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Howdy!
I'm not rightly sure how I ended up here. Clyde, from down the way, was driving all the way up Austin a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted anything. I meant to get him to get me one of them cute little tiny Japanese BBQ grills for when I'm just wanting to cook a couple of chops and not have to fire up the big pit, but I must not have said the name quite right cause he comes back with this sorta crooked looking whistle, and after he went to all the trouble, I didn't want to tell him any different, but acted just as happy as a Southern Belle when the baby came out white after all.
Anyway, since I got the thing, it seems a pity if I don't give it a whirl. At least it doesn't have as many holes as most of them other flutes. Five holes just fits what I got on my good hand, so it's Katy bar the door! Maybe some of you could point me to some good tunes I could start with. I like both kinds of music, Country and Western, so I was thinking of learning Johnny Cash's "Boy Named Soo," or maybe Kitty Wells's "HonkyokuTonk Angels."
As to the religious stuff, I don't know nothing about no Zen, but it seems handy that if you're gonna bother learning to play a flute, it does make good sense to learn how to play a good, big, solid one so if you happen to meet that Buddha guy coming strolling down the road all proud of hisself, you'll at least have something to whack him upside the head with!
I look forward to learning a lot!
Lin
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Yee ha! Ye'r gonna git along fiiine here, Lin. Welcome.
First lesson... Make sure ya spit yer chaw before blowin' yer flute.
-Darren.
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dstone wrote:
First lesson... Make sure ya spit yer chaw before blowin' yer flute.
-Darren.
Second lesson, keep your powder dry, especially if you intend to put said powder up your nose at some point.
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Lin-
I am a shakuhachi amatuer from Austin. I have had a couple of lessons from David Duncavage...a shakuhachi master/teacher, also in Austin, but mostly I have learned on my own...a hard row to hoe. I can play one honkyoku, Kyorei, by heart, Mary Had a Little Little Lamb, and Amazing Grace. I try to play daily...Kyorei, blowing Ro and improvising. Next time you are in Austin, stop by. We can drink a Shiner bock or two and I have a number of jinashi and jiari shakuhachi that you can try out for fun.
James
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dstone wrote:
First lesson... Make sure ya spit yer chaw before blowin' yer flute.
-Darren.
Thanks, Darren. I figured that out the second time I played the thing. But I stuck the garden hose up to the big end of the whistle, and she seems good and cleaned out now.
Lin
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Tairaku wrote:
Second lesson, keep your powder dry, especially if you intend to put said powder up your nose at some point.
Why would you put gunpowder up your nose?? I bet that'd burn like all dickens!
Lin
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Hi all,
Several folks have emailed with encouragement and advice, so I thought I'd post an update on my progress. (About the advice part, I'm not exactly sure what you suggested is physically possible...).
A few nights ago Juan's wife, the trumpet player for a local mariachi band (Juan, I mean, not his wife) was arrested again, and he had to hock his trumpet for her bail. The guy that owns the Matador Bar & Grill said he wouldn't pay them unless they had a full crew, so I sat in on my shakuhachi.
The crowd was pretty rough on us for the first set, I'll tell you. But after a few pitchers of Corona, and everyone was lubricated a shade better, we ended up making quite a splash! I think they especially liked our version of Jarabe No Se, but the real winner was when I'd make that "ooo eee ooo eee ooo" sound like in the really good older Clint Eastwood "Man With No Name" westerns. They just wouldn't let me go!
I changed my Nehi flute to a picture a woman took of me on stage with the boys. We call the music "Shakumariachi." I'm eager to add some really authentic Mexican music to our playlist. If anyone has the traditional shakuhachi notation for "Girl from Ipanema," I'd be as happy as a flea on a hound to get a copy.
Lin
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