D. INDIVIDUAL AND PRIVATE
MUSIC INSTRUCTION
INDIVIDUAL AND PRIVATE
MUSIC INSTRUCTION IN JAPAN
by
Naohiro FUKUI, Professor, Musashmo College of MusicEuropean music was introduced into Japan 70 years ago, and it can be
said without any exaggeration that in this rather short period it has
developed on a very large scale. (As a matter of fact, it is surprising to
see how young children can perform extremely difficult concerts.)
As soon as European music reached our country, the government
immediately called upon foreign teachers, who put into practice the
teaching of music, and following their own methods collected materials
for technical books and organized music schools on the‘European basis’.
Our predecessors tried hard to assimilate European music as they
tried to assimilate European science, and today we are carrying on in
the same way. We have, however, our traditional music in Japan,
such as (in vocal music) the A3omoto nagaztta gta~awa and (in instru-
mental music) the shamisen, Aoto, biwa, shakzlhachi. Still, in the schools,
European music is almost generally taught.
In my speech, ‘The Training and Certification of Private Teachers’,
I emphasized the difference between the method of Japanese music
teaching and the European music system. In the sphere of Japanese
music, all the teachers, with a few exceptions, receive private tuition,
and at an extremely early age begin to live with their teacher’s family.
After several years of study, the teacher is allowed to grant the pupil