Meet my koto friendsMeet my koto friendsMy more than ten years of koto study wouldn't have been as much fun without other non-Japanese friends to share experiences with. Here's a brief introduction. (I'm hoping this free publicity will encourage them to contribute!)
Curt Patterson, from Illinois, USA, has been in Japan longer than he or I care to remember. He started the koto in the USA and, based in Tokyo under Kazue Sawai's watchful eye, has almost totally dedicated himself to the instrument these last few years. He has a Senior Instructor's licence from the Sawai Koto Academy. He sometimes joins Kazue Sawai or other players on overseas tours. He's also featured on a CD, Japon: Splendeur du koto, released by Kyoto Records.
Peter Coates, a fellow Englishman formerly based in Hiroshima but now returned to the mother country, gained his Instructor's licence a couple of years ago. He particularly enjoys playing the major Sawai solo pieces. He's a keen John McLaughlin fan, and also plays the stick, an incredibly versatile instrument that looks rather like a bass guitar. He's formed a group in the U.K. that uses a veriety of world instruments.
Darin Tokuo Miyashiro, an Hawaiian, got his Instructor's licence a couple of years ago. He was in Tokyo for a while, but is now back in his homeland, probably not being very active.
Anne Prescott, the only non-Sawai person featured here, studied koto with Ando Masateru in the Miyagi School of the Ikuta-ryu. She has a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at Kent State University (Ohio, U.S.A) and her dissertation was on the koto composer Miyagi Michio. Anne does the liner notes for the recordings of traditional music by Kyoto Records. She now teaches the koto at Wesleyan College, Oregon.
And we must not forget Elizabeth Falconer, the grandmother (she's not actually that old) of koto gaijin. First foreigner to get an Instructor's licence in the Sawai society, she left Japan to take up an instructor's position at Wesleyan College, Oregon. She's continued to soar up the Instructors' ranks within the Sawai Koto Academy, and has published several compositions and released tapes of koto music. She's also recently launched her own website, called, coincidentally, Koto World. She also had the sense to register the kotoworld domain name. Visit her site, where you can listen to clips of her original music.
Basic Information: KotoWorld Home