It has been a difficult couple of years for
shakuhachi practice. I started a new job at the
University of Technology, Sydney at the end of 2008, established a new degree in
Sound and Music Design and in 2009, founded the
Sense-Aware Research Lab at UTS. In early 2010 I finished a composition,
Diamond Quills, performed by Charisma Ensemble (at Sydney Conservatorium and NIME2010), and recently co-chaired the 2010
New Interfaces for Musical Expression international conference (and edited the proceedings). This was a very interesting new musical event exploring novel interfaces, technology integration and electronic music through academic papers, concerts, installations and keynotes by Stelarc and Nic Collins
(Hardware Hacking). These activities seemed to occupy 6-month temporal chunks at least. While these things were all very satisfying, it is with some relief that I am looking forward to the Situated Media Installation Studio in Spring semester (Max/MSP, physical computing and art/design installation responses to context) and 'normal' research work (papers, grants).
Finally I am making a humble re-entry on the practice scene with
San'ya (Mountain Valley). I feel like this piece will keep me occupied for about 20 years which is a distinct part of its attraction. Right now I am wondering about the
San'ya Mountain Valley vs.
Three Valleys because the music distinguishes between using the Kanji (pictured) and
三谷 while many recordings do not seem to share this demarcation. The track on a Yokoyama Katsuya recording bearing the title San'ya Dokoyku is the 11-12 minute piece that is usually known as 山谷 Mountain Valley. Yet both this CD, Ishikawa Toshimitsu's recording (In Dead Ernest II) and the International Shakuhachi Society komuso web site in describing this piece, use the Kanji, 三谷 (i.e. different from the music notation written by Furuya Sensei in transcribing Yokoyama Sensei). Furthermore, the page on ISS mixes recordings of both pieces, so it is hard to know which one the programme notes refer to really, e.g. the Ramos and Riley recording on that page are 3 Valleys while the Ishikawa recording is Mountain Valley. Then, of course, within each lineage there are different interpretations and still more versions! Kakizakai Sensei's Volume 2 Koten Honkyoku CD has now arrived and it uses 山谷 the same as the notation.
Watazumi Do's Hocchiku 法竹 CD programme notes for San'ya Mountain Valley state:
The piece Sanya expresses a state of contemplation, as symbolized by the serene flowing of a stream hidden deeply in the mountains. Contemplation is a part of Watazumi-Do's Way of Nature, and is centered around the secret breathing techniques whose purpose it is to train the breath and attain the unification of mind and body. Sanya began in Oshu, and, through sound, expresses the state of contemplation.
