Word: sensei
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...greatest writers. A dazzling storyteller, his The Makioka Sisters, Shunkin, Some Prefer Nettles and The Key are all masterpieces. Unfortunately, The Gourmet Club (Kodansha International; 201 pages), a miscellany of six self-described short stories culled from a bottom drawer of the Tanizaki tansu, does not display the sensei at the top of his talents. Yet each of the pieces does reveal the characteristic marks and quirks of his oeuvre, both his genius and his grotesqueries, ranging from the mildly fetishistic to the downright kinky, and thus can serve as an appropriate introduction to Tanizaki...
...veteran of international competition since her junior year in high school, one suspects Rakow can take care of herself. She credits her sensei in Phoenix, known as Kaoyama Sensei, as her biggest influence...
...with delicate quarter-tone shadings. Everyone said it was the best performance of that melody in history." Yet Japanese performers, educators and critics admit that the lack of real comprehension is the greatest hindrance to Japanese musicians' acceptance in the West. Students too are often taught to emulate their sensei (teachers) rather than to think for themselves. Perhaps it is no contradiction that Saito's most flamboyant pupil is also his staunchest admirer...
That pragmatic attitude is echoed in the quality of many Japanese performances, which tend to stress technique over insight. This is largely due to the extraordinary respect, bordering on veneration, that the Japanese have for teachers, or sensei; too often students seek to imitate a teacher's style in preference to developing an individual interpretation. The innate Japanese reluctance to assert oneself in public is partly to blame, as is the strong desire to honor the sensei by reproducing their imparted wisdom. But in Western music, which prizes individuality, such cultural conditioning is a hindrance. Notes Kimura: "The principal...
...challenge facing Japanese music, then, is to deepen the understanding of an art they now share with the West. Performers, having proved themselves the equal of any technically, must now transcend their sensei and find their own, distinctly Japanese voices. -By Michael Walsh