Rokudan no shirabe​ translates to Music of Six Steps, which is an absolute piece

consisting of six sections with 52 beats each. It is a representative style of koto music composed

by Yatsuhashi Kengyo(1614-1685). Yatsuhashi kengyo is a japanese composer who was born in

Kyoto, Japan. Kengyo is an honorary title given to musicians who are blind and highly skilled.

Yatsuhashi originally started as a musician of the shamisen, an instrument containing three

strings derived from the Chinese instrument SanXian. ​Midare i​ s a solo koto piece in the

collection ​Rokudan no shirabe. ​It is called the music of six steps because besides the pickup

beats in the first measure, there are six variations, each measure having six beats.

Neither descriptive nor symbolic, and simple of melody and technique, it is highly

reminiscent of Bach concertos. The first three sections are played at a rather slow tempo to bring

out the colors of the koto. A prolonged cadence and slight pause are introduced towards the end

of the third section to further emphasize the changing character of the beginning of the fourth

section. One could say that ​Midare​ is a composition built on math, being that there are half

divisions in each of the 52 beats, and each variation being 104 metrical units. The meter in

Midare​ always starts smoothly and calmly, increases towards the climax, and comes back down

towards the end of each variation.

Midare ​was written in the style of Danmono, a genre of music first built without any

literary influence. It is curious to know that it is only limited to a maximum of eight sections but

it is very strong homogeneously. It is so homogeneous from one another, that neither japanese

nor westerner could fully understand the piece. From time to tie, the theme was generated and

revised, until it was almost completely abandoned in the early 1700s. Throughout history, koto

music shows almost no stylistic evolution. Instead, seventeenth and eighteenth century music
showed traditions by composing as closely to what their predecessors had established, which

stated that originality could be expressed in subtle variations, as opposed to using drastic

deviations. The word Danmono, derives from the Chinese language. In traditional Chinese,

“Dan” means section, and “Mono” means thing, therefore, “danmono” can be referred to as “a

thing of sections”, which means that all sections within a composition contain closely closely

related material with no strongly contrasting musical elements.

Piano Variations ​is a composition that Aaron Copeland states “somehow filled a special

niche in my production. I think it was one of the first works where I felt that ‘This is me’ - that

somebody else taking the same theme, would have definitely written something different. That’s

only natural, but in my mind, the piece had a certain ‘rightness’ about it.” ​Piano Variations c​ an

be compared in form as a play, having both a prologue and themes. This was a new idea in music

a piece composed of a four-note motive, E, C, D#, C#. ​Piano Variations ​is truly a harsh and

beautiful work with continuous variation with a strong tonality pervades with a tonic of C#.

Variations ​consists of a theme statement with twenty variations and a coda. Comparative

to a prologue in a play, a theme introduces the material that will be variated throughout. The

piece begins serious and grave, with the four note motive each struck sharply which conveys the

idea of “Listen, we have something important to share with you.” Throughout the piece, the

semitone appears inverted as a minor ninth, and the complementary major seventh are privileged,

providing for pungent harmonies. Although having these dissonant tones, major seconds, minor

and major thirds, can also be seen as raw material used as harmony in classical works.
As shown above, the main theme is structured from five short phrases separated by rests and

presenting a arch-like structure (ABCBA). The theme starts with a motive in the low register

accompanied by a depressed C#. A chord consisting of C E C# and A punctuates the end of the

theme. After a fermata, the phrase is repeated with an altered E5 chord, a chord with E and B,

also known as a Power Chord. Copeland uses this to convey the idea that shifts in register will be

significant throughout the variations. The next phrase has a chord with three notes that stresses

the F#, which expands in the variations. The theme ends with a codetta, with E D# and C#

connecting it to the first variation. This five part theme represents the many variations, though

unlike the theme, not many use the binary form. The structure of the variations shows

organizational mastery, with each variation linked to the next in some way and always

emphasizing the four note projection. These ideas make music that is rich in texture and variety.

The structure also has two rough halves, each with its own climax and denouement, all separated

by the calm and collected eleventh variation. Each section divides into the small variations that

continue to follow the four note theme. The first section, containing the first three variations,
restates the use of the motive and elaborates on the four note theme. The next section, containing

variations four and five, is based on the codetta and in the next four variations, six to ten, a

transposition of the motives can be heard. After the eleventh variation being the bridge, the next

six variations have gradual disintegration and reintegration of the theme, leading up to the

ninteenth variation being the interlude, and the twentieth being the finale and transition to the

coda, which summarises the theme elements.

Using the motive presented by the first three bars, Copeland transformed them

melodically, harmonically, and rythmically into ornaments for a basis of transition between

variations. By combining these tools maticulously, he had clearly held onto the idea that as a

seed, ​Piano Variations​ “for dear life.”

Both ​Piano Variations ​by Aaron Copeland and ​Rokudan no shirabe- Midare​ by

Yatsuhashi kengyo use a gradually increasing metre until the climax and then slowing at the end

of the piece to convey sections, therefore creating arc-form compositions. Both pieces also are

both variations on a theme that are continuous and consist two halves.