Bas' Shakuhachi Blog

For sale 2.0 Jiari Shakuhachi

2012-01-20T13:56:00.002+01:00

For sale a 2.0 Jiari Shakuhachi by maker 'Radou'.

Hanko 'Radou'

The specifications:

2.0 jiari
36mm O.D. / 22mm I.D.
Length: 635mm
Weight: 495 gms
Key: C438hz
Maker: Radou

Details: This is a well-made choukan probably near WWII vintage with a kinko style buffalo horn utaguchi inlay and urushi nakatsugi rings. Because of its overlength by 9 bu from the ideal 2.0 size, it plays slightly flat of C 440 but is well in tune with itself. As seen in the above picture, there was a crack running down the back side from the utaguchi, but repaired with staples, rattan binding and urushi. I doesn't seem to have run through the bore. As you can see, the staples is an old way of binding cracks. the crack has been stable for a long time and doesn't affect playing.
This choukan has an expressive and full tone. Very playable.

Soundfile

and a video:

Price: 350 euro, sending is 20 euro (trackable) worldwide.

The binded crack with staples and rattan, urushi finish

Utaguchi and blowing end

Relaxing

2011-09-28T13:31:00.000+02:00

I want to talk a little about relaxation. During the shakuhachi event in Prague, one 'class' was about relaxing, which was given by Christopher Blasdel. Het talked about it and we did excercises to become more relaxed. Some where based on Aikido I believe. I sometimes feel it is quite difficult to relax most of your muscles and use the one you need for playing. Your body has so many things going on at the same time, they can be hard to notice. Some reactions seem te be more under unconscious control. Like tensing up the shoulders or muscles in your face like the jaw. It can become a conditioned state. I notice when I am focussed that my jaw seems to tense a bit automaticly. So asking yourself about your state and be present during playing (or anything you do) makes me aware of the state of your body and relaxation. I feel the latter is quite important in getting a good sound and nice playing. But how hard it can be to change it! Relaxing on command is difficult. I feel a more gentle approach might be better for it. And playing Ro, that is a good way to sense the body and let some unneccesary tensions go. How relaxed do you play the flute? (or 'play' life?)

Performing

2011-09-06T19:14:00.000+02:00

In the Shakuhachi student concert in Prague I signed up for a solo piece (Tamuke). I have performed before on other instruments and with singing. This was not the case with the shakuhachi. So the "head has been chopped off", so to speak. I was rather nervous in the beginning and didn't loose all of that during playing. I think it is a good experience to do so and to practice playing like this. I had signed up quite early and with some anticipation I listened and watched differently performing the pro's on the concerts held each evening. When paying close attention even they are a bit nervous from the start or just before that. After they started performing, nothing was felt of it anymore though. I haven't asked though, but think this feeling prior to performing is quite normal. My admiration for performing itself grew with this experience. I think the best way to go from the first performance is to do another like it someday and get more used to perform for a larger audience. See below for a compilation of some pictures taken from my performance mixed with images from Prague and the festival itself. The recording is of my performance. (Thanks to Hélène and Ella for the footage)

Prague Shakuhachi Festival 2011

2011-08-31T22:09:00.001+02:00

Here is the first of some more posts about this festival. They are not all about the festival, but are all related to my experiences there about different shakuhachi related topics! First some pictures of Prague and the festival itself to feel some of how it was. It was marvelous by the way. I have enjoyed it a lot. The city is lovely, the venue very nice and the people...Well see for your self.


Ro Buki


Class setting with Christopher Blasdel


Tea time

The famous bridge

Student Concert, Jim Franklin's piece "Dawn"

Sakai Shyodo and others listening to students performing

Shakuhachi school Prague is comming soon!

2011-08-20T13:23:00.000+02:00

Nice Grungy poster, see you there!

Workshop with Justin Senryu

2011-08-14T15:40:00.000+02:00

Playing the piece

A few weeks ago I attended a very nice workshop with the friendly shakuhachi master: Justin Senryu.
The workshop was held in Leiden at Kees Kort's his house and was well attended. We studie two different but nice pieces: Shizu and Fudaiken Shirabe there.


Listening to the explanations

Justin is and was travelling around Europe to visit several places. He is also going to the Shakuhachi camp end of August in Prague. There I will go as well to play some more and meet other shakuhachionado's.

Painting

2011-08-10T21:13:00.000+02:00

I have taking up my other interest more then shakuhachi lately which is painting. A while ago I posted my first self portrait. Now I have a site dedicated to the painting I do. It is mostly in oils. Just as with the shakuhachi, painting is a journey into unknown territory. Everytime you seem to learn something else, something new. Sometimes you make nice paintings and other times it won't work. See the similarity with playing the flute? I do, and that's what makes it interesting too! In both there is a thing of beauty or soul which is hard to grasp or understand in a rational manner. It is a thing which can only be sensed or experienced. See more of my works at www.basnijenhuis.com which is the site I mentioned.

Sold: 1.8 Kono Gyokusui

2011-05-08T14:44:00.003+02:00

Shaved Roots for weight reduction and because the roots were in bad shape before

This will be a larger entry on my very nice Gyukusui. I have two and decided to let one go.

Looking at the more simple hanko it seems most likely that it is made by Gyokusui Kono the first. It is a warm full soundig player, capable of all things a good shakuhachi must be able to do.

Front

Back

Originaly I got this flute from Jeff Cairns, who has nice flutes for sale now and then. Before the restauration the flute underwent this was what Jeff wrote about the flute:

This is an excellent example of Gyokusui Kono's work. Dense, hefty madake with a buffalo horn Tozan utaguchi inlay and very unusual Higo Zogan (black steel with gold inlay - Damascene crafted in Kumamoto, Japan) nakastugi rings depicting a wild boar running into a bamboo grove.

Expert repairs of inlaid rattan binding have been done to the upper half of the instrument with no comprimiseto playability or sound quality.

Plays in tune with even intonation up into the 3rd octave. A warm, full sounding player.

Gyokusui Family of flutes, mine is most left

The flute was cracked before I got it and that was professionally repaired with inlaid rattan bindings.
Unfortenately the flute had been altered as well. Someone had made the blowing part smaller. This effected the ro, tsu and re, they were not so full sounding and the Dai Kan 'e' Yon no ha was too difficult to sound. I decided to let Perry Yung take a look at it and for the better! He precisely restored the flute to its most original specifications with his low impact approach. The roots were a bit damaged or worn (or eaten, ha ha) so the were reworked and shaved in the end. The flute is a dense one, about 500 grams, so the shaving was ok and it looks nice as well.

Here is a list of things that were done restoring the flute:

- Reshaped back wall of utaguchi to sharpen the edge. Before it was customized detrimentally by rounding it.
- Removed some Ji material at the top inside the bore that was not original. This made Ro very stuffy and unresponsive.
- Spot tuned at four areas - top, middle of top and where both ends meet at the joint. These areas helped Ro, Tsu and Re and Ha Yon.
- Made Joint more snug. It rock previously. There was a gap on one of the top joint as the bamboo warped after the crack. This went up into the middle of the top and was a reason why Re and Ha Yon was not good.
- Cosmetic work by shaving the root.

I've also contacted Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin to tap from his knowledge about this making family. Here is what he wrote back:

As for the HANKO question, unfortunately I have never seen the first posted - very simple - Gyokusui Hanko. When I first read your email, I thought that I would see the very close (but definitely different) HANKO that is written GYOKUZAN. For this HANKO belongs to GETSUDO's younger brother - GYOKUZAN. However, the simple GYOKUSUI may have been an early HANKO used by GYOKUSUI I. The latest GYOKUSUI (the grandson of the original GYOKUSUI I) uses the same HANKO and is a formidable maker as well. So, without a doubt all 3 generations use the same HANKO. The only question is about the simple HANKO.

(By the way, they did work together and the in the final 20 years of Gyokusui I's life. Perhaps over 90% of the Shakuhachi were usually made by Getsudo. But the old man would not let a flute out of his House without his approval. At that time onjly, did he put his HANKO on the flute.)

As for Any of them being a "Tozan" maker:
1-Since WWII, no one really makes the old-style Tozan-flutes.
2-The Utaguchi shape is really only made Tozan or Kinko- style in deference to the Sensei and style of the person who ordered the flute.
3-Since GYOKUSUI s have always lived in KANSAI (in Toyonaka - near the Osaka Airport. This is also where Nagahiro Shinzan lives and works.), almost all of the Sensei in Kansai are Tozan (with the notable exception of Kurahashi Yodo I and II, among a few others). So they almost always (but not always) will use the Tozan Utaguchi. But THE REST OF THE FLUTE IS ALWAYS MADE IN THE KINKO-STYLE . You can see that even Shinzan (who always uses Tozan Utaguchi-shape, actually always makes Kinko-sty;e flutes- just like Gyokusui.
4- Notice that on all of these flutres the #3 hole is always smaller - in Kinko-style - among the bore differences, etc.

It is only the Utaguchi that is Tozan, about the Gyokusui flutes.The reason that I believe that they are so special is that they are ideal for Gaikyoku as well as Honkyoku. That is, they don't have the crisp, loud" sound (like Zenmura, etc,) that would be best used for Gaikyoku and Minyo, but have this sweet, wistfull sound that is excellent for Honkyoku. Even though I specialize in longer flutes for my Honkyoku playing, it is good to have a sensitive sweet instrument for playing Honkyoku on 1.8 Shakuhachi.

So quite a flute with a history. To hear some sound see below:

SOLD

Kurahashi Workshop and WSF 2012

2011-05-02T16:26:00.003+02:00

Yesterday on a sunny Sunday, Kurahashi Sensei held a very nice workshop about the Kinko piece 'Akita Sugagaki'. On of the Kinko Honkyokyu. He explained some rule about Kinko style of playing en we worked our way through this piece, which seems to have no special meaning. If you want to give it a go, you can find several PDF's of songs and the one mentioned above here.
The Buddistic Broadcast also recorden aspects of the workshop, so that may be on the air someday. When it does I'll add the link to that as well.

Kurahashi also told more about the World Shakuhachi Festival in 2012 Kyoto, which he is organising.
He told a site will be up about it in a few days. The core shedule will be like this:
May 31th (Friday) : registration en welcome event
June 1st: International Shakuhachi Concert, which will be on all day
June 2nd: Unique, Rye concert als schools are showing what they are all about, and in one concert hall...
June 3rd Master Concert
June 4th Another International Concert

On the 'side' there are many workshops, small concerts, one special one held at the Myonji Temple, which is there annual concert.
During the WSF there is also a Noh-play event. So a lot to experience in Kyoto next summer.
Better start up saving, or selling a flute to get there :)

Video: Change Has Come - Brian Tairaku Ritchie & Jim Moginie

2011-04-19T21:16:00.000+02:00

Nice song, check it out below!

New Forum!

2011-04-19T20:01:00.000+02:00

I've posted before about the demise of the olde Shakuhachi forum, aka Shakuhachi BBQ. But despair not.
Come al hither: the new Shakuhachi Forum, the European Shakuhachi Forum! All continents welcome.

Dutch Radio Broadcast of Kees Kort

2011-04-19T19:56:00.000+02:00

Listen to the one hour of Shakuhachi talk and live music of Dutch Shakuhachi player Kees Kort. It was broadcasted on Salto Omroep Amsterdam. It is in Dutch language. Listen here

Shakuhachi BBQ out of bamboo-coal?

2011-03-07T16:40:00.000+01:00

The worldwide forum just seemed to stop working all of a sudden! It can be used as an archive of all the posts which have been made by the large group of forum member. I have posted there and lately have been reading mostly. It was always a nice way to spent time and read about all that is shakuhachi...Unfortunately this seems to be no more! Did they throw the shakuhachi in the BBQ? (Are they mad?) Well I don't think so but it comes as a surprise as the moderators and founders, Brian Tairaku Ritchie and Ken LaCosse, put an end to it all. Hopefully they will reignite the BBQ (the forum was called BBQ fore some reason).
Before that: thanks for running the forum guys! I enjoyed it.

Two years of blogging and a happy new year!!

2010-12-29T18:35:00.000+01:00

Hi there! Two years have already past swiftly! This blog excists now for 2 years and many things and experiences have come along! As I learn more, I find it more difficult to post about the flute. In the start there are so many different things to discover. Now the pace is more steady; for my playing and studying as the blogging.
Well hope to keep going and post now and then for at least 2 more years.
Thanks for reading up this far!

A bit early: happy new year!

Changing the past

2010-11-28T10:01:00.001+01:00

Changing the past of a flute to be precise. Not so long ago I have acquired a new old 1.8. My main flute is from a renowned maker Gyokusui and I am really fond of this instrument. As I understand they have made shakuhachi for three generations now starting with Gykosui Kono I. Now the 3rd generation is continuing the arts of the craft. His father and grandfather have died. Both can be seen on this picture.

They worked together on the flutes to make -for some- the best post WW-II flutes around. I haven't played that many flutes in general to say the same thing. But I know when I like a flute.
So a new old Gyokusui came along the way and I decided to give it a go. It is the flute picutered above. It played ok and evenly, but not with the magic feel I had with my main 1.8. It sounded a bit stuffy and some notes were to vague (like Ro). I've sended it for professional repairs, first at doubt if I should have let the past changed of this flute. What if it is me and I have to get to learn to play this flute correctly? Well I sended it and my observations were correct: the flute was as I described -so it wasn't my playing ....- The flute was even changed already before I had it. First it was bound for a serious crack. This was done very well so wasn't the culprit. The bore was changed in a way it wasn't made by Gyokusui. So I felt a lot better about restoring the flute to its more original state. I have to wait patiently for it to be restored. Restoring sound a lot better then repairing :) Lacquer had to cure and that takes time. But I have a feeling it is worth it.
Do I think flutes should be altered for the better? Not if they are original, rare and stand for a special era or historical maker. Those are little artifacts which I feel should be treated with respect. But many flutes do not fit into that category. If you own a flute you also can do to it whatever you like -even if it is rare- so it is al up to the owners of flutes to decide if a flute should be altered...or restored ha ha.

Contemporary music II

2010-11-08T11:41:00.000+01:00

I've posted about contemporary music for the shakuhachi before. I've been listening to more of it recently and specially the music created by Marty Regan. This music has both meloday and emotions woven into it. It isn't as abstract as some contemporary music. Maybe that's why I like fukuda rando as well: it is very melodic and is connecting the West with the East so to speak.

Many songs can be listened streaming on the site of Marty Regan The first piece I came in contact with was Mirage. This one I heared live. My newest favourite is Voyage, listed under 2008.

Prague revisited (ESS 2010)

2010-10-26T21:02:00.003+02:00

The poster of the summerschool

Recently another participant of the summerschool named Theo sended me very nice pictures of the event and some of Prague. I'll post some here. The ones I am in I've cut up some bit. I think he has a nack for making very nice photographs. Enjoy the views:

Old Japan 3D 'Meiji'

2010-10-24T14:50:00.003+02:00

In the late 19th and early 20th century, enigmatic photographer T. Enami (1859-1929) captured a number of 3D stereoviews depicting life in Meiji-period Japan.

View more of them on this website.

These pictures give a nice atmospheric view of Japan of old at the beginning of the time when modern shakuhachi started to appear. Though the old flutes of before 1859 (Edo flutes) have a specific sound of their own, and some are lyrical about the better ones of that period.

Online Shakuhachi Community

2010-10-17T11:27:00.000+02:00

A community of 4! ;)

Kiku Day asked me to be interviewed about my experiences with getting to learn about the shakuhachi and how I see the community.
Kiku is giving demonstrations about online shakuhachi comunnities at a conference at University of Toronto 11 - 14 November 2010.

The conference title is: DIY Citizenship: Critical Making and Social Media. http://diycitizenship.com
She interviews several people with these theme in mind and makes a digital presentation for others to see. She is also giving online Skype lessons at the spot, so if the schedule fits I might be one of the testcases :)
I think as an entity the community can be hard to define, there is no one community. There are many aspects to it: meeting others at local events, at European events, even wordly events (not yet for me), the contact with a teacher, online contacts: facebook, skype, e-mail and of course the shakuhachi BBQ (the international forum). They are all part of the shakuhachi communicty for me. They add in the feeling being connected to a Western part of the shakuhachi playing 'world'. The Japanese community of shakuhachi players is much more farther away, although the tradition has that history breathing through its veines. As it is, the Western community of players and enthousiasts may be even more connected then the Japanese one, which is much more segregated and unfree. I feel that is a nice thing to have here: feel free what to play, what flutes to choose, which teacher to study with and do as you like.

2010-10-12T22:33:00.000+02:00

Since the summerschool I have been reading this nice book written by Christopher Blasdel. He was as well at the event and teaching and performing there. A good change to get some material like cd's, and books! He signed it for me, so that is a nice little extra. The book is about his experiences on learning to play the flute and walking the path in Japan and other regions of the world becomming a professional player\ teacher\ performer. I find the personal experiences most interesting to read about. I feel there is a resemblance to discoveries of the flute among players perhaps. Maybe a universal thing? Well my discoveries are minor compared to the road Blasdel has travelled (also litterally). But I enjoyed reading it. The book gives a very nice atmosphere of the time it took place. It is as if you were there 'seeing' it through another pair of eyes\ eares. Well maybe this is an aspect of all books in general, but in this Blasdel has succeeded very well. It is about his experiences but this is not an ego book; you read more about the 'experiencing ego' of the author then about the personal opinion of the author. This makes it easier to get the astmosphere of the time perhaps...A tad more idiosyncratic experiences or emotions like frustrations perhaps would have been nice.

Fundamental practice

2010-10-08T21:31:00.001+02:00

***

When words can't describe,

sound can.

The wind blowing gently,

feeling fresh at the lips.

The sound,

slowly buzzing full of warmth,

strong of tone,

devoid of song.

Most fundamental practice.

The basis that is. The power of:

Ro Buki

***

SOLD: Kitahara Seikado 1.8 Jiari

2010-10-04T23:05:00.003+02:00

For sale I have this wonderfull flute I originally bought from Perry Yung. It is in excellent condition and plays anything you throw at it. This flute is suitable for lessons. Enough said myself, the original text Perry wrote can tell it alot better:

This is a refurbished authentic TOZAN style 1.8 length shakuhachi made around the 1960s by the renown SEIKADO Company in Kyoto. Seikado is made by three generations the Kitahara family. Very few makers can boast of this kind of prestige in the traditional arts. This one represents one of the highest quality Seikdo offers with three Hanko stamps, one of SEIKADO and two from the top master maker - KOUSAN. It probably originally sold for around $2,000 -3,000. The bamboo is top notch in all aspects. The root ball is absolutely gorgeous. It plays with confidence, great balance from note to note and with a consistent tone color - all attributes of fine shakuhachi instrument as understood by experienced players. When this flute first came to me, it had two cracks, one on the top and one on the bottom section, a chipped utaguchi inlay, loose nakastuki joint and loose rings. Since then everything has been repaired and restored with my Low-Impact approach to maintain it's structural integrity. The cracks were bound by topical black cord and sealed with urushi lacquer. The utaguchi was filled, the joint ring glued and made snug. This is now a great playing shakuhachi and fully functional for serious study of classical shakuhachi music or modern applications. It has the feel of the first wave of very modern flutes crafted with an extreme taper in the bore and a small opening at the bottom end. These flutes have a more back pressure so that the stronger players can blow harder for a bigger sound. They may feel "stuffy" for the beginner. These are made for stronger players who know how to
produce the desired amount of overtone. The sound of this vintage instrument is bright, focused, expansive and complex. An experienced player can play anything on it - Sankyoku, Gaikyoku, Minyo, Honkyoku or anything else. You can see by the finger marks that the previous owner played this flute for long hours on end. this instrument has been thoroughly refurbished and checked for functionality. It has my Tensei Stamp of approval and should not present any problems under normal care of the instrument.

take a listen to
Tamuke

and an improvisation

Price: 990 usd

New Design(s)

2010-10-04T22:47:00.000+02:00

original of old blog header

Lately I have been experimenting with new looks form my blog. It isn't easy to make it as I want not knowing html. Well what you see now is what I have made of it, hope you like it. If not also let me know, then I can improve it a bit. And before you know it, it might change again.

In Search For The (Great) Sound

2010-09-23T19:43:00.002+02:00

Last week I had a sort of small breakthrough, I played the shakuhachi and after playing a longer time, a very nice sound came from my flute! Wow was I the one making it? It was strong, full sounding and very pleasant. I had this sound before some short times, but now I could reproduce it more at will. Well it isn't easily produced...last day it was gone it seems. More 'Ro buki' will probably do it.
The shakuhachi is sometimes hard to grasp and teaches patience very well. So it does with a new flute I recently acquired. It didn't want to play at first, then sound came, but not very nice...is it me, is it the flute? Do I want to go to quick??? Then it shortly sounded nice...and then is was gone again.
Grmbl! patience, patience my friend...

Electronics and Shakuhachi

2010-09-16T21:15:00.001+02:00

I consider myself more of a Shakuhachi 'purist', whatever that may be. I mean I like the sound pure unchanged. In Prague there were several presentations of shakuhachi and electronics. Music enhanced by other sounds, reprocessed sounds of the flute itself and the like. Maybe this dimension can add someting when you are very familiar with the unchanged side of the flute I am not sure. I feel the flute and the music has much to offer in itself. Especially when accompanied with other instruments the flute can come to life.
I attended the lecture of Zenpo Shimura on Cyber shakuhachi. He has been developing a sort of suit and flute that detects movement of various bodyparts. Those on their end change te sound and can do different things.
Sounds complex? It probably is: see here the schematics for if you want to DIY.

See and hear below a short recorded section of a real song done by Shimura. After hearing this I maybe have to come back to not liking the electronics much....
As a bonus you can see Kiku, who translated the lecture for us listeners.

Sound bite and pictures

2010-09-10T12:32:00.003+02:00

See below for added pictures and sound bite of jinahsi flute by Mujitsu.

Sold: Mujitsu 2.5 Ab Jinashi

2010-09-07T21:36:00.005+02:00

For sale I have my 2.5 Ab\ G# jinashi nobekan shakuhachi made by Ken LaCosse (Mujitsu). It is completely unadorned piece of Chinese Madake: so no lacquer in the bore or ji. The sound is mellow and breathy, the tuning very good.
Pictures and a song soon will be posted.
Price: 250 usd, sending 25 usd worldwide.

Here the sound of this flute:

European Shakuhachi School 2010 Praha

2010-09-06T17:31:00.004+02:00

The European Shakuhachi Festival this year was awesome! The grand old city centre was an excellent spot to host an event like this. Literaly you could find concert sold at every corner of the street. There were even girls selling the 'shakuhachi'-concerts on the street which were held at the venue HAMU. The selling theme was: music you haven't heared. For certain parts for me this was very true. The concerts were held in this old dungeon-like room (where also the group picture was taken):

The acoustics were great, the music even greater! I have heared a lot of new musicians, new honkyoku, modern music for shakuhachi and contemporary music as well with other instrument like strings. Lovely! I posted a little about the latter in a previous entry.
This festival was the second bigger festival I attended, first was in Leiden in Holland. Both were quite different in ways but what is most special is the people who are present there. They all like of have some connection to the flute and are interested in the richness of its past: the essence of sound, stillness, the cultural background, Japan and zen to name a few; many more could be derived probably. It inspires me a great deal to be present and to be part of this energy.
To show some more:

Ro buki every morning:

Lectures to be had:

about cyber-shakuhachi this was...Maybe I'll write a bit about that later.

Workshops to be followed (and numerous they were, hardly time to eat...)

This one was held by Kees Kort about Indian Raga and the shakuhachi.

But also about relaxing and having fun:

Well relaxing? Not by my look of it...must have been the dark beer ;)
All in all a very succesfull and worthwile happening...Now I should start saving for 2012...

More free scores

2010-09-05T19:50:00.002+02:00

On the site of Kurahashi I found many free scores, free to use. When checking the site lately I see there are even a bit more of them! How nice.
The scores can be seen on Kurahashi's page. Have fun with them.
Respect for 'tha man' who promotes the flute and the songs so boldly and humble.

Contemporary music

2010-09-02T22:33:00.000+02:00

When joining the European Shakuhachi festival in Prague there was one concert dedicated to contemporary music. Intuitively I am not specifically fond of it, but I have to confess I am not highly aware of that field. I play shakuhachi mainly for the tradiotional pieces, aka honkyoku. But it came as a good surprise I really liked the concert! Maybe even most of them all (three were held). My grand favourite of that evening was the piece 'Mirage' composed by Elizabeth Brown for shakuhachi and string quartet. I also heared it was first performed at the International festival in Australia. Well I loved it! I was able to experience something when hearing it. Some contemporary song are so abstract that for me it hardly qualifies as music, more as art. But not for this song. See also: E. Brown's site. The song can be listened by streaming audio at this location: Mirage Song for shakuhachi and string. It is pretty on the pc as well, but nothing like the real deal though.

Back on tracks

2010-08-31T20:07:00.001+02:00

After pondering about some time about playing the shak and learning I've reached a decision: I don't want to go on the old way. I want to put more time in it! I guess it came all down to just choosing to get on with it. I had stopped my lessons for a while to see if I would go on without them, I did but missed the lesson and guidance as well. I had few lessons when I first started to play, then I was very entousiastic about it. Looking back I feel it has to do with a clear goal at that time: getting able to play the flute. Knowing it was hard was something that drived me. Currently I can 'play' the notes (which is a whole lot different then playing the flute) I hit a sort of plateau where progress was not so visible. I think I need to set a different goal this time. I was some time without. I hope to be able to specify this goal though, but I am in no hurry. Maybe a goal isn't very zen-like, but I don't care, the flute isn't all about that. I like to have some goal if it helps me to be kept inspired. I decided to start up the lessons, maybe even have a go at jinashi lessons sometime. I think the comming of the anual European School, which has passed when writing this I need to make a choice. And I did. The ESS (European Schakuhachi School) helped tremendously in energizing this choice. I only hope to keep this feeling sometime. I'll post some pics and thing I've learned at the ESS somedays later. Let's roll!

summer slowness

2010-08-04T19:30:00.000+02:00

Hiya,

After some shakuhachi rest in the sense of playing less on a daily basis and also taking a break from lessons I try to get it up to my old inspirational level. Most of the times the break of it feels ok, but sometimes I feel bad about it. Interests in things waver naturally through time, but in starting to play this flute I din't expect this to happen to this...well it did. I still consider it 'my instrument' though. It just is a thing that need to be kept alive I guess.
Next event that comes up my path is the European Shakuhachi summerschool in Prague! I am already enthousiastic about it! To meet others and play together is perhaps the best thing to keep the spirit of playing and wanting to practice alive.

To sell or not to sell...?!

2010-04-29T19:44:00.001+02:00

To sell or not to sell; that is my question. I have gathered some small collection of flutes. Some I play more then others, soms I enjoy playing more then the rest. Some are nominated for selling\ trading. But this time when I am the point to actually put it on the market again I begin to have doubts, I make a recording and listen and think: hey that has some special character to it. Maybe I should keep it. The afforiomented flute this time is the one pictured above: a Taisho era 1.9 Jinashi, two piece flute. It bears one hanko, probably of the owner, not a makers one. It has a white horn inlay and the sound is smooth and round. Not at all agressive. It is my 3rd Jinashi flute next to a Chinese madake version and a Kyotaku. If you want to take a listen, I recorded a personal version of Tsuki. Haven't learned this one officially, so it is my interpretation.
Maybe when in doubt about parting with a flute...keep on to it a little longer (or make me an offer I can't refuse, ha ha).

Skype and modern ways of teaching\ learning

2010-04-27T20:58:00.002+02:00

HAKUHACHI!

The modern day can have many a benefit! So it is with Skype. It is a free program that can be used to call people around the world or chit-chat with them on your computer. Even with video. That the application is free also helps of course. I've used it mostly with shakuhachi lessons online I have with Michael Chikuzen Gould. This blog entry is not about reviewing the lessons itself (they are great and great value). This is about the possibility to talk to someone else on the other side of the world! How wonderfull is that! So I am gratefull this technique is available. But still I am not very happy with it...
Is has its merits, but also some other aspects I like less: you cannot play at the same time, it is harder to interact on a spontaneous basis: the reaction is a bit slower due to the connection, and talking is less intuitive and more like: person A talks, then B talks etcetera. The biggest drawback is for me the missing direct contact with a person live in the room. When attending workshops at the ESS summerschool of 2009, that was present and a great vibe of being around a master-player is very special. I know this drawback is not the fault of the program skype. I only wished a 'Dai Shihan' (Grand master) or Shihan lived nearby. Given the rarity of them Skype might indeed be the next best thing...

DIY humidor Shakuhachi case

2010-04-25T11:20:00.000+02:00

I've been working on a shakuhachi storage cabinet and now it is almost finished. I have been keeping my flutes in bags until now to keep them moist. Blowing in the bag to keep the moist level's up. The climate here is a moderate sea climate, and ranges from 35% moist to 55%. Winters are more dry. Those numbers are a bit too low. I've found myself a nice display cabint of Philips electronic gizmos and turned it into a humidor.

The first photograph is how I got it, painted black and rusty at parts. It was originally blue with Philips logo's on the plastic windows.
Unfortunately the cabinet was a bit too short to hold my 2.55 Mujitsu and Kyotaku 2.55 flutes. I have altered the cabinet like this:

cutting open the top part and folding it in, to make the room larger. On this picture you can see both the 2.55 flutes I have. The moisturizer I put on top to make room below. It is called 'oasis' here and is intended for flowers and plants.
The final result can be seen in the last shot. I painted it with a rust-paint, added a carpet on the floor. An voila a nice humidor! I used to smoke cigars, but lurking on the flutes is a tad bit healthier. The last thing I want to do is close the small gap between the door and the frame. The moist levels are better now, and even more nice: I can easily pick one flute and play!

Sold: 2.4 Jiari to-be-repaired shakuhachi

2010-04-19T10:10:00.002+02:00

Sold I have this 2.4 Jiari Shakuhachi. I got it from Jeff Cairns as an flute that needs repair. I first wanted to do that, but decided not to. The notes can be played softly, and the Ro is very weak at the moment, so I understand it needs bore work. The flute has no hanko. See the pictures. .

Television broadcast of shakuhachi

2010-04-12T00:17:00.000+02:00

For the readers who are not too familiar with shakuhachi see this video:
video

Tairaku who is also a founder of the shakuhachi forum is being interviewed. He also plays the instrument (Doh...)
He has a very nifty of old flutes.

A blog entry ....about me!

2010-04-04T14:55:00.000+02:00

I knew Erin was going to put an entry about me on here blog, I feel honoured with that! She has many more players and teachers featered during some months, go see them at here blog -> see the links. ->
Read is here as well:

This blog post is a little early because I am about head out of town for an adventure which will likely mean no wifi for a week or so. But I wouldn't want to disappoint you by making you wait to read about April's Featured Player, so, I thought, better a little early then a little late.

I'm delighted to be able to showcase my friend Bas Nijenhuis as April's Featured Player. Bas lives in the Netherlands and he started to learn to play the shakuhachi around the same time as I did. However, Bas is no stranger to wind instruments given his background with the recorder which was then followed by the saxophone. Bas has a relaxed approach to learning to play the bamboo flute and at the same time his commitment to instrument is clear. We both take Skype lessons with Michael Gould and often share emails and even the occasional Skype 'visit' in order to exchange ideas and impressions of this interesting musical journey. Bas also has been keeping a shakuhachi related blog - please check it out some time if you aren't already a follower.

Here are Bas's responses to the Featured Player's questionnaire:

What was it that drew you to learn to play the shakuhachi?

How I have learned to know about the shakuhachi is actually not a 'romatic' tale. I was watching -and enjoying- the movies Kill Bill and later Kill Bill 2, even though they are very brutal in a way. In the second film Bill is playing an Asian flute outside on a porch. He plays a sideways flute that sound quite esotheric. I looked it up on the internet searching for eastern flute and then came to find and first hear the shakuhachi. There even seemed to be a national organisation (Kaito) about this flute, which surprised and pleased me. I listened a bit more, read and found the international forum. The aspect -wich was stated more then once- that this flute was hard to learn I found mysterious and challenging: I wanted to play is and see if I could do it. After contacting the local organisation about purchasing a Yuu (cheap, but good student shak) I got a letter in return if I was sure I wanted to play this instrument due to its difficulty level. I was! ha ha. I contacted the chairman and he helped me on the way finding a teacher nearby and so it all began, little more then a year ago.

What is one of your favourite shakuhachi pieces and why do you enjoy it so much?

I cannot say I have one favourite shakuhachi piece. I feel I have still very little grasp of what is out there. I hear many songs, some traditional, like Honkyoku, some more jazzy or modern. I find the music of Fukuda Rando quite pleasing. They are straightforward and easy to listen to, maybe due to the western influence in them. More intrinsically rewarding and 'deep' are the Honkyoku. Listening is a start, but playing them and really listening to them makes quite a difference. It will take time and devotion to 'get into' them. I find these songs the most gratifying. Especially the more melodious Honkyoku from the Yokoyama line. Momentarily I keep comming back to Hon Shirabe and play it quite often. So time will tell if there is one piece wich I can call my favourite...

What is the one thing a shakuhachi teacher told you that has always stayed in your mind?

There are several, not just one...The first and most memorable to me is: 'don't worry about sound, just play'. It is about the notion not to worry too much about your playing: just try and do it, even if it isn't perfect; in other words: it will come. I think that gentle spirit is my spirit in playing this wonderfull instrument. One other is in the same line: if it sounds good, it is good. This one is a bit of a double edged sword: it has the same aspect of just play and make it sound nice. One the other hand there is the Japanese traditional heritage of learning to play and which is much more strict in that matter. I am in between: I want to sound good, but also want to honour the tradition. So one part of learning this instrument is learning what to play excactly, what to play more freely and what to play as I like it.

If there was only one thing you could share with a beginning player what would it be?

If you really want to learn this instrument: press on (and take lessons!!!) Lessons are most valuable especially from the start. And they are helping staying inspired and to keep the fun.
If you aren't sure to learn it: give it up.

Is there anything else you'd like to add to the "Shakuhachi Journey" blog?

No not really. Knowing what it is to have a blog about the same subject, this can be tough. Blogs can range from totally idiosyncratic to totally devoted to 'the readers'. I like the first better. I like the blog to read about your personal experiences with the flute and in that you just do that. What I am secretely hoping is to hear more from you literaly: hear or see you play. That is not about hearing you (Erin) play nice or beatyfull, I just want to hear 'you' play. Well don't feel pressed in anyway to do so anyway. It is your blog: keep it like that and....press on!

Video of European shakuhachi festival (2006)

2010-03-06T21:44:00.000+01:00

Just to inform you about these vids made in 2006.
They are from the first pan European Shakuhachi festival London.

See them here

No big things

2010-02-18T15:19:00.000+01:00

Shaku-'life' goes on and 'little things' pass. Not real breakthroughs to experience, just playing, practising and enjoying the playing. That would be the conclusion if I would summ it up right now. I've been studying some pieces of Fukuda Rando lately and two Honkyoku: San'ya and Tamuke. I quite like to play Fukuda Randa. These are lyrical and emotive songs, less 'deep' in somewhat way then Honkyoku pieces. F.Rando is known to mix traditional and Western styles in his compositions, so maybe they are more easy on the ear from the start. A Honkyoku is much more layered then first meets the eye and I can really get into one. When I put my full attention to one of them I feel it is much more 'demanding' and also more gratifying, though that is not the excact right word.
Next to this I've been trying to make a humidor for my shakuhachi. I was tired wrapping them up in plastic bags every time. I like to get one and play around. I have acquired a small display case, but it needs tinkering. I'll post this little Shaku-DIY someday here.

Radio interview Tilo Burdach and the Kyotaku

2010-01-04T12:07:00.000+01:00

The Buddhistic broadcast has broadcasted this very nice interview with Tilo Burdach, which was done at the European shakuhachi summerschool. Tilo tells about his finding of the shakuhachi or Kyotaku and his learning from Koku Nishimura. Also a song from Koku Nishimura can be heared. Tilo tells as well about the specific aspects of the Kyotaku.You can give it a listen here or visit the Buddhistic internet page here.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T20:22:00.001+01:00

In 3,5 hours it is time: a new year has arrived! I wish you all the readers and visitors of my blog a very good 2010 and if it less then that I wish you all the best dealing with that. Happy new year and hopefully it will bring a lot of new shakuhachi experiences!

Funagawa Toshio Memorial Concert Recordings

2009-12-29T21:19:00.001+01:00

Check out the

Shakuhachi Stuff Writing Ten Minutes a Day

and some nifty recording of a concert: free music!

see the blog and the music here

original Japanese source here

Full tone

2009-12-28T10:05:00.000+01:00

I have been intruiged with sound and full tone of instruments; what to do to play its best to my ears. With a recorder, the instrument I started on, there was little to no room for changing or influencing the tone itself. Then I played saxophone: a whole lot more room for change! Soft, loud, roaring, sharp, fat etcetera. It was not really hard to make the sound, sound good and fat: relax your jaw and blow with a concentration\ steady pressure. On the shakuhachi is is harder to grasp. There is just as much room to change the tone, maybe even to a larger degree than the sax. But making a flute 'sing' is another thing. I sometimes have that sensation. Mostly after playing a more difficult part when I played more tensed then usual. After that I relax and doodle around on the flute, it sounds very nice! Then it really sing, it feels as a focused relaxed way of playing, which 'unlocks' this sound. I can't do it on demand -yet- though, which will come perhaps. When it comes now it feels as a little gift and gives a glimps of the most beautifull aspect of the shakuhachi: its complex sound.

shakuhachi Void

2009-12-20T20:03:00.000+01:00

Momentarilly I feel I am in a shakuhachi- void. I keep on practising, playing and that is it! Hah. In the beginning I experiences much more: more progression, more oohs and aaahs, I had more questions about flutes, about playing and learning with the flute in the beginning. Now I just play...Maybe I am not in a void after all but just something of a phase in my learning.

The picture above is of my 3 1.8's: a Kitahara, the Yuu (tainted) and my fav: Gyokusui. This pic is to see the difference in backhole position. I am thinking of letting the hole of the Kitahara (top) getting replaced for better tuning. In that flute, the hi and go no hi were pretty high compared to the rest of the flute. so hope that helps. For the repair the flute is in good hands (Perry Yung).

one year of playing and blogging

2009-11-29T18:40:00.001+01:00

At the beginning of this month it has been a year that I first choose to purchase a Yuu-shakuhachi. I contacted a local afficionado and he wrote me a letter back if I was certain to want to learn an instument as difficult as this one. The answer now is yes! I like that part of this flute. It holds secrets in itself and in its traditions. It seems to be a simple thing: a bamboo stick. My friend always say something like "whoa: 1000$ for a piece of bamboo!", that I can understand from a 3rd person's view of perspective...but then adds: "why don't you sell it?"...and that I will never do...
This was a wonderfull year shakuhachi wise: I learned a lot, practices a lot, meet a lot of new interesting people, met two very different and wonderfull teachers who help me along the way. One is at the other end of the world, but with a lot of help from the technology today online lessons is possible as well!
I underwent a very energetic 4 days of summerschool and I have learned a lot of new things. Now that I am one year on the go, I notice the learning slows down more. At first there were more 'oooohs and aaaahs' then nowadays. The music or pieces I can play now are actually more interesting then in the beginning, so one reccomendation to beginners: start and keep at it.
Thank you as well to the readers up till now!! The interaction via this blog adds more depth into my playing and experience. Thanks!
For fun: I recorded Tsubaki Saku Mura to listen to. More of Fukuda Rando I recorded can be listened. I recorded this song (name doesn't come to mind) with my Edo flute.
I like to play his songs; they are quite diverse and moving.

Hon Shirabe take 3 - the yearly recordings

2009-11-17T08:00:00.001+01:00

I once in a while record this Honkyoku song. Also in some of my first posts of this blog I did that. This will be the 3rd take online of this song. This one done as it should be played and thus I can record my progress -or lack thereoff- while playing it.
This version is played on my 1.8 Gyokusui.
>>Listen here<<

Playing and painting

2009-11-09T23:12:00.002+01:00

When being busy with painting with oil paint -for the first time- I tought about the similarities. They're both a form of art of expressing yourself. One with paint, one with sound. When you do so, or better when I am into one or the other I forget time. You just play or just paint. Times seems to be no more, but it comes back when you consiously see or hear youself doing it. Both will get better - is my experience- when not thinking too much. And that is an aspect I really like. Many things in live desire decisions, choices or hard thinking. The flute, the music, the paint, the pictures makes me wanna do instead of think. Even more with painting, but also with playing: just start and you'll get somewhere. Here is my first painted self-portrait, taken with a cellphone camera.

Selfportrait, oil on canvasboard. 30' x30' (cm).

Edo flute II

2009-11-08T15:33:00.000+01:00

I've added a sound file to the add below. To get an impression!

Edo 1.9 Jinashi nobekan

2009-11-07T16:09:00.006+01:00

I bought this one from Brian Tairaku Ritchie as the 'el cheapo edo'. And that is what this flute is: not a great flute of that era, but an ok one and a good one if played soft with a little vibrato. It has a sweet sound, not too focused, with a lovely kan register.
A flute like this, dated to late 19th century, will give you a glimpse of that time and past. Due to the imperfect tuning, normaly to this kind of flutes, it is more suited for solo play and honkyoku.
click to hear me play Fukuda Rando on this flute:
>>>>Sound file<<<<<

2009-10-16T16:29:00.000+02:00

When beginning this blog I thought of doing it for tracking my lesson-tips, techniques and my own progress by adding recordings of my playing. The latter I have done -a little- and the former not at all. I post about techniques in my first posts, but not after that. In general the blog has a more wider view on the journey of learning. Nonetheless I will post today the things that helped me the most in learning getting better at playing.

One of those things is the 'technique' of not blowing. I've read this somewhere on the net, and is about not blowing air out to get a tone, but getting the tension up in your abdomen and let the air get out controlled. It is more pressuring the air out, while the lip-opening defines the air speed. More open: lower speed, more closed: faster speed and thus making the difference in otsu or kan. Try imagening blowing a balloon, that feeling in your belly is what I mean.

Another thing I found helped me is blowing with this pressure on to my hand from 10 cm distance and try to focus the air like a tube of air. I feel a small circle on my hand. When I don't change anything in the blowing and replace my hand for the flute: tadaa! instantly Kan register without any effort (beside the balloon-feeling).

This way I succeed to blow kan and otsu as long a normal breath duration (blowing through your lips without flute).

Blowing this way I got kan in an okay matter, playing it more and more, seems to train my embouchure and lips. The smaller I can get the opening the easier it seems to play higher kan notes. For higher kan notes one thing has to change: more air speed. giving more pressure in my belly wasn't working: it was already pretty solid. So the mouth- opening should close. Well that comes with practice and time.

While I play kan that way, in a more focused like way, I tried blowing Otsu that way as well: a smaller opening of lips, but with a little less pressure. Otsu became more effecient in breath; ie you need less breath for the same effect.

The last tip or thing wich I think is most important: have fun while doing it. It is a hobby, not a chore. In this it helps me to just doodle around, not to practice sometimes and play silly things. It also makes it more easy not to set goals but just try and play. Only now in looking back I can see and feel that things get easier and harder: I also feel there is much more to discover!

more radio

2009-10-05T18:54:00.000+02:00

More radio can be listend to here. It is the first of a series dedicated to the European Summerschool held in Leiden. The speech is in Dutch this time, though there might be a change some of the interviews on later broadcasts are in English. The music is international though! Music can be heared from Kurahashi, Gunnar Linder, Vlatislav Matousek and more. I'll post more when more broadcasts have been.
The series will be broadcasted on 'de wandelende tak' (logo above)

Cause en effect

2009-10-04T09:31:00.000+02:00

How things can effect each other is interesting. A reader of my blog posted me about my previous post on my shakublues. Which now is better, maybe due to writing a bit about it. He (or she), Ronen, sended me a nice e-mail about it and posted a post about learning curves he wrote about learning the shakuhachi in general. Learning he experiences goes in stages. This reminds me of a post Michael Gould wrote about learning and floors of a house: you start at the bottom and after some time develop to the next floor, seeing new challenges and theme's on that floor, you couldn't previously see! There is also some scientific evidence that some learning, especially in childhood goes in this way and this is propagated by Prof. P. van Geert, who is a proponent of the dynamic systems view he developed and tested. I recall this because he was the professor of one of my main directions in study. Ronen write very nicely on his site and I recommend it. He also write more on his playing\ learning of the shakuhachi. You can find that here. He post on many more personal subjects though. The only thing though, you actually read the things he write, read his name (real name?) on his site, but never find out who he himself is, quite ego-less and still it is designed around a online identity.

Wavering motivation

2009-09-29T13:28:00.000+02:00

I find my inspiration and motivation to learn about the flute playing somewhat wavering. It is not that I dislike it, absolutely not, but maybe I can call it 'shaku fatique...'. The thing what matters to me most is playing the instrument and that I do, to listen to the music I like as well, so it lies not therein. Maybe I feel a bit tired of shaku-talking and shaku-reading. The same questions come along on the forum, and it is all talk about the shakuhachi and I feel my motivation to participate in it is lowered. I feel this is part of learning and playing or life in general...it is not always shining bright. But sometimes this pattern is difficult to accept. But even when feeling uninspired I can play and practise. The abillity to do so stays fortunately and I am sure more inspiration will come in some time. Maybe I have the autumn shaku-blues.

Why do you play?

2009-09-18T14:40:00.001+02:00

Why do I, or you play, that is a question I was thinking about lately. In the first place the question 'why' is perhaps too difficult to answer or wrongly formulated in the first place. I was tough by social psychologist that our brain is pretty bad in making choices beyond the difficulty of choosing a toothpaste. People make choices of course, but they seem to originate from reason, while in fact they are produced by a concept called implicite self. That part of your brain takes all you knoe, feel into account and after some time an answer or choice pops out. The question 'why' is in that sense too difficult to answer. In other words: I don't know why I play. Of course you can think of something or tell something about it, but that would be just a narrative of your mind, not the truth. The social psychologist, mentioned above, who is examening these things also told me that asking a question in that way, like: why do you love person X, makes your mind to work to come up with a narrative, but destroys in that process what really counts: the unrational thing that makes you love person X or makes you play the shakuhachi.

So I'd better not ask this question then. Better would be to ask: what do you feel when you play the shakuhachi (or seeing, talking to person X). That information is much more available in the human mind. Well what do I feel or experience? Even that is hard to descrive, but is kinda special. It is: excitement, gratification, irritation, calmness, relaxation, devotion, frustration......aaaargh! These are all things or feelings you can imagine...Why then do I play? Well: I don't know! Overall it makes me feel good.

It is a thing I want to do and that's just it.

Mushin: 2002 interview with Shakuhachi grandmaster Yokoyama

2009-09-02T19:06:00.001+02:00

An inspiring article I found on the international forum, which essentialy is about the process of learning itself and some part the ego-lessness or mindlesness or as it is called Mushin. I'll post it here to read, enjoy:

[What follows is from an article in the Hogaku Journal, February, 2002, by Yokoyama Katsuya, one of the great shakuhachi players of the 20th century. Yokoyoma-sensei is now in his mid-70's and is debilitated by a series of strokes, so he can no longer play, but as you can see below he still has much of value to say. He is still active in his shakuhachi school, although he must undergo dialysis several times a week.]
________________________________________________
"In their youth, most performers have no money, no confidence, and no fame. Many times they feel insecure about their future. Even current masters got over such periods, and according to those artists, their 26th year was a turning point. Here's how Katsuya Yokoyama overcame the challenges he faced at age 26.
"I began to play the shakuhachi after hearing a record by Watazumi-sensei (sensei means "master" or "teacher" in Japanese). I was a junior high school student and was amazed by his playing, and wanted to play the instrument, not just listen to it. My father and grandfather both played kinko shakuhachi, so I was hearing shakuhachi all day. I always respected my father's playing, but Watazumi-sensei's sound struck me to the core of my being.
"If this tradition was dying out, as my father had told me, I wanted to continue it even if only for a generation, whether I could make a living at it or not. After graduating from high school and working at a company for 6 years, I came to Tokyo. It was a very difficult time for me. For the first time I realized how hard it must have been for my father to make a living playing the shakuhachi in a rural area. When I told my father that I wanted to be a shakuhachi player, he told me that he didn't want me to suffer from two types of hardships: financial and artistic.
"In Tokyo, I studied under two masters, Watazumi-sensei and Fukuda Rando-sensei.
Fukuda sensei taught me while playing the piano, not the shakuhachi. Watazumi-sensei told me 'Teaching students makes me play poorly,' even though his lesson fee was extremely high compared to other teachers! I couldn't understand the notation used in my lessons, and I cried in despair several times. Still I had to keep playing, and I used up all the money I'd saved working for those six years on my tuition.
"My practice at that time focused on acquiring good pitch. I used a tuning fork since that was all I had. I wanted to be able to improvise, so I used to play to whatever was on the radio. By doing so, I learned which size shakuhachi I should use for each song. I wasn't good at korokoro (finger tremolo) so I practiced it all the time until my fingers cramped. In order to practice tamane (flutter tongueing) I played Rokudan & Chidori using only tamane. I practiced holding my breath so that I could do so for up to 3 minutes and 20 to 30 seconds. The point is that you must become your own strict master. You cannot improve unless the bridge is burning behind you. You need to come up with your own methods and strive hard to improve.
"I am confident to say that nobody worked harder than I did to become a better player.
Some people complain that their memory isn't good, but this is because they are not trying hard enough. Or some say 'Since I'm starting in middle age, I cannot become better than someone who started in junior high school;' but this too can be overcome. As soon as you have negative thoughts you'll cease improving. Keep your mind focused on spirituality and on all creation. Keep doing what you believe is important and good. That is precious.
"Being able to study your sound from 360 degrees, from all directions, in three dimensions, is crucial. For instance, only a few people can immediately answer what 'Rokudan' is expressing, but it must be trying to tell us something. A good performance is one where the means of making the music good are beyond what the listeners can imagine. If you like someone's playing, you will study it, which eventually will bring you to a certain state of mind. If you are then satisfied with yourself, you won't improve. You should make progress by observing yourself from 360 degrees. If you play with doubt, the audience will feel the doubt or confusion 10-20 times stronger than you do. It doesn't matter if you play badly as
long as you play with all your heart. I once had such an experience. A long time ago I went camping by a lake near Mt. Fuji. I began to hear a not-so-good rendition of 'Chidori.' But I was very touched by it. Irrespective of the performance being good or bad, I think the player played with no-mindedness (mushin). I don't use the word no-mindedness easily, because I wasn't able to attain no-mindedness myself. I was desperate to attain nomindedness, so this man's playing was incredible to me. I still remember it vividly.
"I truly wanted my sound to be non-individualistic. I found out when I was 25 or 26 that the root of the honkyoku is to be non-individualistic: that is how you get a rich sound. The important thing is how much accumulation of knowledge and experience you have within yourself. This is also important when improvising: how well you can adjust to everchanging circumstances."

~ Translated by Saori and Peter Hill(April, 2002) [Additional notes by eB]

For an PDF look here.

Ikkyu and Murasaki Reiho song

2009-08-26T23:08:00.003+02:00

With the great help of shakuhachi player, Annelies Nederbragt, who gladly recorded a nice tale about the important zen monk Ikkyu told by Kurahashi sensei. It was a pleasure to be present at his workshop wich was centered around the song dedicated to -or made by- Ikkyu. I got a hold of a copy of this tale and his playing of this song: Murasaki Reiho. That score can be downloaded free from Kurahashi's site here.

Hear him play the song: here.

His story, which I found quite interesting can be heared below or downloaded (34M)

Before posting this information I contacted Kurahashi about his consent on the posting. He answered in his style: 'You may use them completely as you like.' :)

Shakuhachi marketplace opened!

2009-08-19T09:49:00.000+02:00

There is a new initiative of the the international shakuhachi forum an ebay like selling forum intended for shakuhachi related products! I think this initiative is nice and was missing in the shakuhachi society!
The flute I have for sale I put up there and can be found here.

On the forum this announcenment was made by Ken LaCosse:

SHAKUHACHIMARKETPLACE.COM

Hello Shakuhachi Forum Members,I'd like to announce the opening of The Shakuhachi Marketplace. This commercial site is the new buy/sell forum and allows registered members the opportunity to buy and sell items by auction or fixed price. It operates much like Ebay except it is less costly for sellers and will focus on the niche market of shakuhachi. This method of buying and selling will solve some of the commercial issues we've experienced with the Shakuhachi Forum. It will also provide a service to the shakuhachi community by establishing a fully functioning, stand alone, niche market for shakuhachi commerce - something which was difficult to achieve within the Shakuhachi Forum walls. In addition, the site will help provide revenue to keep the Shakuhachi Forum running. Sellers have the option to set up stores or list individual items. Stores arefree for the first 30 days of the site and $10 a month thereafter. Basic individual listings are free to post for the first 30 days. Charges apply to features which give items more prominence such as 'front page featured,' 'bold,' extraphotographs,' etc. Sellers will be billed 5% of the selling price only if the item sells. There are no charges for buyers. All transactions are secure as the site is equipped with an SSL Security Certificate. Paypal is the preferred method of payment. What to sell?Although The Shakuhachi Marketplace is a niche site, there are also categories for recordings, accessories, books, as well as other instruments. In addition, members are allowed to list non-shakuhachi related items or anything you think shakuhachi people might be interested in! A variety of shakuhachi quality and price levels are allowed providingdescriptions are accurate. Item editing and allowance are at the discretion of the administration. Banner ad space can also be purchased for those who are interested inadvertising on the The Shakuhachi Marketplace pages. Feel free to take a look at www.shakuhachimarketplace.com. The first step is to register. It's always free. It is recommended to register with your forum usernameor something recognizable to ensure credibility. Once registered you are able to buy and sell items. There is a help and FAQ's section to help you get used to the site. Also, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.Hopefully this will be a venture that can be beneficial to all of us.

Best regards,

Ken

European Summerschool part II

2009-08-16T21:14:00.000+02:00

Some more pictures here to see about the Summerschool, held in Leiden. Now with me in them as well. And even one where Gunnar Linder 'persuaded' me to join the ESS (European Shakuhachi Society) which is good!

The wondrous world of ...

2009-08-15T06:41:00.000+02:00

Some days ago, another fellow-blogger about the shakuhachi Erin wrote about me! Well I was the subject, but not the main point of her entry. She wrote about the wondrous world of the digital era we live in and the possibilities it gives us to communicate. Because this entry had me in it and gave me a warm smile and I'll copy her entry here for my memories. The technology is wondrous, the shakuhachi world is, the flute certainly is! and Erin is a wondrous person as well! Her blog is recommended, but for the shakuhachi readers that is no news probably. Here are her words:

A few weeks ago I got together with my friend Bas to talk about shakuhachi playing and practicing. We met at home, he in his den while I sat at my dining room table. We played various of our flutes for each other and compared the shakuhachi in our small collections. Bas has a wonderful shakuhachi blog and he began his journey on the bamboo path about the same time as I. We have numerous other aspects in common, as friends generally do, and though he lives in the Netherlands I feel close to him. Both Bas and I have the same shakuhachi teacher and we find it interesting to compare notes with regards to pieces being practiced and techniques being honed. It is inspiring for me to have a friend at about the same level. Naturally I am impressed and amazed by the great shakuhachi players' recordings but to have a peer who is progressing along side of me offers a special and much more personal inspiration. I can hear his accomplishments and can feel directly encouraged by them. Sometimes when I hear a player with years of experience playing a piece, I wonder if I will ever be able to play anywhere near that level however when I hear friends play who are closer to my level of learning I feel motivated by their skill and renew my efforts believing more in my potential to master the basics which are of course the foundation of all playing which will follow. Much of this would not be possible if we did not live in the digital age. Bas and I correspond by email, within each others blogs and, most recently, over Skype. Yes, some day it would be good to actually meet and play in person but for now I feel my life is enriched thanks to technology allowing our friendship to flourish. Thank you Bas!

Shakuhachi on the radio!

2009-08-11T23:39:00.001+02:00

For the interested listeners some older and more recent radio-streams. They are sourced from the Boeddistische omroep (Buddhistic Broadcast)

The first and most recent (9-8-2008) is a full length broadcast and interview (with music) with mr. Kurahashi. It can be found here. Lots of music there!

Another more older (16-2-2005), but interesting is this broadcast with Akikazu Nakamura. It can be found here. The interview starts at 35' minutes. It is in English with some Dutch in between.

Another nice interview, fully in Dutch, with: Harrie Starreveld about Komuso and Shakuhachi. De moeite waard over een persoonlijke ontdekking van de shakuhachi. (17-2-2008 )

Happy listening!

Not available: El cheapo Edo jinashi (1.9)

2009-08-10T19:37:00.003+02:00

Not for sale: the flute I bought from Brian Tairaku Ritchie: the 19th century jinashi Edo period flute aka 'El cheapo Edo'. Brian's words about it were: it is a good flute, not great, and to make it sound the best play it soft with a little vibrato. I can concur that, it isn't a flute of agression, but one with a sweet tone. Especially the kan register is unusually sweet (comment of another player on European Summerschool). Tilo Burdach played, saying he didn't like the shakuhachi sound in general, but this one sounded more friendly to his ears. He almost traded it for the Kyotaku I wanted (and later bought). The Edo flute is 1.9ish in size.
I am asking the same price as Brian sold me, it is a nice price for a nice flute I believe. The floot is in good condition. The utagushi is a bit wobbly, but smooth and this doesn't effect playing whatsoever. It is a jinashi, with some nodes left inside and a nobekan.
See pictures for more details:

Learning and teaching

2009-07-30T21:45:00.001+02:00

The proces of learning things interests me much, part because of my occupation, but also as a shakuhachi player. What is the right way to learn it? and is there one right way? On the shakuhachi festival in Leiden it was special to experience different teaching style's. Some more strict, some loose, some above you and some besides you, so to speak. Personally I like to informal style of teachers and I use that mostly in my work as well. But sometimes a more srict or direct approach is essential.
What is learning? Forcing your master experience or knowledge upon someone else? Or is it stimulating the inherent personal potential? Does one has to be tought to play like him\herself or like the teacher? Well I believe this difference in style of teaching had a lot to do with culture and 'the way it is' done in a given time. None is best perhaps, each has its merits. Well I can't say that I like being shouted at or scolded during a lesson, which can happen in Japan, I heared. I believe in a more humane appoach which is fortunately more common in the west.
Maybe the 'best' way is the way which brings you the closest to your goals and desires. It all depends on your desires then! For learning the flute I believe the 'west' is a good place: there are less strict rules, no playing forced in one school en more options of various teaching ways. As well many resources are available on the net. Mr. Kurahashi told me that playing Dai Kan notes was highly uncommon in Japan some time ago, it wasn't tought or tried. Only few did it. Now he told Dai Kan was a sound a beginner could make, so the pace has probably gone up on the learning curve. The most hard thing to do can't be speeded: getting a personal full tone.

Kurahashi playing Kyorei (part of concert)

One good lesson was Kurahashi told: do no forget your beginners sound when getting better. It is the soft, breathy tone and is pretty!

Summerschool report 2009

2009-07-28T18:23:00.001+02:00

The European Summerschool 2009 held in Leiden was great! Many great teachers were present. Plenty of workshops about songs, technique's, about Kyoktaku, about meditative playing and improvising were present. It has been four days of hyper exposure on playing, flutes, and lovers of this flute. I really enjoyed it a lot. Especially the vibe and energy which was present.

Although the players were from many country's (Bulgaria, Czech, Ireland, US, Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain and Holland) all the people had one thing in common: this interest in the shakuhachi. Most of them very true to themself and authentic.

I believe the mix of contemplative, meditative, contemporary, truly original and various traditional pieces made this year a great succes. It was very inspiring to me and I'll post more about my findings about the concept of 'learning' shakuhachi and one's way with this flute: one's own way, the traditional way or the 'highway'.
Maybe if lucky I'll post more footage or soundclips.

European Summerschool 2009

2009-07-20T11:41:00.000+02:00

Next week I will take part of my first big event like this European Summerschool held in Leiden, the Netherlands. I'll probably post some of it after the summerschool. Various teachers and workshops will be held, just as concerts and lectures...
Please join it if you like! For some more exposure:

European Shakuhachi Summer School 2009 in Leiden, the Netherlands.

This year's European Shakuhachi Summer School will be in Leiden, the Netherlands. It will be the first shakuhachi summerschool in Holland and it will be organised by the Dutch Shakuhachi Society KAITO together with the European Shakuhachi Society.

The date of the summerschool will be 23, 24, 25 and 26 July.

To read more details see here.

Super Phat Taimu !?

2009-07-13T12:40:00.001+02:00

In this last contribution of my Malaysian travels, I'll post about the shakuhachi I made myself. You could call it a super fat Taimu! I made it from a big bamboostick lying around. It was in poor condition, a bit moldy and too wet. That ony made it easier to work on it with my old swiss army knife. A few blisters were the price, a lot of fun and a shakuhachi which was extremely difficult to sound. I succeeded to make 3 Ro's out of it, which were dull and uninteresting... On the picture you can see the difference with the Yuu which I took as a model, and the self-made one. Nevertheless it was fun to do and make me consider how difficult it is to make one which sound ok, how difficult it would be to make one which sounds great?? Well in respect to the Taimu's my creation better not be named that way. By the way I left it there, so when you visit Pulau Tioman, Juara village and John's place 'Riverview', you maybe will be able to make more sound out of it then I did. This place to stay is highly reccomended!

Sometimes I read on the forum about the zen and meditative aspect of playing the shakuhachi and therefore not needing good flutes. For me meditative aspectis a part of playing, but the potential of a flute as well. I like to make nice sounds, and learn to play pieces they can sounds. The meditative attitude is less orientated to development or learning the flute itself (it is probably orientated to learning more about oneself). Well I like developing in the field of the fluteplaying itself even more. So back in Holland I can go back to exploring my newest acquisition: a 1.8 Gono Gyokusai II. This is my best 'gem' until now.

Jungle Improv

2009-07-13T12:34:00.000+02:00

Hi there, back to post some more! This time an improvisation I have done in front of a large bamboo vegetation. I dunno if it is Madake, but it was the only patch I saw growing in the Taman Negara Jungle. Here is the vid:

Even a Gecko adds soms nice touch to the end.
I played it on my Yuu, which is pretty travelsave.

Travelling Malaysia

2009-06-26T12:49:00.000+02:00

Now travelling for almost a month in Malaysia and Singapore I miss my bamboo flutes a lot. They smell like 'wood' they feel comfortable to the touch, they play nice. I feel that a bamboo shak has a total different feel, aura or 'energy' then one made of non-bamboo material. So a few days and I'll be able to play my Seikado, the raw Mujitsu or my rather newly acquired Gykosui, with wich I am most content. Nonetheless I have been playing some shakuhachi over here as I took my plastic -nasty word- Yuu. It plays everything well and nice but lacks some spirit to me. But without it I wouldn't have been able to take one along after all. I could do it...the humidity is quite high here (85%) and bamboo originates as well and grows very well in this climate. But the traveling by air with a shakuhachi...I dunno...
When home I'll post some more of my small shak adventures in this nice country with friendly people!

Mindfullness all the way

2009-06-14T11:45:00.000+02:00

Now being on vacation I type this in Taman Negara, well the small town besides the big ancient 130-milion year old jungle called Taman Negara. Earlier in another jungle -Malaysia has more then only jungles- on a track walking the Cameron Highlands I slipped and injured my foot at the ankle...I have somewhat weak ankles perhaps, but you forget that in a normal situation when you don't do anything challenging with them. Well it happened -fortunately not too severe- I could walk on, for 3 hours! But now much more mindfull of where I walked and how my body and feet felt not to slip again. It was like a cripple in the jungle! Well I made it, but was surprised what the concentration I needed for walking and climbing back, also to notice how tiresome it was. Today I walked another jungle with bandage to fortify it all and it went good, walked the long cannopy walkway and crossed for 4 hours through this old forrest. I made a film playing in front of a big bamboo plant wich I intend to add later (the film)...

Nifty video

2009-05-28T22:32:00.000+02:00

Here a vid of very nice playing of Aoki Reibo and Goro Yamaguchi. Also a way for me to try to embed a youtube video. Thanks to a Dutch Kaito member for finding the video :)
If I have it right they are playing Shika No Tone (Distant call of deer).

Here it is:

Reaction of others

2009-05-12T18:58:00.000+02:00

When playing or when carrying the flute, the reactions the flute elicits are quite various. Mostly people are curious and want to know what it is you are holding or playing. They seem quite interested! More so than my experience is with a more common instrument. Then there is the name of this flute 'shakuhachi', not a name which has a real pleasant ring to it. The reaction to the sound is more even: people like it and associate it with relaxing or spiritual, zenlike music. -or people are polite- :). the shrill tones of the kan register-practise aren't always relaxing!
The most enthousiastic reaction though is from children, they are quite direct and want to try themselves immediatly, just to give up short thereafter finding out it is impossible for them to make a sound. Fortunately there is the plastic flute, which can be washed of saliva.
Here above a picture of Januari this year, during skiing in Austria. With that 2 children hanging around while I practised.

Kifu Mitsuhashi plays Chikurai

2009-05-03T11:36:00.000+02:00

Check out this very nice video:

Chikurai from naha Jaja on Vimeo.

Kifu Mitsuhashi plays Chikurai - series of five compositions by Moroi Mokota. Chikurai translates as sound of bamboo, it is composed for shakuhachi, japanese bamboo flute. The compositions synthesize contemporary and traditional playing styles, phrases and techniques. Footage was shot on the main concert of Prague Shakuhachi Summer School 08.

Naru Ro or 'Honking' ~ overtones

2009-04-29T23:46:00.000+02:00

Recently I have been investigating the meaning of a Honking Ro or honkin in general. A shakuhachi is not a car so I am not fond of the term honk and doesn't do it enough justice. The honking or Naru (see below) is more than that I believe. It is about changing the tonal characteristics of the note, it is about enhancing certain frequencies or natural overtones and speed op power of blowing is also relevant. Tone of this flute is characteristic and also one of its main features. There are little other instruments on which you can alter so much in the tone, the voice perhaps is most similar.
From the world discussion forum this soundclip comes which demonstrates the Honking very neatly:

This clip or soundbite was posted by Edosan and is by Aoki Reibo playing Sarashi.

I would also cite parts of Chikuzens comment on this matter:

Honking" in Japanese is called "naru" or, it's a verb, "to naru". There are varying degrees of this. Some types of names have been offered here, "honking" and "growling", etc. It would be useful to have a common vocabulary but it has to built out of shared experiences. It's a bit subjective too without the audio references. Big fat jinashi flutes don't usually "naru" according to jiari players but they glow, growl and snarl. However, jinashi people (people who play mostly jinashi) use the word "naru" also but it points to a different sound...

... There are always flutes out there that seem to "cross the lines" but in general, the jinashi flutes that "naru" usually have a narrow bore and jiari flutes that don't "naru" usually have a big fat bore.

Another viewpoint would be that "honking" is like revving up an engine to hear it run and see what it can take. It takes technique in the embouchure and breathing which means......it takes technique. Some flutes do it more, some less and some not well at all.

The reason to practice this is that it's smart to practice something you can't do since you'll have to change how you play. If you are willing to do this (change) you'll learn something from it and maybe even develop technique if you do it long enough. You can always back off this "honk" when playing according to the energy that's appropriate to the song you're playing.

So ultimately flexibility is key.

Up and Down: Japanese patterns

2009-04-27T16:50:00.000+02:00

Also a subject Kurahashi brought up in his workshop was this pattern used often in Japanese song: A different pattern of going up in pitch and then down. It can be played like in the picture (with my own caligraphy)

Like the first line: Ro - Tsu - Re | Re - Tsu meri - Ro. Play it and you'll get the picture. It explains why sometimes other notations for the same pitch are used. The up movement used kari notes and are notated as such; they sound strong. In line 3, I wrote it wrongly: It should be noted as the note between the (chi kari). When the movement goes down, like in line 3, the 5th note has the pitch of Tsu but needs to be played soft and be a meri note: so Re dai meri is written (wich has the same pitch as Tsu in this case). So in the downward movement the second note is always played meri and soft. Now you know!
This way of notating can be found in his version of Kumoijishi.

Yung flutes site is back

2009-04-24T23:02:00.000+02:00

The hijacked site of Perry Yung is back online and looking neat! Check it out. It holds nice information on the flute, especially for beginning flutists.

Workshop part II

2009-04-23T21:09:00.001+02:00

Here you'll find some pictures of the workshop given by mr. Kurahashi
If you are on it and don't want to be publically exposed, let me know!

Kurahashi Workshop

2009-04-22T22:31:00.001+02:00

Begin April I attended a group workshop given by the most friendly and polite person mr. Kurahahsi. For me its quite rare to meet and play with a Japanese master of the Shakuhachi. He visited the Netherlands for a week and hopefully returns for the European Summer school, wich I will attend in July in Leiden. See the post below this one for details. More details can be found at the ESS-site, link to the right -> or at the Kaito site (also link to the right->). During the workshop we were taught or trained in the details of the song Kumoijishi. The same copy of that song made by Kurahashi can be found here: Kumoijishi PDF More honkyoku are on his site: visit the site of Kurahashi a good recource. We played version 1, on page 1. The second version is to be played on a 2.0 C and can be played together with version 1 on a 1.8 D. The picture above depicts a version coming from jinashi.com site.

info from the ISS about this song:
*****************
This is an Edo Period (1603-1867) piece that originated at Itchoken, a famous temple in Hakata City on the southern island of Kyushu. The song has another name, Neagari Jishi, and was popular in Kyushu because of it's beautiful melody.

The meaning of this piece comes from the fact that songs with "shishi "("lion") in the title are generally played quickly and "kumo" of "kumoi" is the character for "cloud(s)". This honkyoku is, hence, played almost completely in the upper (kan) register and with a fast tempo. Kumoijishi is often it is used as an omedetai kyoku or a song played at joyous celebrations. It is more upbeat and auspicious than many of the sadder sounding honkyoku.
*****************
The difference is that in the workshop we played the song quite slowly, not as fast as by the example below wich is from Tai Hei Shakuhachi:

I'll post pictures of the workshop later and maybe try to record a version of this song as well to track progress.

Playing in Holland

2009-04-12T23:40:00.000+02:00

Here in the Netherlands we have a small, but nice and well organised bunch of shaku-players -if I may say so-. I have joined Kaito the Dutch shakuhachi organisation.I recently joined a master workshop of the very friendly Kurahashi. Perhaps I'll post about that workshop later. Later in summer Holland will be organising the European Shakuhachi Summer school. The following text is from the European site :

2009 - JULY 23-26 Shakuhachi Summer School in Leiden, Nederland

Teachers:
- Yoshio Kurahshi
- Vlastislav Matousek
- Steve Cohn
- Tilo Burdach
- Kees Kort
To register: send an email to
kees@shakuhachi.nl or kaito@shakuhachi.nl

Price: not fixed yet, but probably around:
- Non-members: € 250
- Members: € 200
Accommodation: help is available in finding a hotel. There are also possibilities to stay with a guest family for low prices.

MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Kees Kort -one of the teachers- organisers of the school and chairman of Kaito played yesterday in a small village during an opening of a very nice museum of various arts. See the picture below of his playing in the sunny garden.

SOLD: 2.4 A Chikusing 2 hanko Jinashi

2009-04-10T11:33:00.000+02:00

SOLD I have this very nice jinashi Chikusing 2 hanko shak made by Perry Yung. It is of 2.4 length and tuned to A. It is his range of flutes between earth-models and his professional Yung-flutes. It has a windy, mellow and rich sound. It has a very thin layer of darkred urushi in the bore and has spot tuning added by Perry, which is particular of the chikusing models. The flute is in very good condition. For pics and an improv on the flute (mind I play for half a year).

Shakuhachi of old

2009-03-22T12:46:00.000+01:00

I have acquired myself a nice old flute of about late 19th century and to be said of belonging to the edo period (1603 - 1867). to even have a flute of that era and age is quite something to me. When the opportunity arised I got this flute, which is a komosu-flute and by itself not a great flute, but a nice one nonetheless. It is a 1.9 ish flute in tune (reasonably) to itself and it plays rather 'lovely' and sweet. The amount of possible meri-ing is amazing (1 full note is quite easy -even for a beginner such as I-). The tuning is a bit tacky at parts, but can be countered.

picture of the hanko

Overall I am very happy being able to play a flute of this era. I'll post a picture of the hanko as well and hope someone will recognize it. I became interested in reading about older flutes in this article by John Singer In Search of the Magic Flute
It is a nice read and has an interview at the bottom by Brian Tairaku Ritchie.

The Hanko displays the kanji for Nakajima (Naka-shima or could also be read Chutou.
It is probably an owners Hanko (not a makers).

About lessons

2009-03-10T19:07:00.000+01:00

Hiya,

My fourth and fifth lesson had passed as I write this. Even as I notice that learning does take place on my own, when I practice at home I feel lessons take me futher. The teacher pushes me to try it differently and think outside my own box. That is good, especially if you notice that it work and adds to the playing of the shak. Material is also presented in the order wich is logic to me, but it seems even more so after I am further, I can look back and see why. I wouldn't be able to do so on my own! So what does practice look like:
* ro buki and forms of blowing like muraiki
* songs which challenge the new or tricky notes like Bb Eb, Ri dai meri and Tsu dai meri.
* new honkyoku and pieces like Sanya
My teacher asked me to play an improvisation together on a opening of a Buddhist centre somewhere in the procence...isn't that nice!

Happy practicing!

Hon Shirabe Take 2

2009-01-29T21:23:00.001+01:00

Some time ago, begin this month I recorded my first take on the Hon Shirabe honkyoku
Instructions to play this piece and more honkyoku can be found at: bamboo-in
First take, so to speak was on a the Yuu on a simple headset pc microphone. Now I've got me a second hand USB Samson CO3U large membrane mic. I recorded Hon Shirabe again with it and on a different flute: an aged and well seasoned Tozan Saikado flute (full of stable cracks), about 50 years of age, I bought from Perry Yung. Which offers an admirable service to make shakuhachi accessable to a broader public. Go check his site! (there are of course more makers who do so).
The flutes plays well in my beginners opinion; more easy than the Yuu overall, more even, nicer kan, nicer sound, nicer appeal overall... Its quite heavy, even more than the Yuu!
Here is the recording I just did:
Hon Shirabe Take 2
Can you hear the difference with the 1 jan recording?

Learning vs. new flute's and collecting

2009-01-27T15:59:00.000+01:00

I don't consider myself a collector, but it didn't escape my notice, that my flute became flutes and now is a small collection. My enthousiasm has a great part in it. Momentarilly I have 4 flutes and I only play for a short while...Does that make sense? Probably not, learning -so I've read- can be done best on 'main flute'; learning the techniques, the notes, the breathing and all. But I've had so much fun playing different flutes! In that I feel its okay for me to 'collect' some interesting flutes and of course play them! Even if its detrimental to my learning progress in this time, I am willing to pay that price. I do not find many things so exciting as this flute. Taming that feeling is kinda hard perhaps. The fun is in the playing and in the learning, so it's only good that it takes a bit longer, no?
As I write this, maybe a 5th very special one -to me- will be added. A komosu edo period flute! If I get I'll post about it later and so I will do about the flutes I have currently, certainly with music (or sound) and maybe sometimes even video...
In the main time: enjoy playing.

The secret of the shakuhachi

2009-01-15T20:11:00.000+01:00

What is playing this flute about? What does make it so mysterious, so simple and yet so complex?
For me the playing the flute is the mystery. The flutes themselves can be so different and still be a shakuhachi, from a masterfull jiari to a quick made, but all natural jinashi... The learning of this flute can be seen as a joy -or frustration- in itself. One could try to reach goals, get really good, but it is just as sound to play your level, without need for that goal, to me this instrument is so non-goal like. Much unlike I have experienced with western instruments. This probalby has to do with the specific culture it originates from. But even in that there is no 'right' way, there are many ways, many visions. From the experimental to the very traditional. I love it! (from day one). The shakuhachi indeed found me, instead of the other way round and probably: there is no secret of the shakuhachi, the shakuhachi is the 'secret'.

1 januari recording Hon Shirabe

2009-01-01T17:15:00.000+01:00

Well happy new year!
I am now playing a short while on the Shakuhachi and enjoy it a lot! I even purchased new flutes as an addition and/ or replacement of my Yuu. Maybe a bit early, but I am happy to have two new flutes: a 2.4 (A) Yung Chikusen and a Chinese Madake Root (+/- G#) from Ken la Cosse (Mujitsu).
The yung is a semi-jinachi and the one from Ken a jinashi flute, with both very different playing and sound.
Another is comming a 50-jear old Seikado 1.8 also from Yung, so I am happy to have so many new flutes.
Now some sound: I recorded myself playing Hon Shirabe a Honkyoku piece I was and am studiing on. Feel free to listen and comment, for myself this blog and thus the recording is a nice way to record my progress and adventures with the shakuhachi-flute.
The link:
Hon Shirabe (on a Yuu)

Lesson 2 and 3

2008-12-22T13:29:00.000+01:00

Lesson 2 and 3 have passed, on writing this.

The focus was mainly on playing Kan notes:
* playing Ro, Tsu, Re, Ri and Go no Hi start blowing and halfway blow 'over' to kan-register. Sometimes moving the thumb just a little will help to get the tone.
A tip, or more a technique, (I think of vital importance) is this:
http://www.shakuhachiflutes.com/blow.htm
This technique of not blowing helped me a lot getting the right pressure behind my breath. Its the feeling in your abdomen of blowing a balloon.
A beautyfull song is is Wooden Ship from Uttara Kuru. Listen to it on I-meem:
http://www.imeem.com/runtor/music/U8UG1dmC/uttarakuru_wooden_ship/
Just try to play along (with a 1.8 D), it doesn't have meri notes of any kind, just the standard pentatonic ones...It goes up high though...but it is good to practise the change of otsu to kan (and it's a pretty song)...
* On the lessons I have several sheet music I play as well, those you will not find here. But on a few of them starting out with the beginning try to improvise in the feel of the music, use all you have learned or know in it.
* Also in these lessons I learned or attempted to play the B and E; one semitone down of C (Ri) and F( Tsu).

Lesson 1 and first post

2008-11-17T22:21:00.001+01:00

Monday 17 November. My first message in this Blog! This is a Blog about the wonderfull flute called the shakuhachi. I started to have lessons 3 weeks ago and bought my Shakuhachi Yuu.
See for more details: http://www.shakuhachiyuu.com/

As you can see I painted the Yuu look more original and bamboo-like with a stainer.
I didn't use any lacquer, so the stain will slowly become more faint.

First lesson for this month:

* play ro loud as long as possible on one breath: otsu ro. Repeat. Do the same but then as soft as you can, trying to let the sound 'ring' inside your head.

* Play ro, tsu, re, chi, ri as loud as you can on one breath, think a wide breath.

* Play those same note's, start in de lower otsu register then overblow to kan register (2nd register).

* Play re, then by tilting the flute make it sound lower: meri and by doing the opposite make it higher: kari.

* Play re meri softly and slowly make it louder en less meri, so you go from re meri to re on increasing volume.

* Practise the articulating of these notes.

These are the starters with some additional sheet music.