The basic posture for playing the Shamisen

Having experienced the remarkable effects of Alexander Technique last week, I asked my teacher, Ms. Kazue Takagi, to show me how she sits on the chair in great detail. (17th November, 2009)



The side view depicts her sitting on the chair vertical. Excellent!





When I observed her from her back, however, I noticed that her right shoulder was slightly lower than the left one. My impression was that the weight of her upper body was supported by her lower back and its right side was particularly loaded with her weight. She told me of her pain around the neck-shoulder and her lower back. It is reasonable to conjecture that her pain is caused by her posture, i.e., the spine turning rightwards.

She was not aware of her posture until I pointed it out to her. It is hard for anyone to notice the slight bent especially on stage because the feature is so subtle that it is easily hidden by clothing. She knew however that there was a problem with her right shoulder as she feels difficulties when she put her clothes (Japanese Kimono) on her for stage performances. She said to me that she could not keep Kimono stay horizontal around her neck.



We discussed why her right shoulder tends to be lowered. Ms. Takagi pointed it out to me that she needed to pluck the third string, the furthest string, which requires her to push her right arm forward. That is right.




I may add to her comment that she is also holding her left arm (mostly) up to run her fingers on the instrument's neck. Hm... Similar phenomena are likely to be found for the Guitar players, too.





She told me that she used to sit down on the flour when she learnt to play the instrument. She started learning quite early, say, around thirteen or fourteen years old. (I have to ask her for the exact year.) I asked her thus to sit dow on the flour. Her shoulders were now adjusted towards the vertical position. I am not completely sure why such an adjustment occurred. Was her upper body supported better by her lower back? hm...

I know there is a some relation between the posture and the way she sits down. I know other shamisen players not belonging to Tsugaru tradition, i.e., the players playing traditional Japanese music with quieter tone, do not hold the instrument that way. They tend to sit on straight on the flour, but their playing styles are more restricted compared to the ones for playing Tsugaru shamisen. Any solution to remove her pain while preserving both niceties?

Alexander Technique

A friend of mine, whom I have known since both of us were high-school students, visited our institute this week to give us a lesson of Alexander Technique. (11th November, 2009) His Name is Daiju Yokoe (DJ in the following).



I had few items of knowledge of the technique. I know personally some people who are working on Body-Mapping, which is I believe one of the descendant of Alexander Technique, but DJ insisted me that Alexander Technique is not equivalent to Body-Mapping. I thus invited him to give a lecture of the technique. The lecture was divided into two parts. The first session started at 15:10 and lasted for 90 minutes approximately. In the midst of the first session, I volunteered to play the Shamisen, a traditional Japanese three-stringed instrument, in front of the participants as a Guinea Pig. I just played short phrases. The movie clips depicts me, first playing a phrase helped by DJ, followed by another performance where I play the instrument as I used to do. In the latter half of the clip, I played a phrase in sorrow mood. I firstly played it as I do it normally and secondly did it as instructed by DJ.

Recalling my attitude towards music, I have been playing any instruments primarily for me, as a dialogue with myself, not for the audience. Well, I sometimes play music recently for the elderly in nursery. I admit the experience (playing music for the elderly) has done something on me though I am not sure what it is. Anyway, the lesson I learned from the Alexander Technique was impressive. But, I know, there are still lots of things to be learnt in the technique.

• http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~fuji/movie/alexander/20091111.mov (17MB, h264 format, 720x460)
• http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~fuji/movie/alexander/20091111.mp4 ( 9MB, h264 format, 320x240)
• http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~fuji/movie/alexander/20091111.wmv ( 3MB, wmv format, 320x240)

I myself did not see many differences between the two ways of playing the instrument, but most audiences pointed out that the performances (partly) following AT technique sounded much better than the other. I later viewed the movie clip by myself and realized that they were right. Amazing.

Only the posture is slightly different between the two. I usually tend to bend my trunk forward, but made my spine stand straight when instructed by DJ. The trick gave the tone more power and richness. Wow...

These are photos taken on 27th September, 2008, when I gave a lecture of the Shamisen playing with my teacher, Ms. Kazue Takagi. After the AT lesson, I happened to find those pictures in my office. (I have been cleaning my office these days.) I was rather amazed to see that Kazue sits on the chair with her spine straight up while I was playing it bending my trunk forward. Our attitudes towards the audience were quite different, too. She was facing them with confidence, while I was not. I noticed that my effort to convey the content of music to the audience was not enough to move them. Shame.

Recalling my attitude towards music, I have been playing any instruments primarily for me, as a dialogue with myself, not for the audience. Well, I sometimes play music recently for the elderly in nursery. I admit the experience (playing music for the elderly) has done something on me though I am not sure what it is. Anyway, the lesson I learned from the Alexander Technique was impressive. But, I know, there are still lots of things to be learnt in the technique.

The third day in Dalian, China. (29th October)

We went to the Dalian Nationalities University in the morning to interview nine students. We interviewed three students in the morning and six students in the afternoon.



I noticed several students were walking, reading a textbook aloud. I asked a teacher what they were doing. He told me that they were memorizing sentences. It was the best way for mastering a language to memorize the whole textbook, said he. The corridor is full of students reading a textbook every morning, which I missed to witness.

The series of interviews went well. Every student was enthusiastic and spoke very good Japanese. Some of them only started learning Japanese two years ago and still spoke the language fluently. I was impressed by their energy spent for acquiring the skill. As I had time after finishing the interviews, I looked around the school.



It was an ordinary scene which you may find in any other places called college or university.


One interesting thing was that students put on a cover on their shoes when they entered computer rooms. We might rather ask students put off their shoes in Japan. Such a subtle difference amazed me.



The computer rooms were full of students, too. They used computers to run teaching materials. I understood that the kind of technology was useful when a small number of staff have to teach a large number of students. If you are short-staffed, computers are indispensable.



We went out to visit some other buildings. The square was so spacious and the distance to the library was felt rather long. I wondered why they needed such a large space in the middle of the campus.


From the library, you can look through to the entrance gate, which seemed to be far away. Few cycles we found. I did not know why they opted for walking, but the campus would obviously be overcrowded if everyone rides on a bike.



The library looked modern and well-organized. Students occupied their seats to read something. We went out of the library to stroll into other places.



Students seemed to be enjoying their campus lives. They met friends, looking for something interesting. I suppose that they are rather talented and wealthy to the nation's standard. Studying at a university must be a privilege for the young. I believe that they live their lives under some restrictions, but the option is probably far better than others and they are contented with their choice. We should be pleased to see them opt for coming to Japan to continue their studies.



We were treated with nice choices of Chinese foods in the evening. The exchange with Chinese staff that night was inspiring. We were all agreed on that it is most important to exchange people between the two countries to promote mutual understanding. We are after all neighboring countries and cannot ignore each other. For us, friendship comes first. Diplomacy next.