Ensemble

A lot of etudes of Koto are composed as the duet.

Especially “Hanaikada” which we introduced last time, is the piece that even a beginner can enjoy an ensemble.

Of course, there are a lot of pieces for solo or ensemble with other instruments like shakuhachi and so on.

But at the lesson, students usually practice playing a duet with their teacher.

Please imagine the Lessons of piano or violin.

Sometimes the teacher plays demonstration or plays the same melody with students.

But he/she rarely plays a duet with student, doesn’t he/she?

Do you know the reason why, in the lesson of Koto, they play a duet?

That’s probably related to the history of Koto and Japanese music.

Though I want to talk about it, it will be long, long story.

So, today I will talk about another reason from a different point of view.

It is due to the characteristic of Koto.

Koto has 13strings. Only 13. The piano has 88keybords.

Compared to the piano, the number and range of the sound which can be played by Koto is very much limited.

Therefore, it is very difficult to compose the modern music by only 1 Koto.

So, many of modern composers make music with plural Kotos.

For example, they sometimes use the several Kotos of different sound range like a chorus. Or they give each koto the role such as the right hand and the left hand in the case of playing the piano.

In addition, in the professional musicians, some people use 25strings Koko or 20strings Koto to play alone.

But I think it may still take a long time for these kinds of Koto to become popular.

Training by etude is also a good practicing method to play it while hearing another part.

And above all, it makes you feel fun, doesn’t it?

Why don’t you start learning Koto?