This afternoon at Kevin's leafy suburban home with magpie and lorikeet accompaniment we had green tea, a short ro-buki practice and I played Shingetsu before we exchanged experiences and progress over lunch at sushi-ya. Shingetsu was one of the pieces we started learning at the Hawaii Shak Festival taught by Furuya, Matama and Kakizakai. It is the first piece I have studied using komibuki wave-like pulsating effect. This piece about mind/spirit or enlightenment and other-worldiness as encapsulated by the moon. Furuya told us to think of a tranquil lake with the gentle rippling reflecting the moon-rays. It has to be so simple and transparent that it is very difficult. I like very much listening to my two recordings of this piece by Furuya and Kakizakai because they are so different yet both so beautiful: Furuya maintaining the gentle pulsating and a certain lyricism; Kakizakai drops the komibuki technique altogether in order to capture the exquisite purity and sincerity without any form of ornamentation, breathtakingly serene in the high soft passages. This is taking me a long time to gain enough control to emulate the gentle high register in a very understated way.It is quite encouraging and motivating to get together.
