Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

-Prem posted this elsewhere but I thought I'd stick it here as well so that when people read this thread they can access it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sxo7-WgifY

geni wrote:

he needs to practice some exercises from  Steve Lacy book;-) (we all do)

Lacy=GOD

geni wrote:

he needs to practice some exercises from  Steve Lacy book;-) (we all do)

I'd like to check this out but I'm probably not going to shell out $100 for a used copy. Anyone reprinting this?

What are some of the best shakuhachi-relevant excercises from Lacy?

Sounds like good stuff from a great musician.

ABRAXAS wrote:

geni wrote:

he needs to practice some exercises from  Steve Lacy book;-) (we all do)

I'd like to check this out but I'm probably not going to shell out $100 for a used copy. Anyone reprinting this?

$100 gets two CD's and a book. Not too bad. One of the CD's is mainly Lacy practicing scales, arpeggios, exercises, long tones, etc. Sounds like it might be boring but it is F^%&^%ng! GREAT! Listening to him practice is an incredible inspiration and a warning because "we" do not sound anything like that. Shows you how far you have to go.

ABRAXAS wrote:

geni wrote:

he needs to practice some exercises from  Steve Lacy book;-) (we all do)

I'd like to check this out but I'm probably not going to shell out $100 for a used copy. Anyone reprinting this?

What are some of the best shakuhachi-relevant excercises from Lacy?

Sounds like good stuff from a great musician.

I don't know Lacy's method. Geni has me using a different method by someone else. There are plenty of jazz improvisational methods on the market, probably because jazz improvisation is really hard and selling methods can be a good source of income. I was getting tips from an outstanding silver flute improviser, Bill McBirnie, and he said that improvisational technique is much harder to learn than the instrument. The degree of difficulty of shakuhachi compared to silver flute I'm sure levels the playing field some, but a statement like that coming from such a solid player ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdzMUIHpHu0 ) should give a clue to how hard it is to learn. I never succeeded in learning it much at all, but I certainly tried. Now, with computer technology making it easy to create play-along tracks that you can customize tempo, key signature and other aspects of the song... and with a little help from Geni, I think maybe I have a bit better of a chance.         

The method Geni has me using is new to me. Its biggest advantage to others that I've seen is that the concept is simple, however it still entails a lot of the kind of practice that's not particularly fun (unlike trying to get your shakuhachi to cover the full spectrum of sound it's capable of).

This is something I just found and looked over. It's a jazz improvisation method that has a lot of commonality with others I've seen, it's free and is a good starting point.   
http://www.jazclass.aust.com/im1.htm


Edit -- Whoops! Bill's video is in three parts, here's his solo on the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9o2L3oC_o

Last edited by radi0gnome (2010-01-24 15:46:28)

Tairaku wrote:

Charles, Lacy's book and CD are not instructional from a beginner's viewpoint. It's philosophical and has a lot of exercises that can be adapted for any instrument. But sax players will get the most out of it because it's written for sax, specifically soprano.

So that would be like one of Steve Lacy's exercises you mentioned earlier, I think it was walking while playing, one note per step? Any others??

hi Charles, Bill is a great improviser. He did practise lots of Charlie Parker solos from Omnibook & lots transcriptions. But, with shakuhachi is different. We don't want the shakuhachi to sound like a jazz flute. The key to improv with shakuhachi is:
to know the instument very very well, its background (tradional study) the vocabulary (patterns of shakuhachi music). To know what can be played & what can not be played.
Next step to is develop a improv system that works for the shaku,so when you play you sound like a shakuhachi not a flute or saxophone.
In order to do that we need to do research ;-) See what people before us have done, how they did it , what did they practice & more important..do we like that? Do we want to sound like that?
etc...

ABRAXAS wrote:

Haha! Ok, you've talked me into it.

N.B.: It's in western notation, innit?

[Yep, it is. More learning fun for YOU!  47 bucks at the Jazz Loft: http://www.jazzloft.com/p-41855-finding … 2-cds.aspx

Last edited by edosan (2010-01-24 20:13:01)

The Lacy book is great and the CD is a good listening experience on its own. But for shakuhachi James Nyoraku's books are more useful and accomplish some of the same things. I would recommend getting both.

I'm going to do something radical and reply to a thread on the forum. I had Sabu Orimo down here for Mona Foma in Tasmania and he was an excellent performer and fun to play with as well. He's a true artist.

https://www.google.com/search?q=sabu+or … &dpr=2

Follow that search and you can see some videos.