Our Next Meeting Saturday 4 February!

Our next meeting that will be on Saturday the 4th of February should be a lot of fun!

Reminder, we'll be having it at my home not at the SNAP location. Also after we get done with out flute playing and instruction we'll be having our first group party.  So even if you can't make the 10:00 AM start of the instruction please come to the party at noon.

Since it will be a party, music is always welcome. If you've got an instrument you enjoy playing, any instrument at all, bring it along and lets have some fun. Maybe we can try some improvisation between the shakuhachi and other instruments.

Two weekends ago I went to Boyce Thompson Arboritium for a class to make a didgeridoo. It came out realy well and others are welcome to try it out.

Hope to see a lot of you there and of course bring a guest if you'd like. The more the merrier.

–Buddhist saying and Ma

“Do not speak, unless it improves on silence.”

 

Within Shakuhachi music there is silence, between notes, between phrases. This is not emptiness, it has space and relationships. It is Ma (間).
It is best described as a consciousness of place, not in the sense of an enclosed three-dimensional entity, but rather the simultaneous awareness of form and non-form deriving from an intensification of vision.
Ma is not something that is created by compositional elements; it is the thing that takes place in the imagination of the human who experiences these elements. Therefore ma can be defined as experiential place understood with emphasis on interval.

Shakuhachi: Kominato Akihisa and the Music of the Universe

Kominato Akihisa is a young virtuoso on the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute. In the hands of a virtuoso like Kominato, the shakuhachi can express a wide range of emotions, almost like a human voice in song. By bringing a spirit of innovation to the rich traditions of this historical Japanese instrument, Kominato has delighted audiences around the world. In this video, Kominato introduces the history and diversity of the shakuhachi, and performs a special piece accompanied by piano.

Our Next Meeting is January 7th at 10:00 AM

Hello All,

Our next gathering of the Phoenix AZ Shakuhachi Friends will be this Saturday the 7th from10:00 AM to about noon.

Come one, come all and check it out. As always we'll be at SNAP Scottsdale neighborhood arts place.

Bamboo Dreams Concert and Workshop Photos

David Wheeler gave us an amazing workshop and concert. I’ll talk about it more in my next post but for now, here’s a few photos from the events.
Instruction at our all day shakuhachi workshop. David working with Barbara and Mike.
 
About Ready to start the concert



Wayne from our Meetup group got this wonderful photo!

Also check out our web site: http://phoenixazshakuhachi.com/

David Wheeler and Satsuki Odamura - Haru no umi (Spring Sea)

David Wheeler and Satsuki Odamura - Haru no umi (Spring Sea)

Composed by Miyagi Michio (b. 1894 - d. 1956), a blind koto teacher in the Ikuta school. The 1929 duet for shakuhachi and koto, Haru no umi (Spring Sea), has proven Baroque-like in its performance practice, for it is often heard played by the violin, with koto or piano accompaniment. Its style equals the French composer Claude Debussy in his most oriental moments

December’s Gathering Updates

We had our Monthly gathering of the Phoenix AZ Shakuhachi Friends this Saturday, December 3rd at the Scottsdale Neighborhood Arts Place.

There was just a couple of us there this month but we still had a wonderful time. We started working on a new group piece called Hamachidori which translates into English as Song of the Seashore Bird (Plover).

Hamachidori
(Beach Plovers)
Year: 1919
This piece was composed for Shakuhachi by Hirota Rutaro

The words:
On the beach beneath a blue moon night,
birds cry out, searching for their parents.
They emerge from the land of waves.
Their wet wings the color silver.

Such grief from these birds, crying in the dark.
Crossing the sea, seeking their parents.
They disappear into the land of night.
Young beach plovers with silver wings.