The iemoto system has its negative aspects but I've found that the
discipline from the ryuha in terms of the detailed attention given to the
way each note is played and the emphasis on playing everything perfectly in
a piece of music under the watchful eye of the sensei has helped me to
accumulate tension which can be released to good effect in extemporaneous
shakuhachi sessions with musicians of various stripes, like last night's in
a tiny, smoky club with a slide guitarist playing Japanese blues,
sandwiched between the performances of the taiko drummer, ferocious and
primal, but in reality a vegetable shop owner, who had to hoist his drums
up through the second floor window as they wouldn't fit in through the door
and the elfin solo violinist with an angel's face and dreadlocks who
wouldn't have looked out of place in a gypsy caravan-- training within the
ryuha can complement and provide a good balance to improvization.
Dan
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