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July 29, 2004

Time for improvisation

Today was quite an exciting day. Starting with the opening of the Forth Annual Shakuhachi Festival. I was having a tough time getting out of my place because of the millions things I needed to get done for my table at the venders section AND the performance with my group SLANT at the openning concert tonight. As I was half way to the subway, already late for registration, I realized I forgot the keys to our rehearsal space where my group was going to have an emergency rehearsal in the afternoon. One of the members had to drop out for an emergency so we had to figure out how to fill some missing parts. More lost minutes on the trip home.

At 1:30, after registration and settling in to my table where I laid out my shakuhachi, I realized I hadn't eaten all day. My brother goes out for a sandwhich. He comes back late because he's just visiting from out of town and got lost around the NYU area. He came back with a corn beef on rye. I get to the rehearsal late. We fix the piece...somewhat. The performance is in about in about an hour.
At 4pm, we get through the sound check and find that there's no time to tech. And next thing we know, the audience is pouring in. Rick and I don't get a chance to warm up. At 4:30, my stomach is growling and I decide I should eat some of the sandwhich.

Al Ramos kicked off the evening with a mighty Yamagoe. All the performers before us were great, each commitited to the shakuhachi and in the moment. Then came our moment. David Wheeler gave us a great intro and we made our way to the stage with our bit, screaming "leak" and carrying long PVC pipes. We were dressed in janitors' coveralls. Once onstage and about to kick in the piece, our very important prop, a hack saw, broke in half.
We had a great piece worked out where we would play rythym while making PVC digeridoos and shakuhachi. It was going to be great. We had a song where we were going to work with overtones and harmony between dig and shak. But the hack saw ended all that very quickly. I made an announcement that that wasn't going to happen so we'll improvise for the next 10 minutes. That got a laugh, which was good since our work has a lot of humor. I looked at Rick he looked at me. I saw the kid in a candy store look in his eyes. Then he just blew in the 10 foot PVC tube and shook the auditorium with a huge vibration, which set off some improvisational vocals. I had a pvc back up flute, thank god, and began blowing on it. I listen to Rick, Rick listened to me. An we had a lot of fun. We made sounds that we had never made before. At the end, we got a nice applause, it seemed like the audience dug it. From the feedback we recieved, many people didn't think we did an improv, that it was all set, that the hack saw was rigged to break.

I think a lot of this improvistion will end up in our annual run in December at La MaMA E.T.C.

Posted by Perry Yung at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2004

Relax those fingers

I had a great shakuhachi lesson this past sunday. The first in over four months. I had a pretty crazy rehearsal and show schedule until recently, not to mention little Sasa is begining to crawl...fast!
It was early on in the lesson and I could feel my fingers not wanting to move. Maybe it had to do with all the gripping I've been put my hands through recently. I've been trying to finish a bunch of shakuhachi for the Fourth Annual International Shakuahchi festival here in NYC. We stopped and my teacher demonstrated some finger exercises. He started waving his hands about while wiggling all his fingers. He said that Watazumido used to start his lessons like that. "He would do this for hours" he said. It looked like he was casting a spell. I started to do the same and to my surprise, it felt really good. So we continued waving our hands about for a few minutes. Afterwards, I not only found that my fingers were relaxed, but my whole body was it too. This is something I'm going to do every day!

Playing the shakuhachi can cause repetive movement injuries. There are many different hand exercises to practice. Search the net for some and try to committ to them. You certainly do not want to end up with an injury. Here's one I used to do when I worked in a prop shop making props all day.
Extend both arms directly in front of you with your fingertips reaching far out. Splay you fingers and really force them to reach out. Hold this position for 10 to 15 seconds then shake out you hands for 10 seconds. Repeat this several times until you feel your hands and fore arms relaxed. Practice safe shakuhachi!

Posted by Perry Yung at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2004

Choshi Variations

Today, I had the great opportunity to play on an old Yokoyama Rampo 1.8. This flute was made by the father of Yokoyama Katsuya. I was blown away to discover that one of the 1.8s I was presently tuning had a very similar feel to the Rampo. I like the timbre of older shakuhachi and strive for those characteristics. At some point in the tuning, one has to let go of the gages and tune soley by ear and playing. This is what I learned from Kinya one day in his workshop, "These gages will only take you so far. You can only make a great flute by playing the shakuhachi as well as you can".

I sat with my friend and we played Choshi together. During the piece, we both noticed the differences in interpretation. He said he learned from Katsuya and that is how he taught it. I learned from Kinya. Both drank from the fountain so why the difference? That is a question for countless debates. Japanese teaching requires the student to imitate the master. I guess at some point the young master's need to hear the music his way will force the break in tradition. I'm hoping that this question will be addressed at this years International shakuhachi festival in New York City. If you are in NYC from July 29th - Aug 1st. You must attend. Here is a link: http://www.bigappleshak.com

I will be performing and will also be making some of my shakuhachi available.

I liked the Rampo 1.8 a lot. It helped me answer some questions about volumne. The flute wasn't particularly loud but it had a great presense through out. Each tone hole FELT really good to play. Unlike the kind of modern shakuhachi that are cranked out in a short time, I got the feeling that Rampo spent a lot of time playing that flute. It is for this reason shakuhachi can cost in the thousands of dollars. It can take years to make a fabulous Jiari 1.8. Playing great flutes is an inspiration.

Posted by Perry Yung at 07:06 PM | Comments (0)