Author : Janet Pocorobba
Publisher : Stone Bridge Press, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1611729343
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (117 download)
Book Synopsis The Fourth String by : Janet Pocorobba
Download or read book The Fourth String written by Janet Pocorobba and published by Stone Bridge Press, Inc.. This book was released on 2019-03-12 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two women. Two cultures. One music. The word sensei in Japanese literally means “one who came before,” but that’s not what Janet Pocorobba’s teacher wanted to be called. She used her first name, Western-style. She wore a velour Beatles cap and leather jacket, and she taught foreigners, in English, the three-stringed shamisen, an instrument that fell out of tune as soon as you started to play it. Vexed by the music and Sensei’s mission to upend an elite musical system, Pocorobba, on the cusp of thirty, gives up her return ticket home to become a lifelong student of her teacher. She is eventually featured in Japan Cosmo as one of the most accomplished gaijin, “outside people,” to play the instrument. Part memoir, part biography of her Sensei, The Fourth String looks back on the initial few years of that apprenticeship, one that Janet’s own female English students advised her was “wife training,” steeped in obedience, loyalty, and duty. Even with her maverick teacher, Janet is challenged by group hierarchies, obscure traditions, and the tricky spaces of silence in Japanese life.