Twenty years ago someone sent me a record. I unwrapped it (shaka what?) and
put it on the turntable. Right at that moment my puppy walked into the room
and as the music started he stopped dead in his tracks. Frozen. And then he
began to sing. This wasn't howling and yapping, it was a kind of skat
singing. He could phrase and used intonation. My reaction to the music was
the same as my dog's (except for the singing part). It was a major version
of "What the hell is this??"
I'd seen Monty mentioned in the Whole Earth Catalogue and so sent away for a
flute. Anytime I could get a tone out of it the dog showed up and set to
singing. We had other dogs and they'd all get into the act with the ordinary
dog yipping and yapping. Anyway, this Zen dog of mine would only do his
singing to shakuhachi or small planes flying overhead. Other music or
sounds didn't interest him particularly. Sometimes we'd go outside and I'd
play (if you can call it that) just so he could sing.
Basically, I put the flute away until after his death because of the uproar
it created in the household. I don't know which was more unusual, my Zen dog
or the shakuhachi. I've always wished I had one-tenth the musical ability of
my dog.
So I've been interested in where the sound that captivated us both comes
from. What is this sound and where does it come from? My passion is to
know, to understand. That's been the basic drive behind my website.
Nelson
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