Shakuhachi and Covid 19

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          Seriously? Has it truly been ten months since posting on this blog? Unfortunately, yes. :-(

               And there is no excuse other than letting things get away from me. This included practice and playing of my flutes. Summer and autumn extended into winter and it wasn't until today that I was electronically "kicked in the rear", though not intended, by Kiku Day and her post regarding playing Robuki to the planet for healing and show empathy for those affected. My wee light bulb went off and I was shocked at how long it had been. I felt immediate shame and sadness as well as anger at my lack of discipline.

While I TRY so hard to not beat myself up for such things, I had good cause to this time. Simply put...no excuses due to time constraints. I just have way too many interests and need to make a decision as to whether I want to continue playing this amazing instrument.







           Sure, what a stupid question. Of course I do!! And what a time for this to happen as now I have more time than ever. As of last week, my employment has been postponed for awhile. My job is still there, just that the college has shut down due to safety and the governors orders for non essential functions to be closed. While I will not be getting paid (unemployment rejected due to not having the minimum hours over a calendar year), this will be a good opportunity to start fresh and play again.

           So many months off has made playing really depressing but within an hour I had some stronger Ro notes going on Hideo, my primary shakuhachi. So, out came all the books and music as well as forming my mind around the culture and pieces again. It is amazing how quickly one can get back into the swing of things!!


                   

                         Covid 19 has been devastating to the planet and so many people have died or are infected. This is NOT a flu bug nor something to be taken lightly, as some have maintained. And being such an extrovert has not made this easy. Still, after a week off and away from others (most others), I now know what a perfect time this is to get to work on not only playing my shakuhachi again, but back to meditation and the tings I miss, that really inspired and calmed me, soothed my soul. Life can be horribly demanding and having the mindset and discipline to maintain the positive activities and actions can be tough.


                       Therefore, today marks the start of starting again. Of delving and immersing myself once more into those worlds that made me who I am in many ways. I'll never thank such things as a virus for creating such havoc and pain but most certainly will learn from this and adjust to it in the best way possible! _/||\_ 

                                                                  Namaste!

                                                             

New flute!!

            This year has been a quiet one for my flutes and any playing for a host of many reasons. One is due to the constant busy my schedule is and how much I am doing. The other deals with the fact that the facial hair I have grown is making an embouchure much more difficult and therefore that playing is considerably tougher. So the flutes took a back seat as the classical guitar came out. Still, I find myself still trying to get some decent sounds out of the flutes! Then, a few weeks ago a fella in our flute group saw my Ellis Pueblo flute up for sale (made of maple) and wanted to discuss a trade. Up for offer was his Ellis (https://www.ellisflutes.com/) shakuhachi, also of curly maple.


  So, yes...this was certainly a trade I could do and within a few weeks, the new shakuhachi was in my hands. Amazingly, I was able to get some rich sounds from this flute and lo and behold, apparently the facial hair had grown long enough to allow it to lay flat enough and make an embouchere work, even on Hideo, my beloved bamboo shakuhachi!

                                               Here are a few pics of the new arrival!!

                                                         













This delightful flute is incredible and while no, it is not bamboo, it has qualities that the latter doe snot. Especially it's stability as regards cracking. I will be playing this flute now and then as it will never replace my Hideo . but what a welcome addition to the collection!

Flute update!

                               It is hard to believe that seven months have passed since the last post here! Where did the time go?! Granted, 2018 was a bitter sweet year filled with some amazing experiences and some heartbreaks as well. So music and flute playing took a bit of a back seat to life events.
But, after a January of 2019 saw a move to a new dwelling, the outlook has changed a bit, all in a very positive direction! The new place has a beautiful view, lots of flora and fauna to keep me company and listen to the music played!

This wetland area behind my place is teeming with wildlife and a joy to play to and observe!


This leads me to the current state of flutes and playing for 2019. My playing and practice in 2018 was fractured for so many reasons, mainly due to relationships and scheduling. Not a good excuse but, there it is. As 2019 motored on into February, I decided to change me facial features a bit, growing out my moustache, patch and adding a chin beard. This has made playing rim blown flutes nearly impossible due to the air stream blockage and no matter who much I try, it simply is not easy nor music producing. So I have decided to take the year off from the shakuhachi and rim blown flutes and to devote 2019 to my Celtic flute and the Irish whistles I have neglected for a bit. As neither is affected by the facial furniture I now sport, it is the perfect time to devote to them!

Routine and daily practice

                                               Daily practice has always been a  problem for me and the last few months of activity in my life have proved to be the kryptonite to me. Between work and relationships, between only having 24 hours in a day and also minding my own self awareness...shakuhachi practice has suffered. Last week I had decided this was going to cease and I would get back on the practice schedule. Since then, it has worked and I have been getting the lungs, fingers and embouchure in shape for essential learning. It always amazes me how quickly my lung capacity and dynamics disappear after only a few months. Fortunately, the embouchure remains and I can play.

                                                      The internet has lately become a great place to scurry back to for refreshers on basics and to get caught up to where I was before life crept back in. YouTube, individual blogs, shakuhachi sites...all have been invaluable to me. And getting the few songs in my fingers back helps a great deal,too. I have been doing my best to stay away from Facebook as it has been a horrible place to be for the most part. No need to detail as to why, with the current political climate in disarray. And this has helped me focus on my Buddhist philosophical studies as well as shakuhachi lessons.

                                                         This brings up the playing of my shakuhachi when meditating or in mindfulness. Fellow shakuhachi player, performer and teacher, Kiku Day, discusses this so very well in her work entitled "Mindful playing, mindful practice: The shakuhachi as a modern meditation tool".
I won't go into great detail here as the work is on the internet to see and read in full (highly recommended), but she brings out some delightful points about meditation and musicians of which I agree..." I believe it is not an easy task to apply meditation to music playing and that it requires as arduous training as any sitting meditation form. I find that people, myself included, are confused by the notions of concentration, flow, and meditation."  This I wholeheartedly agree with! And I have struggled to find that connection between the three dynamics of music, meditation and mindfulness.

                                                         So, I have been trying to re-shape how my meditation and practicing are done, hoping that I can find a happy medium that keeps me stimulated in playing and not "bored" with routine that eventually has me wandering away. Now, this doesn't mean I stop all shakuhachi related activities, far from it. I listen to it daily, watch videos and research history,etc. But the PRACTICING...never something I have been good at.

                                                          Therefore, I shall try my best to play and meditate daily, to combine the two when and if it is appropriate and works. This is my goal for the rest of the year. When December arrives, I hope to see what has happened and where I stand in all of this.

                                             Kiku Day's blog and page ...         Kiku Day




                                                 

New year, New focus, New challenges.

                                                    It has been close to four months since the last blog post and I have been negligent in posting. Shame on me! There have been various reasons as to why but I won't bore you with them as they seriously do not matter! What happens next is key in this journey as it has been years along and my playing is still on an intermediate level and nothing more. With only a few real songs under my belt (the usual numbers for beginners) where my talent lies is with improvisational playing, just composing and enjoying the moments with my flutes. Not only at home, but out and about. Even shooting photos of them to add to my portfolio.

                                             What do I REALLY want to do with my shakuhachi and Native American/Celtic flute playing? Become a performer? As student of the history and lore? Or to simply enjoy the meditative aspects and play for my own pleasure? Well, a tough question to answer in some ways. yes to all of the above but less the affirmative to being a performer. I do want to be able to play in front of others to share my love of the instruments and how much they mean to me but not really interested now in performances otherwise. Call it my fear of not being good enough to play well and that my perfectionist philosophy gets in the way. Fortunately, with both the shakuhachi and Native American flutes, there is a lot of wiggle room in playing that can make the resulting music just fine!

My desire to play the shakuhachi and native flutes for meditation is a strong YES! These are parts of my soul in many ways and when blowing into them, bringing them to life, making music...it is indeed making me a part of the earth, the universe and contributing to it's love and peace. Whether my neighbors believe that is a different opinion. :-)   

                                 
When playing, I will frequently burn sage and Palo Santo wood to purify the space and energize things. It is a beautiful part of my meditation and I cannot imagine doing things differently. When I go to a local park and play, perhaps while i walk or sit next to a tree, the sounds are carried on the breeze and off to whomever hears it, be that the neighbors, canines, cats, insects or my favourites...TREES!!


                                               My goal therefore is not to become a performer, a player in front of audiences. Not to say I won't record my music and share that with the world as I have done that and will continue to. My journey in playing and learning is to enrich my soul, my heart, my mind and to enjoy the travels in life. It sure takes a LOT of pressure off of this student when the thought of playing in front of others ( a few exceptions to that) is not hanging there as a specter. Just be, play, enjoy with NO pressure!


                                                               * Namaste *

Meditation blues...

                                                       Since the last post on this blog, my shakuhachi practice has slowed due to so many things. Then I realized how often I have typed that same whine over the last few years.                                           

                                                                                        Why?                 

                                                     
       Seriously, why is it so hard to practice and keep up with this beautiful instrument and play more? Well, as an extrovert with distractions and shiny things easily overtaking me, there is no wonder why I cannot progress!! Discipline!!! That is what I need most of all. How do I maintain that?

                             

                                                           For two years, between 2014 and 2016, I kept a daily log/journal of my practice times, what I played, songs, etc. And I was pretty good about that, sometimes skipping a day or two. But I never seemed to really progress past the same three or four songs and daily Ro or Tsu exercises. Granted those are very valuable and necessary. My budget isn't able to afford lessons again so I'm still on my own. If I could just keep from being distracted. The shakuhachi is a part of me. A bit of my soul, my mind and heart. And whether in simply meditative play, or learning  piece of honkyoku... it is not something that will be disappearing from my life. Being part of the shakuhachi community is also huge for me, though as of late I have not been delving into that, things being a bit of a mess in the busy sense. Therefore, something needs to change if I have any hope of progressing. A few possibilities:


                                                                       
                                         Mindset.

Why do I HAVE to learn songs and classic Japanese shakuhachi pieces? Well, I DON'T have to but they are an essential part of the repertoire and really need to be played.
But, that does not mean they are a daily goal. I have toyed with the idea of transcribing classical Western piano pieces into shakuhachi music, though sure, some notes need to be adjusted due to scale.



The photo at left truly calls me. We need to stop and take in our surroundings and be happy. Sometimes that means just blowing Ro or any other note we like, practicing breath control or meditating on the sounds, the connection with the soul, the heart. <3     This....this is what I will try to do. Not push myself so that I get discouraged. Enjoy, relax...play.




                                                                           Breathe

My focus has always been on trying to learn songs. But there have been MANY teachers, if not all, who focus us on breathing for the first lessons. In fact, a few have had their students do this for the first entire year before learning more. This, I believe, is sound and solid advice. And , definitely good for the player, whether in performance or meditation.


So, like lat time, I will be keeping a diary and journal of my playing, breathing/playing Ro or any other note to lengthen my breath. This admittedly worked well for me last time and I was able to get to a full minute in playing without taking a breath. though in songs, this was not necessary.






                                                                       Enjoy!


                                           The playing of the shakuhachi means different thing to every player or listener. As a musician of a variety of instruments over the years, none has captivated my like the shakuhachi. And the joy, the feelings and soul that it brings me are truly magical! Why make it a drudgery?



I'm not going to be some professional performer, nor even a busker on the corner. Though I admit the latter sounds fun if i get good enough. But, "getting good enough" is what i need to discount and not concentrate on. Just have fun, enjoy and move on at your own pace!







In final, the new year approaches and again I start with a list of "goals" to accomplish. None of them are absolute and that...makes me happy. Just be. Live. breathe. Enjoy!!  <3 <3 <3

Summer break is over!!

                                  The long break taken from summer's beginning till now is over!

The summer began with family related distractions that included my mother's cancer treatments, work on my photography business and an assortment of things. This seems to be a common thing with me and musical instruments, making it tough to really progress beyond the beginner stages to intermediate. So as usual, I immerse myself in the music, gaining back the desire and thrill that had
overtaken me before. Before you know it, I have returned to the place previously at. This is not a bad thing but not good either, certainly not positive. What I NEED is to have a daily practice routine that
takes my soul to another place. For two years I did this and enjoyed it.

Then, life and other interests creep in and there it goes. Add to this the hair dynamic. Yep, the hair dynamic. As has been mentioned before, adding lip facial hair to the appearance does NOT prove to be positive for playing. Simply put, it is difficult to get the embouchure right on the shakuhachi with a "soul" patch on my lower lip. But damn, I really like the look currently and need to practice and find a way around this. With my Celtic flute and whistles, this is never a problem at all. 

    So, now to work around this feature and make the shakuhachi sound good with said hirsute addition! This moustache combo is a mere 8 weeks old and isn't going anywhere for the time being. Time to accept it.


Well, there is an update. Now all I need to accomplish is a new calendar of practice times and get out the books, CD's and sheet music. Again, I am determined as usual, let's see how it goes.