Reid Reid said,
> Dear Aiko-san,
>
> Please don't feel insecure about your English. Your English is fine, a=
nd
> you have interesting comments.
Here! Here! People used to say the same thing about Albert Camus, as an
Algerian he wrote and spoke a particularly amiable form of French...
As I pointed out to our good friend Aiko, English is itself just one big
mistake, as in its inception it was "Anglish", the futile efforts of the
Anglo-Saxons to speak to their Norman-French masters. English is a
constantly evolving and volatile language, and "mistakes" committed
frequently enough become rules. I rather enjoy the varieties of English f=
rom
Gambia (very musical!) to Cockney, to American, to Ghetto slang to
Australian... and look forward to its further evolution and metamorphosis=
...
and appreciate Aiko's contribution to its development.
On the subject of shakuhachi materials and sound, as a complete amateur a=
nd
beginner I know next to nothing, but I own several varieties of Shaks, fr=
om
my favored Tai-Hei (Ni Shaku Yon Sun made from 30-year-old madak=E9) tha=
t I
call "Old Crow"... and it does have a kind of natural brightness and is
easiest for this beginner to play.... I also have a big old raw bamboo st=
ick
(not even a root end) of somewhat wide diameter (sounds very woody and
breathy, this may be due to my playing technique as much as anything) tha=
t I
especially like as well as a few flutes with the putty adjustments.... t=
he
thing I remember most on this subject is something my daughter said as I =
was
playing thru my various flutes one day (and apologizing for all the money=
I
was spending): "the thing I really like is that every shakuhachi has its =
own
personality..." That sums up my feelings... I have trouble letting a shak
pass me by if I have the money, it's sort of like adopting stray pets... =
;*)
Brett "Bud" Breitwieser (bud@rajah.com)
check out my zen site at http://rajah.com
or my tech support site at http://rajah.net
walking, greens, and my recumbent trike at http://rajah.ws
the dragon is at http://rajah.org
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Reid Reid [mailto:reid1898@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 4:56 PM
> To: aikop@erols.com; shakuhachi@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: Re: My second try: Clay Shakuhachi
>
>
> Dear Aiko-san,
>
> Please don't feel insecure about your English. Your English is fine, a=
nd
> you have interesting comments.
>
> It reminds me of something I read recently. Richard Feyman, the Noble
> recipient in Physics (and the guy that figured out the O-ring
> problem with
> the shuttle), studied bongos in Brazil. People in Brazil
> complimented his
> playing frequently. He discounted their compliments, thinking that the=
y
> were just being polite. But then someone told him that he had
> some unique
> sounds or variations of rhythms. He got to thinking about it and thoug=
ht
> that it might be like someone speaking a foreign language. A
> woman with a
> foreign accent sometimes "sounds" more beautiful because of her accent.
> Little mistakes she makes in the language are sometimes
> endearing. Feyman
> thought that maybe his playing captured some of the foreign accent appe=
al
> (assuming that some of the compliments were more than just being
> friendly).
>
> Maybe when a Westerner plays Shakuhachi he/she has a type of foreign
> language, possibly derived from a lifetime of hearing/playing
> other types of
> music.
>
>
> >From: "Aiko Ichimura" <aikop@erols.com>
> >To: <shakuhachi@weber.ucsd.edu>
> >Subject: My second try: Clay Shakuhachi
> >Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 12:31:00 -0500
> >
> >My apology for sending in a very badly written mail. No wonder
> people tell
> >me that I sound like a fresh-off-the-boat person.
> >Here is my second try of my mail. Hope it sounds little better.
> >
> >Feeling ashamed in DC
> >Aiko Ichimura
> >
> >
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I'm a new list member and dozo yoroshiku. I play the koto a
> >little and love to play pieces with parts for the shakuhachi.
> >
> >I have a friend who's a student of shakuhachi and also a
> >potter. He and his shakuhachi teacher have been collaborating with his
> >pottery
> >teacher to create a shakuhachi made out of clay. I thought he was
> >joking. But he told me recently that they have created a decent
> shakuhachi
> >out of clay and used
> >it to play "Haru no Umi" in a concert. He said he would send a
> tape of the
> >concert. I thought about it. It's not so far-fetched an idea because
> >another instument, the ocarina, is made of clay.
> >
> > He is very serious about perfecting the sound. So I suggested
> >hat he make zigzag grooving inside the shakuhachi just like the sugi=
aya
> >rooving inside the koto to better the sound of the instrument. He thou=
ght
> >that was an
> >excellent idea...does this sound crazy to you all? The color and
> >quality of sound coming out of the clay shakuhachi may however be
> >quite different.
> >
> > The wonderful sound of the bamboo shakuhachi touches my heart
> >profoundly, more so than many other Japanese instruments - and that
> > is because the instrument is so closely approximated with human lung=
s &
> >mouth? (I believe)
> >Sometimes I feel I am listening to the human heart talking directly to
> >me....
> > I experienced a similar sensation when I heard wind instruments play=
ed
> > by American Indians, and by South American music groups such as
> >Inti-Illimani.
> >Thank you for reading this.
> > Aiko in DC
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >
>
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at
http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Feb 03 2003 - 09:09:50 PST