Folk Songs of Japanese Children [With Piano Accompaniment] by Donald Paul BergerReview by: Elizabeth MayNotes, Second Series, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Jun., 1970), pp. 850-851Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/896547 .

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music since her Juilliard days in the early 1950s (I recall having heard her sing "I Hear an Army," opus 10, to lasting effect when we were both students) would seem to indicate the kind of vocal equipment Barber is perhaps disposed to envision for his songs.

With poems by Graves, Roethke, and Joyce, these songs are lyrical, vocal, and articulate and, though in a somewhat lighter vein than usual, sumptuous. With his deft romantic brush, Barber draws some beautiful, atmospheric vocal lines against playable and effective piano ac- companiments.

Although placed in the cycle in an order making them model program fare as a group, any one of the songs could stand alone on its own merits.

Ned Rorem: Three Poems of Paul Goodman, for voice and piano. Ocean- side, N. Y.: Boosey & Hawkes, 1968. [12 p., $1.50]

Rorem writes in his introduction: . . ..while proofreading the following music, all written in France during the

early 1950's, I became rekindled with a need for the words and music of that easier decade. The rekindling may not fire more songs of the sort." Rorem is not alone in being transported back to the 1950s by these songs. We are, too.

These early songs show a young, deriva- tive, sophisticated, and talented American [composer] in Paris already exercising his customary deftness for selecting exquisite poetry. Certainly for high voice (a high B-flat in "What Sparks the Wiry Cries"), they would well suit the young singer on a first journey through "wrong note" con- temporary music.

Prosody, always a strong point in Rorem's vocal writing, keeps eloquent hold on the reins of Goodman's poetic flights. Impressionistic devices of the 1950s abound in the playable accompani- ments ("Clouds," not for the novice sight- reader, seems to have more accidentals than notes), and, in general, the trio of songs shows rather handsome evidence of what was to follow.

RUSSELL OBERLIN Hunter College of the

City University of New York

FOLKSONG ANTHOLOGIES Donald Paul Berger, comp. & arr.: Folk Songs of Japanese Children [with piano accompaniment]. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1969. [63 p., $6.00]

The fifteen Japanese children's songs which make up this collection are, with one exception, varied and charming. They are also, though completely Japanese in their scale structure and flavor, easily singable by children brought up on West- ern music. The one unattractive song, "Ichi Kake, Ni Kakete," was composed during the Meiji Period (1868-1912) when the Japanese inaugurated a system of public school music teaching based on that of Boston. In the early days of this system there was some effort to fuse ele- ments of Eastern and Western music, but the worst features of Western music won. Japanese children have been singing "Ichi Kake, Ni Kakete" and other songs hardly distinguishable from it for nearly a hun-

dred years while their own haunting "warabe uta" (children's songs) have re- mained alive outside of officialdom. Since World War II a small group of Japanese have been showing more interest in pre- Meiji music.

Included here are play songs of various kinds-lullabies, a moon song, a festival song, and a song about a firefly. Eight songs come from Tokyo or not far to the north, one from Shikoku Island, the rest from the Tohoku district, the northern part of Honshu Island. At least six of the songs from the Tokyo area have already appeared in one or more song collections for English-speaking children. Included are a preface, an introduction, and notes on pronunciation, all of them interesting and helpful to the Westerner.

In the introduction Berger describes the yo and in modes used in many Japanese folk songs and contrasts them with "the Chinese scale of do, re, mi, sol, la, do... widely known in the West." He says, too, that "in many instances the melody is so

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narrow in range that it is difficult, if not impossible, to assign a scale to the songs." This problem is demonstrated by the single three-note and two four-note songs in the book. Berger stresses the fact that Japanese traditional music is uniformly in duple meter. I disagree with his state- ment that the musical characteristics in- clude simple form. This is true for this book but not for another collection with which I am familiar: Tohoku no Warabe- Uta [Children's Songs of Northeastern Japan] (Tokyo: Nihon H6so Shuppan Ky6kai, 1954). In many of these songs there are subtle variations, both melodic and rhythmic, which constitute their charm. Finally, he assigns Japanese chil- dren's songs to three categories: play songs, lullabies, and seasonal songs, in- cluding those for Shogatsu, Higan, and O-Bon ceremonies. He adds a few non- classifiable songs such as kite, rain, twi- light, moon, and snow songs, songs about animals and insects, and counting songs.

The texts are presented in the original "kana," romanized Japanese, and in literal English translation. The English words to be sung by children are a free adaptation.

Each song is prefaced by a description of its origin, history, and true meaning for Japanese children, in addition to the directions for playing, if it is a game. These prefaces give the book its distinc- tion. The author, a long-time Tesident of Japan and a serious student of her music and culture, describes the history and legends behind the songs, alternative meanings of words, and explains obscure passages. His comments would be of interest to adults and children.

The many illustrations in color by Yoshie Noguchi are delightful and give further insight into Japanese dress, art, customs, and artifacts. The format of the

book-cover, paper, and printing-are a credit to the publisher.

Berger has weakened the book, however, by arranging the songs for two-part sing- ing and adding piano accompaniments which, separately and together, almost destroy them as Japanese music. Part singing has no place in traditional Japa- nese music, nor has, of course, the piano. That Berger "has endeavored to keep a Japanese flavor" in his piano accompani- ments does not help. Unless he is trying to stress the process of acculturation which of course is a part of the con- tinuum of art, these piano arrangements simply should not be there, not only be- cause they are essentially Western in their harmonies, but also because American children and their teachers are increas- ingly inquisitive about and accepting of the unadulterated music of other cul- tures. Children everywhere are apt to sing spontaneously without accompaniment, so only the vocal line of the songs might be given; but for the children's occasional pleasure and further understanding of Japanese music, why not provide some idea of Japanese instrumentation? The scorned autoharp and the psaltery when plucked can give a child some idea of a koto; in some parts of the United States kotos are not impossible to come by. A recorder can suggest the shakuhachi. One of these instruments could play in heter- ophony with the voice.

Berger and his publisher could make a real contribution toward English-speaking children's understanding of the musical aspect of a culture which already fasci- nates them if they would bring out a second edition of Folk Songs of Japanese Children, already so informative and at- tractive in many ways. Donald Berger is well qualified for this undertaking.

ELIZABETH MAY Los Angeles

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