I will now briefly explore the history of the performing stage in both European and Japanese cultures to the present days, based on Greek and Japanese Dramas and their further developments. Even though Drama in Europe and Japan developed in different time frames and spatial realities, I will explore them in direct relation to each other, providing similarities and contrasts released from the time and space constraints.

For this reason, I have created a different format of presentation combined with a bit of a 'literary stretch' in which the graphic solution below will be used, where each side can be either read separately or followed by each other, and both sides are complemented by the information in bold placed in the middle.

This format relates to both Greek/Roman and Japanese.

This one, on the left, relates to Greek/Roman only.

And this one, on the right, relates to Japanese only.

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Physical and mental stages were indispensable reflections of ancient societies.

Greek drama had its origins in the cult of the god Dionysus.

Until the 6th century BC

The origins of Japanese drama were strongly influenced by the Chinese.

Around the 5th century AD

regular performances were realized with ritualistic character,

with chorus singing hymns (or dithyrambs) in honour to Dionysus,

and these rituals evolved to processions which featured

main characters wearing masks,

and when indigenous tribes inhabited Japan,

external influences as well as local beliefs

converged into a series of myths and practices of shamanistic rituals,

attempting to experience different dimensions inhabited by gods.

It is believed that around 530 BC a wandering bard called Thespis began to recite poetry

as one of the characters he was representing, and this is accepted as

The 8th-century book of Kojiki includes the myth of Ame-no Uzume-no-mikoto’s dance

enticing the goddess Amaterasu out of a cave, which is considered by many as

not only a ritual, but the first artistic performance in that country.

Initially, theatrical events were epic poems, which developed into more detailed events

that later took the form of tragedies, satyrs, and comedies.

Even after many years of development of Greek drama, the

Uzume is believed to have been a miko, a female shaman

who performed ecstatic and erotic dances.

During the many years of development of these shamanistic practices, the

sense of magic was always present;

the traditional place of the altar in the middle of the main structure,

the orchestra, was

an important concept found in Japanese drama,

the kamigakari, was

frequently used,

and a sacrifice of a goat preceded the beginning of plays. Actors and Rhetoricians

praised physical motion as essential to the conveyance of the author's intentions

during the plays. In fact, what was visible, tangible, and philosophically engaging

was praised as superior, which is also the reason why singing was preferred over

purely instrumental music. Drama in Greece was a consequence and a symbol of

the successes of democracy, as people were present in the audience and represented

in the orchestra, particularly during festivals in Athens and other important cities.

With the defeat of Greek Empire to Rome in 146 BC, Romans absorbed much of

Greek culture and adapted it to Roman needs, which

which meant the possession of the performer by gods who could

find expression through him. Noh and Kabuki actors’ representation of ghosts who

speak of their magnificent deeds kept the same basic conception of kamigakari.

Kabuki plays also often featured otherworldly settings, maintaining the essence of

kamigakari in a different social and political situation. With Yamato rulers bringing a

higher monarchical organization, the local tribes were required to perform in the

court in honour of the Emperor, and the performances lost part of their initial magic character.

With the increasing monarchic power and social changes over the following centuries,

Drama was gradually adapted to higher forms of entertainment such as the gigaku, which

often required changes in the use and structure of theatres.

Structurally, the stage as we know it in Western theatres and concert halls

is a heritage of changes that occurred in Greek and Roman arenas.

The Greek theatre did not have an equivalent of what we now know as a stage,

at least with such a central role.

Noh stage brings in its structure some features of the ancient kagura performance areas,

which evolved in many ways over the centuries. In Noh theatre the stage area is still

considered as a sacred space where gods become visible.

Roughly speaking, its visible structure was formed by

orchestra, skene, and theatron. In the orchestra, initially a central circular space,

the chorus of masked male actors assumed the roles of narrators, singers, and dancers.

It was an essential part of the development of the storyline, and has not been

considerably modified until the Romans took over. In the skene (which gave origin

to what we now know as a scene) the main roles appeared, representing gods and heroes,

and usually, each actor could embody more than one character. The theatron,

which means 'watching place', was the place for the audience, which could reach

as many as twenty thousand people in Athens' golden age. Later on, Romans modified

Greek structures, making the skene larger and higher and the orchestra smaller

(semi-circle instead of full circle). Romans also closed the theatre to outside view,

creating the indoor space that evolved to be what

we today regard as the Western style theatres.

hashigakari, kagamiita, ato-za and waki-za. The hashigakari is the side-corridor

leading to the stage, in which the gods are first seen by the audience;

it is the most important structural feature of Noh, as it contributes to the mysterious

and highly ritualistic character of the plays. The kagamiita (a permanent wall painted

with the figure of a pine tree) is the most typical and strikingly traditional aspect of the

Noh stage, as it is a direct reference to the ancient performances that happened outdoors.

The ato-za and waki-za are respectively the rear and the side of the stage, where the

musicians remain during the performances. In the 16th century Kabuki was born, and some time

later Kabuki theatres started to be built adapted from the old Noh structure

(modifying the hashigakari, ato-za, and waki-za). The stage area has been enlarged and

eventually supported a revolving stage, which allowed the spectacular special effects

of Kabuki plays; the hashigakari was re-angled and re-dimensioned, being renamed hanamichi.

Many years later, with the necessity of entertaining larger audiences, the watching space became larger

and was supported by all sorts of technological apparatus.

With the passing of centuries Western countries, after numerous political and social upheavals,

began to attribute other social and political roles to art, and

In 1868, after centuries of isolation and following the increasing

need for modernization and progress, Japan opened its borders to Western way of life and culture;

that invariably changed the way in which performing arts were produced.

Following the end of Roman Empire the structure of Western theatres

remained basically the same, with minor modifications, continuing to house

major socially relevant artistic events. Artists such as Shakespeare, Stravinsky,

John Cage, and Nijinsky went beyond what was usual and acceptable thus

creating, changing, and stretching concepts such as opera, plays, and ballets.

With the outbreak of World War II Japan was again isolated from the West and,

following its defeat, the Japanese traditional arts have been ignored by the most prominent artists.

Years later Japanese artists such as Toru Takemitsu were again attracted

by the traditional arts of their country, often driven by Western artistic concepts

that could be adapted, explained, or even contradicted by their traditions.

Other levels of significance began to be attributed to the stage in 20th and 21st centuries,

now extending its importance into politics and science.

However, stages kept their essential role in contemporary rituals through celebrations of different gods or no gods at all,

whereas

Physical and mental stages are still indispensable reflections of our society.

Pictures of Greek/Roman and Japanese Theatres

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The relevance of the stage as an agent of modification on perception of gestures cannot be underestimated in any kind of performance. This means that what is produced on stage in terms of gestures is interpreted in a different way compared to everyday life because the stage as performance space is the result of religious, political, and social changes suffered during thousands of years by human civilizations. As William Chestwood says at the beginning of his book A General History of the Stage, from 1766:

"

The Stage is almost as old as the Sacred Inspiration of the Muse.

"

Performers should bear in mind that, when playing in concert halls, we artistically inhabit a space that originally belonged to the theatrical arts in performances that included music, dance, and rhetoric mixed in meaningful events; and when playing in open spaces, such as in the streets or other venues that were not constructed with the primary intention of hosting artistic performances, we are creating a performance situation which refers psychologically to times of humans gathering for rituals and magical acts. In both cases, a primitive mental construction of such situations might be naturally attached to our definition and perception of these events, and such perception might be influenced by social constructions acquired later in History.

An interesting aspect of the presence of musicians on stage is that music often appeared in many different civilizations primarily as accompaniment for rituals, to either excite or intensify its sense of spirituality and religiosity, and some time later started to be similarly used in theatrical plays. Ceremonial spaces (or what we could call primitive performance space) were recognized by all participants in such acts, and this notion of space and time in such performances was widely respected from aborigines in Australia to African and South-American tribes. Considering this aspect of the history of performance, human societies have long ago agreed at some level that such performances were necessary, and that special places were an essential requisite for it to happen. The stage as a physical place is relatively new in human history, evolving from ancient civilizations to the present days, often representing aspects of the highly hierarchical character that performing activities assumed throughout History. As we have previously stated in this work, contemporary theatres and concert halls are basically the continuation of those developed for many centuries in both Western and Eastern cultures, and they act today, as in those times, as important cultural, religious, scientific, and political assets of different societies. With the human artistic output evolving from ancient religious rituals and primitive ceremonies to more complex and well-defined events, the performance space had to be updated accordingly to the needs of each society, influencing particularly the architecture which would allow these areas to be used by people according to their needs and beliefs.

Another important aspect that makes the stage an important agent in performance is the fact that it can also exist as a psychologically created space. Public performances are agreements between performers and audiences, in the sense that the latter knows that the message to be presented does not belong to their reality, but to the reality of the stage, which represents (or, to some extent, emulates) the fabric of another reality, one that is invisible, intangible, and only accessible through this special area. It is, indeed, a ‘mutual bond of the most mysterious and fundamental kind’, as states J. L. Styan. [1] The performer is the one who will bring part of that specific world by using a space which both performer and audience agree is necessary for that performance to happen. In Western and Eastern cultures the evolution of the performing arts over centuries came in the form of street performances, public plays, or private events for a small number of attendants. Many other forms of performance were born and disappeared, but the need for representation was always present in many civilizations across different historical periods.

It is also important to draw some attention into the evolution of the human brain when approaching the influence of the stage on perception. It is known that the brain activates specific areas when it comes to spiritual beliefs, which have originated all kinds of performances; however, it is also known that such beliefs did not evolve alone, but ‘evolved along with other belief and social cognitive abilities'. [2] According to recent research, there is no single spot in the brain that corresponds to the experience of supernatural or spiritual presence, but diverse areas that act in accordance with many other factors; it is also proved that these parts of the brain constantly overlap and are activated by other functions, e.g. moral, cognitive, or basic survival. When analyzed under the specific criteria of the neuroscience of music, recent research show that, in experiencing music, the human brain actively engages different parts in order to process musical information. According to Daniel Levitin:

"

Musical activity involves nearly every region of the brain that we know about, and nearly every neural subsystem. Different aspects of the music are handled by different neural regions — the brain uses functional segregation for music processing, and employs a system of feature detectors whose job it is to analyze specific aspects of the musical signal, such as pitch, tempo, timbre, and so on. [3]

"

It is thus hypothetically possible that the brain areas that evolved to create and interpret primitive rituals still have some influence on what we experience in live performances. It might also possible to hypothesize that the receiver’s brain processes actions performed on stage differently from everyday activities, and this assumption makes one wonder if the stage acts as some kind of ‘agent of modification’ when it comes to interpreting artistic messages. What one can empirically assert, though, is that performers often state how differently they experience abstract concepts such as time and space on stage, and audiences often experience the passing of time differently when watching a performance that they enjoy.

It seems that concepts such as the Japanese ma are somehow embodied to all performances, and are possibly one of the aesthetic concepts that arise from determined brain processes. Even though more research is required on this matter, we can infer that performative gestures are not processed by the brain as ‘non-performance’ situations, as they are part of a non-verbal language system connected to other higher or lower levels of information.

Perceptually, musical performances can be classified through both ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ processing, depending on which aspects are being analyzed. From the performers’ point of view, the elements that form the performance (e.g. sound, movements and their sub-groups) as a whole can be considered isolated from each other, eventually being put together to shape a performance; roughly speaking, this is how a ‘bottom-up’ classification would work. The ‘top-down’ analysis, on the other hand, can be applied in the case of considering the performance from the audience’s perspective. When watching a concert, for instance, an audience member processes the message based on more complex information, such as previous experiences, taste, and the social relevance of the event. From this perspective everything happening on stage is firstly perceived as a unit, and then dismantled into smaller parts, such as sound and movements. This is the reason that why, in my opinion, research in the area of performative gestures should first consider the role of gestures in a ‘top-down’ context (i.e. the audience’s point of view) and then move to more specific facts related to the making of any performance. For this reason in this research I considered the performance space as a major contributor to the perception of gestures, and its history in different contexts should be acknowledged by any performer who wants consciously to convey artistic messages to the highest standards. Sensu stricto, the performance of Equinox by Toru Takemitsu can be considered in the light of the composer’s experiences with both Western and Eastern stages, and his lifelong attempt to first unite these traditions, subsequently setting them apart, and finally confronting them, creating unequaled echoes of his aesthetical quests for tradition and modernity within his music.

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NOTES & REFERENCES

[1] Styan, J. L. The English Stage. (Cambridge University Press, 1996). p. 01.

[2] Jordan Grafman, in interview to The Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1160904/Research-brains-God-spot-reveals-areas-brain-involved-religious-belief.html. (Accessed on 18/10/2022).

[3] Levitin, D. This is your brain on music. (Plume, 2007). p. 83.

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Tōru Takemitsu (Tokyo, 1930 – Tokyo, 1996) was the first Japanese composer to achieve international recognition in the Western musical world in 20th century, also producing important texts about Aesthetics and Philosophy of music and arts. Takemitsu started his musical life only after World War II, deeply influenced by Western music that he heard during US occupation of Japan. It was during the long period which he spent hospitalized and bed-ridden after the war that Takemitsu was submerged into Western music, which led him to start a career in composition, studying with Yasuji Kiyose, and, some years later, with Fumio Hayasaka. Although Kiyose and Hayasaka’s instructions have been important to the young composer, Takemitsu has been largely self-taught during his whole artistic career. It does not mean that the composer was not influenced by other composers, artists, or art forms from Western countries and, later on, from his native Japan.

In 1951, Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop) [1] was founded. Takemitsu, as one of its founders, participated actively in performances of mixed media projects in collaboration with many other artists, and premiering pieces by Western contemporary composers in Japan. In the late 1950s, Takemitsu’s Requiem for strings was heard by Igor Stravinsky during a visit of the Russian composer to Tokyo. Stravinsky later mentioned in interviews his admiration for the Requiem and, shortly after his return to the United States, Takemitsu received his first international commission from Koussevitsky Foundation, probably under Stravinsky’s recommendation.

The most important musical and philosophical figure which exerted key influence on Takemitsu’s artistic conception and methodology was John Cage. It was indeed after listening to Toshi Ichiyanagi’s performance of Cage’s Piano Concerto in 1961 that the Japanese composer started to apply other compositional procedures and experiment with graphic notation. However, the most important influence Cage represented in Takemitsu’s artistic life was in terms of his approach to traditional Japanese music. Some years earlier Takemitsu had had a closer contact with Bunraku, the traditional puppet theatre, and was struck by its music and by how different it sounded from all Western music with which he was presently involved. The friendship with John Cage was essential, some years later, to spark in Takemitsu the interest not just for Japanese music, but for his traditional culture in general. In fact, some years later when he was already an established composer, he wrote:

"

I must express my deep and sincere gratitude to John Cage. The reason for this is that in my own life, in my own development, for a long period I struggled to avoid being "Japanese", to avoid "Japanese" qualities. It was largely through my contact with John Cage that I came to recognize the value of my own tradition. [2]

"

One of the ways Takemitsu started to recover his own tradition was through intense contact with old arts and philosophy from Japan, which resulted in new compositions using traditional Japanese instruments. The first of these was November Steps (1967) for biwa, shakuhachi and orchestra, perhaps one of his most famous works, in which he first attempted to join Eastern and Western instruments. However it is possible to understand, listening to this piece, the natural difficulties the composer found in doing so, as the soloists seldom play together with the orchestra; some years later Takemitsu composed a lesser known work for the same solo instruments and orchestra entitled Autumn (1971). In this work a clear change in attitude can be perceived in the approach to Eastern and Western instruments, as both groups maintain their musical integrity and personality even when playing together. Many years later, after different stages of philosophical and artistic approach to his compositions and being influenced by a number of composers [3] and styles, he recognizes his attempt to unite East and West was a conceptual mistake, and started to compose pieces that would expose their differences rather than uniting them.

His book Confronting Silence brings a better testimony of these changes:

"

How will I take the first step? By cultivating within my own sensitivities those two different traditions of Japan and the West, then, by using them to develop different approaches to composition. I will keep the developing status of my work intact, not by resolving the contradictions between the two traditions, but by emphasizing the contradictions and confronting them. Unstable steps perhaps, but don’t (sic) matter how faltering they may be they will stop me from becoming a keeper of the tombs of tradition. I wish to search out that single sound which is in itself so strong that it can confront silence. It is then that my own personal insignificance will cease to trouble me. [4]

"

Indeed his future works, not only the ones using Japanese instruments but also for solo Western instruments, start to present a fresher approach to his own artistic and personal situation. His collaborations with performers and conductors have been of utmost importance for his achievement of composing pieces for instruments he did not play, such as the guitar. [5]

Particularly from the mid-1970s, the style of his music started to consolidate towards a set of concepts that he developed during his earlier experiences. Besides the already mentioned influence of Japanese music, concepts and techniques such as the ‘stream of sounds’ and ‘sea of tonality’ [6] began to appear as constant and integral part of his compositions; concepts of the Japanese philosophy such as ma [7] were much more clearly employed; his film scores [8] started to capture the essence of sound and silence as part of the visual ideas of the directors; and his particular fondness to the general concept of Japanese gardens deeply influenced the way he employed structurally abstract concepts such as time and transmutation into his music.

Takemitsu died in Tokyo, on 20 February 1996, shortly after finishing his very last pieces for two instruments that helped him to earn international recognition and shape his musical style: In the Woods (Three Pieces for Guitar), and Air, for flute. The repertoire and technique of both instruments have been greatly complemented by Takemitsu’s ideas and explorations, sparking the interest of many other composers to further explore the colours and textures of their sound and expressive qualities.

Equinox, for guitar

Equinox was composed in 1994 in Tokyo, to be played in the recital of commemoration of the 25th anniversary of guitarist Kiyoshi Shomura’s debut, on April 04, 1994. The piece belongs to what is considered Takemitsu’s mature period (in fact, it was one of his very last compositions), and this is clear in his use of harmonic language as well as his rendering of musical form. The connection with nature is also present in the title, and relates directly to the real time of the year in which the composer was writing (the piece was probably finished in March, and premiered in April, spring time in Tokyo).

One of the characteristics of the piece that stands out is the approach to time, so important to Takemitsu according to his own writings about Aesthetics; in fact, when one has the first contact with the score, the graphic elements in relation to time can be noted due to the organization of various rhythmic elements combined with a relative approach to tempo. On this matter, Takemitsu wrote in his book Confronting Silence :

"

Westerners, especially today, consider time as linear and continuity as a steady and unchanging state. But I think time as circular and continuity as a constantly changing state. These are important assumptions in my concept of musical form. Sometimes my music follows the design of a particular existing garden. At times it may follow the design of an imaginary garden I have sketched. Time in my music may be said to be the duration of my walk through these gardens. I have described my selection of sounds: the modes with their variants, and the effects with shades, for example. But it is the garden that gives the ideas form. [9]

"

In fact, the approach to time in Equinox is completely connected to these ideas, and the circularity affects not only time (rhythm), but also space (structure). The transformation of ideas that repeat but are slightly different is a striking feature of the piece, as well as the clarity of presentation of motifs. The piece brings the same title of Joan Miró’s lithograph, which presents a clear circular approach to the natural event of equinox. [10]

Equinox, by Joan Miró.

Technically, Takemitsu’s pieces belong to some of the most difficult of the guitar repertoire of 20th century, and Equinox demands high efforts in order to accomplish its technical and musical ideas. The usual difficulty of Takemitsu’s pieces for guitar is partially explained by his wife, Asaka Takemitsu, in interview for the book A memoir of Toru Takemitsu :

"

Toru didn’t know much about the guitar, so he would ask Mr. Shomura (Kiyoshi Shomura) if it’s possible to do a certain technique, and Mr. Shomura would say, “I can try, it should be fine”. So I guess the music turned out to be difficult. [11]

"

The output of the collaboration with guitarist Kiyoshi Shomura was of great importance to the development of Takemitsu's style on the guitar, and his understanding of the technical and sound characteristics of the instrument are reflected by the striking combination of relative freedom in tempo and detailed dynamics and colour markings. [12]

Analysing Equinox

In the video below, which follows images of the analysed score, it will be possible to have a better idea of Takemitsu's approach to many of the abovementioned structural and conceptual characteristics of Equinox, as well as external influences that might have had a greater impact in his compositional ideas. Finally, some spots will be identified where gestures should be carefully considered, in order to either enhance the musical message or to identify musical gestures where musical ideas are enough to convey a complete message.

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NOTES & REFERENCES

[1] Jikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop) was an avant-garde collective based in Japan, which brought together artists, musicians, designers, choreographers, film-makers, and photographers.’ Source: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/jikken-kobo. (Accessed on 18/10/2022).

[2] Takemitsu, Tōru, Contemporary Music in Japan, Perspectives of New Music. Vol. 27, no. 2, (Summer 1989).

[3] N.A. Composers such as Debussy, Cage, and Messiaen, to name a few.

[4] Takemitsu, T. Confronting Silence. (Fallen Leaf Press). p.52.

[5] Even though many people believe Takemitsu was himself a guitarist, his wife, Asaka Takemitsu, says in the book A memoir of Toru Takemitsu that he would always rely on the opinion and advice of Japanese guitarist Kiyoshi Shōmura, to whom he dedicated many of his works, including Equinox.

[6] "I have referred to the ‘stream of sounds’. This is not only an impressionistic description but a phrase intended to contrast with the usual method of construction in music - that of superimposing sounds one on another. This is not a matter of creating new space by merely dividing it, but it does pose a question: by admitting a new perception of space, and giving it an active sense, is it not possible to discover a new unexpected, unexplored world? This is the same as recognizing sound as an object. Listening to the sho I began to think of a basic creative approach to negative space." Takemitsu, Tōru Confronting Silence. (Fallen Leaf Press, 1995). p. 07.

‘Sea of tonality’ referred to a particular harmonic approach in which relationships between chords are created based on a set of notes originated by the word S-E-A (E flat; E natural; A), which according to the composer generated pantonal chords.

[7] Ma is a complex Japanese philosophical concept that in music means, according to Takemitsu, “the interval which gives shape to the whole”; it can also be defined as “a pregnant pause that creates tension and emphasis”. Japanese theatre (Nō and Kabuki, particularly) employ the same concept as part of their holistic approach to space and time during plays. For further information on ma, please refer to: Cavaye, R. & Griffith, P. & Senda, A. A guide to the Japanese stage. (Kodansha International, 2004).

[8] Here one may find a particularly good example on scores Takemitsu wrote for Akira Kurosawa’s films, such as Dodesukaden (1970) and Ran (1985).

[9] Takemitsu, T. Confronting Silence. (Fallen Leaf Press, 1995). p. 119.

[10] N.A. Nature and change of seasons have traditionally served as sources of inspiration for the performing arts in Japan. Equinox is a natural phenomenon that happens twice a year, around March 20 and September 22. Its main characteristic is the equal duration of day and night, due to the position of the Earth in relation to the Sun.

[11] Takemitsu, Asaka A memoir of Toru Takemitsu. (iUniverse, 2010). p. 78.

[12] N.A. It is known, however, that markings such as sul tasto on the guitar may have many different resulting colours, not just dolce. In this sense, even when attempting to be so precise Takemitsu's music results organic and open to changes in interpretation.

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I found more appropriate to finish this dissertation with a ‘Discussion’ rather than a ‘Conclusion’. This is because the former carries a more meaningful attitude towards the research I have carried out, and is more connected to my artistic ideals than the latter, providing the opportunity for a reconsideration of our situation as performers and what we represent. At the same time I hope this work will be helpful for those who want to deepen their knowledge on the field of music performance, and perhaps apply some practical concepts explored here in order to increase the effectiveness of non-verbal communication in their performances.

I do hope that concepts and ideas here presented will be carefully considered, discussed, and even, if necessary, denied in order to reach better performance results. Apart from subjective concepts, the information here presented regarding definition and typology of performative gestures can be directly used by any performer who is keen to explore his/her communicative possibilities. The history of the Greek/Roman and Japanese stages will have (hopefully) awaken a deeper respect for the meaning of the performing stage; once more, history has helped us to recognize how our linear approach to time sometimes causes misconceptions about the moment we are living, leading us to think that what we have today is completely new and that we are culturally at the top of some evolutionary process. As we could see, the stage belongs to our own extemporal needs as human beings and is constantly changing in its very basic structure and meaning.

It is exciting to see what can be done when one is liberated from social, political, or religious constraints imposed in relation to the stage and how to act on it; in this case, I consider that 21st-century performers should put their questioning qualities to proof and ask themselves firstly if the structure they have is really the best for what they want to convey; secondly, if what they are doing on stage is really effective; and finally, we should all ask: what is next?

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