"Snow"

Title: "Snow" from the album "Zen Garden" by Masa Yoshizawa.

Performers: Various artists listed on Yoshizawa's Album. Which can be found here.
http://www.kokingumi.com/zengarden.html

Instrumentation: Traditional Japanese Instruments. Various strings, flutes percussion and keyboard.

What I thought was extremely important recently was trying to find Japanese music that I like listening to. I know that I would find my project on Japan absolutely miserable if I didn't take the time and search for Japanese music that I am passionate about. These past weeks, world music and its "authenticity" was a large them that kept re-occurring throughout our readings and classroom discussions. While this album is very modern being only released in 2002, I feel that it has a very authentic sound to it, while being something new and exciting at the same time.

The orchestration used is clearly all instruments that are traditional to Japanese culture. The different keyboard styles are definitely a newer addition to the orchestration, but I think this is a nice addition. One may argue that this music should not be introduced because it isn't "authentic" enough I must disagree. It keeps the tradition of Japanese music alive, while adding a little something new and exciting for the listener. While I may not be able to use this piece for performance authenticity in my classroom since I wouldn't have access to all the instruments, this would be a great exercise for movement and listening. This music is so soothing and relaxing. I would love to use it at the end of a warm-up exercise for either a choir or general music classroom. The students could very easily move freely to the beat of this music either with little simple stretches or even some artistic movements like in Dr. F's "Move Its!" It would also be nice to just use this music as a mediation tool. It is another way to clear the mind and prepare the body for music making.