Shakuhachi Lessons

It's important to find a teacher who fits you well. Many shakuhachi teachers emphasise musicality and performance; my approach is more along the lines of the old-style, inspired by hitoyogiri and Fuke shakuhachi philosophy.

Aoki Reibo said that "Kinko players seek beauty; Fuke players seek truth." He meant that modern-style players aim to produce something beautiful for an audience, while Fuke players seek to produce a sound that is true and unadorned. One of David's Psalms says, "See, you have desired truth in the innermost being - therefore teach me wisdom in the hidden depths of my heart." This has always been my motto in playing shakuhachi. It's not about playing to impress anyone; in my case, it's about constantly laying my heart bare before God, and letting him change me through the warmth of his presence. It's possible that some early Komuso shakuhachi players were Christians as well, but even if not, writings tell us that many players had a similar goal.

Sosa, the founder of an ancient hitoyogiri shakuhachi school, says in a poem: "For Shakuhachi, don't use your posture, fingers, face and mouth to impress people. Just relax." It's not a performance - it's you. The shakuhachi is a unique instrument in the way it accesses parts of our body that we generally can't control consciously. It's true to how you're feeling even if you aren't. Combine that with ancient free-rhythm monophonic compositions, timed to your breath, simple yet infinite in depth - and you have something very special.

During lessons, we follow your pace and your abilities. Some people will spend several years on Honte Choshi. Others will absorb pieces much more quickly. In either case, though, you only get the benefit of the depth of the piece through playing it many times. Our primary practice, then, is playing together. You'll pick up the nuances bit by bit, noticing things when you're ready for them.

Shakuhachi is also about friendship, of course. The oldest way of doing shakuhachi, in hitoyogiri days, was simply to get together and play, chatting about philosophy along the way. My teachers have always been like this for me, and I of course enjoy talking about things with people I like while playing shakuhachi together. We can talk as much or as little as you like.

Folk songs, etc.

Generally, I don't play folk songs. I do know some, however, and am happy to bring them out in some cases, when they seem helpful. For the most part, we just dive right into honkyoku. Most modern schools make students learn many folk songs before they are allowed to play honkyoku, but in my mind, these are fundamentally unrelated practices.

Edo-style Shakuhachi Construction

This is my specialty. Making shakuhachi out of bamboo without using ji is amazingly simple and amazingly deep at the same time. You can spend your whole life doing it, deepening your playing and discovering new sounds, discovering your own playing style in the process. If you are interested, I'm happy to share this with you. Shakuhachi making lessons can be combined with playing lessons. The general flow is that we simply start with a piece of bamboo (which I can help you find if needed), then make a flute together step by step, making the tools we need as we go along. Then we do it again, and again, going deeper each time. We can also learn the many uses and types of urushi along the way, including using it to decorate your flutes.