For me this is one of the best conversations I have read on this list for
quite a while.
A few points:
Brian: I was really moved, for a number of reasons, by your statement that
everyone should play music in some way at least.
One of the most absurd, amusing, and rewarding aspects of this list is that
you have total complete amatuers voicing their opinions next to truly
extraordinary and amazingly accomplished musicians. If we were to make a
spectrum of musical accomplishment, ranging from life-long accomplished
musical genius to amateur bozos - you would probably find Brian on one end
and me standing on the other (and with a very large gap inbetween). And,
despite this, Brian, and others like him, have taken the time out to read
and respond to the queries and comments of so many shakuhachi new comers on
this list. From all the amatuers like me to all of the long-time
accomplished players on this list: Thanks a lot! Really! It is amazing
that we have this resource to bring what are sometimes really simple
questions to such a well educated and informed group of people.
I often feel, or suspect, or maybe just fear, that the really accomplished,
professionals musicians must be exhasuted by the efforts of the amateur, the
maybe one hour a day bamboo blowers, to accomplish something within the
world of shakuhachi music. One thing I have learned (and perhaps the only
thing) in my 3 years of playing shakuhachi is that this instrument takes a
tremendous amount of time to really be played well... (And actually, when I
fully appreciate what kind of time commitment this thing takes to excel at I
can get a bit depressed...but, strangely, for better or worse, I can't give
it up.....) So basically - it is great to get encouragement from those of
you in the community who do have the drive, talent and means to blow
shakuhachi as a full-time endeavour.
And I feel a lot of angst about how so few people do anything creative at
all in the world today. In New York most people I know no longer cook. We
now call our kitchens unwrapping rooms because that is were you open your
take-out dish. I often serve my guests home-made ice cream, rice pudding
made from scratch , and our own pickles - and people's mouths open agog that
I would know how to put together these mysterious dishes. It is as if the
one last creative act left to modern man is deciding what to purchase. And
with music it is even worse. For the vast majority of people music is a
profession performed by the very few who can make a living at it - the role
of the rest of us in making music is choosing which CD to purchase. It must
have been amazing to have lived in a time when each household had to produce
their own music.
In this regards there is actually a lot of symbolic power in the fact that
we are playing shakuhachi. Next to the power of global culture and global
media, shakuhachi playing is really a dissapearing art form. (and yes,
there is a mini-revival of sorts going on, but when most Japanese young
people today see shakuhachi as an old time gag of sorts, we can safely say
that this instrument is on the decline in the long-term...) For me
personally playing shakuhachi is not an admission of love for Japanese
culture in particular, but for unique and traditional cultures of all sorts
that no longer have a clear role in a world so focused on markets and
profits.
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