the music festival commemorating the legacy of the great violinist Szymon Goldberg. The festival is actually called Szymon Goldberg Memorial.
The Memorial consisted of seminars for young musicians, outreach activities for local schools, and a few public concerts. The public concerts were all free.
Well..I'll go back to the work. If I have more time, I might report more about these events.
Bye.
I have been writing about last year's music activities in the Hokuriku Area, which includes three prefectures: Fukui, Ishikawa, and Toyama, the last being my hometown.
For Fukui, I am focusing on the tenth anniversary of the Harmony Hall Fukui, a beautiful concert hall with a gorgeous organ. The hall presented a new piece commissioned by the Fukui Arts Foundation: an opera titled Ondine. The opera was written in the style of French impressionism. Yes, the subject matter of the opera is European and not the local story of this area, but the opera itself was sung in Japanese.
The anniversary concert also included the second performance of recently-composedFukui Sanka (Anthem for Fukui). Fukui Sanka is, I'll say, a secular anthem, featuring the organ in the hall and Japanese traditional taiko drumming with chorus and orchestra. The local musicians gave monumental performances of both pieces.
I also will write about the Takefu International Music Festival. The music director of the festival is Toshio Hosokawa, a well-known Japanese composer. Although the festival presented pieces by J. S. Bach, Mozart, Dvorak and other "standard repertoire" composers, its main purpose is to give living composers an arena to present their new compositions. That is why the Composers' Workshops are part of the festival. I will write about new music presented in this festival. Composers presented in the festival, among others, were Akira Nishimura, Misato Mochizuki, Tetsuji Emura, Masamichi Kinoshita, and of course, Toshio Hosokawa.
For Ishikawa, I deal with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (OEK), the only professional orchestra in the Hokuriku Area. The orchestra welcomed a new music director Michiyoshi Inoue. On 25 February 2007, OEK with the conductor Inoue performed Maki Ishii's piece, featuring the Japanese traditional court music, gagaku, and the Buddhist chants, shomyo. The audience was given a bottle of sake. Isn't that wonderful. I wish I were there (well... for music, not the sake ;-)
For Toyama, I would like to write about the music festival commemorating the legacy of the great violinist Szymon Goldberg. The festival is actually called Szymon Goldberg Memorial.
The Memorial consisted of seminars for young musicians, outreach activities for local schools, and a few public concerts. The public concerts were all free.
Well..I'll go back to the work. If I have more time, I might report more about these events.
Bye.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Recent Activities
I am working on my second book. This time, I will write about American "non-experimental" classical music. I discussed with my publisher, Stylenote, about possible composers I would deal with. Currently, I choose the following: Leroy Anderson, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Ferde Grofe, Charles Ives, Gian Carlo Menotti, and William Schuman. I may add a few more composers.
The most difficult composer to write about should be Grofe, as academic research has not yet been progressed much so far for this composer (I do own a copy of MA thesis on Grofe), and because of the complexity of genre problem surrounding this composer, namely: (1) How can I define jazz, dance music, semiclassical music, and serious music? (2) How I can place Grofe in this context?
My publisher told me that my first book, A Comprehensive Survey of Disney Film Music, have been sold 1,100 copies. This actually is the first Japanese publication on the Disney film music.
If you are interested in this book--sorry it is written in Japanese--you can buy your copy at Amazon.co.jp. Take a look at the link below. Thanks!!
The most difficult composer to write about should be Grofe, as academic research has not yet been progressed much so far for this composer (I do own a copy of MA thesis on Grofe), and because of the complexity of genre problem surrounding this composer, namely: (1) How can I define jazz, dance music, semiclassical music, and serious music? (2) How I can place Grofe in this context?
My publisher told me that my first book, A Comprehensive Survey of Disney Film Music, have been sold 1,100 copies. This actually is the first Japanese publication on the Disney film music.
If you are interested in this book--sorry it is written in Japanese--you can buy your copy at Amazon.co.jp. Take a look at the link below. Thanks!!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Anime "Zipang" OST
A soundtrack for Japanese anime "Zipang" by Toshihiko Sahashi. The anime is a military drama based on the manga of Kaiji Kawaguchi, known for his Silent Service.
The style of most cues is symphonic, occasionally incorporating drums and synthesizer in the style of Mancina/Zimmer. Long cues are especially exciting and well-constructed. However, I do not like his uses of koto sound and pentatonic scale for the Imperial Japanese Army cues, because it sounds too stereotypically oriental.
Nevertheless, if you like this TV anime series, you may enjoy this CD too.
The style of most cues is symphonic, occasionally incorporating drums and synthesizer in the style of Mancina/Zimmer. Long cues are especially exciting and well-constructed. However, I do not like his uses of koto sound and pentatonic scale for the Imperial Japanese Army cues, because it sounds too stereotypically oriental.
Nevertheless, if you like this TV anime series, you may enjoy this CD too.
Monday, November 14, 2005
JASPM 2005 in Hirosaki
It is increasingly colder each day here in Toyama, but the weather in Hirosaki (Aomori Prefecture) was freezing. I was in Hirosaki for a conference on popular-music studies, hosted by the Japanese Association for the Study of Popular Music. There were a variety of topics discussed there and scholarly presentations were conducted by researchers from various fields, not limiting to musicologist but including sociologists, economists, as well as promoters of popular music and a film-music record collector.
Perhaps due to the Japanese higher-education system, many presenters view the popular music sociologically, or they analyze it based on pre-conceived schemes created by American/European sociologists. I am not about to complain this idea but am more interested in musical discussions from historical musicologists, ethnomusicologists, or musical-theory specialists, as well.
One of the afternoon sessions was a "workshop" focused on "otaku" culture and music (actually it was closer to a symposium or three paper presentations and a brief question session). Interestingly, one of the panelists was otaku herself, and her discussion went on and on about what she was interested in for a decade or so. Her presentation occupied too much time of the session, but for me, observing the true "otaku" was interesting in its own.
Her presentation, from my understanding, dealt with the music production derived from "otaku" communities. These comminuties comprised from various otaku or a group of people who are avid fans of a particular cartoon or its character. They create a variety of cartoon-comic books, based on their favorite TV-anime or cartoon comics. New musical pieces have also been created based on these imagined, unofficial, original cartoon-comic books. Often the creators of the original TV show or manga writers have nothing to do with these versions of cartoon-comic, but a solid number of otaku supports are able to host even a staged show featuring their original songs.
The world of these otaku groups, I guess, originated in the TV anime shows such as Gundam or Macros, which I saw when I was kid, say, in 1979 to 1982. The fans of the Gundam program were one of the first group of people, who demanded the detailed description of the characters that appeared in the cartoon show. When the actual creators of the anime were unable to provide the details, the fans created them from their imagination.
The significance of the Macros show lies in the Chinese-looking character (I forgot her name, but she has a Chinese-sounding name also, Lin Min-Mei?), which was a singer and sung her original songs throughout the anime. Even though the story of the anime was not particularly musical but more like a robot-Sci Fi, always popular in Japan since the Astro Boy, the anime character's songs impacted me a great deal as well as many anime viewers at that time.
What I saw in otaku came from (1) their interests in details on anime characters and (2) singing by anime characters. When they cannot have these features in anime shows, they just make them up, based on their imagination and fantasy.
Also, they are really acts fast, as they create a network of people, some of whom can have access to music company or composing skills, others would have a economical foundation to create a dojinshi, or an original book-publication in the otaku market.
Perhaps due to the Japanese higher-education system, many presenters view the popular music sociologically, or they analyze it based on pre-conceived schemes created by American/European sociologists. I am not about to complain this idea but am more interested in musical discussions from historical musicologists, ethnomusicologists, or musical-theory specialists, as well.
One of the afternoon sessions was a "workshop" focused on "otaku" culture and music (actually it was closer to a symposium or three paper presentations and a brief question session). Interestingly, one of the panelists was otaku herself, and her discussion went on and on about what she was interested in for a decade or so. Her presentation occupied too much time of the session, but for me, observing the true "otaku" was interesting in its own.
Her presentation, from my understanding, dealt with the music production derived from "otaku" communities. These comminuties comprised from various otaku or a group of people who are avid fans of a particular cartoon or its character. They create a variety of cartoon-comic books, based on their favorite TV-anime or cartoon comics. New musical pieces have also been created based on these imagined, unofficial, original cartoon-comic books. Often the creators of the original TV show or manga writers have nothing to do with these versions of cartoon-comic, but a solid number of otaku supports are able to host even a staged show featuring their original songs.
The world of these otaku groups, I guess, originated in the TV anime shows such as Gundam or Macros, which I saw when I was kid, say, in 1979 to 1982. The fans of the Gundam program were one of the first group of people, who demanded the detailed description of the characters that appeared in the cartoon show. When the actual creators of the anime were unable to provide the details, the fans created them from their imagination.
The significance of the Macros show lies in the Chinese-looking character (I forgot her name, but she has a Chinese-sounding name also, Lin Min-Mei?), which was a singer and sung her original songs throughout the anime. Even though the story of the anime was not particularly musical but more like a robot-Sci Fi, always popular in Japan since the Astro Boy, the anime character's songs impacted me a great deal as well as many anime viewers at that time.
What I saw in otaku came from (1) their interests in details on anime characters and (2) singing by anime characters. When they cannot have these features in anime shows, they just make them up, based on their imagination and fantasy.
Also, they are really acts fast, as they create a network of people, some of whom can have access to music company or composing skills, others would have a economical foundation to create a dojinshi, or an original book-publication in the otaku market.
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