Re: Fukizome?

From: Aiko Ichimura (aikop@erols.com)
Date: Fri Feb 08 2002 - 13:00:29 PST


Hello Brad san,

My sympathy!

> I was so nervous that I could barely play - my arms were shaking
uncontrollably. It was a humiliating experience. Perhaps if I had the
benefit of more Fukizome, it would have helped!

This sounds aufully familiar! But imagine to play koto with uncontrollably
shaky hands - people's eyes are focusing on our hands and that makes us
more nervous and make our hands shake more.

By the way, Ohikizome or "Fukizome?" happens only once a year at the
beginning and I think we need to play together more often than that in order
to feel each other's breathing since we don't have a conductor when we play
in a concert. My group get together once a month in general for practice
group pieces and have fun also. Can you imagine? I know all of members in
my group for over 20 years since I was very young. So getting together with
them is a treat for me. I guess playing shakuhachi is more lonely business.
We call those practices as "Awase-geiko" -practicing together.

Incidentally I had a fortune years ago to have an opportunity to play "Haru
no Kyoku" with a wonderful shakuhachi player who was a director of Mitsui DC
branch or something, a renaissance man. We practiced a lot and I can still
hear him singing "Ro~ Ro~ Tsu~Trure~~" along with my koto while he is
studying the koto part with his hand striking his thigh with each hyoshi. He
was so good that he always adjusted to my playing and feeling - somehow
finding me where I was even when I mistakenly skipped a page or
something(poor man!).

Enough rambling..

Aiko



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