Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

I was the same as Rob in that I started on Sakura. It's a nice piece but it might throw you a curve ball with the dastardly tsu no meri! (depending on the key you play it in, of course...)

Last edited by Jam (2011-01-16 17:26:58)

I started learning folk songs with Itsuki (the lullaby), then added a few others, Kuroda Bushi, Sakura, Hanagasa Ondo..., I think I'm forgetting some, all were in the Yoshinobu Taniguchi "How to Play" book. I think that's a pretty good source.

I went through all but the last couple pages of Tokuyama Takashi's "The Path of Bamboo" book before that though. That has some folk songs, but is mostly songs written by the author for the purpose of teaching. They are pretty interesting melodies, better and more Japanese sounding than "Mary had a Little Lamb", and the first ones are nice and simple.

Last edited by radi0gnome (2011-01-16 18:33:34)

Many thanks Ronnie for the links and information.There is a gold mine there that I will take advantage of for sure!

Can one attain nirvana when learning the shakuhachi for the first time? LOL

Best regards,

Jim

I do have a teacher and enjoying it immensely! I just have little sheet music and am rather tired of the whole two American tunes I have.

Amazing when looking up sheet music (the Japanese notation/Kinko notation)how expensive they can be for a few pages. I have no doubt my teacher will be helping me with sheets later on but I'm an impatient and never satisfied student and am absorbing all I can.

I would love to learn Hon Shirabe and Kyorei! I hope to someday.For now I will stick with the minor,easy pieces.

Jim

edosan wrote:

J Ross wrote:

I would love to learn Hon Shirabe and Kyorei! I hope to someday.For now I will stick with the minor,easy pieces.

Jim

Honkyoku is indeed where all the 'romance' is, but you won't learn how to play the shakuhachi very well by jumping the gun and starting in on it too soon.

Do yourself a favor and put some time in wringing the beauty out of a bunch of 'simple' pieces, which, if you're really paying attention, aren't really that simple at all. Learn a few sankyoku pieces, too.

Also, how much daily time do you put in on playing long tones?

I have been spending about a half hour a day on the long notes alone,starting at RO and working my way up and down OSTU.I still have not been able to achieve KAN all the way up but that will come with time.
And yes,the simple pieces are what I want to learn. I just didn't want to learn American standards with shakuhachi.

Sankyoku sounds good to me if they are easy enough. I don't mind at all confessing I''m an absolute beginner because that's what I truly am.
This is going to be a long journey but one that I'm willing to invest the time and energy in.

Jim

Thanks for the tips and some shared websites.. every tips and tutorials helps me very much.