Hi Jay,
Just some technical points that I`ll write below:
--- Jay Keister <Jay.Keister@colorado.edu> wrote:
> Greetings Shakuhachi list members,
>=20
> I want to share with everyone the results from the
> shakuhachi survey that I
> conducted on this list last year. I wish to thank
> again all who participated
> and I apologize for the long delay in reporting
> results. Even with such a small
> number of respondents it was time consuming to comb
> through all the information
> I gathered.
>=20
> I would also like to let everyone know that you can
> read about this survey and
> more in an article I wrote called =93The Shakuhachi as
> Spiritual Tool: A Japanese
> Buddhist Instrument in the West.=81EThis article can
> be found in the latest issue
> of Asian Music (Volume 35, no. 2, Spring/Summer
> 2004) which you can probably
> find in your local university library, either hard
> copy or electronically.
>=20
> As indicated by the article=92s title, I am
> particularly interested in the
> Buddhist associations with the shakuhachi and its
> curious history as both a
> musical instrument and a tool for the practice of
> Zen, especially as the
> instrument travels outside of Japan. In the survey,
> however, I gathered other
> kinds of information from shakuhachi players that I
> found quite interesting and
> would like to share with you here.
>=20
> Please keep in mind that this small survey (only 58
> respondents) is not the
> most representative example of all shakuhachi
> players. Most of the surveys were
> collected from this email discussion list which, as
> you all know, narrows the
> field considerably. I would have liked to personally
> contact a number of
> shakuhachi teachers and ask them to distribute the
> survey to their students,
> but such an undertaking would have been too big and
> too time-consuming for me.
> My interests here were simply to test the waters in
> the shakuhachi community
> and I found the Internet an easy, cost-effective way
> to gather information
> quickly.
>=20
> The original purpose of this survey was to gauge the
> activities of non-Japanese
> shakuhachi players outside of Japan, but I also
> duplicated the survey in
> Japanese and distributed it to Japanese players as
> well. However, I was only
> able to gather 11 Japanese respondents as I was
> unable to locate a similar
> Internet discussion group among Japanese players.
> This lack of Internet
> discussion about the shakuhachi among Japanese
> players may itself be
> significant.
>=20
> Here are some of the specifics on the 58
> respondents:
>=20
> Countries in which the 58 respondents live: (47
> Westerners; 11 Japanese)
> 30 U.S.; 14 Japan (11 Japanese; 3 foreigners); 5
> Canada; 5 Australia; 2 United
> Kingdom; 1 Netherlands; 1 Philippines.
>=20
By your figures, it looks like you are including the
Philippino as a "Westerner".=20
> Average age of respondents: 47 years old
>=20
> Gender: 54 males, 4 females (all non-Japanese)
>=20
> Do shakuhachi players play other instruments?
> Yes. Almost all respondents have had experience with
> other instruments, but 28
> out of 58 currently play the shakuhachi exclusively.
> 6 respondents have had no
> other musical experience than shakuhachi.
>=20
> How much money did respondents spend on flutes?
> Shakuhachi players certainly spend a lot of money on
> flutes! 49 of the 58
> respondents listed the total sum of money they have
> spent on flutes and the
> total figure is approximately $212,920, which comes
> to about $4,345 per person.
> Keep in mind that the Japanese respondents are
> bigger spenders; 11 Japanese
> respondents spent more money on flutes than all 38
> Westerners.
A minute ago, there were 47 westerners. Now there are
38?
The most any
> individual spent on flutes was approximately $40,000
> by one Japanese
> respondent.
>=20
> What about lessons with teachers?
> 30 respondents (over 50%) do not have regular
> lessons with teachers;
> 7 respondents have no teacher at all, some
> attributing this to the general
> inaccessibility of teachers while others claim that
> having a teacher is
> unnecessary to play shakuhachi.
> 13 respondents teach shakuhachi to others.
>=20
> How significant an impact has the instrument had on
> respondents=81Elives?
> 31 respondents claimed shakuhachi had a Very
> Significant impact on their lives.
> About 6 respondents indicated that they made major
> changes in their personal or
> family life as a result of the shakuhachi.
>=20
> What was it that originally attracted players to the
> shakuhachi?
> 31 respondents claim that it was the sound
> (specifically the timbre) that drew
> them to the instrument;
> 14 respondents attribute their introduction to the
> instrument with either Zen
> or meditation (none of these respondents were
> Japanese).
>=20
> How many respondents practice meditation?
> 40 out of 47 Westerners regularly practice some kind
> of meditation. One should
> bear in mind that Westerners often use the word
> =93meditate=81Erather loosely
> (e.g., =93watering my garden is my meditation,=81Eetc.).
> 1 out of 11 Japanese respondents practice
> meditation.
>=20
> How many connect their meditation practice with
> their shakuhachi playing?
> 29 of the 47 Western respondents (62%) claim that
> they use the shakuhachi as an
> instrument of meditation in their own personal
> practice to varying degrees.
> 1 respondent in the Japanese survey uses the
> shakuhachi for his meditation
> practice.
>=20
I wonder how many meditative Japanese you would
encounter on the net. I`m sure you are aware of this
though. I do know people in Japan (teachers) who see
playing shakuhachi as a spiritual practice.
Best wishes
Justin.
> Is the shakuhachi considered gakki, hokki or both?
> 40 out of 47 Western respondents consider the
> shakuhachi to be both a
> meditation tool and a musical instrument. As most
> respondents are aware of the
> history of the instrument, this statement might also
> be read more as just a
> statement of historical fact than personal belief.
> However, in the Japanese
> survey, 10 of the 11 respondents considered the
> shakuhachi to be only a musical
> instrument, not a meditation tool.
>=20
> How many Shakuhachi players identify themselves as
> Buddhists?
> 19 respondents (15 Westerners; 4 Japanese) declared
> they are Buddhist (33% of
> all respondents).
> 28 respondents did not acknowledge any religious
> affiliation (some of these
> claimed that Zen was not a religion, but a
> philosophy).
>=20
> ----
>=20
> If anyone has any particular questions about the
> survey results, please e-mail
> me directly at keister@colorado.edu. I welcome
> anyone=92s feedback on this
> project.
>=20
> --
> Jay Keister
> Assistant Professor, Ethnomusicology
> University of Colorado, Boulder
> 303-492-5496
> _____________________________________________
>=20
> List subscription information is at:
> http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html
>=20
=09
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