Great review, Brian!
Al
On Wednesday, December 22, 2004, at 06:42 AM, Brian Ritchie wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I know this is old news but since nobody else wrote a review of Okuda
> Atsuya's visit to the Bay Area I thought I would briefly recount the
> activities.
>
> I was curious to meet Okuda because I enjoy his CD. Besides that, his
> personal story is interesting. He was a pro jazz trumpeter who gave up
> jazz to become a shakuhachi teacher.
>
> Kiku Day hosted Okuda sensei in Oakland. She has been studying with
> him for many years. First there was a workshop/lesson evening at
> Kiku's house. I showed up with Ken LaCosse and John Singer. When we
> walked in we thought nothing was going on yet, so we greeted her
> rather ebulliently. Then we noticed that there was a small Japanese
> fellow blowing on a long 3.4 jinashi shakuhachi. That's Okuda. We
> didn't know music was already happening because he was playing at an
> UNBELIEVABLY low volume. It was amazing how quietly he was playing.
> The piece was "Shingetsu" I believe.
>
> There were several other students there, some of whom seemed to
> already know Okuda san. They had already taken their lessons. We
> exchanged formalities and started checking out each others flutes.
> Okuda plays exclusively jinashi shakuhachi with little or no lacquer
> in the bore and no utaguchi inlay. They are of his own making, or
> those of his students and associates. Some people call this style of
> shakuhachi hocchiku. Ken LaCosse is a fine maker based in San
> Francisco. We have been working together on a new range of huge bored
> long jinashi flutes. Okuda was very impressed with Ken's work, going
> so far as to say, "I'm jealous". He played "Tamuke" on Ken's 2.7 and
> "Tsuru no Sugomori" on Ken's 2.3.
>
> For my lesson he asked me to play something. So we went through some
> of the pieces I have memorized. Basically I played the piece as I know
> it and then he would play his own version of the same piece. He played
> semi improvised versions of the same pieces. Kiku explained that this
> may be an outgrowth of his jazz training. I have learned versions of
> all songs on his CD except one, "Shin Kyorei", so I asked him to show
> it to me. The melody is fairly simple and characteristic of Myoan
> honkyoku. Okuda's emphasis in this piece is to find the most subtle
> and delicate fingerings to produce the standard pitches. So there were
> a lot of alternate fingerings, which was an interesting challenge. His
> playing ranges mainly between pianissimo to piano, and his tone is
> usually distorted, splintered, mixing octaves and generally exploring
> the nuances of muraiki and other breathing techniques within a quiet
> framework. For me it wasn't difficult to play that quietly, but it
> took self control to keep it there. I like to play loud! He showed us
> how he constructs his flutes with a very small hole at the bottom in
> order to keep a lot of the sound within the bore. He said that allows
> him to work the sound more than conventional flutes which are designed
> to project.
>
> Okuda Sensei was very giving during the lessons. He played full
> renditions of every piece under discussion, so we basically got our
> own mini concert. After the lessons we had a good time trying each
> others flutes and eating some delicious snacks prepared by Kiku and
> her friend. Thanks to them for their generous hospitality. It was a
> pleasure to be around people who appreciate the sound and feeling of
> jinashi flutes. It's an approach which doesn't have a lot of momentum
> in America yet, but hopefully will pick up.
>
> The next day was the concert at Mills College in the chapel. It was an
> appropriate venue for the spiritually oriented music being performed.
> Okuda started out with an improvisation in Honkyoku style. That was
> followed by three honkyoku. They were all characterized by Okuda's
> unusual style and his semi-improvisational stance. It's refreshing to
> hear someone improvise within the general style of honkyoku. The
> concert was well attended by the general public as well as most of the
> usual suspects of Bay Area shakuhachi.
>
> To summarize, my opinion is that Okuda Sensei and his students are
> working in a natural style of shakuhachi playing. The emphasis on long
> jinashi flutes is something that will continue to grow, because
> playing them is so satisfying and the tone they produce is earthy. His
> repertoire is drawn from various sources, and is not confined to one
> school. He seems to learn the basic songs and then interpret them to
> his own taste. Most modern shakuhachi playing is geared towards
> blasting and making as clear a sound as possible. Okuda explores the
> opposite side of the sound spectrum. It shows that there is more than
> one way to play shakuhachi, which is a healthy influence. Thanks to
> Kiku Day and Alcvin Ramos for bringing Okuda Sensei to North America.
> Hopefully there will be more visits from Japanese players with
> perspectives on shakuhachi which will broaden the musical palette of
> players on this side of the pond.
>
> Regards,
>
> BR
>
> http://www.brianritchie.com/
>
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=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=
Alcvin Takegawa Ramos
Director
The Shakuhachi Society of BC (Bamboo-In)
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S9-C3
Madeira Park, B.C.,V0N 2H0
Canada
tel: 604.883.2023
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MAIL: ramos@bamboo-in.com
WEB: www.bamboo-in.com
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