I did actually “SCA” a bit this weekend. My husband was working from home downstairs so I decided to drag my music stand up to the bedroom and practice my recorders (both the soprano and tenor). I was going through a book of dance music (which we don’t play much of in Margaurite’s group because she finds it boring). I found a piece that, while simple, still challenged me on my weak areas: playing in the upper register (particularly high G and above) and runs involving B-flat. So that song gave me a good chance to work on both of those issues without just running scales or something. It was fun and kinda took me away from all the awfulness of the world.
My favorite hobbies seem to have that in common: usually solitary and involving practice or solving minute problems. Whether I’m trying to brush out a kanji character, master a pen stroke, memorize vocabulary, figure out a song, or refurbish a doll, I get so involved with the process that the world falls away. That right there is my happiness. Can’t do that all the time, though. Life is too demanding.
So I decided to start “100 Days of Arts and Sciences” because I have a lot to get done, especially regarding sewing since not much of my old wardrobe fits anymore. 100 days from today will land me on the first Sunday of Lilies War. Seems like I did a lot today but some of it was continued from earlier and I am also counting study/practice because any project I do has a lot of practice/experiments/humiliating failures as part of the process. And research, always research.
Anyway, today I
1. Finished taking those huge wool curtains apart. Washing comes next but I need to figure out how I want to do that. (Dryer? Air dry? Can I even use Wa Paste in a high efficiency washing machine?)
2. Cut out material for a sloper to experiment with my kosode pattern. This pattern is for summer wear, so unlined.
3. Got in some yojijukugo (4 kanji idiom) calligraphy practice with the medium brush. It’s a good way to work out space and balance, and easier to see your mistakes.
4. Continued my study of kanji radicals. Not technically shodo since I use a pen or pencil, but important for learning stroke order and proportion.
5. Also practiced my recorder a bit but forgot to take a picture. But I do have an awesome new wooden soprano recorder to play with! But here’s a picture of me at music practice a few weeks ago, with my friend’s cat helping me out!
Definitely will not be able to do this much every day but here’s to a good start!
I wrote a new song, that I hope to debut at Feast of Eagles (if the Shire allows it). The tune is Palestinalied (12th century). Here is an example of the tune and original words.
The Falcon’s Cry
by Ki no Kotori
Calontiri, gather ‘round me
Tuck your tender tears away,
Battle calls, we must be ready
To march in and join the fray
Turn your eyes unto the sky
Listen for the falcon’s cry
Thus we live and thus we die
Fierce Huscarls, sharpen your axes
Gallant Fyrdmen, whet your swords
Knights, prepare your best advances
Courage brings its own rewards
For this green and fertile plain
That we may ne’er see again
Our lives will not be in vain
Riders, rally forth your horses
Archers, nock your arrows clean
Artisans, walk proud beside us
Hasten forward with our Queen
For our proud and gracious land
As one people now we stand
Waiting for our King’s command
Forward now, shoulder to shoulder
Lift your shield and set your spear
Though the enemy grows bolder
Their onslaught shall endeth here
Turn your eyes unto the sky
Listen for the falcon’s cry
Thus we live and thus we die
Just for fun, here’s a modern rendition of the original Palastinalied, by the band In Extremo:
From a question on the SCA Japanese Facebook page about early Japanese music, someone mentioned poetry being chanted. My answer:
Poetry was originally chanted or sung in an art called Shigin 詩吟. It started out with the Chinese poetry, but spread to Japanese styles like tanka. I don’t know a lot about it, but here is a video with a bit of explanation. If you search for “shigin” on YouTube, there are several modern performances. The practice dates back to before the Asuka period, but I’m not sure how much it changed over time. Certainly something to look into!
Here’s a performance from the 46th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival 2013 @ JCCCNC in San Francisco Japantown on April 13, 2013. There are several other examples on YouTube.
There are examples of Chinese poems with pitch notation from the Heian period. Again, I’m not sure when the practice spread to Japanese-style poetry, and I don’t know how much the practice was refined during the Edo period, and if pre-Edo Shigin was significantly different from what is practiced now. I would certainly be interested in learning more about it.
The original “Blessed Be That Maid Marie” performed by Telynor. The song begins at the 1:40 marker.
Dedicated to Lora Ann Ros (Donna Brooks), who passed from us April 21st, 2016
Little kestrel, nestled near,
Come to rest in Calontir.
Outside dangers may abound.
We will keep you safe and sound.
Little kestrel, have no fear,
Nothing ill can harm you here.
Where the wild northwinds howl
Lies the land where gryphons prowl.
Paths to our home can’t be seen
In amongst the maze of green.
Little kestrel, have no fear,
Nothing ill can harm you here.
Eastward, dragons can be found
Rife with strength of great renown,
Past their lair they cannot creep,
The river runs too wide and deep.
Little kestrel, have no fear,
Nothing ill can harm you here.
In the warm southeastern land
Lives the wild and wooly ram.
He may climb the mountains tall,
But you can fly above them all.
Little kestrel, have no fear,
Nothing ill can harm you here.
On the bleak southwestern plain,
Lions wander, hunt and maim.
But they never venture far
From the light of the lonesome star.
Little kestrel, have no fear,
Nothing ill can harm you here.
The mighty stag may often roam
From his westward forest home.
His legs are strong, but even he
Cannot swim the amber sea.
Little kestrel, have no fear,
Nothing ill can harm you here.
Little kestrel, tuck your wing
While huscarl and fyrdmen sing.
Dream sweet dreams of flying free,
And we shall watch over thee.
Little kestrel, have no fear,
Nothing ill can harm you here.
Notes:
1. I heard this tune on Telynor’s excellent Christmas Album Off the Beaten Path, which can be found here and also on Amazon.
2. Since the song was about a kestrel, I wanted to include other animal imagery. The animals here are the heraldic mascots of the kingdoms and principalities surrounding Calontir.
There was originally a verse about Meridies (Horse), but once Glenn Abheann became a kingdom, we lost our border with them, so I have removed it from the song.
3. I tried to follow the logic of an older falcon and how they would see the land, hence the “maze of green” cornfields of Iowa and the “amber sea” wheatfields of Kansas and Nebraska. From the sky, that’s what they would look like.
4. I originally wrote this for Page the Kestrel, one of Lora Ann’s birds, but changed the dedication and wrote the last line when Lora Ann died.
5. Thanks to Lora Ann for making me perform this in public when I first wrote this song. I was very scared, but she was right, I needed to sing this to an audience. 🙂
Konishi, Jin’inchi _A History of Japanese Literature, Volume 2: The Early Middle Ages_ (edited by Earl Miner, trans by Nicholas Teele) (Princeton, NJ; Princeton University Press, 1986) ISBN 978-0691101774 has some good discussion on the subject. Konishi had some interest in the subject and devotes a chapter to it. Note–be sure and get the SECOND volume. The first one just has a few lines on imayo, and while the third does has some bits and pieces on it, the 2nd volume is where most of the information is.
Malm, William _Japanese Music and Musical Instruments_ (Tokyo; Tuttle Publishing, 1990) ISBN 978-0804816489 devotes a little time to the subject and is also just good reading about Japanese musical structure anyway, although I suspect he got his imayo info from Konishi’s work? Neither of these works are recent, however.
Miller, Stephen D. _The Wind from Vulture Peak: The Buddhification of Japanese Waka in the Heian Period_ (New York, Cornell East Asia Program, 2013) ISBN 978-1933947662 has some translated imayo and looks some at structure.
I found some cites on a JSTOR search–mostly articles by Yung-Hee Kim Kwon (who wrote _Songs to Make the Dust Dance_ that Lisa Joseph already mentioned), but there were two articles that looked like they might have be of interest to you based on conversations we’ve had in person (this was to the original poster, who lives here in Calontir): Meeks, Lori. 2011. “The Disappearing Medium: Reassessing the Place of miko in the Religious Landscape of Premodern Japan”. History of Religions 50 (3). University of Chicago Press: 208–60. doi:10.1086/656611.
Goodwin, Janet R.. 2000. “Shadows of Transgression: Heian and Kamakura Constructions of Prostitution”. Monumenta Nipponica 55 (3). Sophia University: 327–68.
Foxeholly 