Featured Player: Jon Kypros

Jon is an accomplished shakuhachi player, just shy of his licence to teach, and a very skilled flute maker as well. Jon often comments here in the blog and through his posts and our email exchanges I've come to really enjoy his warmth, sense of humour and thoughtful awareness. As readers of the blog know, he made the amazing Ro shak for me recently and my feeling is that those who own one of his instruments understand the talent and energy that are embodied therein. Who knows where Jon's career aspirations will take him next, as for me, I'm not taking any chances...I'm in the queue for a nice long Kypros honkyoku jinashi flute, right Jon?!

Be sure to check out Jon's flute dojo.

And now, let me present Jon's responses to the five questions I have given this year's Featured Players.

What was it that drew you to learn to play the shakuhachi?
Money women and fame... Initially it was the mystery/mystique and that it was made out of bamboo. I was raised around music and nature and shakuhachi combines both. Mystery and mystique wear off quick hopefully and what keeps me drawn to it is how sensitive and profound it is allowing one to convey so much.

What is one of your favourite shakuhachi pieces and why do you enjoy it so much?
"Darani" from Kyoto Meian-ji also known as a Sanya. I enjoy it for so many reasons. It wasn't a piece that anyone ever made any fuss about but it hooked me. People usually gravitate to pieces which are other people's favorites but I think it's better if you just soak it all up like a sponge and see what naturally becomes your favorite.

What is the one thing a shakuhachi teacher told you that has always stayed in your mind?
Man that is tough... Trying to think of something shakuhachi related. My mind is blank... I guess Ronnie was the sort of teacher were his presence while teaching leaves the impact. We'd convey so much, at least I thought, with just the flutes. When we talked it was mostly joking around etc.


If there was only one thing you could share with a beginning player what would it be?
Don't take shakuhachi seriously but rather be sincere. Shakuhachi can be pretty ugly when people are serious, and therefore not sincere. It's easy to get wrapped up in it. I remind myself it's just a stick with holes.

Is there anything else you'd like to add to the "Shakuhachi Journey" blog?
Maybe a gallery, I like pictures!

Finding the Light

Well, light for my music stand that is. Sorry if you thought this post was going to have some deep spiritual content. But really, in these dark days of winter when almost all of my practice time is in the evening, having a good light to be able see my music on the stand is essential or so one would think. Well its not as easy a just getting a good battery operated or AC plug in light. Nope, not so easy at all.

I started with a little book light that I had stashed in the recesses of my travel accessories. It was bright enough and the rechargeable batteries I used in it lasted a reasonable length of time but sadly it only lit up the centre or my music, tough luck as I strained to see the beginning and ending notations for the pieces I was practicing.
My partner noticed the evenings I spent squinting at my music and thoughtfully gave me a gift of a more well suited battery operated light that was carefully designed with a broad bulb which handily lite up both sheets of music on my little silver stand. Problem solved, or so we thought. But one and a half hours later the light browned out and my brand new non-rechargeable batteries bit the dust. In went the rechargeables stolen from the didn't-make-the-grade book light but they didn't win any awards either as they faded out in just 20 minutes. The new light was a battery monster, gobbling up the power faster than I could get out to Home Depot to buy more batteries.

Well obviously the battery powered beasts were just not the route to go. So next I pawed through our storage locker to find our electrical supplies box and was rewarded with a small halogen light that plugged in and had a screw-on attachment at its base. Sounds like just the ticket, don't you think? So onto the top of my lightweight silver music stand, plugged in to a nearby wall socket and Bob's your uncle!

Do you realize how bright halogen is when its right in front of your face? As I contemplated this new degree of illumination, I reached forward to turn the page in my shakuhachi music book only to have the stand, now off balance by just my touch and top heavy with the light unit, topple over into my wildly grasping hands. Catching the jumble of book, stand and light just before it hit the hardwood floor, I knew my search for a music stand light wasn't over.

Onto the internet, a little talk on the shakuhachi forum, some searching with google and finally a purchase on ebay. A light with LED bulbs, simple, not too heavy and the optional AC cord, I should finally be able to light my music stand without needing a closet full of batteries or needing to fear for my life while perched on my stool in front of my music book. As you can see, finally a music light stand that does the job without risking life or limb.

Shakuhachi Society of BC Shinnenkai

A few weeks ago the Shakuhachi Society of BC held its annual gathering to welcome in the new year. It was a fine event with some exceptional shakuhachi playing and some very tasty food.

Alcvin Ramos organized this event which was kindly hosted by Peter Smith. The four shakuhachi players who attended this year's get together, Al, Jim, Barb and Peter, are all skilled players and, as a beginner, I was treated to a feast for my ears. It is always so special to listen to shakuhachi first hand, isn't it? CD's and sound files on the computer are definitely nice to have but listening in the presence of a player adds that extra dimension of richness to the music.

We started the afternoon by playing Hon Shirabee together as a tribute to the new year. Next each player performed a solo piece. These pieces were long and most were memorized. I found it easy to become absorbed in the music and the moment, a timeless feeling settled on us as the tones filled the room. After the solos we stopped our shak play to share some food and then returned to the flute. This time the group played a multiple shakuhachi piece while I snapped photos on each of the four cameras sitting around the room, a good task for a beginner who is too shy and too unskilled to even 'lip sync' to some of the pieces played that day. But then, out of his kindness and awareness of my plight, Peter produced a simple piece, that he had prepared ahead of time, with my skill level in mind for all of us to play. We had fun with "Maple Leaves" first playing it in unison and then one player at a time doing an improv while the rest of us played on.

The afternoon was filled with a bit of 'jamming' between Jim and Al, Peter showing us his favourite flutes and his recently harvested bamboo pieces, and finally Al treating us to two 'winter season' pieces. Our new yesr's gathering was wrapped up with one final piece that we all played together, this time mostly on 1.8's with Al throwing in some harmony on a 2.1 and me offering some background tones on my new Ro shak.

My thanks to Al and Peter for organizing this lovely afternoon for shakuhachi.

Go Blow Ro

I should've left the house an hour ago for my workout at the gym but I just couldn't stop blowing Ro. The monster Ro-shak had me in its grip. The sound was intoxicating. The feel of the tone vibrating through the big piece of bamboo was addicting. I couldn't stop playing my new no-hole-just-blow-Ro flute that Jon Kypros had made for me.

40 inches long, the Ro flute is in the key of D. Jon did a fantastic job of creating this flute for me and, though we agreed upon a price, basically I'd say it was a gift.

What is it about a flute like this that is so absorbing? The Ro can be played so many ways. And then there's the fact that the no hole flute offers not only many variations on Ro, Ro otsu, Ro kan and all kinds of harmonics. The Ro shak offers, no really, it draws you in to endless chambers of creativity.

There is such a sense of peace to just taking one deep breath and blowing long and slow, then another breath, deep, slow, low, no thought of fingering, just holding the solid warm bamboo and blowing, and blowing again, and blowing again. "Ro shak you are an amazing instrument with a magical ability to capture my heart"! I say out loud as I pack away my gym bag thinking I'll just have to go for a workout another night and I return to blow Ro again.

A special warm thanks to Ro shak's maker, Jon Kypros.

Featured Player: Kiku Day

I am thrilled to begin the Featured Players theme on The Shakuhachi Journey blog with Kiku Day. Kiku's energetic and enthusiastic response to my invitation to participate in this blog is characteristic of her approach to shakuhachi specifially and, I'm going to venture to guess, life in general. When I started to post on the International Shakuhachi Forum a little more than a year ago, I found Kiku to be one of a number of extremely experienced players that took the time to encourage, guide and support beginning players like myself. When I talked about starting this blog to document my journey down the bamboo path, Kiku's commented to say that not only did she think that this sort of a blog was a good idea but also that she had wished she'd recorded her own shakuhachi travels in this manner herself. Please take some time to read more about this exceptional shakuhachi player by going to her website. You can also check in with Kiku over at myspace. And now, let me present Kiku's responses to the five questions I have given this year's Featured Players.

_WHAT WAS IT THAT DREW YOU TO LEARN TO PLAY THE SHAKUHACHI?_

I was busy with the entrance exams for the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen on flute when an Austrian friend came waving with an LP he had found. He told me I HAD to listen to this. I suppose it was because my mum is Japanese as it was a Japanese record. We found a turn-table to play it on and I heard the sound of the shakuhachi for the first time. I thought to my self: I rather play THAT flute and half a year later I took the Trans-Siberian railway to go to Japan to learn the language and the shakuhachi. I knew nothing about the history or the background of the flute. I was just drawn to its timbre - a theme that has influenced my shakuhachi playing ever since.
Meeting Okuda was a chance. When I heard the sound of his playing I knew that was what I was searching for. Until then I had listened to several shakuhachi players but had felt each time that I'd better then go back to Denmark and continue with the flute. First when I met Okuda I knew this was my path. At the time I knew nothing about the difference between jinashi and jinuri shakuhachi - again it was the timbre that fascinated me. While I was waiting to meet the right shakuhchi teacher - I spent around 1 1/2 year in Japan learning lots of other things like sumie, ikebana, cha-do and the language. After I began to study shakuhachi seriously the other things dropped out slowly. So, in other words – what drew me to learn shakuhachi was the timbre. The timbre of this instrument really fascinated me.


_WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FAVOURITE SHAKUHACHI PIECES AND WHY DO YOU ENJOY IT SO MUCH?_

Hmmmm….. I don’t know if I can point you to ONE piece. There are so many pieces I love. Let me describe a few honkyoku pieces I love:

Betsuden Shika no Tone is one piece I really love to play. I love the wildness in this piece. I feel I can get to all (well perhaps all is too big a word) to many corners of myself and… again a big word: the universe, and express these multi-faced sides through this piece. It can be crazy, wild and almost on the verge of being out of control (although still totally in control) and then it narrows into the most serene beautiful sounds. It feels like totality on its own.

I love Shin Kyorei a lot too because of the way this piece requires a focused mind and immense power although only playing in pianissimo of pianissimo. Although this piece is played with so little volume, I feel I have to be in such good physical (and mental) condition to play it well. After handing in my PhD I haven’t yet got back to a physical condition where I can do justice to this piece at all.

Lately I have realized I more and more love pieces such as Taizan-ha’s version of Kyorei. There is something in its bareness that is amazing. I didn’t appreciate it as much before. I was too busy in my mind to realize this for REAL in my heart.

Otherwise pieces like Tamuke, Ōshūsaji, Kokū, Tsuru no Sugomori…. Just wonderful! ☺

_WHAT IS THE ONE THING A SHAKUHACHI TEACHER TOLD YOU THAT HAS ALWAYS STAYED IN YOUR MIND?_

To play each note as if it was the first time I play this note. In my words that is: Be with your sound in the moment.

_IF THERE WAS ONLY ONE THING YOU COULD SHARE WITH A BEGINNING PLAYER WHAT WOULD IT BE?_

Be patient and don't despair. The shakuhachi is a very sensitive instrument and can be hard to control in the beginning. Don't get frustrated over the fact that the sound was just there but now it disappeared. The hurdle of shakuhachi playing teaches you many things you can use later in life – I think.

_IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD TO THE "SHAKUHACHI JOURNEY" BLOG?___

Not really, but I am so happy to see another active shakuhachi woman out there! ☺ It’s nice to see more and more around. Looking forward to hear you play one day!

Celtic Honkyoku

Sound like a contradiction: Celtic honkyoku? Not to Philip Horan who coined the term or to Larry Tyrrell who created a score book and accompanying CD with 32 celtic airs adapted for shakuhachi.

I recently purchased Larry Tyrell's book "The Alder Bough" after casting about for some material that might add a bit of variety to my daily shakuhachi sessions. My shak friend and the World Shakuhachi forum's unofficial search engineer, Edward, suggested Larry's collection to me. Given Ed's recommendation, it was no surprise to me when I saw the quality of the notation book which includes both Tozan and Kinko notation for each piece. And, after listening to the companion CD, I was impressed by the quality of the recordings. Larry plays each of the Celtic airs beautifully.

At first I felt like I had a little case of culture shock as I played the Celtic tunes on the shakuhachi. There's no question that these are Irish and Scottish melodies at the same time there's no mistaking the distinctive personality that the skakuhachi lends to the scores.. Gradually, as I became more familiar with playing some of the airs, my ears and mind happily settled into this unique blend of flute music. If you want a refreshing addition to your shakuhachi music library I think, like me, you'd be delighted with The Alder Bough.

Merry Shakuhachi

The boys were gently persistent, not giving up, maintaining their invitation to the weekly shakuhachi blowing meet ups held in Jim's home. My reluctance was firmly embedded in my belief that I was too much of a beginner to reasonably be able to contribute anything but musical dissonance to any individual or group of shakuhachi players. But doubt was starting to undermine my attitude and the boys' kindness wore away at my feelings of inadequacy as a shakuhachi player. I caved in last week and, stuffing my 1.8 into its long blue plastic tube I braved the dark and rainy December night and the half hour walk through the city's downtown, to attend the Wednesday night meet up.

After letting the flute warm up as I shared shak talk with Jim, we started by playing some of the songs I had been practicing in Michael Gould's level one workbook. This was a boon for me because I actually had some familiarity with these pieces and was able to resemble someone playing them in unison with Jim. When Peter arrived we continued to select pieces from the workbook and I found myself glowing in the ability to join the two skilled shakuhachi players in sound. Now mind you there was the fact that my Ro Kan was still squawking out of the bamboo every now and then and my obvious lack of lung volume as my notes faded out long before those of Jim's or Peter's especially when we played Kyorei together.

Next Take sensei arrived and the evening's wonder increased yet another notch for me as he started to sing, note by note, some of the folk songs we were playing and made minor adjustments and even playful trial variations to the tunes. Take gave us background to some of the pieces that really helped explain the timing of the music and, by painting a picture of the context in which they were played, provided more meaning to the songs.

The evening ended too soon for me as Peter and I, aware that the next day was a work day, left Jim's building, the streets shimmering with the winter rain and the Christmas lights offering a feeling of cosy to the winter night. Walking home humming the Japanese folk tunes quietly to myself, I felt a deep sense of gratitude for the connections we make as we move through our lives.