Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Tairaku wrote:

It will be a contest for "young" performers (40 years and younger). LOL. In rock music 40 years is a bit old. Anyway I digress.

Eh, this means that in 17 years I'll still qualify as a "young" performer. I think with most stuff you see categories like under 10 and maybe under 20. On the other hand, those who started playing when they were under 10 have a good chance to slaughter everyone else. Not that I think playing skill has anything to do with age but having over thirty years of experience in a contest for "young" people feels a bit like using so much doping that your eyes are about to pop out.

Anyhow, interesting to see how it turns out. I hope we get some coverage on this here on the forum.

marek wrote:

However, I wonder whether it will not deter those who are really young... Lets wait n see.

I guess it depends on how serious it is. If we are talking about something that people enter just for fun to be able to play with others I don't see a problem. If, however, someone wanted to take it seriously the age issue could be a big deal. Say, if I keep at it, by the time I'm 40 I'll have roughly 20 years of playing behind me. It's hard for someone who is only 20 or so at the time of the competition to match that. 20 years of playing could very well mean a decent professional career already.

Then again, there may not be a fair way to do it. If you drop the age limit to something like 20 you almost certainly make it impossible for western players to enter because people typically won't find shakuhachi here before they are well past 20 whereas someone could theoretically start playing in Japan in very young age. Picking any other hard age limit has the same problem. Either it's so high that almost anyone can enter or it's so low that most people can't do it. If you tried to limit it by training years rather than age you'd run into the problem where you need to figure out when everyone started. It would also get tricky when people tell you that they started ten years ago but then didn't play for five.

As for myself... my solution is simple. I keep on competing with myself. Toughest opponent I can imagine and you can't even resort to swords if things aren't going your way.

Anyhow, good luck to everyone who takes part. Again, I'm hoping that the results and such get posted here as well.

ps.

Someone should come up with a shakuhachi equivalent of the old Tsugaru-jamisen style of two people playing against each other taking turns until one person runs out of new things to show. As little as I care for competition, I'd go for that in a heartbeat.

Last edited by amokrun (2007-11-23 10:18:09)

Chris Moran wrote:

This does sound like fun, but musical competitions have always seemed to be won by those can produce the flashiest licks and the most intense, orgasmic flourishes and finishes to their compositions. It gets boring.

Yeah, I suppose that would happen. The moment I started to think about someone blowing a long, deep Ro to impress the people I saw the guy next to him banging away with a San-no-U - Ichi-San-no-U trill as fast as he can. Besides, it wouldn't be fun to watch unless you were a player yourself and knew what was going on. I find that I enjoy many subtle changes in the tone much more now that I know where to look.

Chris Moran wrote:

Whatever happened to listening to others, understatement, spaces between the notes and Ma?

I think something like this would work best between two players who know each other well, say, student and a teacher or two students who often study together. In such case it might be possible to keep the meditative feel and really listen to the other player instead of just trying to blow louder than he does. Say, one person starts to play a piece he just made up and after a while the other player continues. The goal is to keep the piece together so that it sounds like a complete work rather than just a bunch of phrases thrown together. The players could agree on a common theme for the piece and try to fit the music to it. Taking ocean as an example, the first player could go for slow and deep playing that imitates the waves whereas the other guy could move from the gentle waves to a full-blown storm. At the end both players bow to each other as there are only winners in this game.

Chris Moran wrote:

Whatever happened to listening to others, understatement, spaces between the notes and Ma?

Well put.

Zak

It is commonly said that 50-55 is the best age for shakuhachi because you are mature enough to play with taste and restraint yet still have a lot of physical energy.

My teacher (Kurahashi YODO Sensei) said to me that," A young man is all physical strength, and an old man is all Spiritual strength (KARETA OTO- withering away sound. This is similar to what happens in the Martial Arts - like KENDO- when you are trying to get strike at the old Master. He seems barely able to stand, but the student can't get near him to strike!). So, the best fusion or unity of these two strengths is at age  56. Before that it's all physical, and after that, the sound gets weaker, and its all spiritual!"

Don't feel bad.
I passed 60 in July!

caffeind wrote:

Thankfully its not going to be a jam. There is an audition process and only a small number of people will be selected to perform.

I stand corrected. Gratefully. With good luck from the Etheric Shakuhachi Gods/Goddesses I will plan to attend these contests as an attentive and appreciative audience member.

-- H. C. (His Crankiness)

amokrun wrote:

As for myself... my solution is simple. I keep on competing with myself. Toughest opponent I can imagine ...

So far so good.

amokrun wrote:

... and you can't even resort to swords if things aren't going your way.

As Suzuki Shunryu Roshi was often quoted as saying. "Not always so."  See film link .  

--cm

Last edited by Chris Moran (2007-11-26 17:43:12)