Friends,
This is about my recent experiences at the 2001 Shakuhachi Summer Camp of
The Rockies. For general information about what this camp is about and
Sunrise Ranch where it takes place, check out this website:
http://www.shakucamp.com/. It gives a lot of essential info, but no amount
of pictures can do justice to the sheer beauty of the Loveland, Colorado
countryside, the cleanliness of the ranch, and the friendliness of the
people who choose to live there.
I received my shakuhachi just two days before camp. Thereafter, I was known
as "48-Hour Guy". I don't remember which instructor coined it, but I'm sure
it was either Riley Lee or David Wheeler. Much of my frustration with
trying to get a sound went away when I heard repeatedly from other players
who took weeks or even months before finally getting a sound out of the
shakuhachi.
The camp schedule was structured so that we had group classes and individual
lessons on alternating days (group lessons on Friday, individual lessons on
Saturday, etc.). Some comments on studying with the five instructors:
David Wheeler - I only had one group lesson with him, but I saw him around
camp a lot. He did a fine job of getting me started on reading shakuhachi
notation and some of the fingerings.
Yoshio Kurahashi - Had an infectious grin that just wouldn't quit. I
couldn't help but smile when he told us in a beginner class "Please don't
worry about pitch" - he wanted us to focus more on proper handling of the
instrument and breathing. He entertained us with his "what not to do"
demonstrations. He suggested we try practicing while lying down - I think
it was to learn how to play relaxed, but I'm not sure.
Kaoru Kakizakai - In my first lesson with him, he tried to correct my
embouchure. By that time, I had been making sounds on my flute by
developing my own weird embouchure which was basically making a round hole
by puckering and blowing really hard. Kakizakai wanted me to start with
lips in a natural, relaxed position; then blow gently with the air stream
pushing out the lower lip slightly - all with the feeling of a "ping-pong
ball" in the back of my mouth. I didn't immediately understand what he
meant - it took a while. He also gave us a helpful hint about the meri
technique (described a little further below) by having us think of it as a
variation of sliding the finger over a figer hole to change the pitch -
except the "finger" in this case is your mouth and the "finger hole" is the
mouth hole of the instrument. Yet another was the advice to widen the
aperture of one's embouchure to increase volume rather than just blowing
harder. Finally, he suggested using a tape recorder during practice,
setting it across the room. "Your own ears are sometimes too good an
audience - you play and they say 'Hmm, this is very good'. But tape
recorder (and the audience sitting away from you) may think you don't sound
so good."
Riley Lee - Impressed on us that notated music is just a mnemonic device -
in the end it's really all about listening and playing what we want to hear.
In my first group lesson with him, he taught us an entire piece from
honkyoku (the classical solo shakuhachi repertoire) without written notation
by having us listen, watch his fingering, and repeat phrases from the piece
over and over again. He really worked on me getting rid of my puckering
habit, which turned out to be the cause of me repeatedly running out of
breath and getting light-headed in the Colorado altitude. One advice that
helped was using a "flashlight in the dark" analogy to work on getting a
long, steady stream of air going and moving the shakuhachi around until the
sound materialized. After working with both Lee and Kakizakai, I realized
they were both describing the same embouchure/blowing technique, just from
different perspectives. Lee has a way of reminding you how far you have yet
to go on the road to getting a handle on the instrument yet at the same time
inspiring you and making you want to practice and play. He told me he
expects to hear me play a piece next year. I think he really means it.
Michael Gould - Advised us to start working on meri (the pitch-bending
technique achieved by nodding the head down) as soon as possible. Also
showed us a vibrato technique involving shaking the head side-to-side and
also advised us to work on this as soon as possible. He assured us if we
worked on these right away (slowly at first, of course) it would save a lot
of time in our development as shakuhachi players.
Generally, the teachers were all very nice, patient, and were pretty funny
at times.
All my fellow students were friendly. Some were quite distinct individuals
- which I mean in a good way. I was surprised by the number of Japanese
attendees - there seemed to be just as many of them as there were Americans.
I managed to converse with some of them using a combination of their
rudimentary English, my even more rudimentary Japanese, and improvised hand
signals. One of these individuals turned out to be a respected shakuhachi
maker by the name of Taro Miura. I couldn't afford any of his instruments
(the one that I tried was nice) but I did buy a beautiful scroll containing
poetry and the story of his relationship to shakuhachi, among other things.
We ran quickly into the language barrier when he tried to explain in detail
how for him personally, the Japanese theory of five elements (earth, fire,
water, air, and "space") relates to shakuhachi-making. I resolved to
improve my Japanese so that the next time I see Miura-san or someone like
him (definitely my Japanese language teacher friend in San Diego) we can
still communicate whenever a conversation turns to fields of greater depth
than just "where are you from" type stuff. The Japanese contigent gave us a
bag of utaguchi protectors that you sort of stuff down the mouth hole of
your shakuhachi. Miura-san passed out white bandanas which could be used as
sweat-bands or as substitute cleaning cloths.
Here are summaries of the nightly events:
Friday - Shakuhachi Anonymous. Everyone, teacher and student alike, was
given 2 minutes to tell the rest of us why he/she (yes, there were quite a
few women in attendance) was at camp. Enjoyed all the stories but
particularly loved one Japanese gentleman's tale of breaking his childhood
shakuhachi using it as a toy sword.
Saturday - Sensei Concert. Wow!!! This was my first time hearing the
shakuhachi live, in the hands of masters. The last vestiges of the
stereotypes I long held of the instrument (it's the source of that awful
Roland D-50 patch, it's only used for certain types of TV/movie settings,
it's only capable of quiet music, etc.) were thoroughly shattered. It's one
thing to be told that the shakuhachi is capable of an incredible variety of
tones and sound effects from birdcalls to wind rushing through trees and
quite another to actually hear it in person. Grand finale began with a
comedic skit that concluded with four teachers pairing up for a duet so that
Gould blew one shakuhachi with Kakizakai fingering it while Wheeler blew
another with Lee fingering that. This was followed by an arrangement of a
piece from the movie Tonari No Totoro (available in the US as "My Neighbor
Totoro" on Fox Video) for five shakuhachi. The venue was known to us as
"The Dome" - used on Sundays as a church by the Ranch residents and as a
classroom/performance space by us. Beautiful place, with fantastic
acoustics.
Sunday - Student Concert. Lots of inspiring performances by fellow
students. Riley really did mean it when he said the other day that EVERYONE
_will_ perform tonight. He assembled a familiar-looking group of students
onstage. Hmmm... that group looks like Riley's morning "Learn Honkyoku by
Heart" class that I was a part of. Wait, it _is_ that class, except...
Riley's head started turning back and forth as if he was looking for
someone. "There's someone missing", he said. Then he spotted me in the
audience and dragged me onstage. I "conveniently" forgot my own shakuhachi,
but Miura-san lent me his for the concert. We finished with a honkyoku
piece with the beginners playing a drone for the more advanced players.
Monday - "Duet" (or, "Do It") Night. We were divided into 2, 3, and even 4
groups at times to play pieces arranged for 2 or more shakuhachi, with a
teacher leading each group and Riley acting as
master-of-ceremonies/conductor - with conducting coaching from fellow
student Gerard, a music professor from Utah.
Concluding Thoughts:
I am definitely hooked on the instrument now. I have much greater
appreciation of honkyoku and am glad I bought so many honkyoku CDs because
that's pretty all I feel like listening to right now. It was a truly
wonderful experience and I met so many interesting people. Am I coming back
next year? Absolutely!
Paolo Valladolid
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