Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Congratulation, Kiku -- wish I could be there! I would especially love to hear the Yuji Takahashi and Frank Denyer pieces -- two of my favorite composers. I hope you are making a good recording of it.

All the best to you in that performance Kiku.  I too would love to get a recording of that concert.  You sent me the Takahashi score in the past and I'd love to hear it in done live by you.  It's certainly a challenging piece as I imagine the rest are.

Thank you guys for your encouragement!

Especially the Denyer piece is a bit scary. A year of practicing his pieces is what I think is necessary and I had much less time with this piece. Takahashi's piece is scary too because it is so simple that I really have to think and plan how to play this piece.

Regarding recordings. I have to make a recording of this as it will be a part of my thesis, but at a venue like this I have to use in-house recording, which means I have to pay someone there to do it. So I haven't decided what to do yet.

In-house recording is not a bad idea.They must have good equipment there. You will get a quality recording (Next CD :-)

Last edited by geni (2009-01-08 14:06:44)

Jeff Cairns wrote:

It has built in stereo condenser mics that run a fairly tight cardioid pattern in a Blumlein Pair configuration...

Blumlein is crossed figure-8 mics (such as ribbon), not cardioid.
Haven't run into a concert hall where the hanging mics are in Blumlein, as most ribbon mics are pretty heavy and the hanging is tricky to adjust -- more often it's ORTF or spaced omni configuration with small condenser mics such as Schoeps...

More to the point, if you can use the house system in a good concert hall, that's great -- they can afford the really good mics. The much bigger issue is who owns the masters and how much you have to pay.

Last edited by nyokai (2009-01-09 14:50:28)

Thanks Nyokai, I confused Blumlein and ORTF.  And you are quite right about cardiod.  I stand happily corrected.  The H4 still works well for the budget recording.

Hello there.
I am naturally very preoccupied with the concert that is coming closer very fast.

There is now a sound sample of one of the pieces to be premiered here:
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/all-ev … n-fl-44775

Its is the piece Night Flying Winter Cranes by Mogens Christensen.

Frank Denyer's Taimu piece... well, I still need the month left to practice - so it will take some more time before I will record it.
It has been so wonderful to really get deeply involved with a taimu. It is not easy to play new music that needs to - at times - move fast with these big holes, but the softness and depth of sound is incredible. I love it!

Here is the flyer for the concert. Those of you near or in London. Please come!

Last edited by Kiku Day (2009-02-19 05:02:53)

Classy poster, Kiku.

Thanks for the comments on the poster!
Yeah, that was a good collaboration between photographer Steve Double and designer Delmar Mavignier. I was horrible behind the camera - but Steve manage to take a few good moments of me!

The shakuhachi pictured is one of my favourite shakuhachi. I have made it myself. When I came across it in the bamboo grove I felt it was calling me saying 'Take me! Take me! I want to sound! I want to make music!' It is a male piece of bamboo, so it has very thick walls. The length is 2.9. It was harvested near Sakakita village in Nagano prefecture. Murai Eigoro and Okuda Atsuya helped me making it.
I am actually not playing it in the concert. But I play it very often so I took that for the picture. The longest shakuhachi I will play in the concert is a 2.8 made by Kodama.

Reg recordings. I will only have a DVD taken as I have to use in-house staff and it will cost me £2-300 for each recording I ask them to do. I need the DVD for my PhD thesis. Oh well....

Last edited by Kiku Day (2009-03-23 04:30:46)

Great posters!  Congratulations, Kiku, and best of luck with your recital.

Last edited by Daniel Ryudo (2009-03-24 01:09:39)

Congratulations. Onward Jinashi Soldiers!