offset the attack - try not to play together

 In the traditional western music aesthetic of playing in an ensemble, it is important, for every player, to have a unison attack, clear and precise. In a small ensemble, the leader cues the rest of the group; in the orchestra, the conductor gives the precise signal for starting. However, it is not the case in the music of the East.

For example, the Chinese opera, the ensemble often closely follows the singer. The time interval is very short enough a quarter of the beat. In Japanese Kabuki music, there is a natural tendency for the voice to sing "out of time" with the shamisen. This is not called a syncopation but rather a form of "neutrality". 

Malm, 1963
In both cases, one explanation is that it allows the words to be heard clearly without being covered by the percussion or when all other instruments play a similar melody. Other than the offset attack time, the attack pitch is often not on the accurate pitch, get to the right pitch by bending the note. When changing notes, there is some degree of glissando in between, which the oriental aesthetic treat as embellishment. In contrast to western music, even in string instruments, good execution is to start the note with the exact right pitch. 


  Malm, W. P. (1963) Nagauta : the heart of kabuki music. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle.


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