Reflections on Teaching Shakuhachi

Well, it’s been a while! I hope everyone’s winter is going as well as possible. My winter has been quite introspective, but busy nonetheless with teaching and flute making. So writing has been on the back burner. But now that the weather is getting bit warmer, my brain is revving up with it so I feel like writing again.

I am so thankful for the shakuhachi as it has made my life deeper and has opened me up to worlds of beauty and wonder.

It seems today that everything is so disconnected, fragmented, split apart; everything from families, to minds and bodies, to our relationship with nature and the cosmos. Ironically, the internet is creating a strange kind of unity with consciousnesses and countries and cultures that is quite fascinating to observe. With the rapid rise of popularity of the internet, most of my students now, I teach via internet. This is a kind of mixed blessing because since I live so far from the city it is very convenient for me to stay at home to teach, but much is lost in this process. Such is the way of life today. Traditionally shakuhachi is taught face to face, teacher and student together. The student listens and repeats whatever the teacher plays. This process goes on until the student learns the piece. In the old days, no notation was used and there was no explanation of how to do the techniques or difficult passages. That was up to the student to work out. It was not uncommon to take us much as 3 years to learn one piece. Today we use notation and use much talking to explain technical details. And now internet is becoming a common practice and it is really great for those who don’t live near a teacher. So anyone, anywhere in the world can learn shakuhachi now! However, there is no substituting the pleasure and benefit of actually learning face to face. On the internet (e.g. using Skype, iChat, etc.) one cannot hear and feel the actual sound or the teacher so it is difficult to really know if the proper sound is being produced. Also, it is impossible to play together since there is a slight delay in the connection and so it is impossible to feel the mind/breath flow of the teacher and piece which is important in the learning process. So to solve this problem, I record the piece on mp3 for the student and they can play on their own in their own time. But person to person is the best way to learn so I offer retreats at my home for students to come and train. If money was not an issue, I would teach students for free and build a shakuhachi monastery where people can live and learn shakuhachi for free in exchange for their personal donations or whatever they can offer. The only prerequisite is a deep desire to learn shakuhachi.

I am eternally grateful for all the students I have. They are the ones keeping the tradition of shakuhachi alive and flowing. I learn something new from every student and it deepens my relationship with the honkyoku (original pieces).

When you become a student of shakuhachi, you also become a member of an international community that is growing every day. This community extends throughout the world. It consists of hundreds of your fellow students.

The Dojo

Shakuhachi lesson at Taniguchi sensei's dojo, Japan.

The word dojo literally means “place of the Way”. The dojo is a place of learning; a place to respect, keep clean, and to care for. A place to be made special for practicing a special art.

Shakuhachi can be taught anywhere and everywhere; in living rooms, garages, community centres, next to a running river, in your living room on the internet. It is important to remember that the place where shakuhachi is practiced becomes, at least symbolically, a dojo, a sacred space, and should be treated as such. This is part of the reality and tradition of shakuhachi. Eventually you will come to appreciate its inner value.

The student sits in front of the teacher. Traditionally in Japan, seiza (“sitting with legs folded sitting on your feet”) is often practiced. For most westerners (and modern Japanese), this is very difficult. So sitting on chairs, isuzo, is usually done. Loose fitting clothing should be worn to enhance the free flow of energy through the body. Many teachers teach strictly privately in a private room. Others practice a more open form of teaching where all the students gather in one room as the teacher teaches each student one at a time while the other students observe the lesson and wait their turn. The lesson begins with a formal bow and the expression of onegaishimasu, which means “please” or “I ask a favor” and at the end of the lesson arigatou gozaimashita, or “thank you” is said.

Without a qualified teacher to guide one in the shakuhachi path, it can be extremely frustrating and slow, and will perhaps lead one to quit before ever witnessing your art blossom. Even with a teacher, seeing progress can be quite slow. Patience is so essential. A common phrase in Japan which all teachers say to students when one undertakes a difficult path is, ganbatte kudasai, which roughly translates as “hang in there, do your ultimate best”.  So true for shakuhachi!

In the end, the study of shakuhachi is what you make it. The world of shakuhachi is deep and broad. You can tread a purely musical, intellectual road with it or you can dive into the profound realms of meditation and spiritual development. Each student maintains control of their individual training level. Shakuhachi can be enjoyed by both the player and listener but to understand the shakuhachi one must hold and blow the instrument. You must listen to the sounds of nature because it will continually provide you with different stimuli and a feeling for the traditional pieces. During the learning process, you must always strive to keep an open mind. By doing this your technique will become more diverse and take on more meaning.

One of the hardest things to overcome for the beginning student is the feeling that you are not “good” enough in playing. This is erroneous thinking. Shakuhachi is a most humbling path. It requires great patience and the ability to let go much of what we have learned in the past and open ourselves to a new and different way. We must re-learn our most basic skills of breathing, listening, sitting, and moving. This may be the most challenging and perhaps the most rewarding of experiences. Learning something of great quality never comes quickly. Just as a finely crafted piece of art takes time to create, the learning of shakuhachi requires years of study. We must develop patience with ourselves and then add to that by learning patience and understanding of others.

Until my next post,

Ganbatte kudasai!

Blowing good energy to you!

As we continued our visit to the Minheng District Museum of Shanghai, Chinese Folk Musical Instrument Exhibition Hall, I was amazed at the quality of the flutes in the collection.

Chinese Mouth Organs, Sheng and Hulu si

In the photo above there are some beautiful examples of Chinese mouth organs. The ones on the back wall are multi-reed pipes called sheng and the gourd shaped one in the front has only two pipes and is called the hulu si. The hulu si has one pipe that is simply a drone and the other has finger holes that can play melody. 

Chinese transverse flutes (dizi)

Here is a beautifully carved jade dizi (Chinese transverse flute). Notice the interesting finger hole pattern in the flute to the right. At first look it doesn’t make any sense. Some Chinese players play the flute right to left instead of left to right and this finger pattern might be a strange hybrid of both.

Chinese Xun (egg shaped ocarinas)

The xun is an egg shaped ocarina made of clay. This flute does not have a fipple like a South American ocarina but instead the player has to blow across the top like on a soda bottle. This flute produces a beautiful earthy tone and employs all the fingers of the player except the pinkie on the right hand. Even both thumbs are used.

Double reeds (Suona, Guanzi)

In this display case we have some double reeds. On the right we have a very ornate suona. This instrument has a trumpet like bell and rather a kazoo type tone.  Almost like a coloratura soprano cross bred with a mosquito. On the middle stand we have the guanzi which has sounds similar to a saxophone.  In 2002, I was involved with a concert in China where we did collaboration with a guanzi player who was studying jazz and we performed a piece in the style of George Benson’s Affirmation.

pitched bamboo pipes

Aside from a comprehensive offering of woodwinds, the District Museum also has a great complement of strings and percussion. The string collection includes bowed, hammered and plucked instruments of all shapes and sizes.  Some instruments normally the dimensions of  a small banjo were the size of double basses and there was also a wide array of gongs and metallophones.  

After about 45 minutes of testing and shopping at the Dunhuang musical instrument showroom I had many boxes of flutes to stuff my already bulging suitcases. My attitude towards collecting flutes is like Carrie’s attitude from ‘Sex in The City’ towards buying shoes.   We bid farewell to the factory staff and went to our next stop which was lunch at a picturesque town called Qibao meaning ‘Seven Treasures’ in Chinese. It is an ancient town established in the year 960 with water canals and winding streets. We feasted on local specialties in a noisy restaurant and strolled through the busy streets. 

Qibao - Ancient Water Village

The Minheng District Museum claims the artefacts predate the Qing Dynasty (1616 – 1911). The instruments are displayed in simple glass cases with descriptions in Chinese only.   In this display you can see a series of end blown flutes. The ones on the top row and on the bottom right are notched flutes similar to the Japanese shakuhachi. The others on the lower right are similar to the Ney or modern day Xiao. The flutes in the front are an ancient set of panpipes and the stand to the left appear to be made of animal bone.  (to be continued)

end blown flutes

Wow!  Didn’t realize I was away for quite so long.  I usually take some down time in January and was enjoying it so much I lost track of the days a bit.

Anyway, 2009 ended with a good couple sets at the National Museum of the American Indian on December 27 with Janice and Lenny.  Now we are getting ready to head into the studio this weekend.  Yes, we decided on a studio.  Deciding factors included a good piano in the big room, a choice of smaller rooms all of which have the same ProTools HD available as the big room, good mic selection, solid engineers and very good rates.

We are going for a very organic, “live” feel, so we’ll be tracking the rhythm section all together as much as possible and trying to avoid click tracks if we can.  There will be quite a bit of overdubbing in the vocals and flutes and, of course, those overdubs and most of the solos will be recorded after the rhythm section.

As I’ve mentioned before, I prefer to have the musicians work from lead sheets rather than writing out parts for them, unless there is something really specific that I need for them to do.  I’d rather give them the basic melody, chord changes and structure, then turn them loose to bring their own flavor to things.  Lenny Stevens (our guitar player) is producing, meaning that he is overseeing the sessions and helping with arrangements and song structure.  Lenny is from L.A. and cut his teeth sitting in with just about every band you can think of when they came through town.  He’s a great player with an understanding of lots of different styles (essential for what we do) and has previous experience as a producer.

While I usually have a pretty clear idea of what a song is about, I find it extremely useful and helpful to have a set of “producer” ears on it along with mine.  Keeps me honest about what I’m hearing, what’s working and what’s NOT working.  Having a producer and engineer also allows me to focus on making music and listening instead of worrying about technical stuff and scheduling.

Anyway, we’re pretty much ready to rock and roll.  Will keep you posted.  We’ve been trying out some of the new songs in live shows and I hope to get some samples up here soon so you can check them out.  Might have some session photos and videos along the way, too.

btw – some of you have asked for more recommended listening.  The closer I get to recording a new project, the less I listen to other music (especially flute music) so I can stay focused on what these songs need to be.  So this isn’t really a flute or even world music relevant recommendation, but if you like the “Black Crows”, check out the DVD “Brothers of a Feather”.

Will be back sooner next time…

Ron W

Okay folks, for this months  subscribers* prize drawing we have a real beauty that has been donated by Ed Dougherty of Tree of Life Designs (www.treeoflifedesigns.com).

This flute is made from gorgeous Curly Redwood and is in the key of G, featuring an art glass Zuni bear block mounted on a walnut base, created by Pipyr.

To see more pictures of this flute, click  HERE.

How to become a subscriber?  Easy!

Click “Home” in the navigation menu at the top of this page.

Log in to The Flute Portal.

Click “View Profile” at the top right corner of the page.

You will see a link to the subscription page on your user profile.  Please read the instructions carefully.

*Judging by the comments, there seems to be some confusion as how to enter the prize drawing.  Only subscribers may enter, and instructions on how to become a subscriber are listed in this post.

We have our winners!  The prize drawing for the flutes shown below has taken place and we have three winners:

Tim Blueflint – Orca flute in F#

Dorothy McClendon – Orca flute in G

Roger Peterson – Orca flute in A

Congratulations to our winners and thank you to everyone who participated!

Early in 2009, Gordon Jeffers of what was then Stilvalley Flutes made a remarkable donation to the Flute Portal: A matching set of three of his gorgeous flutes with his trademark Orca block.  These flutes are a two part laminate of Black Walnut and Figured Maple, and words cannot do them justice.  They are simply beautiful and they sound fantastic!  I was overwhelmed by the generosity of this gesture, and with Gordons blessing I have kept them until this moment, when the Flute Portal voluntary subscriptions concept would replace the former raffle as our fund-raising method.

I’m am pleased to announce that members can now become voluntary subscribers, allowing them entry into our monthly prize drawing, and we are kicking things off by offering these three flutes to three lucky winners!   In the past, the drawing has only had one winner, but this time we are breaking the mold.  These flutes are in the keys of F#, G and A.  Each will be designated with a separate identity for the purpose of the drawing, and three random subscribers will each walk away with one of these flutes, though they won’t know which key until the drawing is over!

Are you wondering how to subscribe?  It’s easy!

Just go to the Flute Portal home page,  and log in to your account.  Click “View Profile” in the upper right corner and you will find a link to the subscription page on your profile page.  From there it is easy, you just choose which subscription package you want, and click the PayPal button.  All of the details are there.

If you do not have a PayPal account you will be prompted to create one, but it is easy.

This month we are starting a bit late –the drawing will be held on December 31st–so don’t wait to join us!

His current website URL is:   www.relicflute.com

Here are the awesome flutes!

The Oriental Angels

In 2007, I had the privilege of playing a concert at the recently relocated and beautifully renovated historic Shanghai Concert Hall. Yes, I did say relocated, as the Shanghai local government spent six million dollars to jog the hall over two blocks. This concert hall was in the 1979 documentary Mao to Mozart with violinist Isaac Stern. Our performance was part of the Shanghai International Spring Music Festival and featured my band along with The Oriental Angels, which is a traditional classical instrumental music group chosen from the top female virtuosos from across China. They play the Chinese erhu (2 string violin) the dizi (6 holed bamboo flute) yangqin (hammered dulcimer) zheng (21 string zither) and the pipa (4 string lute). Aside from concertizing, the Angels all teach music in either the Central or Shanghai Conservatories.

I stayed a week after the show to do some sightseeing. As I am always looking for new instruments, I asked my promoter if they could take me to a musical instrument factory. They obliged me and took me to The Dunhuang Musical Instrument Co., Ltd. makers of traditional Chinese instruments in Fengxian District of Shanghai.

Dunhuang makes a wide range of instruments including traditional strings (guzheng, yangqin, pipa, erhu etc.), woodwinds (dizi, bawu, xiao, hulusi etc.) and percussion. For me as a flute enthusiast, it was rather like Charlie finding the gold ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory.

We were met by the shop foreman Mr. Zhao Jin-gua and taken to the woodwind workshop upstairs. The craftsmen at the factory had all seen my concert the night before and said they really enjoyed it, however, those flutes I played by their competitor flute makers in Northern China just wouldn’t do. I was very impressed that they were not only producing old designs but also developing new ones like flutes with a curved headjoints similar to the silver bass flute. It was here that I got to try the world’s biggest Chinese dizi flute. It produced a very low quiet tone. Since it requires three people to operate it is not really practical for the road.

World's biggest Chinese Dizi Bamboo flute

After the visit with the flute makers I went downstairs to the showroom to see the finished products. When I walked though the door a very determined young lady was in the midst of negotiating full tilt with the slightly annoyed salesman to get a bigger discount on a guzheng (Chinese zither). She was talking up a storm and kept saying she travelled a long way and spent many hours on the train to get there. The salesman then looked up at me and smiled and said, “He came all the way from Canada, so what is your point”? The storm cleared up and she quietly retreated to the corner to think of a restructured battle plan.

In his comment on my first post, Paul Van Heuklom said, “Your thoughts and experience with the fusion and global aspects of music and flute playing are much appreciated and welcomed. I, for one, am very interested in ideas about transcending particular genres, conventions, and cultures–without losing sight of them in the process.” Thanks, Paul, that’s where I’m going to begin. What is our role as a flute player in a fusion context, and how can we best fill it? I think in order answer to that question, we should begin by asking two more questions. “What features do most styles of music have in common?” And “What are the distinguishing factors that define any given style of music?”
Let’s start with the common elements. We play flute, so melody is the obvious starting point. Then there’s harmonic environment (chord changes, modal, or dronal), rhythm (in or out of time, swing or straight feel, etc.), dynamic range (loud and soft), and texture and tone quality. Each of these broad categories has its own qualities of ebb and flow, yin and yang, tension and release, branching off into infinite variations. As a flute player playing “global” music we should start by understanding the basic elements of music itself.
There’s an obvious relationship between melody and harmonic environment. For example, if the harmony is a C major chord, we know that the “resting” or consonant notes in a melody will be the chord tones C, E, and G. Adding non-chord tones will “spice up the soup” in accordance with their individual properties. This has nothing to do with musical style. Somehow, we all perceive those notes in that way. Likewise, a loud bass tone makes us want to move our body. Think about it; if you hear a loud bass tone in the middle of the jungle, it means that something really big and close to you is moving around—get ready to run! Thus, we should take into consideration that the human organism is equipped with a set of perceptual equipment that fundamentally characterizes the way we interact with the world. Varying musical styles stimulate subtle (or not-so-subtle) differences in what we perceive, but they don’t alter the fact that we have ears connected to a brain that interprets information according to its evolutionary design. Therefore, knowledge of the fundamentals of music and how they interact with human cognition is paramount.

A quote from Bruce Lee:

“I hope martial artists are more interested in the root of martial arts and not the different decorative branches, flowers, or leaves. It is futile to argue as to which single leaf, which design of branches, or which single flower you like; when you understand the root, you understand all its blossoming.”

With regard to playing within any given style of music, we must be familiar with the specific features of that style. In his book, “This is Your Brain on Music: the Science of a Human Obsession”, Daniel J. Levinton describes something called a “schema”, which is a mental model that your brain uses to identify and categorize. Imagine flipping through the radio looking for something to listen to. If you hear a ride cymbal and walking bass with a piano solo, your brain says “jazz”. People can argue endlessly about what jazz is or isn’t, but generally speaking, we all know it when we hear it. That’s because we have a schema in our brain for “jazz”. This accounts for the spark of recognition we experience when we hear something new, but familiar. If the music is totally unusual from the listener’s standpoint, they have a hard time understanding it, because there is no schema to help them interpret it. But if the music is too familiar and predictable, it’s boring. One of the challenges of being an artist is to provide that recognition, the activation of the schema, without being boring or predictable. Familiar with a twist is a good formula for making captivating music.
What this means if we want to “transcend a genre without losing sight of it” is that we need to activate the schema for that genre in the listener while using our knowledge of the fundamentals of music to provide a different context or element that works harmoniously with the essentials of the style. For example, many traditional modal or dronal styles of music use the minor pentatonic scale (C Eb F G Bb in the key of C). If you were to play a traditional melody in that scale, then it would activate the schema associated with it. What would happen, though, if you put different chords behind that melody, besides C minor? C sus, F minor 9, F sus, Eb major 6, Ab major 7, Bb sus, and Db major 7 #11 will all change the way you hear the C minor pentatonic scale, even though the melody itself is unchanged from its traditional form. Thus, the same melody will activate the schema for its tradition, while the new chords simultaneously expand on it in a way that works. This is a very simple example, but the general principle can be extrapolated and applied to other specifics.
It gets more complicated in real-world practice. Sometimes fusion leads to confusion. I could speak the most eloquent poetry on the nature of the soul, but if you don’t understand my language, it just sounds like nonsense. You can’t just throw an Indian sitarist on a stage with an African drummer, a jazz piano player, a techno DJ, a mariachi, and a Bulgarian women’s choir and expect it to work without effort. I’ve been in situations like that, and no one comes away happy with the result. That’s why in my opinion, it really helps to make the effort to truly understand other styles of music.
It reminds me of when Arturo Sandoval came to do a master class when I was at Berklee. He’s a trumpet virtuoso, but also plays great jazz piano. I asked him, “How do you approach being a multi-instrumentalist?” His answer was so simple and true. “If you want to play two, practice twice.”

Hello, everyone! It’s great to be here and I’d like to thank Geoffrey for the opportunity to blog on this site. I’m so happy to find such a vibrant community of flute enthusiasts gathered in one virtual place. Let me begin by introducing myself.
I’ve been a musician all of my life, but my journey with the bansuri flute began in 1997 while I was attending Berklee College of Music. Despite my lack of technical ability as a flute player in those early days, I felt deeply that there was a special quality to this instrument, as the intensity of my musical experience was greater than it ever was on the guitar, on which I had a fairly well-developed skill set. How then could I not follow and see where that would lead? I was referred to Steve Gorn for lessons and after graduation, I moved to upstate New York to learn with him. This was followed by two trips to India to study with the great Pandit Raghunath Seth in Mumbai. Both have been inspired teachers, mentors, and friends whose guidance has been invaluable to my growth as a musician and more importantly as a human being. In 2006, I was awarded a fellowship from the American Institute for Indian Studies, which brought me back to India three more times in successive years to study. On my most recent journey, I was staying in the house of Pandit Vikash Maharaj, a great sarod player, and received intensive training from him. It was a great challenge to try and adapt sarod music to the bansuri, one which really helped me improve my technique and expand my concept of what was possible on the instrument (a potential future blog topic, perhaps?). When I’m not traveling, I make my home in Brooklyn, New York, where I work as a freelance musician.
New York City is a place of incredible cultural diversity. What is so interesting is that all kinds of cross-cultural collaborations are taking place here every day. The concept of musical fusion is as old as civilization itself. Throughout history, musical ideas have traveled with merchants, soldiers, nomads, and immigrants to new places where they have combined with native forms to produce new idioms. Indeed, North Indian Classical music itself is the product of a meeting between indigenous Indian music with the music of Muslim invaders. This clash of cultures resulted not only in a new musical style but new instruments as well. Innovation is at the heart of the tradition. In America, Jazz, often cited as “America’s classical music”, is similarly a result of the combination of European harmony and instruments with African rhythms. In today’s ever-shrinking world, characterized by cross-cultural connections on a scale never before seen in history, new combinations and musical forms are inevitable. The ancient and noble bansuri has arrived in modern-day New York. How can we help move it forward in the service of music? This is the line of thinking that inspires me to be creative and push the limits of my art. My opinion is that a solid grounding in traditional training is the best starting point for creativity with any instrument, but to innovate, one must be willing to question the assumptions inherent in any traditional style and conduct experiments, gather data, and draw conclusions about what works. I also believe that it is our duty as musicians to show by example that the way of peace is one of open-mindedness, appreciation, respect, tolerance, compassion, and forgiveness.
As I sat last night thinking about what to write on the blog a few things came to mind. I’d like to share some thoughts about bansuri playing techniques and the wider music scene in general, but I’d also like to hear from the members of this site and engage in a dialog about what you’d like to hear from me. The more interactive it gets, the better it will be for everyone.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more!

Alright everyone–brace yourselves!

The new Flute Portal will be coming online this next week.  This will be the “beta” version, so you might encounter the odd glitch here and there, but to run them all to ground we really need the membership to make use of the site (push buttons, kick tires, poke around in the cupboards…mix metaphors?  Hmmmmm…..).

For all of the members who have created an Artist Page on the existing site, you will have to do it all over again on the new site….BUT, it will be much easier!  The new interface is simple and intuitive, so you should be up and running in no time.  And don’t forget, we have video embedding as well for all of you YouTubers and Vimeo-ers.

Shortly after the launch we’ll be adding in the subscription feature for those who are interested, and this means FREE FLUTES!!  Yes, the old prize giveaway will be online again with many a tasty treat for the subscribers, plus extra bonuses that we will be providing along the way.  I’ll do a mail out to the membership to let everyone know when the automated subscription function is active.

We’ll try to make the transition as seamless as possible, but at some point (possibly the middle of the night) the site will be offline for a bit while we load the new site and connect it up with the forums.

So stand by!