Clive Bell (Shakuhachi) Interview

Date 20 November 2002
Venue The Playfair Library,
Address University of Edinburgh, Old Quad, South Bridge, Edinburgh
Reviewer Pat Napier

Clive Bell

In contrast with his seemingly exotic instrument, the shakuhachi, Clive Bell is a modest, engaging Londoner who just loves to talk about the bamboo flute and its music, to widen Western interest in the shakuhachi's traditional place in the culture of Japan and to display its versatility and haunting beauty. He does this musically and verbally so that his audience can understand and appreciate the experience of listening to this music as much as possible.

Clive Bell first heard the shakuhachi in the late, great Tore Takemitsu's piece November steps, which sparked his determination to learn it, initially, as a complement to playing the flute, his professional instrument. So off he went in 1976 to study for two years with Kohachiro Miyasa, now one of Japan's leading shakuhachi players, whose range of interests are particularly in accord with Bell's own because both like to include contemporary and traditional pieces in recitals. Bell later went off to Laos and Thailand to add other exotic instruments to his Far Eastern musics repertoire such as the khene and the sheng (the Lao and Chinese mouth organs) and, ultimately, to become a specialist in Far Eastern musics. All these mix in to his equally active and lively contemporary music life.

Shakuhachi is either a solo instrument or one which accompanies singers. It's most closely associated with Zen Temple monks but also, intriguingly, with the Samurai, who linked the deep meditational techniques with the discipline of stillness followed by expolsive action to improve their sword fighting techniques. Shakuhachi music's haunting sounds carry far if played at a Temple or in the open air and invariably invoke a deep spiritual chord in its hearers, drawing them towards it. This must surely be a poweful contributor to the reawakening interest in Japan's traditions and culture.

Extract from Honshirabe

Shakuhachi as an ensemble instrument raises some interesting problems when dealing with the written, notated music because its sytem of notation is totally different from, say, a koto player's, whose system is based on numbers and boxes. So, unlike Western music, each player's written music is unreadable to the other musicians!

This illustration from Honshirabe, a kind of prelude often used to introduce a recital, shows Clive Bell's notes to himself on how to play the piece. Though appearing complex, there are only about ten things which cover shakuhachi notation and the instructions as to how to breathe, blow the note, interpret the music; this "can be learned in a few days". The Japanese musical scale consists of only five notes. Bell says that if any composition includes these five notes, it will invariably sound Japanese.

So far, so simple one might think. Not so! Shakuhachi is fiendishly difficult to master. The instrument has only five holes; it is cut from a particular variety of living bamboo (purists are known to have gone on expedition to select just the right stem, cure it over several years to prepare it for playing). This gives a bore hole smaller at its extremity from its mouthpiece. The sound of each flute is also influenced by another intense debate between purists and others: whether to lacquer the bore or not. Bell's is lacquered with a thin red lacquer, which gives a stronger sound.

To achieve a full chromatic scale, it's all down to the degree of closure of each hole, while the embouchure provides such effects as the 'breathiness' of the sound. Then add to all this the fact that each note is blown using only one breath and we begin to appreciate the huge difficulty in putting so many things together to play this haunting music. However, for those who play and know Early Music, the Japanese bamboo flute is not so far removed the equally haunting baroque wooden flute.

This is proved when we find out that all afficionados of the hugely popular Scottish series Monarch of the glen regularly hear Clive Bell's shakuhachi, albeit unknowingly! He says that it's used to enhance the romantic drama so, when the next series is screened, we'll all be able to check it out for ourselves. Japanese viewers, however, have known that from the beginning.

© Pat Napier. 22 November 2002

For more information on:
Events supported by the Consulate General of Japan in Scotland go to http://www.edinburgh.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/
The contact details for the Japan Society of Scotland are:
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50 Lothian Road
Festival Square
Edinburgh EH3 9WJ
Tel: 0131-473-6000
Fax: 0131-473-6006