Now this is an interesting assertion, that "training within the ryuha can
complement and provide a good balance to improvisation."
I'd like to open up a new topic of discussion on improvisation. I find your
statement interesting for two reasons. 1st, because I have found very few
shakuhachi players that either want to improvise, or feel they can, even if
they say they want to. (Are they just students? If someone only has
classical training, can they improvise only after a certain number of long
years of playing? If so how many years?)
2nd, I think of all those musicians trained in western classical music who
cannot improvise. They have wonderful technique, can read music
beautifully, but cannot improvise. So obviously, great technique or
training alone doesn't automatically imply being able to improvise. (Just
like great Jazz musicians may or may not be able to read music but have
other skills that allow them to be great improvisors.)
Dan, What do you think there is about your training that enables you to
do so? Do you think there is a special something that allows one person to
be able to improvise yet another not? Is it desire? Is it an open mind?
Does one have to train or practice improvisation before they can do so? (If
so, does training under an iemoto system allow room for improvisation?)
I'd love to hear from everyone on this topic; their opinions and
experiences. There are people on this list that are trained in both western
and Japanese music. What do you think the difference is between regular
training and opening up to improvisation?
I find the topic of improvisation to be very interesting and am not sure if
just simply studying regular technique in great detail will necessarily
create the ability to improvise. Granted, you have a tool bag of technique
to chose from, but its in the choosing that makes the music.
Let the improvising begin!!!!!!!!!
Herb
At 2/22/01 11:49 PM, ribbled@med.kochi-ms.ac.jp wrote:
>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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