Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Kiku,
   First of all, 3 out of 5 ain't bad. Plus we can learn a lot from our failures so because a project failed doesn't necessarily mean it was a waste of time. One way to help get over some of our less rewarding or even traumatizing experiences is to understand how they occurred and therefore be able to avoid them in the future.  When I was younger I felt like I had to take everything that came my way or I was somehow chickening out or not being a real warrior or not being supportive or whatever.   But the old show biz adage " the show must go on" is not always true. For example, I remember you said one of the composers was late getting the music to you. If he doesn't care about his own music enough to give the performer every chance to do a good job screw him. Bail with pride. Why should you have to take the fall for him? Don't be guilted into feeling like your letting him down. He let you down and his own music down.
     Sometimes people write stuff that just doesn't fit the instrument and I'm guessing when it comes to shakuhachi that's probably usually the case. I remember that Masa would get music from film composers and always had to adjust it to make it work for shakuhachi. Standing up there trying to play something that just doesn't fit the instrument can be an excruciating experience.
      So our painful experiences can be used to teach us to spot  hummers on approach and therefore be able to duck them.  Don't put yourself in situations that are doomed before it even gets to you. You're the one who has to go on stage and "take it  in the face".  Protect yourself. Telling someone "no" can be a liberating experience, especially if you have people pleasing tendencies.
             Hope you find some solace in these words.  I think you got a lot of guts.
                                      Cheers
                                          Jim

edosan wrote:

And, of course, there's always Bombay Sapphire...

Yeah, but you can't stay there.

Hi Jim and Tairaku.

Thanks for your answers and advice.
I can really see what you mean, Jim - not to say yes to bad projects that the performer would ultimately stand on stage with alone. However..... difficult when it is also the performer who had commissioned the composer. But it is worth thinking about - perhaps even say that there is this possibility before commissioning them.

Saying 'no' is something I have being practicing lately...

And yes, Tairaku - it is important not to loose spontaneity and keep on experimenting. And 3 good pieces for jinashi shakuhachi is not bad at all... The two other pieces are great pieces too, but just not what I was trying to do. One of the pieces has '... for shakuhachi, flute or recorder' in the title - so no wonder!

And I feel much better now after a good night's sleep. Ed, I did indeed take a glass of whisky - perhaps 1 cl - but I fell asleep and wasted my last fantastic drops of Croyden Gear. Oh well!

One person wrote to me that he has learned much more from failed projects than successful projects, because the success only confirmed what he already knew. So, onward....

Last edited by Kiku Day (2009-09-19 02:44:12)

Tairaku wrote:

Kiku Day wrote:

One of the pieces has '... for shakuhachi, flute or recorder' in the title - so no wonder!

Geez! That means the piece is about notes, not sounds. Shakuhachi is as much or more about sound as about notes. Composer did not understand the mission.

I would think you would have to play shakuhachi to write for it or at least have a players understanding of the instrument.

I have had no failures with what I call "corporeal composers": those who are performers themselves and understand the primacy of sound over academic abstraction, the physicality of playing, and the  instrument itself. I have turned down all projects that are through-notated by academic composers. Even a success doesn't feel like much of a success if my real community gets nothing but a small dose of intellectual interest out of the listening experience.

Some players, such as Kurahashi-sensei, think that as shakuhachi performers we should support, welcome, and work on all the compositions that come our way. I admire his generous attitude and professional dedication but respectfully take a different approach. I would rather try to move the literature forward -- or back -- to a more sensible corporeal approach, supporting only those composers who seem, to me, to "get it."

Mujitsu wrote:

One way I've gotten over failure is a mindset of joy of the process without an attachment to it.
How to get better at non attachment? Failure!

That's a good one, Ken - how Zen is that?
The process was hard, but I guess when I am more detached from it, it will strongly feel like it has been worth it after all.

I have certainly learned some serious lessons in how to collaborate with composers. I suppose that has been the biggest aim... so not too bad after all - had it not been for the bad taste in my mouth when I listen back to the two 'failure pieces'.
It also clarified to me the limitations of this instrument (and my own playing). All good to know - I suppose.

I agree, Nyokai that you need composers who 'get it'. But one of them for example did not fully get it. The difference between him and the other two composers was that he was open for serious revisions of the score. And this piece - I think - ended with being the most successful one.

The 3 pieces I think can be added to what I call a contemporary repertoire for jinashi shakuhachi are:
Sinubi by Takahashi Yuji
Woman with Jinashi shakuhachi by Frank Denyer
Night Flying Winter Cranes by Mogens Christensen

Sinubi was performed by Shimura last month. This been recorded and is going to be released next year. So, that piece at least is going to be distributed a bit. I look forward to hear his rendition.

nyokai wrote:

Some players, such as Kurahashi-sensei, think that as shakuhachi performers we should support, welcome, and work on all the compositions that come our way. I admire his generous attitude and professional dedication but respectfully take a different approach.

I am reminded of a conversation with Kurahashi sensei at the Sydney festival. He told me he didn't have time for lunch that day because he had to rehearse a "most terrible piece."

I would love to see the scores too. Would I have to perform the Denyer piece in drag?

nyokai wrote:

I would love to see the scores too. Would I have to perform the Denyer piece in drag?

I got dibs on picking the dress....

I have frequently found in different contexts that analyzing how something DOESN'T work helps identify what does work in specific ways or with nuances other than merely analyzing what works.

Maybe delineating the specific ways in which the compositions fell short of your needs or criteria could be a very useful part of your research?

hej Kiku, thats sounds great! I see it all as learning experience. I did a smoth jazz album sometimes ago.It took forever to finish it. Spend lots of of money with it..and in the end it sucked.Not my playing, but the prodeucer did a crapy job & I didn`t know much in that time.
So,I learned a lot from that experience, about me, about album production, arranging & putting together project.

I think the best is to compose your own jinashi pieces.

best
Geni

There is two things that makes me not compose my own jinashi shakuhachi pieces:

1) I am not a composer and I have seen pretty crappy pieces out there by players of minority instruments - so being able to play doesn't necessarily mean good at composing. There are, of course, some wonderful player/composer out there too. I know I will not be that good. I can make simple structured improvisation around certain themes - which I think have worked well... but a real piece. not me. 

2) I find that players when they compose they can get too confined to - not only what is idiomatic to the instrument but also what they can play themselves. And unless these player/composers are great players (and or composers) the piece risks becoming boring. Composers do - at best - take the performer to areas they have not been before. That is what I like about collaborating with composers. But - as this whole thread has begun with me ranting about this 'failure' I have to say it is an extremely fine balance between 'piece is safe and boring' - 'Piece takes performer to new areas of playing and thinking about the music' to 'piece failed because composer didn't understand which instrument he/she was composing for.