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Hello Everyone,
I was at the Hawaii festival. I had to stay unsubscribed from the list for
several weeks after I got back until I got caught up on work email, so I
thought someone had already given their comments about the festival.
Riley's comments are a good general over view of the structure and the
schedule, but it lacks a few personal details, like 'What did he eat for
his bento lunches!!!'
No, really, it went very well. What Riley isn't saying is how much he and
Patricia had to do to make it work. They had so much to do, so many
problems, and it all went smoothly in spite of their challenges. They had
smiles on the whole time and didn't let on, letting all the participants
feel at ease.
Some other things in no particular order:
- The first day, at orientation, Riley had each teacher introduce each
piece they would be teaching, with a brief description of the piece and
estimated level of difficulty.
I can not tell you how helpful this was. If I was unfamiliar with the piece
it gave me an idea of what it was about in order to help make a decision if
I wanted to study it or not. Also, it gave a introduction to teachers I've
not met before. I don't know if other workshops do this but I would highly
recommend it.
- There was a 30min break between each session. This was helpful to allow
time to gather your stuff to move to the next room, to have time to set up
in the next room, to have time to assimilate your previous lesson a tiny
bit, and to chat with fellow students or take a brief rest. Once again
highly recommended to ease the feeling of being rushed.
- Everyone had time for an individual lesson. You had to pick a time, not
knowing who the instructor would be. You could take an educated guess if
you took notes at the orientation during the introductions to learn who was
teaching what when. I supposed if you wanted a lesson with a specific
teacher you could have talked to them to find out when their sessions were.
Others I spoke with were concerned that not knowing who the teacher would
be they didn't know which piece to chose to work on. Others didn't care one
bit.
- At the student concert you got to hear some of the pieces from lessons
you weren't able to take. That also helped in being introduced to new
music, or new instruments, as in the case of the Beginning Yokobue or
Shinobue class.
As always, people were nervous. Perhaps at future festivals there can be
workshops on the topic of performing and performance anxiety, or rather how
to deal with and ease performance anxiety. We can all use a series of
workshops on that. I overheard some people taking about it at the farewell
dinner. After I returned to the States I did a quick look up at the library
catalog to discover a ton of books on the subject, from different
perspectives, of course. I would be good to hear how our teachers deal with it.
(And this would be a good topic to discuss on the list!)
- The teacher's concert was spectacular, as one would expect. But, there
was a special treat. Riley has done a few CDs of Hawaiian music for flute
and guitar with a local guitar player. Some are traditional. others are
original compositions. Riley had the guitar player come in, after he had
finished his own gig earlier that evening, and they played some of their
music from the CDs. Awesomely beautiful!!! Sweet, soothing, enticing!
Almost made me want to learn how to play the guitar!
Riley, perhaps you can teach one of those pieces at a future camp?
- An other special event was that Riley invited his parents to attend the
concert. They live in Kauai and flew over. I met them briefly and they were
very charming. Riley gave them special honors. A very touching event as you
could clearly see how much Riley and his parents loved each other and how
proud his parents were of Riley. It brought tears to my eyes.
- There was a special group dinner at a restaurant at the end of the
festival. Great food and gifts to the teachers, among them nose flutes.
Great fun to see master shakuhachi teachers humbled by not being able to
play a nose flute. They all had a great sense of humor about it. A good
time was had by all.
- All the teachers were very gracious throughout the festival. All were
approachable, easy to talk too and went out of their way to help you.
And yes, Haruka did indeed *wind* surf. I was there and saw him...... for
over an hour..... (as I secretly wished I could have a turn and do it) as I
baked in the sun. (And boy, does he have a great sound for the little time
he's been at playing shakuhachi!)
Maybe others who were there can give their perspective.
Thanks,
Herb
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<font size=3>Hello Everyone,<br><br>
I was at the Hawaii festival. I had to stay unsubscribed from the list
for several weeks after I got back until I got caught up on work email,
so I thought someone had already given their comments about the
festival.<br><br>
Riley's comments are a good general over view of the structure and the
schedule, but it lacks a few personal details, like 'What did he eat for
his bento lunches!!!'<br><br>
No, really, it went very well. What Riley isn't saying is how much he and
Patricia had to do to make it work. They had so much to do, so many
problems, and it all went smoothly in spite of their challenges. They had
smiles on the whole time and didn't let on, letting all the participants
feel at ease.<br><br>
Some other things in no particular order:<br><br>
- The first day, at orientation, Riley had each teacher introduce each
piece they would be teaching, with a brief description of the piece and
estimated level of difficulty. <br><br>
I can not tell you how helpful this was. If I was unfamiliar with the
piece it gave me an idea of what it was about in order to help make a
decision if I wanted to study it or not. Also, it gave a introduction to
teachers I've not met before. I don't know if other workshops do this but
I would highly recommend it.<br><br>
- There was a 30min break between each session. This was helpful to allow
time to gather your stuff to move to the next room, to have time to set
up in the next room, to have time to assimilate your previous lesson a
tiny bit, and to chat with fellow students or take a brief rest. Once
again highly recommended to ease the feeling of being rushed.<br><br>
- Everyone had time for an individual lesson. You had to pick a time, not
knowing who the instructor would be. You could take an educated guess if
you took notes at the orientation during the introductions to learn who
was teaching what when. I supposed if you wanted a lesson with a specific
teacher you could have talked to them to find out when their sessions
were. Others I spoke with were concerned that not knowing who the teacher
would be they didn't know which piece to chose to work on. Others didn't
care one bit.<br><br>
- At the student concert you got to hear some of the pieces from lessons
you weren't able to take. That also helped in being introduced to new
music, or new instruments, as in the case of the Beginning Yokobue or
Shinobue class.<br><br>
As always, people were nervous. Perhaps at future festivals there can be
workshops on the topic of performing and performance anxiety, or rather
how to deal with and ease performance anxiety. We can all use a series of
workshops on that. I overheard some people taking about it at the
farewell dinner. After I returned to the States I did a quick look up at
the library catalog to discover a ton of books on the subject, from
different perspectives, of course. I would be good to hear how our
teachers deal with it.<br><br>
(And this would be a good topic to discuss on the list!)<br><br>
- The teacher's concert was spectacular, as one would expect. But, there
was a special treat. Riley has done a few CDs of Hawaiian music for flute
and guitar with a local guitar player. Some are traditional. others are
original compositions. Riley had the guitar player come in, after he had
finished his own gig earlier that evening, and they played some of their
music from the CDs. Awesomely beautiful!!! Sweet, soothing, enticing!
Almost made me want to learn how to play the guitar! <br><br>
Riley, perhaps you can teach one of those pieces at a future
camp?<br><br>
- An other special event was that Riley invited his parents to attend the
concert. They live in Kauai and flew over. I met them briefly and they
were very charming. Riley gave them special honors. A very touching event
as you could clearly see how much Riley and his parents loved each other
and how proud his parents were of Riley. It brought tears to my
eyes.<br><br>
- There was a special group dinner at a restaurant at the end of the
festival. Great food and gifts to the teachers, among them nose flutes.
Great fun to see master shakuhachi teachers humbled by not being able to
play a nose flute. They all had a great sense of humor about it. A good
time was had by all. <br><br>
- All the teachers were very gracious throughout the festival. All were
approachable, easy to talk too and went out of their way to help
you.<br><br>
And yes, Haruka did indeed *wind* surf. I was there and saw him...... for
over an hour..... (as I secretly wished I could have a turn and do it) as
I baked in the sun. (And boy, does he have a great sound for the little
time he's been at playing shakuhachi!)<br><br>
Maybe others who were there can give their perspective.<br><br>
Thanks,<br>
Herb<br>
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</html>
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