The current leader of the Reigakusha Gagaku Ensemble, Sukeyasu Shiba, has composed fifteen works for Gagaku Ensemble — ranging from three to fifty-five minutes in length — which were recorded on the Columbia record label. Three of his compositions are titled Hyobyo-no-hibiki I (1986), Koku (1987) and Shotorashion (1990). He studied Gagaku in the Gagaku Institute of the Imperial Household Agency. After working as a court musician for over twenty years (playing the Yokobue), he became an independent musician and began to disseminate Gagaku both inside and outside Japan. Sukeyasu reconstructed ancient musical works and received the Medal with a purple ribbon from the Japanese Government, the Education Minister's Prize, as well as the Mobile Music Award. He presently works as a guest professor at Kunitachi College of Music.

The traditional Japanese systems of music notation were types of tablatures, as were early European systems. They either indicated a string, a fingering position, or, in the case of the woodwinds, a hole or fingering. Notation in Japan has always been primarily a supplement to rote teaching methods and as such is often vague. Indeed, the tradition of secret pieces and clan-owned music made such a system necessary, however regrettable it may seem to the contemporary music researcher.

Example 7: Traditional Gagaku Notation. Image from William P. Malm, op.cit. 264.

Example 7 shows the notation of the sho, the hichiriki and the ryuteki for the beginning of the piece Etenraku. The column at the right is the flute notation. The second column is the music for hichiriki. The left-hand column is the notation for the sho. Each symbol represents the bottom note of one of the eleven chords of the sho, or, in some cases, the note itself. Rhythm is indicated by dots along the right-hand side of the column plus white dots among the solfeggio for rests. The large dot represents beat four or eight, depending on the meter of the composition.

As a rule, Gagaku music is not written in score as shown in example 7. Instead, each musician has a separate part book. In fact, individual musicians are sometimes unaware of what is going on in the other instruments. This is an unfortunate consequence of rote teaching methods.

Example 8: The ten aitake. Transcribed by Robert Garfias. op. cit. 48.

The sho players in the Gagaku orchestra most frequently play clusters of tones, called aitake. Example 8 shows the ten aitake. The instrument can be sounded either by inhalation or exhalation and the player is expected to maintain a continuous stream of sound. The distinctive mark of the professional sho player as opposed to the amateur is the careful execution of the te-utsuri, the special changing-patterns for moving from one aitake to another. Since any one of the aitake may move to any one of nine others, there are in all ninety possible combinations. The sho player must be familiar with all the changes. Example 9 shows three examples of te-utsuri. The effect of the patterns is to give a distinct character to the connection of any two aitake. (End note 14)

Example 9: Three examples of te-utsuri. Transcribed by Robert Garfias. op. cit. 48.

The aitake harmonic structures are constructed on the basis of consecutive fifths. In Gagaku (as in most Asian music) there is no concept of harmonic progression as there is in Western music. Instead there is one harmonic structure for each of the tones of the Togaku system.