Good Days and Bad Days
Good Days and Bad Days
Hello All,
To start with I’ve been playing for about 6-7 years now and feel like I’m doing well. I’ve got a small repertoire of songs I will do in public. I practice about 30 minutes most mornings and more often than not about 30 more either at lunch time or in the evening.
My lunch time paying is done in a local park so I can get used to performing in front of other people. I find a comfortable place and open my binder and run through my songs. Starting with Choshi, then Tsuki gusano yume (drean of moon grass), then into Azuma no kyoko, hama chidori and kojono ysuki. I’ve just recently thrown into my play binder Sanya. Normally I make it through my lunch music, sometimes well done, sometimes ok.
Here’s a bit of what I experienced today. Almost all of my playing started out so weak and thready I stopped playing and went through some scales to try and reset my embrasure. I’d have things going well for a bit then I’d lose it again. Especially the top end of Kan and meri notes, so chi meri and hi were REALY rough!
Ok, so I’m not asking for advice. I’m just saying that even after 7 years of fairly devoted practice, some days the shakuhachi can be humbling. So tomorrow morning, I'm back out for an ealry Saturday in the park and going at it agan.
Best wishes all from Arizona!
To start with I’ve been playing for about 6-7 years now and feel like I’m doing well. I’ve got a small repertoire of songs I will do in public. I practice about 30 minutes most mornings and more often than not about 30 more either at lunch time or in the evening.
My lunch time paying is done in a local park so I can get used to performing in front of other people. I find a comfortable place and open my binder and run through my songs. Starting with Choshi, then Tsuki gusano yume (drean of moon grass), then into Azuma no kyoko, hama chidori and kojono ysuki. I’ve just recently thrown into my play binder Sanya. Normally I make it through my lunch music, sometimes well done, sometimes ok.
Here’s a bit of what I experienced today. Almost all of my playing started out so weak and thready I stopped playing and went through some scales to try and reset my embrasure. I’d have things going well for a bit then I’d lose it again. Especially the top end of Kan and meri notes, so chi meri and hi were REALY rough!
Ok, so I’m not asking for advice. I’m just saying that even after 7 years of fairly devoted practice, some days the shakuhachi can be humbling. So tomorrow morning, I'm back out for an ealry Saturday in the park and going at it agan.
Best wishes all from Arizona!
Hi Chuck, yes, just stick with it.
Shakuhachi is a very good barometer of mental and physical health.
Unfortunately!
Shakuhachi is a very good barometer of mental and physical health.
Unfortunately!
Through observation of such phenomena I figured out that I have an intolerance to tomatoes that apparently plagued me since childhood, as well as chronic dehydration. Dr. Shakuhachi.
maybe we can start an alternative medical diagnostic method by analyzing shakuhachi playing and determining a person's aliment. LOL
Bad tone days... Generally what I do is keep getting simpler and simpler until I can get it right. Then I practice it that way for a while making sure there are no mistakes, and if there are consistent ones that occur often, focus on those. For example, when too much windiness is the problem, I find the note that creates the least wind and work on cleaning that one up as much as I can. Then I move onto and try other notes. Eventually I just barge through the passage to check out the results of my work. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's not, whether to go back to working on tone again depends on whether I think the problem will go away tomorrow or not or if I think I can get it better.
That's funny, Chuck because I had a strange experience when I had played 7 years as well....
I had also done intensive practicing for these 7 years and had played through basically the whole Zensabo repertoire and - suddenly one day I couldn't get a note out of the shakuhachi. As I was living in Japan for 11 years while learning the shakuhachi - I was there... and as usual I went to Okuda's place 3 times a week, and we sat there together for an hour together each time - with me not being able to get a tone out of the damn thing!
It took a month before I got a tone back and then very quickly the whole thing came back. It was very weird! Especially kari notes were impossible for me to play!
So yes, just keep on playing and you will get through the rough times...
I had also done intensive practicing for these 7 years and had played through basically the whole Zensabo repertoire and - suddenly one day I couldn't get a note out of the shakuhachi. As I was living in Japan for 11 years while learning the shakuhachi - I was there... and as usual I went to Okuda's place 3 times a week, and we sat there together for an hour together each time - with me not being able to get a tone out of the damn thing!
It took a month before I got a tone back and then very quickly the whole thing came back. It was very weird! Especially kari notes were impossible for me to play!
So yes, just keep on playing and you will get through the rough times...
Wow Kiku... that must have been a scary and frustrating experience! But it is in fact good to surrender to the fact that Shakuhachi is an endlessly challenging endeavor.
I find it often frustrating when I have a studio date and I happen to have a "bad Shakuhachi day". How do you explain it to the producer?!!!
Lately I have been doing high Kan register workouts... basically intstead of Robuki I do Kan Chibuki
It seems to really strengthen my embouchure.
Keep it up, Chuck!
I find it often frustrating when I have a studio date and I happen to have a "bad Shakuhachi day". How do you explain it to the producer?!!!
Lately I have been doing high Kan register workouts... basically intstead of Robuki I do Kan Chibuki
It seems to really strengthen my embouchure.Keep it up, Chuck!
Thanks for your comments Kiku, Danza and Charles, 
It's comforting to hear others go through this same thing. I've heard and know how challenging the shakuhachi can be, how frustrating it can be.
The shakuhachi fits into my personality, I like things that are for the long term and the shakuhachi is so very a long term commitment. I'm off to a lovely park thins morning to play. My wife will be doing taichi with her group and I'll be out of the way ENJOYING playing my shak. I purposely capitalized enjoying because even with some bad days, playing shakuhachi is still amazing and enjoyable for me.
It's comforting to hear others go through this same thing. I've heard and know how challenging the shakuhachi can be, how frustrating it can be.
The shakuhachi fits into my personality, I like things that are for the long term and the shakuhachi is so very a long term commitment. I'm off to a lovely park thins morning to play. My wife will be doing taichi with her group and I'll be out of the way ENJOYING playing my shak.
I purposely capitalized enjoying because even with some bad days, playing shakuhachi is still amazing and enjoyable for me.
"J. Danza""J. Danza"
Lately I have been doing high Kan register workouts... basically intstead of Robuki I do Kan Chibuki
I just got through a couple weeks where I had to focus my energy on practicing baroque flute. The embouchure hole on that thing is so small that when I got back to shakuhachi my embouchure was way too tight. It's been a few days now and it's still not back to where it was.
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