Thanks Peter and others, for the perspective (and brevity!) from where you
are. How about a little more tea, there will always be room for more. And
sorry about all the words, would rather sing or play this to you.
Perhaps too much thinking is going on in some quarters, and I do have
occasion to rue my own present lack of tangible property as a tradeoff for
13 yrs of univ/grad school/music academy of 4 countries, though they
presented the priceless opportunity to study intensively with finest
practitioners (players, singers). There are gurus (using the term for all
cultural contexts) who play incomparably the music they play but cannot
enjoy an appreciation of the heretofore unencountered, and others who can
recognize what is altogether new to them but cannot or will not enjoy the
hands-on joy of music; I would wish that both of such specialists could
observe the radiant joy of someone who can both do and understand to the nth
power. For me, it came in the person of Pandit Ganesh Prasad Mishra, who
(though not much known outside of his own vast music culture) is at present
the ultimately respected musicians' musician, or 'living national treasure'
of Hindustani vocal (classical, semi-classical, northcentral Indian folk)
music. I am honored to since 1985 be one of his five 'uchi-deshi' and was
privileged to 'sit at his feet' continuously (as they say) for a few years.
He (and I also) much younger then, there was time available. Generally, 8 or
so hours/week one(or two)-on-one (and then half day in the music academy
with other teachers), and daily amazed at how he could in teaching play any
intricate rhythmic cycle tala on tabla while improvising coherently with
melody/rhythm/poetry (in hundreds of different intricate modes and a variety
of languages). He could and did also, naturally, often say 'sing (or play)
after me', but also encouraged me to do it differently (but within the
parameters of the context), and be able to explain why. Melody, rhythm,
tone color (basically everything but the strong/weak dynamics and vertical
hiearchy of harmony as found in Western music) of whatever music on whatever
voice or instrument (including Japanese, Bolivian, Persian, Bulgarian, ...)
I would bring was available to him after one hearing. Hearing thirty
seconds of the 'ha' section of Etenraku (with family eating and talking
nearby - quite unlike being able to concentrate in a quiet space) resulted
in explanations and sung examples which could not be forthcoming from
Western or Japanese listeners. He also knows well (and teaches) the theory
and history of his and other related musics. An hour of practice with
Japan's premier koto artist Nosaka Keiko and they were then on stage in
Nakano (Tokyo), he singing (with much improvisation) two haiku (in Japanese)
in Indian style to a superb accompaniment on koto (live, on track 4 of our
'INTEGRAL ASIA' CD, which includes two tracks of shakuhachi raga).
Incidentally, the JVC World Sounds Series CD 'Khyal and more,' produced with
gratitude (as guru puja, or on-gaeshi, in Japan) by me in 1998 and
designated by Music Box as one of the top 3 productions on Indian music in
Japan since 1968, features this artist in a wide (wider than could be
possible with any other living artist in the tradition) variety of Indian
vocal forms. One can find knowledge and skill in the same place/person, and
never too much of either. We do find in some academic circles little desire
to have direct contact with the music itself/musicians themselves, and in
other areas to be aware of what that sound is and represents in its full
holistic being. It is just so much more fun and personally rewarding to be
just playing/singing, so my congratulations to all who can enjoy life with
that alone, and apologies to all who lost the time to read this (and myself
to type it!). I also enjoy learning with and from everyone, and hope
someday the price of shakuhachi instruments may come down to where other
Asian participants become contributors to the creativity and understanding.
In the meantime, what they and their traditions can contribute...
Best wishes!
(this is not a personal hype!) for info on INTEGRAL ASIA CD
http://www.shakuhachi.com/R-Shaku-Hoffman.html.
Tim Hoffman
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Ross" <peteross@cloudhandsmusic.com>
To: <Shakuhachi@communication.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 4:46 AM
Subject: Re: Zen and etc [Shaku] Re: shakuhachi V1 #738
> >Could it be that some of us are just a tad overeducated? :>)
>
>
> >Good to leave some room in the cup for more tea.
>
>
>
>
_____________________________________________
List subscription information is at:
http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jan 06 2006 - 10:00:41 PST