richard ohnson ive Scrolls o Musashi or solo timanist (ith bass drum and tam-tam) Charcoal Media (ASCAP)
richard ohnson ive Scrolls o Musashi ive short ieces or solo timanist (ith bass drum and tam-tam) Program Notes In 165, Miyamoto Musashi, arguably the greatest aanese duelist o his time, rote his treatise on strategy alicable to one-on-one sordsmanshi, one-against-many conlict, and large-scale battle The text contained the basics o Musashi s on To Heavens school o the sord Divided into ive scrolls (or rings ) named ater the ive elements, his text is the insiration or this set o short ieces or solo timanist The irst Scroll (Earth) serves as an introduction ithin both the Musashi text and this set o ieces Inluenced by Takemitsu s ercussion riting or the score to Kurosaa s Ran, this scroll serves to reare the listener or a solo timanist s erormance Musashi uses the Second Scroll (Water) to comment on the basics o sordsmanshi, and so this iece is based on simle iaido orms, ith a articular ocus on indeendence o limbs The Third and ourth Scrolls (ire and Wind) are heavily inluenced by to signiicantly dierent ensembles rom traditional aanese music: the taiko and gagaku, resectively The aggressive qualities o taiko erormance combined ith the inal duel o Hiroshi Inagaki s Samurai Trilogy to insire and shae ire, reresentative o Musashi s scroll on conlict Contrastingly, the gagaku s ethereal melodies guided the creation o the ourth iece in this set, here the timani sing a hushed, airy tune inally, the ith Scroll (Void) is Musashi s take on the Zen concet o No Mind The timanist erorms an ostinato attern on the our drums but the ocus lies in the tuning o the drums Ideally erormed ithout tuning gauges, this iece orces the layer into a state o No Mind
Perormance Notes Setu Setu or the erormance o these ieces is as ollos: 2 29 26 2 Bass Drum Tam-tam An alternative setu (lanned and used by Bill Solomon, the iece s irst erormer) involves susending a small tam-tam rom a stand laced ust beyond the 26 and 2 drums This should only be done i the small tam-tam roduces a rich, dee tone reminiscent o a larger tam or the erormance o the entire set, undamentals o each drum must make the drums caable o sounding the olloing itches on the lo end: C (2 ), (29 ), Bb (26 ), and D (2 ) A single cymbal is required or use in Water The cymbal should be chosen based on the ullness o its overtones Though ive Scrolls o Musashi as conceived as a set o ive ieces, erormance o individual or select ieces ithin this set is beyond elcome Ideally, though, the audience should be made aare o the individual Scroll s context ithin the set In Water, notation as chosen to best exlain actions occurring simultaneously in the hands and eet The irst sta reresents the drums based on size, not itch The second sta is seciically or the edals, notating changes in itches as they occur The third sta is an aroximate rendering in traditional notation o the above to staves, given as a guide or the erormer A similar rincile, though not identical, alies to Void Stem notation in Water is generally seciic to sticking (RH stem u, LH stem don) hile some gestures remain unseciied Notation in ire as chosen to best dislay multile lines, ith sticking let to the discretion o the erormer Wind s notation directly correlates to sticking Transition rom Wind to Void should occur under the decay o Wind s inal notes
ive Scrolls o Musashi richard ohnson irst Scroll - EARTH Tam Tam Timani Bass Drum initial tuning to hard elt mallets lay each sta in temo, near q»60-68, unless instructed otherise ermit time beteen each sta or sound to decay grace notes denote time, not dynamic level æ b ith a sense o luidity R æ Coyright 2010 by richard ohnson (ASCAP) Charcoal Media
ith an increasing degree o violence P ith serenity, reverance ocus on silent, ull breaths; ermit the temo to derive rom this ocus inhale exhale inhale exhale slightly sloer; broadly and emhatically accel 2
Second Scroll - WATER use legato mallets in both hands lace a cymbal, inverted, on the 2" drum (choose a cymbal ith rich overtones) Tam-Tam Timani 2" 26" 29" 2" Bass Drum (saces corresond to seciied drum) q» as luid orms, loing one to another; a natural rocess o body and sirit Pedals initial tuning 2" 29" 26" 2" bb Tam-tam aroximate sounding Bass Drum 6 29" b
11 2" P 2" 16 2" 29" b 2" P b 26" 2 P ( ) b arentheses denote imrecise (colouristic) tunings 2 21 2"
26 29" b 1 2" 6 2" 2" 5
2 2" 2" 29" b P 2" b 26" 2 ( ) b 2 8 2" 2" 2" 5 Ø Ø RH tam-tam mallet 6
Third Scroll - IRE Tam Tam aggressively, initial tuning # b Timani violently q» º head rim Bass Drum y y yyyyyyyyy y 5: # b y 9 # b 1 # b grad accel y -6x 19 # b 2 # b use ood mallets in both hands q» º P 7 rit 5: y y y y y y y y y y y P q» continue accel and cresc q»6-72 U
29 # 7 b 8 P e»e 2 8 6 2x 5 # b r 0 # b ek» q k (double time) 6 # b 52 # b 2-x 8 5 8 6 59 # 6 b 8 â q» e»e e»e 66 2x # b 8 6 ad lib reeat as desired rit and dim to silence motionless U x 8
q» º 72 # 2-5x b remains 77 # b x P x P y 82 # b P y y 87 # b y y 92 # b 7 8 P y y grad cresc P 9
97 # 5 b 8 y y 7 8 y y ree time anticiate! 102 # b æ æ 2x (tam-tam otional) ( ) x»x 106 # 6 b 16 110-6x # 6 b 16 Ï ( R L R L R L ) (sticking is theatrical and otional) intentional miss, as i a 5th timano ad lib reeat as desired R L R 116 R L # b L motionless R L L U E- Eb q» º b Ï P as though a body alls 10
ourth Scroll - WIND Tam Tam Timani Bass Drum RH (stems u) uses legato mallet; LH (stems don), ood mallet ith serenity and reverance, singing rom q» the right hand, suorting ith the let initial tuning b b b b b b b b b y Head Click sticks together 6 b b b b b b b b 12 y b b b b 18 Bb - C b b b b 2 11
b b b b 28 * Gb - b b b b 2 P 2 b b b b 2 y y 8 b b b b 2 C - Bb RH tam-tam mallet 9 b b b b æ P * grace note occurs on donbeat; do not rearticulate G b 12 attaca ith Scroll (include tam-tam sell even i excluding ith Scroll rom erormance)
ermit ull decay o sound ith Scroll - VOID Timani initial tuning (carried over rom ourth Scroll) our sot marimba mallets 2" b b 26" 29" 2" 7 8 continue laying this ostinato attern in the hands over the seciied drums, at a raid, but comortable temo bb once the ostinato is established, begin tuning changes notated belo changes may take anyhere rom a hal second to numerous seconds dynamic level must never surass iano bb b b accel b b b b a temo bb b rit b b temo o hands and temo o eet should not correlate temo directions (eg accel) reer to hand temo ermata only alies to oot temo bb U accel rit accel b b bb b rall b a temo N b rit U olloing comletion o system above, bring ostinato to a more relaxed temo, draing out this inal system as desired Tam-tam all grace notes: at edge or both Bass Drum and Tam-tam 8 7 7ˆ82 8 Bass Drum
ith Scroll - VOID Timani initial tuning (carried over rom ourth Scroll) our sot marimba mallets 2" 26" b b 29" 2" 7 8 continue laying this ostinato attern in the hands over the seciied drums, at a raid, but comortable temo bb once the ostinato is established, begin tuning changes notated belo changes may take anyhere rom a hal second to numerous seconds dynamic level must never surass iano bb b b accel b b b b a temo bb b rit b b temo o hands and temo o eet should not correlate temo directions (eg accel) reer to hand temo ermata only alies to oot temo bb U b b accel rit accel bb b rall b a temo N b rit U olloing comletion o system above, bring ostinato to a more relaxed temo, draing out this inal system as desired Tam-tam all grace notes: at edge or both Bass Drum and Tam-tam ermit ull decay o sound 8 7 7ˆ82 8 Bass Drum