This year I got an early Christmas present from my wife and my mother; a Shakuhachi Yuu, an instructional book by Yoshinobu Taniguchi, and a cleaning cloth.
This is going to be of great benefit to my practice regime. Taniguchi Sensei's book comes with sheet music and a CD. Now that I have a shakuhachi tuned to the most common key, there is a lot I can play along with.
Having exchanged gifts with my Mom last night, I returned to use her sewing room today and made a bag out of some nice twill remnants that she had. I am getting better at sewing, and the whole thing came out pretty well.
So as I set out to enjoy two weeks of for the Christmas break I have no end of opportunity to play. Between now and New Year, I intend to set out some resolutions for practice in 2011.
Merry Christmas everyone!
awesome. i've had my Yuu for years now. recommended highly to all beginners chikuzen sensei. i love it and especially like that you can take them about anywhere and even break them down and put in a backpack.
ReplyDeleteyour bag looks sweet! amazing job. the one i bought it way too long and big for the Yuu really. my emma got a sewing machine for xmas. maybe i'll talk her into helping me make one like this. did you use plans or wing it?
i also plan some resolutions relative to shak playing (in addition to overall zen practice). maybe we can help each other stay at it!
*recommended BY chikuzen sensei. chikuzen also used to refer to me as his eternal beginner. ;-) i once took that as a "beginner's mind" compliment but now i think he was just telling me to practice more!
ReplyDeleteHi Eric,
ReplyDeleteI sketched out the bag based on one I bought from Monty Levenson. My Mom is a great sewer, so I had access to her workshop and advice.
Playing resolutions sound like a good idea. I am in the middle of 2 weeks off right now, so I am playing a lot. I have to figure out what is realisitc and what I can prioritize once I am back to work.
My big resolution tool is this blog. I hope to do weekly updates once I am back to work, but I'll see what actually needs to be said.