First Lines

Ro Tsu.... Ro Tsu...
Tsu Re...   Re nyashi ...

It was the first line of San'ya that drew me in to the piece. I love the simplicity of those notes. The first line launches the whole piece.

My friend Jim introduced me to San'ya. We played it together at his apartment and we listened to various recordings of it played on various length flutes. When I got home I looked for the my own recordings of this piece. My old jailbroken ipod houses my entire collection of shakuhachi music however not all the albums had names assigned to their tracks. So I listened for San'ya, more accuractely I listened for that distinctive first line. And I heard a lot of first lines to many pieces, most of which I recognised when I heard the first line. Try this some time, you might surprise yourself when you too discover how many shakuhachi pieces generally and honkyoku specifically are recognisable by the first half dozen notes played.

So then, as synchronicity would have it, a few days after my first line of San'ya search, my friend Clint mentioned his idea about first lines. He suggested that it was fun, when practicing shakuhachi, sometimes to play the first line of various pieces that you were fond of. Now, he knew nothing of my first line ipod search and so I found it a pleasing act of timing that he would mention this method of shakuhachi play. And it prompted me to give it a try, playing the first lines of HonShirabe, Horai, Darani, Tsuki, Sanson no Yugure, Banshiki, Murasaki Reiho, HifuMi, Kyorei, and of course San'ya. This lead to all kinds of improv and medley play. It was first line fun at its finest!

Thanks to Jim and Clint for inspiring my shakuhachi play.