Shak-blog moved ...

[I have moved the shak-blog from dot-mac to this blogspot due to persistent software glitches using iWeb and tedium of unreliable wysiwyg code editing environments].

Other aspects of travelblog, travel photo-libraries and podcasting remain @ Kirsty Beilharz dot-mac web site (podcasts, travel) but the shakuhachi blog future's here for a while ...

Photos ranging from shakuhachi, shakuhachi camps, geeky, the farm, Japan trip photos, etc. are @ My photos on Flickr

Beautiful Bamboo

When it comes forth according to intention, or perhaps boldly and mellow with ‘no mind’, my new Miura flute is sounding very beautiful. I have been revising Honshirabe, adapting San’ya [Mountain Valley] and learning Shingetsu, and I have peeked at Koku which has much in common with Shingetsu and San’ya [Mountain Valley]. These are all fairly patient, round, slow pieces that require consideration rather than agility, immense breath control and understanding of the meaning and flow of the music. This might seem obvious to someone who plays Western music but deciphering and discovering further layers of meaning in Honkyoku [Traditional Japanese solo shakuahchi music] can take years, if not a lifetime. I spent four days in the tranquil countryside of my parent’s farm practising. My favourite time is the early morning before the other humans stir and before any domestic sounds commence. Listening for silence reveals how rich the plethora of natural sounds around the lake is: waterfowl, 3 or 4 different kinds of frog, screeching coots, crying lorikeets, black cockatoos, chattering starlings, the reeds in constant motion; occasional cows moo-ing and bulls roaring.

Today, after that, the sound of my 2.1 is growing and sounding more comfortable and the physical familiarisation of the finger position and stretch is fading into insignificance.

Inspired by Ben’s shak-web-blog-travel site http://www.benjisan.blogspot.com/ I have included some more photos of the new shakuhachi on flickr: Benjisan's blogspot and Kyorei's Flickr photos

Miura 2.1 shakuhachi

Miura 2.1 shakuhachi Kakizakai had my new 2.1 shakuhachi flute made by Miura Ryuho brought over to Hawaii Shak Festival. Today I started settling into the new finger position and stretch, blowing ro and looking through Shingetsu, which we started learning at Hawaii Shakuhachi Festival under instruction from Furuya Sensei. The instrument is made from a very beautiful, blotched piece of hard bamboo. I am trying hard to be carefully about its humidity in the dry, windy climate we have presently. I also brought back Bronwyn’s 2.4 top joint that had to be repaired after splitting. The 2.4, approximately 2 inches longer than the 1.8 is ‘keyed’ with a fundamental of B rather than D. I am planning to investigate some slower honkyoku pieces on it that benefit from the deep, mellow tone, e.g. Shingetsu, San’ya (3 Valley Yokoyama version), Honshirabe (original piece) and Tamuke [which is intended as a requiem type of piece for ushering in passage from this life to the next). Meanwhile, fast pieces like the agile, fluttery, ostentatious crane piece - Tsuro no Sugomori, high Hifumi Hachigaeshi and intricate San’ya (Mountain Valley) I will continue on 1.8.

Hawaii Shakuhachi Festival

Hawaii University Music Department 9-12 November, Honolulu. Teachers Riley Lee, Stan Richardson, Chris Blasdel and the three Japanese Masters - Furuya, Matama and Kakizakai. With Megumi-san and Kimura on koto. This involved approximately 10 intensive tuition sessions in groups on select repertoire, private lessons and a students' concert and teachers' concert. Some of the repertoire pieces for this year included: Haru no umi, Rokudan, Murasaki Reiho, Shingetsu, Koden Tsugomori, Tone no funa uta + others ...

Photos at KirstyKomuso's Flickr shakuhachi photos tagged 'Hawaii Shakuhachi Festival '06' [or click on photos above in header]