How did you practice?

Hi Low Blow.


In my living room and workshop mostly.

Sitting on my heels in the living room and on the stool in my shop.


I try to practice everyday but if I don't get the personal time in, I'll work on something as I tune a flute during shop hours.


Ideally, 2 hours. Some days only get a few minutes while other days around 6 hours or more.


Physically, Yoga as it help my playing an many ways. Technically, hearing pitch intervals for various types of Honkyoku styles I know, investigations in the dynamic range of tone color and musical phrasing (as they pertain to individual pieces and schools). Training my mind so that I am always aware of what is happening with the sound moment to moment.


Allow my shakuhachi practice to influence my life so that when I put down the flute, I can walk mindfully throughout the day. This takes the most practice of all

In a spare bedroom at home that I also use as a computer room.



Standing.



Every day, usually in the evening.



1 to 1 and 1/2 hours a day. Of course, there are occasional days where I make less time, just as there are days where I get to 2 hours or more.



Long tones for 15 to 30 minutes. Then pieces. Lately I've been choosing to work on a new piece, then always go through at least a couple runs on Telemann's Fantasy #2 so it stays in my memory (I've been doing that for about a year now), and then select one or more pieces I've learned and memorized to run through and work on.



In the past, I've tried running through (but not working on) all of my memorized repertoire daily, but found that while practicing in that manner serves to aid memorization, the pieces don't get any better. I like my new routine better, it emphasizes quality over quantity.

Unless I'm preparing for a concert or teaching a student, I generally noodle and I'll do it anywhere I can. I often do it walking around enjoying the changes in acoustics of the spaces I pass through. I don't have time limits or restrictions on what I play. Sometimes I sit in front of the t.v. and play along with commercials. Sometimes I sit on the deck and play along with crickets or clouds. That's when I'm not preparing for a concert or teaching.

I practice at home, at work, and generally carry a flute around with me so if I'm downtown or traveling with try to find a good public space such as a park, mountain, castle wall, tunnel, play outside a cafe, by a river, in shrine or temple grounds etc. I like checking out various acoustic spaces as I see Jeff has also mentioned. Usually I warm up with ten or fifteen minutes of long tones, and also play a few minutes of scales -- currently going through the western scales in James Schlefer's The Practical Shakuhachi. Then I play a couple of honkyoku and often a gaikyoku piece. At the end I sometimes improvise a bit. I usually play in the evenings on weekdays and often at lunch break, either dividing practice into two half hour periods or an hour; I try to get in at least an hour of practice a day. If I've got a performance of some kind coming up then I'll often end up practicing for a longer period. I sometimes do some finger, wrist, arm, or sometimes whole body stretches before practicing. Usually practice standing, seiza, lotus, or sitting.

I practice at home, in they yard, in the sauna, on the beach, in the nature reserve (those are all in and around my house) and I practice in my tea house, both in public view and in private.



According to my mood.



I don't have a weekly routine or monthly routine. I'm a very busy person, so I don't have any routine in my life.

On a daily basis for shakuhachi I always blow ro for ten minutes, the rest is according to my time constraints and where I am practicing.

On a good day i will:

Do yoga for an hour.

End that by sitting cross-legged and blowing ro for 10 minutes.

Then I play "Choshi" followed by an improvisation arising out of that. This is something I do every day either after blowing ro or when I start playing in the teahouse. Or both. As Mitsuhashi Kifu said, a shakuhachi player should always be ready to play "Choshi" even if roused from a deep sleep.

Then I go into the sauna and do harmonic exercises, scales and some exercises out of James Schlefer's books. I might also play an exercise Ornette gave me, which I used to do anyway but when I realized he valued it I put it into my repertoire. Also a few exercises adapted from Steve Lacy's book.

Then I usually go into town and blow honkyoku, sankyoku, minyo and jazz at the teahouse for between 30 minutes and 2 hours. I don't know if that's "practice" or "performance".

Sometimes I'll get together with the "cats" and run over heads before a gig but I don't like formal rehearsals in the jazz world.

When I give lessons I practice warmups with the students, that's multi-tasking. And I might practice whatever I'm teaching the students just to refresh myself on it.

Basically a lazy dude........I do what I want.



Usually about 1-2 hours a day, more if there are performances.



Do you mean physical exercise? Biking, weights and yoga.



Here's something I told a member of the BBQ who talked about having minimal practice time due to new baby:

"Hi Seth,

Believe it or not I have given a great deal of thought to this question of yours and here's what I recommend. You are a Jin Nyodo player so you should play this everyday:

1. 5 minutes ro
2. "Choshi" or "Daiwagaku". From memory.
3. "Rokudan"
4. Nezasaha "Shirabe"
5. Kinko Ryu "Hi Fu Mi Hachigaeshi"

This covers all the main aspects of the Jin Nyodo repertoire which are gaikyoku, Myoan honkyoku, Nezasaha honkyoku, and Kinko honkyoku. Those prelude pieces incorporate most of the techniques you need to play the other Myoan, Nezasaha and Kinko honkyoku respectively so daily practice of them should keep your playing sharp.

I think this whole workout would be about 40 minutes. On days when you have more time work on more tunes."

Link to the topic:

http://shakuhachiforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=2321

I practice about an hour a day pretty much every day in an upstairs room of my house that I also use for reading, listening to music, and pondering life's imponderables. I sit in seiza but for no more than 2-3 hours a week which keeps my body used to it without causing discomfort or damage. The rest of the time I sit cross-legged or in a chair. I don't do any technical exercises or drills, just warm up with a few long tones and maybe play Choshi or Kurokami to get in the swing of things. Then it's to the piece I'm currently learning. I usually like to brush up one or two others before calling it quits.

A few months back, following a tip from David Sawyer I began to practice part of the time in a small, acoustically dead space (David uses a book-lined closet). It can be hard work to produce a decent sound, the idea being to strengthen and develop one's tone.

For physical exercise, if that's the question, I stretch and do a moderate intensity aerobic workout every day, and lift weights twice a week.

Usually at home in a sound "proof" room I built so as not to annoy my neighbors; it holds my zendo and workbench. Outside in open spaces as much as possible.

Seiza, Burmese, Standing, & Walking

Ro Buki for 10-30 minutes, scales, various techniques, the songs I'm currently studying--one honkyoku and one lighter piece (Fukuda Rando, folk song, etc), and then some of the repertoire of what I've learned thus far. Not always in that order. I set up these Byzantine practice sessions with an interval timer. It's little ridiculous, but it works for me ("Otaku", as my teacher tells me, isn't such a bad thing in shakuhachi practice). Other times I just wander around and play whatever I've memorized, play the same simple thing over and over again...That kind of pulse seems to be working. Intensify, relax, discipline, relax, etc...Tamuke as an offering most nights before sleep.

often 2 hours/day more or less--though it fluctuates depending on work demands--rarely less than 30 minutes, rarely more than 4 hours.

Xing Yi Nei Gong and Tian Gan (from Gao-style Baguazhang) for opening the body and cultivating ki. I also do Crossfit. I'm trying to avoid getting heavily into BJJ, but I think I'm going to lose.

Lastly and most importantly, zazen and after that, more zazen.