GET YOUR OWN CUSTOM SHAKUHACHI!
SAMURAI, RONIN AND THEIR WEAPON!
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TEACH YOURSELF THE SHAKUHACHI The shakuhachi web site |
Every beginning shakuhachi player oughta'
have a highly qualified tutor!
But some of us just can't!
But there isn't one sensei available here in Florida . . . . In fact, I've only found one other shakuhachi PLAYER in Florida! So I'm having to teach myself. . . . But, having taught myself the Great Highland Bagpipes, cello, banjo, recorder, transverse bamboo flute, concertina, ocarina, chromatic harmonica, and a number of lesser instruments - I'd almost prefer to have it this way!
SHOOT - YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT TO DO! JUST GO DO IT! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE THEN PRACTICE! THAT'S ABOUT ALL YOUR TEACHER CAM REALLY SAY TO YOU!
AND HERE'S MY PRECISE LEARNING AGENDA!
Plus I've made four additional PVC shakuhachi, including one monster 37" x 1" bass with a low "F" ro. Actually, all of my home-grown ones plays just fine, and I frequently use my 1.8' home-made for daily practice. 2. But, second step, I bought a book and tape - Carl Abbott's "Blowing Zen", and it's reasonably good. I particularly like his Kinko notation, as opposed to Tozan. I was terrified at first by Japanese notation, but it's not tough at all, once you get into it a day or so - a piece of cake compared to the notation for the Great Highland Bagpipes! And, if you're gonna' play a shakuhachi, you've gotta' learn at least Kinko! 3. However, I then also got John Kaizan Neptune's book and CD. And they are superlative indeed. Woe is me, however, John uses the Tozan notation system, so now I'm getting to learn (read: "having to learn") both schools simultaneously! But John also has the western notation for each Tozan exercise, so I can cheat a little from time to time. But I also practice in Neptune's western notation section, same as above. 4. Buy an inexpensive electronic tuner, like the Yamaha YT-2200. I have virtual perfect pitch, but I leave it turned on and sitting on my music stand during most of the time I'm practicing. And I make certain the green light stays top dead center or a little right all the time. Not so much for the pitch alone, but for the proper embouchure also. 5. Practice, practice, practice, practice - I warm up with four long tones for each open hole - otsu and kan (low and next higher registers) - increasing volume then diminishing, fingering low to high octaves two times with vibrato, two without. Then I work on Abbott's book. I always start at the first exercise and go through as far as I've been able to get, trying to add a new exercise every day or two (or three or four). Then I hit Neptune's book. REPETITION AND ZONING ARE KEY IN LEARNING ANYTHING! 6. MOST OF ALL - DO THESE THINGS:
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| Here are a couple of shots of my home-made shaku8, which plays very well: Click to enlarge. |
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And here are some
more of the PVC flutes I've made. The top one is my big bass
"F" shakuhachi, then the Alto "A" transverse flute,
the "C" shakuhachi and my favorite home-made "D" shakuhachi.
Click to enlarge. |
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One of
my tutorial books recommends using oil or some Chap-Stick-type ointment on
your lips, when playing the shakuhachi. And I quickly learned this
does indeed help me significantly, particularly, of course, in kan.
And, in my opinion, LIP IVO is the best for this purpose. Chap Stick is too gummy and greasy. And you can mail order this LIP IVO from: Rivendell
Bicycle Works |
I CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY HONKYOKU - WHICH, TO ME, IS WHAT THE SHAKUHAHCI IS ALL ABOUT. OH, I DEARLY LOVE NEPTUNE'S AND LEE'S AND OTHER'S MORE CONTEMPORARY SOUNDS ALSO - THEY ARE INCOMPARABLY GORGEOUS - BUT HONKYOKU IS WHERE WE ALL CAME FROM. OUR ROOTS.
AND MY FIRST ATTEMPT IS "KYOREI", ONE OF THE OLDEST PIECES IN THE SHAKUHACHI REPERTOIRE. Several different versions of the piece exist, and it is commonly said they all share a connection to legends surrounding the origins of the instrument, in which the shakuhachi sound imitated the sound of the bell en Master Fuke rang as he was walking the streets.
But surely this cannot be true.
It certainly sounds nothing at all like the ringing of a joyful little hand-held bell!
On the contrary, it is my belief that, in the Tang Dynasty in China, the Zen priest Fuke-Zen-Ji, did in fact often walk the streets, ringing a bell to call the lost to enlightenment. And, after his death, I believe his loving disciples composed this piece. And, in their deep and sorrowful yearning for their master, they composed it in a minor key, with the flattened second and sixth, the saddest of all possible musical sounds. And, of course, this glorious piece was later transmitted to Japan.
But it is my belief that Fuke's disciples composed the basis of this piece, and it was re-created in Japan by brilliantly intuitive and sensitive Zen shakuhachi players who were also followers of Fuke-Zen-Ji. This piece is not Chinese, in my opinion, it is Japanese.
The original title of the was "KYOTAKU", meaning "EMPTY BELL", and this was the piece Hotto Kokushi supposedly brought to Japan upon his return from China in 1254.
But I have always been confused by the divergence of terminology, "Sin no Kyorei," "Sin Kyorei," "Kyorei (Fudaiji)," "Fudai-ji: KYOREI," and such. But here's what Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin says on the matter:
Hi Gene,
To put it simply, these are different pieces. The SAN KOTEN of the Meian (or MYOAN) tradition, or three classical (oldest pieces) are KOKU, MUKAIJI, and REIBO. As you have mentioned, "Mukaiji Reibo," "Shin No Kyorei," and "Koku Reibo" are the KOTEN of the Kinko-Ryu. While sharing a cultural History, musically and compositionally the Kinko-Ryu pieces are quite different from the Fudaiji (Meian) pieces.
The Fudaiji line pieces (which is the Jin Nyodo notation that I use as well) , can be called "Kyorei (Fudaiji)" or "Fudai-ji: KYOREI", or just plain Kyorei. Along with Mukaji and Koku (also Fudaiji line), these pieces are not only much older than the previously listed Kinko-Ryu pieces, but they are VERY different in every way.
The Kinko-Ryu piece is usually referred to as Shin Kyorei (which means “new” Kyorei). The other two KOTEN pieces having the added “Reibo” (memory of the bell) is a reference , and in honor of- the bell that Fuke-Zenji would play.
Kyotaku has been called the REAL oldest Honkyoku. Since it was lost over the ages, the attempt to recreate it is KYOREI (or false bell, or empty bell).
The above is not the last word on these matters, only what my teacher Kurahashi Yodo taught me.
The two people who have the best Academic understanding of all of these things (in my opinion) are Riley Lee and Ralph Samuelson. But I hope that I have helped a bit !
Take Care,
Ronnie
According to the "Kyotaku Denki", the writings in which the legendary origins of the shakuhachi and its music are outlined, the Chinese character taku (bell) that appears in the name of the piece, was at some point replaced by another character with the same meaning but a different reading, rei, This Chinese character was replaced with one having the same pronunciation "rei", but a different meaning, "soul". thus "Shin no Kyorei" evolved to mean "The True Empty Soul".
Most of the honkyoku consists of tone phrases, rather than melodic lines. Each phrase incorporates a single breath, and the space between the pulses tends to be very long. This makes the rhythm less defined, and gives the pieces a floating sensation. The keys to the honkyoku are subtle and deliberate variations of timbre and pitch, tension in the sound, the motion of the tone. You need to listen to the path of each sound rather than the overall line. The honkyoku is highly abstract music, with a structure that has developed over centuries. They tend to be quite long, but this is one of its qualities.
The piece has an extremely unusual structure in that it is constructed systematically from five short melodic patterns and repetitions of them. It can be broadly divided into two sections, an opening dan and a closing dan which could be seen as a kind of "returning." The entire piece is played in otsu (first octave), but the closing dan can be played in kan (second octave) according to circumstances.
In my opinion, Shin No Kyorei cannot be adequately rendered at all on a 1.8' shakuhachi. This instrument is pitched to high to do justice to the minor tones of the work. And the sound byte which I have was played apparently on a 3.1' "E" shakuhachi. The piece commences on a TSU, which according to my tuner is a "G". And that would mean that RO had to have been an "E."
And here's the makings (still way too long) of my new CLEAR PVC hochiku, which I'm building solely so I can play Kyorei with an "E" RO, same key as Jin Nyodo:
Click to enlarge.
This piece is recorded in the following albums:
The Empty Bell by David Duncavage
Jin Nyodo Shakuhachi Number 5 by Jin Nyodo
Kyoto Spirit by Kurahashi Yoshio
Mukaiji - Komuso Shakuhachi by Zenyoji Keisuke
The Mysterious Sounds of the Japanese Bamboo Flute - Watazumido-Shuso, Watazumi Doso Roshi
And here is KYOREI notation:
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And here's the Grand Master himself, Jin Nyodo with his wife in 1959. Photo
by Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin. |
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About when I was in Japan in the early '50s, Jin Nyodo posed for this photo in Komuso garb. Photo
courtesy of Shakuhachi Master John Singer. |
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