Mindful of Gain and Loss

Part of why I am enjoying the shakuhachi more and more lately is that I am getting better.  I am getting more consistent in hitting kan and I am more stable in that register than I used to be.  I am also learning new songs.  I like the fact that things are going well.

In terms of gain and loss, this can be difficult to navigate.  Invariably, things will get harder and if viewed as 'loss' it can be very discouraging.  Actually it is not a theoretical idea for me right now, I have run into something that could  be taken as a setback.

This week Michael worked with me on my embouchure.  We spent just about the entire 90 minute lesson on it.  He dropped a lot of information and images on me, and most of the time I tried to implement them, I lost the tone I was used to being able to produce.

He counselled me well on how to work with all of these changes.  They were not to be implemented or practiced all at once, but rather one at a time.  Their practice was separate from the skills involved in learning to play songs.  However, as I experiment with these aspects of the embouchure, it should inform and influence my current one.

Still, days followed where these concepts crept in (without being mastered), and caused me to lose tone on songs I can normally play.  This could be seen as a setback.  I like playing songs, and I like to be able to reproduce things I can do.  It feels good.  It would be far to easy to get frustrated and make an error.

Getting discouraged and not playing would be an error.

Ignoring what I have been taught and continuing on, clinging to what I already have would be an error.

It is a moment to practice trust.

Trust in myself.  

Trust in my teacher.

Trust in the process.

I have seen this type of trust function in the dojo and the zendo.  This trust does not produce rigid and blind obedience to a person or system.  This trust steals the reigns from the ego and guides the student to place that is free and dynamic.  A place that they ultimately take themselves.

Yuyake Koyake

The next instalment of me learning children's songs and folk melodies.

Art Practice

This summer, I am going to have the opportunity to spend a month in residence at Zen Mountain Monastery. In going to ZMM, I had to examine what I would be doing with art practice and body practice for that month. My current plan for art practice is focussed on shakuhachi. However, the only resource on Zen art practice that I have found is geared largely to visual media. So these next months I am exploring the process.

As a novice player, I have a smaller range on the instrument that I can play effectively with. But in that range, and around its edges, I will play like a child.

Right now I am working on composition. This is also good theory practice, as I am writing in traditional kinko notaiton. Again, I am staying within what I have learned thus far, but the depth is huge, even if the breadth is limited.

In a few months I am going to switch over to recording. Specifically recording improvisation.

The basic form for me right now is to sit for a few minutes and let the mind settle. Then I blow Ro for a few long breaths. At that point the paper comes out and I play with whatever phrases come up. In a honkyoku approach, each breath is my time signature. I endeavour to keep each phrase its own expression, but I also try to stay keenly aware how phrases are linked. The peice tells be when I am done.

I have completed my first piece in this process. It is called "Beginning". When I am sure my playing accurately reflects the way I entended it, I will record it and share it.

Ouma no Oyako

Kanfidence

Two big challenges seem to be at the surface these days.

1. Learning the melody of songs that I have never heard before, so that I can play them.

2. Smooth stability in Kan.

Neither skill is where I would like it to be, but both are progrssing and I am enjoying the process.

I am especially getting a kick out of the relative ease that is emerging in the the shift from ostsu to kan. It is making improv a lot more fun, and is giving me gateways into songs I could not play before.

Working on Sunayam has really helped with Kan, as most of it is in theat octave. I am hoping that increased breath lenght will come along soon and help out with the longer lines in the upper octaves.

I am going to try to make a point of doing some quick vids of the songs that I am practicing (like I did with Hinomaru). Just remember, I am not putting them up because I think I nailed it. They are a snapshot of a particular point in practice, and I intend to come back to them later on and redo them for comparison.

Weird Week

This week has been pretty hectic, and practicing has been hard. However, I got a little present on Saturday that might provide some more playing time. I sprained my big toe pretty badly at Aikido. I can't walk in a normal stride and I need to keep it elevated as much as possible while it heals. It will definitely slow me down, but it is a good motivation to practice more (both zazen and shakuhachi), plus I might get a bit caught up on some my computer based projects.

Here are some of the major things I have been trying to work on this week...

-meri notes
-scales using meri notes
-playing Hinomaru the moment I pick up the shakuhachi
-repeats, trills and flex drill in Kan
-meri notes in kan
-fingering scales smoothly ro Ro Otsu to Hi
-clapping out the rhythm and saying note names with songs

Sometimes I just tackles these things right away, since they are my biggest challenges at the moment. Other times I just follow my planned practice regime and address these things as they come up. Much of it has to do with time.

Also I am preparing to start working on playing shakuhachi as art practice for my Zen practice. This July I am going to be staying at Zen Mountain Monastery for a month, and I plan on using the shakuhachi as my art practice. I am limited in what I can do as a beginner, but in terms of art practice this is just more that I can work with.

Since Lent starts this Wednesday, I am going to use that as my platform for this. I like to do extra in Lent, rather than just giving things up (I do that too). If my reality resembles my plan even a little bit, I will be doing art practice at least 2 times a week.

The BBQ is over!

This week I was very disappointed to find that the primary shakuhachi forum on the internet has been closed.

It was run by pair of players which included Brian Ritchie, the base player of the Violent Femmes. The really disappointing part of it is that it shut suddenly. There was no warning, no discussion, and no opportunity for others to step up and take over the site. The originators had tired of it, so it was closed.

Something new will come along, but without the open forum to aid in planning and discussion, it will have to emerge from ashes.

The shakuhachi community is an amazing thing. As a novice player, I am certainly not an authority on this community, but here is what I do know:

-Compared to other instruments in the world, there really are not a lot of shakuhachi players.

-the shakuhachi community is spread out. Without avenues ont he internet there will no longer be a true sense of a global shakuhachi community.

-when people search out new things, they often turn to the internet, and there were new members to this forum every week.

In my brief time in this endeavour, I have been able to converse with, and seek advice from players from around the world. I have spoken to beginners and masters alike. Heck, my teacher lives 4.5 hours away by car! Thank goodness for Skype.

Now I know the forum was not perfect. There were fruitless veins that had to be closed within it, and just because a person starts something, they are not automatically obligated to keep it going, but Shakuhachi BBQ was a beautiful thing, and it seems like it could have been set free rather than killed.

Early Progress

I'll start off by repeating myself. I LOVE taking lessons. I enjoyed working on the instrument on my own, but as I progress under the guidance of Chikuzen, more and more of the instrument opens up to me.

Granted, I have only had a hand full of lessons, but the entire process is engaging and rewarding. A big part of why I like it is definitely because I am getting better faster, but there is more...

-Getting regular feed back and help
-connecting "face to face" with a teacher / player. There is no live community around me.
-having new material and challenges layed out for me by someone who has done it before.
-practicing and playing more regularly

I have no idea how far I can go with this process, but as long as I keep enjoying it in this way, I'll keep at it.