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#1 2006-08-08 20:09:15

amokrun
Member
From: Finland
Registered: 2006-08-08
Posts: 413

Greetings from Finland.

Greetings. I recently found this forum purely by chance. I have been playing shakuhachi for slightly less than a year now. On some days I don't do it at all and on others I can end up doing it for close to 10 hours. Unfortunately I haven't had the possibility of learning from a teacher, since I'm fairly sure none exist in Finland or anywhere that would be close enough. In fact, I'm not entirely sure how many shakuhachi players live in Finland to begin with. Regardless, I have had this feeling that I might not even enjoy formal training as much as I like simply playing and learning by trying.

Apart from being a shakuhachi novice, I am a computer science student at University of Helsinki. I also occasionally develop custom programs to get some flute oil and food on the table, in that order.

I really don't have a specific reason to play shakuhachi, other than that I enjoy doing it. Since my studies and work are both rather theoretical in nature, I have intentionally tried to not get too theoretical with my shakuhachi studies. I have tried to not study how things work in theoretical sense. In fact, every time when I tried to analytically figure out something, my progress more or less stopped. When I got back to just playing and enjoying the sound, I started to notice that I naturally learned new things. The sudden feeling that hits you when you realize that you just did something new without much effort is what keeps me going in a way.

I will apologise in front for all the questions I'll be asking. There are several things I've wanted to ask from someone, if only just to confirm that what I learned by intuition is more or less correct.

Oh, one more thing. If anyone on these forums happens to be from Finland or some nearby country, do drop me a note. I would love to chat with other like-minded people.

- Matti Suominen

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#2 2006-08-08 21:08:39

Tairaku 太楽
Administrator/Performer
From: Tasmania
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 3226
Website

Re: Greetings from Finland.

Hey Matti,

Welcome to the forum! Wow that's a nice avatar, where did you get it?

I think the closest shakuhachi player to you is Gunnar Linder in Stockholm. You could take that ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm, eat the smorgasbord and take a lesson. He is not on the forum but if you'd like his information I can give it to you.

I performed shakuhachi at your Museum of Natural History in Helsinki. That was memorable. A lot of people were crying. They said it reminded them of Laplander singing.


'Progress means simplifying, not complicating' : Bruno Munari

http://www.myspace.com/tairakubrianritchie

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#3 2006-08-09 05:55:32

amokrun
Member
From: Finland
Registered: 2006-08-08
Posts: 413

Re: Greetings from Finland.

Tairaku wrote:

Wow that's a nice avatar, where did you get it?

It's from an old Super Nintendo game called Ganbare Goemon 3 which ended up being translated to Mystical Ninja or some such. There are dozens of those games for different consoles, as well as anime series and other material. The theme is a sort of parody on medieval Japan. Most of the enemies are caricatures of various well known japanese stereotypes such as crazed iaidokas, komuso monks and drunken boxing monks. That character is one of the enemies you encounter and tried to smack you with a shakuhachi if he manages to get close enough.

The nice thing about that game was that it was perhaps one of the first experiences I had of shakuhachi music. Music in that game is like traditional japanese music turned into something faster and more up-beat. Even given the limitations in SNES console, I still loved the music the first time I heard it. Naturally I had no idea what it was back then, so it was only recently that I figured what it had been that I liked all along.

Tairaku wrote:

I think the closest shakuhachi player to you is Gunnar Linder in Stockholm. You could take that ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm, eat the smorgasbord and take a lesson. He is not on the forum but if you'd like his information I can give it to you.

That could work at some point. We visit Stockholm every now and then, as my girlfriend's grandmother lives there. She is getting too old and doesn't like to travel as much anymore, so we try to compensate by visiting her occasionally.

If he doesn't mind, I could certainly see when we can plan our next trip. Should be worth it, even if for no other reason than to get to see someone with more experience play a bit.

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