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#1 2010-06-06 18:55:03

Kiku Day
Shakuhachi player, teacher and ethnomusicologist
From: London, UK & Nørre Snede, DK
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 922
Website

away for the summer

Hello all

Letting you know that the jinashi moderator is away on meditation retreat between 10 June and 25 July 2010.
Just in the unlikely case of some topic flaring up.... smile
Have a nice summer and blow well everyone!


I am a hole in a flute
that the Christ's breath moves through
listen to this music
Hafiz

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#2 2010-06-06 19:49:13

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

Re: away for the summer

While the jinashi cat is away the jimori mice will play. ;_)

But before you split you still have to answer Riley's question you said you'd get to.......................


'Progress means simplifying, not complicating' : Bruno Munari

http://www.myspace.com/tairakubrianritchie

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#3 2010-06-07 01:53:07

Kiku Day
Shakuhachi player, teacher and ethnomusicologist
From: London, UK & Nørre Snede, DK
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 922
Website

Re: away for the summer

mmmm....... I'll take a look at that sticky if I have a moment! wink


I am a hole in a flute
that the Christ's breath moves through
listen to this music
Hafiz

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#4 2010-06-07 06:32:15

Dun Romin
Member
From: Holland
Registered: 2008-04-19
Posts: 136

Re: away for the summer

This Prague mouse is looking forward to see jinashi cat in August and wishes her a nice holiday/retreat.


Tomorrow's wind only blows tomorrow. (Koji)

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#5 2010-06-07 08:11:30

Christopher B.
Member
From: Berlin, Germany
Registered: 2009-03-17
Posts: 235
Website

Re: away for the summer

All the best on your retreat...Dont get lost but maybe getting lost is better in this case, sometimes smile

Last edited by Christopher B. (2010-06-08 16:47:07)


In reality it is Ha,Ro,Ha,Ro... ~Sensei~
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do you know that life is a dream? Cause there is a way to wake up!
http://naturalbreath.wordpress.com/

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#6 2010-07-07 01:18:29

Moran from Planet X
Member
From: Here to There
Registered: 2005-10-11
Posts: 1524
Website

Re: away for the summer

Missing ji-nashi warrior goddess. sad

http://shakuhachibeat.blogspot.com/2010 … hi-on.html

Last edited by Chris Moran (2010-07-07 02:10:05)


"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I am all out of bubblegum." —Rowdy Piper, They Live!

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#7 2010-07-09 23:07:24

Moran from Planet X
Member
From: Here to There
Registered: 2005-10-11
Posts: 1524
Website

Re: away for the summer

It seems like only Yesterday ...

http://shakuhachibeat.blogspot.com/2010 … uly-9.html

Last edited by Chris Moran (2010-07-22 23:25:38)


"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I am all out of bubblegum." —Rowdy Piper, They Live!

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#8 2010-07-27 07:44:37

Kiku Day
Shakuhachi player, teacher and ethnomusicologist
From: London, UK & Nørre Snede, DK
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 922
Website

Re: away for the summer

Chris Moran wrote:

Missing ji-nashi warrior goddess. sad

I must admit.... I think I like this guy (if it really was me he was talking about)  lol

Hello shakuhachi people! I hope you have had a wonderful summer so far (winter for those down under) ! ! !

I am back from the 40 day meditation retreat in the Norwegian mountains.
Wonderful! Good for the soul (and for playing)!

Nice to see lots of activities here on the forum with some interesting topics.


I am a hole in a flute
that the Christ's breath moves through
listen to this music
Hafiz

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#9 2010-07-27 14:25:39

airin
Member
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Registered: 2008-10-17
Posts: 303
Website

Re: away for the summer

Welcome back Kiku!

Can you say a little more about the shakuhachi playing you were able to do while on retreat?  Could you play often?  And what did you focus on playing?  Was there a particular place suitable to playing the flute so as to not distract others orm perhaps, even enhance the retreat experience for others?

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#10 2010-07-28 02:29:59

Kiku Day
Shakuhachi player, teacher and ethnomusicologist
From: London, UK & Nørre Snede, DK
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 922
Website

Re: away for the summer

airin wrote:

Welcome back Kiku!

Can you say a little more about the shakuhachi playing you were able to do while on retreat?  Could you play often?  And what did you focus on playing?  Was there a particular place suitable to playing the flute so as to not distract others orm perhaps, even enhance the retreat experience for others?

Thanks, Erin.
We were only two persons on this retreat. So it was not an organised one with teaching and many people around. Just the two of us in a cottage in the Norwegian mountains. We hardly saw anybody (people in the next cottage a few days during our last weeks) - such a privilege! So, no people, no TV,radio or news. Mobile phones switched off - only our retreat mobile phone was checked once a day in case of family emergency.

Our meditation session is 50 minutes and we did 6 session a day. During the afternoon session, however, I played the shakuhachi. So I had one hour of playing fixed every day - and then what else I played during the breaks.

My focus on the shakuhachi was in fact really to get back playing again. I had experienced a severe depression in playing which unfortunately lasted for more than 3 years. I had hardly any joy in playing during that period. So a lot of techniques including embouchure was in a pretty bad shape. During the retreat where I started playing just honkyoku and I enjoyed it so much again. Such a relief!
I focused mainly on 3 things in the playing apart from long notes: 1) Training on my 3.2 which I still can't play that well. SO nice to practice long flutes again and enjoy the vibrations of the deep notes. 2) Practicing honkyoku. 3) Practicing on Frank Denyer's piece 'Woman with Jinashi Shakuhachi' which was specifically written for an Ab Taimu. I have played the piece in concert a couple of times, but in order to make a recording of it, I probably need an extra year of practicing on it so it was good with focus on it during these 6 weeks. It's an amazing piece!

I mostly played in the cottage which had a lovely view over the mountains and valleys. Some times I played outside if there were not too much wind. I loved playing near the stream (which was also our bath and dish washing place). The last week I put up a mosquito net in a tree and sat in that and played. smile

My partner did indeed say he enjoyed meditating during that session where I played. But he is biased! But if I played new music he sometimes corrected my intonation. Oh well... these orchestral musicians...

I can recommend it. It was really lovely! wink


I am a hole in a flute
that the Christ's breath moves through
listen to this music
Hafiz

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#11 2010-07-28 04:20:09

Moran from Planet X
Member
From: Here to There
Registered: 2005-10-11
Posts: 1524
Website

Re: away for the summer

Kiku Day wrote:

Chris Moran wrote:

Missing ji-nashi warrior goddess. sad

I must admit.... I think I like this guy (if it really was me he was talking about)  lol.

Well, of course. But ... I don't know how your partner would feel about that, though.

I know that my wife would hand me my head on a plate.

-- and welcome back, by the way!


"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I am all out of bubblegum." —Rowdy Piper, They Live!

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#12 2010-07-28 10:31:27

Josh
PhD
From: Grand Island, NY/Nara, Japan
Registered: 2005-11-14
Posts: 305
Website

Re: away for the summer

Hi Kiku,
  Welcome back!  I think everyone goes through those ups-and-downs in their playing, improving, and enthusiasm. It's natural.
I'm glad you found your passion again, I'm sure it never left you. Getting back to basics is always a rejuvenating feeling. See you soon hopefully.

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#13 2010-07-28 11:37:18

airin
Member
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Registered: 2008-10-17
Posts: 303
Website

Re: away for the summer

Kiku, thanks for your candid description of the meditation retreat and your experiences of reconnecting with the shakuhachi in that setting.  It seems very wise to take the time to sit in quiet retreat as you did in order to deepen inner peace and to allow the rest of your being to relax and restore.

And, what better way to refresh your relationship with the sound of the bamboo but to just settle into honkyoku?!  Wonderful!

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#14 2010-07-28 18:57:22

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

Re: away for the summer

Kiku Day wrote:

My focus on the shakuhachi was in fact really to get back playing again. I had experienced a severe depression in playing which unfortunately lasted for more than 3 years.)

Do you think that was from playing too much modern music?


'Progress means simplifying, not complicating' : Bruno Munari

http://www.myspace.com/tairakubrianritchie

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#15 2010-07-28 21:10:16

radi0gnome
Member
From: Kingston NY
Registered: 2006-12-29
Posts: 1030
Website

Re: away for the summer

Tairaku 太楽 wrote:

Kiku Day wrote:

My focus on the shakuhachi was in fact really to get back playing again. I had experienced a severe depression in playing which unfortunately lasted for more than 3 years.)

Do you think that was from playing too much modern music?

Or maybe getting an advanced degree?


"Now birds record new harmonie, And trees do whistle melodies;
Now everything that nature breeds, Doth clad itself in pleasant weeds."
~ Thomas Watson - England's Helicon ca 1580

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#16 2010-08-04 03:16:36

Kiku Day
Shakuhachi player, teacher and ethnomusicologist
From: London, UK & Nørre Snede, DK
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 922
Website

Re: away for the summer

Kiku Day wrote:

My focus on the shakuhachi was in fact really to get back playing again. I had experienced a severe depression in playing which unfortunately lasted for more than 3 years.)

Tairaku 太楽 wrote:

Do you think that was from playing too much modern music?

radi0gnome wrote:

Or maybe getting an advanced degree?

I think it was actually a combination of these two aspects. One thing is to play a lot of modern music - I think I could have coped with that. But when it is combined with the pressure of having to come with academically satisfying results + having to analyse the process including my own mistakes and weak points.... But it was also a lot of fun and I learned a lot!

And it is all in the past now. smile


I am a hole in a flute
that the Christ's breath moves through
listen to this music
Hafiz

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#17 2010-08-04 16:29:48

Karmajampa
Member
From: Aotearoa (NZ)
Registered: 2006-02-12
Posts: 574
Website

Re: away for the summer

I go through downs and ups regularly, not extremely polarised.
It feels easier to play when I am feeling 'up' and I have to make particular effort to play when I am feeling more 'down'. But, and this somehow brings me back to some point of faith, when I play after feeling 'down' it always clears my feelings and brings me back to an equilibrium.

I think when I get more 'goal-oriented' I am more susceptible to self criticism and re-active depression when I miss my goal.
But if I deepen my meditation I get more 'path oriented' and this is so very different.

K.


Kia Kaha !

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#18 2010-08-04 19:35:44

Zakarius
Member
From: Taichung, TAIWAN
Registered: 2006-04-12
Posts: 361

Re: away for the summer

I've had a similar experience with intellect stifling creativity... When I was in college, I was a fiend for poetry. In addition to taking numerous undergrad and graduate poetry workshops, I also took a few classes which focused more on explication (analysis) of well-known poets/poems. That process of unfolding a poem to find out how it works sent my own poetry into intellectual drivel instead of the heartfelt images which comprise strong poetry.

"Poetry explication is like cutting a cat open to see how it purrs." -- Tama Baldwin

Zak


塵も積もれば山となる -- "Chiri mo tsumoreba yama to naru." -- Piled-up specks of dust become a mountain.

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#19 2010-08-05 09:58:38

Rick Riekert
Member
Registered: 2008-03-13
Posts: 100

Re: away for the summer

Zakarius wrote:

I've had a similar experience with intellect stifling creativity... That process of unfolding a poem to find out how it works sent my own poetry into intellectual drivel instead of the heartfelt images which comprise strong poetry.

The fault, dear ‘Karius, is not in our intellects,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.


Mastery does not lay in the mastery of technique, but in penetrating the heart of the music. However, he who has not mastered the technique will not penetrate the heart of the music.
~ Hisamatsu Fûyô

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#20 2010-08-05 10:39:49

Jim Thompson
Moderator
From: Santa Monica, California
Registered: 2007-11-28
Posts: 421

Re: away for the summer

In the 1950's Miles Davis studied briefly with Manhattan School of Music/Julliard trumpet teacher William Vacchiano. Vacchiano was big on teaching trumpet students to transpose in all keys. 

   " If the piano is in the key of E, where does that put the trumpet?"

     Miles replied, "Back in the fucking case!"

    Fact or myth..... it is very funny....


" Who do you trust , me or your own eyes?" - Groucho Marx

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