Nagauta Practice

I have been taking a few lessons on nagauta singing with Kineya Rokufue.  Nagauta is a form of music that is generally played for kabuki dance pieces, and I wanted to learn a bit of Shiki no Yamamba to help me learn the dance as nihon buyoh choreography is generally set to the lyrics.  I am not ever intending to be able to perform the singing, but just working through the lyrics has really helped me recognize musical/lyrical cues and will help me learn the dance.  Dancers should all study at least one type of dance music.

Kineya Rokufue (her professional nagauta name) is Yûko-sensei’s sister-in-law.  She has been studying shamisen and voice since she was a child, and has been teaching for over 60 years.  Her teacher was her mother, and was apparently pretty strict.  Rokufue-sensei told me she began teaching when se about sixteen years old when – without warning – she came to the keiko-ba one day and her mother simply told her that she was teaching all the students that day. Trial by fire or what!  She said she was totally terrified, but did it, and although she hated it for years came to realize how very lucky she was to be given such skills.
Since Yûko-sensei’s death many of my ane-deshi (sister-students, fellow dance students) have been taking music lessons.  It is one way that we have all managed to keep in contact and get together for concerts or events.