How was your lesson tonight? A question my wife asked me the other night. I answered "Great!" What made my lesson great? I started the lesson as many of you may have started a lesson a million times. I started off slightly frustrated with difficulties some of the pieces I have been working on were giving me and not necessarily feeling up to a lesson. As I have talked about on here many times my teacher is Michael "Chikuzen" Gould.

When I started my lesson I think Chikuzen could tell where my head was and did a great job of helping me work out the issues and break down my current piece in a way that was extremely helpful. Before I knew it I was being drawn excitedly into the piece I was working on and the frustration disolved into motivation. I think this is why it is critical to have a great teacher. I have worked with teachers in the past who seemed to be unaware of these things and only cultivated more frustration to the point where I was so discouraged that I no longer would work on a piece. Having had those kind of experiences in the past makes me even more appreciative of a great teacher like Chikuzen. He has helped me over "bumps" in my playing many times and after almost a year of near weekly lessons with him I cannot express how happy I am with the progress I have acheived. I am making this post to not only express how important I feel a great teacher is but to help those lost in the shakuhachi darkness to find the light so to speak.

If you are looking for a way to learn and don't live near a teacher or you are feeling frustrated with your current teacher you may want to contact Chikuzen for a skype lesson or an in person lesson if you are lucky enough to live close to him. I have been taking skype lesson with him from where I live in Florida and I have taken lessons with him in person at Ro camps and I can honestly say that the skype lessons are as good as the live lessons and just as beneficial. If you don't believe me you should try it. You won't be disappointed.

Sorry if this seems like a blatant "plug" but when you appreciate someone as much as I appreciate Chikuzen you want to let others know so they can benefit also.

I spent the day relaxing today down in the Gulf of Mexico. I was in the crystal clear waters of Anna Maria Island here in FL. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play my Senryu in the beautiful blue waters. I thought I would share a picture from today.

One of the PR people from WellSpring just sent me a picture of me playing through the waterfall. It looked nice. I wanted one like this but it would have been too hard for me to do myself :)

I played a 10 hour long day yesterday from 10am to 8pm at WellSpring in Tampa, FL. It was a great time and a great opportunity to meet many great people. WellSpring was celebrating their one year anniversary and they hired me to play shakuhachi in their garden throughout the day to help with the atmosphere. WellSpring is a large healthcare facility specializing in state of the art Oncology. They have brought patient care back to the forefront and work to make patients calm and cared for. The entire staff and atmosphere there is very relaxing and it has a very warm and loving feel to it. They had tea ceremony in the garden while I played as well as a japanese food tasting. I have some pictures my friend Jon Kypros (Shingetsu Flutes) took before the party got in full swing and the garden filled up. A highlight of the day was when an older Japanese lady sat down next to me on a bench and began to sing Sakura with me. She said her mother used to sing that wong to her all the time and she hadn't heard it in years. Seeing her smile made my day.

My Shugyo is over and I am on the way to the performance tomorrow. I am glad I stuck with the shugyo nad it has definitely made me a better player and given me more stamina. I will post pictures from the gardens when I get back Thursday.

So I am well into my shugyo and I have been playing about 5 hours a day at this point and I noticed a great increase in my stamina and tone, until today. It has been a rough day. I don't know if it is because of embouchure fatigue or being too tight. So I went back to long tone songs like Kyorei today and it has been loosening up. Reminds me of the old saying, "This to shall pass". Some days are good some are bad. When things seem like they aren't going quite the way I would like with my playing I change it up and do something completely different then what I was doing and it seems to put things back in order.

I am in the middle of this shugyo and one thing I remembered when playing the pieces during practice is that you want to perform the pieces as you play them and not think practice. It makes me play the piece the best I can which is the idea. If I think I am just practicing I tend to not take it as serious and stop in the middle of pieces. I do still practice techniques and fingering but at the same time while I am at the point in my practice where I am playing pieces I try to think of it in terms of performance. This is just something I was really concentrating on today so I thought I would share it. Performance not practice.

If you play the shakuhachi for any period of time and need help keeping good posture while being comfortable I can't recommend a zafu and zabuton enough. If sitting seiza isn't your cup of tea you will be very comfortable sitting cross legged or lotus using this combo pillow and cushion. The Zafu is filled with buckwheat hulls so it won't collapse on you and the zabuton is filled with plush batting to keep the knees and feet comfortable. I just bought a new combo on ebay from a wonderful lady who makes them as part of her zen practice and they came very highly recommended and very very reasonably priced. Her handmade zafu and zabuton combo cost the same as the mass produce zafu on most sites. You can check them out here!

We did another small run of the hand carved shakuhachi pendants we make from solid bar stock 316L Surgical Stainless Steel. each is hand turned on a small lathe and drilled all the way through with finger holes in the correct spot and a small removeable screw in eyelet to hang it from a chain. You can find it here on Ebay.

Shugyo (修行) may be defined literally as "conducting oneself in a way that inspires mastery". While the meaning of the kanji used in "shu" was originally translated as 'using a brush to strike away the dust that obscures the viewing of a persons original elegance', the combined kanji of "shu" and "gyo" (carrying out, walking along) is now generally translated as simply "severe or austere training". The kanji rendered for this version of "shugyo" is most commonly associated with Buddhist asceticism, and most notably, the "shugenja" (修験者, ascetic mountain-dwelling monks). Definition from Tsuki Kage Dojo

I recently started a shugyo and it is amazing how quickly it has made a difference in my playing. I will be playing in Tampa FL at a "Zen" oncology center on April 22nd and I will be playing in the garden to provide some atmosphere during an open house. The catch is that it is a ten hour long obligation. Essentially, I will be playing for 30 minute followed by a 20 minute break throughout the day except for a 1 hour lunch break and dinner break. I have started playing in 1/2 hr increments through the day with 1/2 hr breaks to get prepared. I started off doing it for 4 hrs and every 2 days I am going to add an hour to the mix to get me to the 10 hrs by April 22nd. In just a couple of days of doing it I have noticed a big upswing in consistency and strength. It is a lot of fun and if you have never untaken a Shugyo I recommend it. It can be done in many forms. If you see Phil Nyokai James tip page you can find a few simple Shugyo to start with. If you start one let me know in comments.

For those who haven't attended a RO Camp with Michael Chikuzen Gould you are missing out.  Last year I took a lot of pictures while RO camp was going on at Craig Ciola's house.  If you want to see what you missed click here to see last years pictures!  Chikuzen has decided to make this camp one day longer and pack it with even more music.  So the dates are June 5th-8th now.  See Chikuzen Studios page for details!  Sorry to keep bringing this up but I am trying to get as many shakuhachi players together in one place.  

Today am going to post one of my teachers blog entries as it is very good and answers some questions I get from beginners. You can find Chikuzen's Blog and more here!


Is shakuhachi hard to play?
This perspective is mainly aimed at the beginner who needs some basic images of what he /she is getting into when undertaking the study of shakuhachi. It could also be useful for teachers to pigeonhole the general aspects of playing shakuhachi.


I hear people talk about shakuhachi being difficult to play. This is true in the beginning but there's need to think this way forever. Gaining confidence in the beginning is about appreciating the small steps and building on your experiences. You can also gain some confidence by just knowing the "nature of the beast", so to speak. Shakuhachi is a "lazy" instrument so you have to do all the work! You probably have noticed early in your playing experience that there are NO LEVERS on the shakuhachi to push and pull to help you change the pitches, like on a clarinet or sax. There also are NO CHAMBERS in the shakuhachi nor an external bag like bagpipes to help in the breathing. Also, there is no mouthpiece to help you in making sound, just a blowing edge. So, here's why it's difficult at first to play:
1) we have to make the breathing apparatus with out own body;
2)we have to create levers to move around with our fingers and head movement;
3) we have to develop the mouthpiece(s) to use for creating different sounds.


Let's look at these one at a time.


#1. No chambers: you'll have to learn belly breathing. You'll also have to learn correct/effective posture and how to hold the shakuhachi. Even if you have been meditating for years, or singing you'll have to learn how to breath WITH the shakuhachi in your hands and up to your mouth. In other words, make it shakuhachi specific. Learning to belly breath will come sooner than you realize but it won't show up as a result to really effect influence sound for a while. You'll have to learn how to keep your throat open and where to put your tongue. Patience!


#2. Once you have some consistancy with sound and begin playing sounds you will learn how to manipulate the sound using your fingers. You'll be doing what's called "half holing" and "shading", sometimes at the same time on two different holes while at the same time moving your head up and down and/or to the side and in circles. These finger movements will need to be very efficient and effective so that you can do the same movement again and again so as to get the same desired result. We have to make the levers we use in playing. Of course, it's very personal since your fingers are going to become these levers and you'll learn to enjoy this aspect of shakuhachi very much. It's another place where you and the bamboo are becoming one together. There are ways to do this that an accomplished teacher can show help you with. Don't overlook this aspect of playing either as it will haunt you until you give it the attention it needs and deserves.


#3. The mouthpiece. Just as in #1 & #2, you'll have to make a "mouthpiece" that helps you achieve your desired goal of making certain sounds. Or, just one sound at the beginning. Most people will form an embouchure from doing whatever it takes at first to make a sound. Then, since it was successful they continue with this. That's about all one can do at first but soon after getting consistent sound you'll need to start taking a close look at this embouchure and seeing if it is really effective as could be. Thinking natural it probably isn't since you haven't been playing shakuhachi very long. You'll need to use a mirror and also get much advice from your teacher concerning this, if the teacher is willing to help you. Some teachers prefer to let you go at it yourself in the trial and error method. In the end, you'll do that anyways but there are some useful tips on this aspect of playing that could help you not "reinvent the wheel". It's best to get help with this early as most stubborn people wait to long thinking they can do it themselves and end up with bad habits.


The 4th area of concern will be in learning to read the scores. Approach this as one would to learn a language. So anything you can do to use the language more makes you better at it. Write it down over and over; read it; say it out loud; sing the songs out loud, etc.


In a nutshell, you can see that all of these areas of focus mean that you have to make something with your body that doesn't exist yet:


1. A breathing apparatus with chambers (lung, wind pipe, belly movement, etc).
2. Levers to push and pull with your fingers.
3. Mouthpiece(s); (using your lips, chin teeth, bones, tongue position, etc.).
4. Learn some basic japanese.


Now you know why it's difficult at first. We are lucky to get any sound at all. However, these things can all be done. This is why you should have confidence that it's not going to be difficult forever. You have to tell yourself that you will be able to effectively create all these things and then you'll be able to enjoy playing very much. So, enjoy creating these and making shakuhachi part of you and you part of it.