日本財団 図書館


SPIN-OFFS
Vienna Music Week in Asahikawa
By Shoichi Katayama
 
Shoichi Katayama. who until November 30, 2001 , was administrative director of the Scholarship Division, writes about the spin-off activity between the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and the City of Asahikawa, in northern Japan.
 
 Asahikawa is a beautiful city in central Hokkaido, surrounded by the island's highest mountains. It attracts tourists, backpackers, and skiers from all over Japan. Since 1998, the city has been hosting the Vienna Music Week, inviting students from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, a SYLFF-endowed institution in Austria.
 The connection between the two cities began as a spin-off of efforts by Professor Michael Frischenschlager, the former rector of the university, to develop musical exchanges between his university and music universities in Japan. In the autumn of 1988, he and three SYLFF fellows from Vienna received funding from The Tokyo Foundation under the SYLFF Faculty Exchange and Visit Japan Programs, respectively. Professor Frischenschlager and the fellows visited two universities in Japan. the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and Tokushima Bunri University. He then negotiated agreements with the two universities for student and faculty exchanges between them. Several months later, the two universities signed an agreement, and exchanges of students and faculty members followed.
 The first Vienna Music Week was an experiment in international collaboration between the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and the local community in Asahikawa. The people of Asahikawa planned a master class for young musicians in the city, and Professor Frischenschlager and the SYLFF fellows were invited to teach the class.
 The experiment was a great success and turned out to be a model for such collaboration in Japan. A group of owners of small businesses in Asahikawa City played a leading role in the master-class project by donating funds and forming an organizing committee. Primary- and secondary-school teachers, college students, and housewives supported the committee by volunteering as interpreters, receptionists, and ushers. Moreover, local families welcomed students from Vienna to stay in their homes so that the students could experience typical family life in Japan.
 In addition to helping to teach the master class, the fellows performed in several concerts that were specially organized for the Vienna Music Week. There also was a joint concert with local university students who played string instruments. Because there is no music school in Hokkaido, Vienna Music Week was truly a great opportunity for young people in Asahikawa to experience authentic Viennese music first hand.
 Three years later, Professor Frischenschlager, president of the European String Teachers Association, introduced a new program in the Vienna Music Week in Asahikawa: a five-day seminar for students learning to play string instruments The previous three master classes had been organized for vocalists and players of various instruments such as the piano and string and wind instruments. In 2001, however, the master class, held in early November, concentrated on string instruments, specifically the violin, viola, and cello. Three students from Vienna and 20 from all across Japan participated in the seminar. According to Professor Ryutaro Iwabuchi, president of the Japan String Teachers Association, who was one of the instructors, prior to this seminar there had never been a seminar in Japan that specialized only in string instruments.
 In addition to Professor Iwabuchi, three other prominent professional string instrumentalists joined Professor Frischenschlager as instructors Among them was Asahikawa-born Professor Mayumi Fujikawa, who teaches violin at Trinity College in London. She flew from London to participate in the seminar. Once again, three students from the music university in Vienna were invited, but this time as students in the seminar.
 
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Being introduced at the opening reception are Professor Michael Frischenschlager, far right; Professor Ryutaro Iwabuchi, second from right; and Professor Mayumi Fujikawa, center.
 
 The seminar was concluded with a musical-performance competition among the 20 Japanese contestants. All of the seminar instructors were impressed with the overall ability of the student musicians. One violinist and one cellist each won a special award: to attend next year's Summer Academy, organized by Professor Frischenschlager, in Semmering, Austria.
 The success of this year's seminar has given new momentum to the collaboration between the university in Vienna and the city of Asahikawa The seminar established a clear vision and goal; to make Asahikawa a center of string-instrument education in Japan. The mayor of Asahikawa, in making Professor Frischenschlager an honorary citizen of the city, promised his continued support and encouraged further collaboration between the two cities.
 One highlight of the seminar was a discussion among students and instructors regarding the art of performing music. The Japanese students tended to have difficulty in delivering their messages or expressing their feelings. However, in performing Western classical music, it is crucial that performers have a clear idea of what they wish to convey. In this sense, performing music is like acting. Just as actors or actresses must more or less exaggerate when expressing feelings, so, too, must musicians express their own interpretation of music
 During the discussion, one of the Japanese students asked interesting questions relating to the expression of feeling. Are instructors telling the Japanese students to deny their cultural tradition and to exaggerate their inner feelings? How can Japanese, who are raised to be modest, compete with Westerners, who are raised to be self-assertive? These questions were asked because most of the Japanese students had been taught to be modest and not to overtly express their own feelings very strongly.
 Professor Iwabuchi responded that Japanese also have a rich tradition of exaggeration in artistic expression, as seen in kabuki (a traditional form of theater) or ukiyoe (a certain style of woodblock prints). Moreover, it is widely known that kabuki and ukiyoe have exerted significant influence on Western artists, especially impressionist painters such as Van Gogh. According to the professor, in this sense artistic expression is not so much a cultural issue but a matter of human desire to convey a message.
 I believe that it is absolutely essential for Japanese to learn the art of performing music according to the Western classical-music tradition. But it would be fascinating if Japanese performers would go beyond imitating Western musicians and would establish their own styles that reflect Japanese sensitivity. There is no doubt that Japanese could interpret Western classical music in unique ways and could even amalgamate the two cultural traditions, as has Toru Takemitsu, a noted Japanese composer.
 The most recent Vienna Music Week in Asahikawa stimulated the participants and inspired them to contemplate such fundamental questions regarding art and culture. There is good reason to expect that in future years the seminar will succeed even more in making its vision a reality.
 








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