Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

I thought about lessons with Chikuzen at first but then found Larry Tyrrell in my local area. Nice to know that the Skype method is working for others though.

Jim
じぇいむず

TCB wrote:

How much do I need to know before contacting a teacher? Familiarity with the notation system? Any others?

With most good shakuhachi teachers, they can take a beginner from square one: from never even having held or blown a bamboo flute before and never having read a single note of shakuhachi notation to holding the flute correctly (more important than you first realize), playing the first notes (very exciting moment) and reading the first phrases of a simple folk song (very satisfying).

You could always contact the teacher you have in mind to ask about your suitability for starting lessons. However, I'd be surprised if they wouldn't be able to start you from the very beginning and in fact I think that's an excellent time to start with a teacher - before you know anything about playing at all!

Thank you all for your input.