Date: Fri 01-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

schools-Japan-music

Full Text:

Discovering Japan Through Music

(with cuts)

BY MICHELE HOGAN

Matthew Winer first heard a haunting melody from a shakuhachi Japanese flute

in college in the United States, and he knew right away that he had to learn

to play it. After two years of study in America, he went to Tokyo for a year

to complete his training on the shakuhachi.

He met his wife in Tokyo. Now he and his wife live in Massachusetts with their

13-year-old son, and Mr Winer brings the beauty of this traditional Japanese

flute to children throughout the area.

Mr Winer's flute swooped from low to high notes and back again as he played

Ajikan , a Zen Buddhist meditation piece.

He trilled between notes imitating a plover, a shorebird similar to a

sandpiper, in the song Chidori no Kyoku (Song of the Plovers) .

Artfully reflecting the moods of nature, he depicted the lightness and

buoyancy of the sea in the springtime with Haru no Umi (The Sea in Spring) .

He described to the students how priests would play the shakuhachi flute

door-to-door in traditional Japanese culture.

Listeners would donate raw rice to the priests by placing the rice in the hole

at the top of the shakuhachi. As the rice fell through, next year's rice crop

would be blessed.

Politeness and respect are so central to Japanese culture that even today,

said Mr Winer, phone booths in Tokyo are made of plastic, not metal. He said

"anybody could break into this [and steal the money] but people don't do that

there."

He told the young people about his stay in Japan. He said, "My face advertised

that I was not born in Japan. It wasn't something I could hide. I got a lot of

attention, mostly positive. It gave me a little understanding of what it would

be like to be a minority person here."

Now, he and his Japanese wife and their son live in America. In the Winer

family, both Japanese and American traditions are honored. They kneel on the

floor to eat, and speak both Japanese and English at home. They even watch

Japanese television sometimes. His son Kazumi's favorite Nintendo game is

Goemon , a Japanese game that is not available in the United States yet.

A Hawley student asked Mr Winer if his son "ever got made fun of because he's

doing different things than people usually do here."

Mr Winer responded "sometimes. But I think he's pretty lucky. His teachers

explain that we are all unique and give space to let people be themselves.

They discuss this in class."