Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Perfect sense Rick. Welcome!

Welcome Rick. You make a lot of sense.   Stick with it.

Last edited by chikuzen (2009-08-03 18:09:11)

Thanks everyone! I feel at home here!

Hi Rick,
I understand how you feel about the limitations of Irish trad music.  I think it *can* be quite profound, but maybe not in a session at the local pub.  I have a couple nice Irish whistles but haven't gone farther than learning a few simple tunes.
The reason I'm posting is that I have a notion about why the shakuhachi is so interesting, but I'm also a newbie so I'd like to hear what others think about it. 
The shakuhachi allows not only for a lot of gradual shading between notes (sharp/flat), but also a lot of variation in tonal quality (breathiness, overtones, etc.).  Granted, a transverse flute such as the Irish flute offers some of the same possibilities, but the shakuhachi positively encourages them.  More to the point, the shakuhachi music I've heard so far seems to exploit them to the hilt. 
I tend to think that music exists on a spectrum between the purely mechanical and mathematical aspects of melody/harmony/timing per se (think of a Bach piece played very precisely by a computer) and the "expressive" aspect (think of a late John Coltrane solo, eschewing melody, chords etc. in favor of pure passion).
My impression is that shakuhachi music (at any rate, the shakuhachi music I like) leans towards the expressive end of the spectrum;  it's less about playing a melody than it is about *sound*.  When music veers into the realm of pure sound, it requires a lot of attention, a lot of focus;  it becomes more "in the moment" and therefore "something deeper and more profound", as you put it.
That's what I find attractive about the shakuhachi, at any rate (apart from the lovely sound of bamboo).  I'd love to hear what others think.

Benson
(P.S. I also have a Yung flute, a 2.2 that I take out on my little porch and play before going to bed.  My cat comes out and sits next to me.  It's something to look forward to all day.  Keep up the good work, Perry!)

uosuaq wrote:

My impression is that shakuhachi music (at any rate, the shakuhachi music I like) leans towards the expressive end of the spectrum;  it's less about playing a melody than it is about *sound*.  When music veers into the realm of pure sound, it requires a lot of attention, a lot of focus;  it becomes more "in the moment" and therefore "something deeper and more profound", as you put it.

Yes exactly.

It seems to me that whenever I play songs, even very well written ones, there is the sense that I am merely sharing in or relating to the thoughts and feelings expressed by the writer/composer. In other words it's not truly self-expression. It is true that a good musician or singer can effectively project his ego into a song and we say that he "made that song his own," but for me that still wouldn't be the authentic experience I'm seeking.

I could write my own songs, but even then playing them would just be a rehearsed reiteration, an artificial recreation, of the moment in which I wrote the song. How can you be fully in the present moment and be allowing it to unfold when you already know exactly what notes you will play -- let's say, what the *sound* will be -- a minute from now, two minutes from now, and worst of all, exactly when the sound will end?

The shakuhachi seems ideal for transcending all of that. Focusing on pure sound, while you yourself are creating that sound, has a remarkable way of taking you out of your everyday world (the world of your ego) and into the realm of the Self. What comes to mind just now is a passage from The Power of Myth with Joseph Campbell in which he describes the function of a great cathedral as being a means of temporarily leaving the world behind and having one's mind lifted to a higher plane and through that experience achieving a sense of connection to the transcendent mystery of life. The challenge then is to maintain that connection when one reenters the world. This is what certain prayers, mantras and meditations are for. I'm beginning to think that playing shakuhachi has the potential for performing the same function as a mantra and perhaps, just perhaps, the function of a cathedral as well.

I am so new to the shakuhachi that the ideas expressed above are not as yet fully formed in my mind, but expressing them has helped me to see them a little more clearly.

Thanks everyone for listening and for sharing your ideas!

Rick

Yes Kouu, definitely some days the bamboo flute creates the cathedral for the mind....and on other days it will manifest a cold, damp cave.  One environment is not necessarily better than the other, I have found, but rather where ever the sounds take me is usually a very fascinating, and often quite new, place to be.

Kouu wrote:

Great blog Bas!

Your ShakuJungle improv video sounds and looks great.

Did you paint your Yuu? It looks better that way.

Thanks! Yes I stained my Yuu, brown (which was ok) and then black with a marker, which I am not so happy with...It will fade in time