Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Chris Moran wrote:

The ronin I'm familiar with in translated literature or in films are either looking for a new master or prove themselves to be too unhappy or too inept to have the will to live. A ronin really shouldn't be glamorized — too much at least.
...
For example, it is very easy to deceive yourself that you are playing meri and dai-meri notes at accurate pitch. It is very easy to convince yourself that a reasonable facsimile of appropriate pitch is acceptable and you wind up playing a facsimile of that pitch for years to come and wonder why you are never satisfied with your sound.

No kidding.  Even with a teacher, it's easy to reinforce bad basics that are hard to un-learn.

-Darren.

dstone wrote:

Even with a teacher, it's easy to reinforce bad basics that are hard to un-learn.

And you keep going back to your teacher and he tells you to "keep working on it"? And you wonder how many years he'll be saying that?

Teaching anything is hard work, period. Especially when you have yourself invested in the mission.

How long do you keep a student working on a difficult problem? When do you go on to the next lesson and when do you return to the old problem to check the student's progress on it?

The Japanese system of teaching shakuhachi does not insure that you will be a _good_ shakuhachi player, it is structured to teach you certain mechanical basics of playing the instrument, certain mechanical basics of the music, certain form in approach toward the music and tradition and certain repertoire. Some shakuhachi teachers consider their job is done if they have methodicaly covered these areas and their students have reached the minimum required pedagogical markers along the way.

If the student has paid the appropriate fees and has achieved at least the mimimum goals she or he is graduated from that level. It doesn't mean he or she is going to produce a high quality of music or music that would be meaningful to an audience.

Some teachers have higher expectations than others when it comes to assessing their student's artistic or expressive abilities.

The important thing for me as a student, is that I have my own goals and standards and that I continue to develop a discerning ear toward my own playing as well as other's playing.

Last edited by Chris Moran (2007-12-26 12:13:57)

http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~tuner/tuner_e.html

I think this page has what you are looking for.  (Sorry If I posted this twice..am having computer troubles...)

Sorry, but I am not sure if this is Mac friendly.