Announcement:
Zen Shakuhachi Workshop given by Michael
Chikuzen Gould
Place: Al Skaar's house.
Address: 7060-56th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA
Date: January 11, 2003 Time: 9am-4pm
Participation Fee: $60.
Contact: Michael Gould 313-600-2610 or Peter
Ross 206-364-5685
Workshop material provided by Michael; Bring
shakuhachi, pencil, & music stand. Lunch is pot luck, so please
bring a dish for the group.
*Driving directions at end of this message*
Shakuhachi Workshop:
I would like to start the workshop out explaining the cultural
context that shakuhachi arose from: that being Zen culture. There are
basic concepts and images that anyone can understand that I believe
are important for understanding shakuhachi historically. These are
incorporated into shakuhachi and anyone who plays shakuhachi
experiences and uses a variety of these but are very often
unconscious of doing so. I will use either a blackboard (or white
board) to help illustrate these but since I'm not sure of the
availability I will create some booklets to be passed out (and kept)
for each participant. This will facilitate things time wise. I've
been aiming to publish a small booklet anyway so this will provide
the prototype. I would like to say that Zen monks were and are
serious at their work and so these (concepts/activities)were a real
and important part of their daily lives. These concepts were manifest
in the daily training activities for specific reasons. I say this not
to add a "heavy weight" to this workshop by any means, but to let you
understand that I'll provide very specific information.
I will try to keep a healthy balance between playing time and
talking time. I think it will be best to have everyone's playing time
interspersed between talking. This allows us to keep warmed up,
practice some things (which will also give us content to help
everyone individually) and then gives time for the things I say to
soak in. So there won't be a problem of over saturation by any means.
Like I said, these concepts are very natural and therefore easy to
understand. I hope we can do morning and afternoon with a lunch
break. I'd also like to play a few songs so maybe I could do that at
the end of lunch while people are taking a break (or eating desert).
ITINERARY:
9am- 1- A few comments followed by everyone warming up
with RO Buki.
Talk:
2- Pass out booklets; begin Zen Shakuhachi talk.
A- Basic concepts: *Zen Cultural
Perspectives: Objectives & Methods
1-Suffering/Release; Gears of
Dualism Breath/Mindfullness/Priorities
B- 1-Life Energy : 2-Birth/Death:
breath; three dimensional world;
3-Form/noForm 4-Sound/nosound
5-self referencing
*All concepts that can be found in shakuhachi playing will be
illustrated as we go.
Play:
Group Playing: Honshirabe "warm up piece" for all shakuhachi players.
Talk:
3-How to view shakuhachi experience from Zen
perspective
B- Concepts of Shin/Gyo/So in Zen
Shakuhachi and their application
Play:
Group Playing: 3- We will learn the song Eko. Eko is
a Ichigetsu Temple transmission. This song is a prayer similar to
Tamuke in function. It's a very simple song-technique wise. Everyone
can play it easily.
4-I want to teach the secret password riff that the
komuso shared to acknowledge each other when they met on the road.
This is a short one breath
passage and it's fun.
12:00-1:00 Lunch break
1:00-? Michael Playing Shakuhachi
Talk:
Cont. Shin/Gyo/So to understand application to
shakuhachi playing:
Shjin: Tamuke Gyo: Hi Fu Mi So: Tsuru
no Tsugomori & Shin Getsu
Introduce concepts of Sei-chu-Sei; Sei-chu-Do; Do-chu-Sei; Do-chu-Do
Play: Coaching
2:00-4:00 Group Playing: Shin Mukaiji or Tamuke
Individual help during group session. Questions. Requests.
AS I present ideas I will give examples of how they are expressed
and their function in Zen shakuhachi. The objective of the whole
workshop is for it to be a Zen shakuhachi workshop. If there are any
requests, anyone can email me beforehand and talk about them. I
also would like to mention that I'll be in Seattle from the 9th-13th
and will be available for private lessons.
Chikuzen@earthlink.net or tel. at 313-600-2610. This is a cell no.
and will be with me even after arriving the 9th.
Thanks again for opportunity. I look forward to seeing you all again.
Michael Gould
*Driving directions*
From the intersection of Roosevelt Ave. and NE 75th Street:
1: Go East on NE 75TH ST 2.24 miles
2: Turn RIGHT onto 55TH AVE NE. 0.12 miles
3: Turn LEFT onto NE 73RD ST. 0.04 miles (73rd is only one
block long.)
4: My house will be directly in front of you at the bottom of
the short hill.
Total Estimated Time: Total Distance: 2.49 miles
6 minutes
If you're coming from the north on I-5 take the 80th Street exit -
just south of Northgate.
This is a double exit so be sure to take the correct exit - the left exit.
Take a left at the stop sign at the end of the exit ramp.
Immediately get into the right lane and turn right at the end of the bridge.
This street curves to the left and becomes 75th St.
>From here, follow the directions above.
If you're coming from the south on I-5 take the Lake City exit.
As you follow the exit ramp watch for the fork to the right and take it.
You'll come to a stop sign on Roosevelt.
Cross Roosevelt and go two blocks.
Turn left and immediately get in the far right lane.
Turn right onto 75th (it's the first right) and follow the directions above.
-- Peter Ross http://www.cloudhandsmusic.com P.O. Box 55055 Seattle, WA 98155 206-587-7262 206-364-2341 FAX ____________________________________________________
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