The Community of Classical Japanese Music Transmission: The Preservation Imperative and the Production of Change in Nō. By Takanori Fujita. Translated by Edgar W. Pope.

A puzzling situation defines the contemporary transmission of nō theater. On one hand, the genre’s community of practice is governed by strict orders to preserve musical sound through repeated imitation and to avoid change at all costs. On the other hand, the community discourages explicit dialogue between teachers and learners concerning what exactly constitutes those ideal musical sounds as well as the extent to which those sonic ideals are being faithfully maintained across performances. With a focus on the transmission of hiranori vocal rhythms, Fujita explores the ambivalent strategies with which participants navigate this conundrum and discovers a paradoxical process by which nō theater’s so-called “preservation imperative” actually encourages musical change. Citation: Fujita, Takanori. The Community of Classical Japanese Music Transmission: The Preservation Imperative and the Production of Change in Nō. Translated by Edgar W. Pope. Ethnomusicology Translations, no. 9. Bloomington, IN: Society for Ethnomusicology, 2019. Originally published in Japanese as “Koten ongaku denshō no kyōdōtai: nō ni okeru hozon meirei to henka no sōshutsu." In Shintai no kōchikugaku: shakaiteki gakushū katei toshite no shintai gihō, edited by Fukushima Masato, 357-413. Tokyo: Hitsuji Shobō, 1995. 藤田隆則 1995年「古典音楽伝承の共同体―能における保存命令と変化の創出」福島真人編『身体の構築学』：357-413

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