KOICHI FUJII

Chronology of Early Electroacoustic Music in Japan : What Types of Source Materials are Available ?

Abstract

In the mid of the nineteen fifties, Japanese composers embarked on the creation of electroacoustic music in response to the movements in the West. This repertoire was key to the development of modern Japanese music as well as other Western influences such as serial technique and chance operation. However, compared with other genres of music, very little study of an analytical or musicological nature has been undertaken in Japan and a systematically organised catalogue of the works and documentation is yet to be produced. As a result, obstructed by a language barrier, it is quite difficult for the concerned researchers in the other language regions than Japanese to investigate this subject.

This paper illustrates the early period of electroacoustic music in Japan through an intensive examination on the source materials for the historiography and analytical study of electroacoustic music. An extensive list of Japanese works with information about their accessible manuscripts, literature and available recordings is provided. Music examples are also given accompanied with the graphic transcriptions by the author of this paper in the course of the presentation.

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