7/24/10 UPDATE I’m out of town untl Aug 5th. All purchased will ship as soon as I retunr. I’ll continue to take commissions and give estimates on repairs via email but soon my response may be slow due to lack of internet access.

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We were spending time in Barrington, RI last week for summer vacation. There is a great YMCA camp for the kids. They can swim, do nature walks and arts and crafts all day while eating grandma’s cooking in the evening. While the kids were at camp, my partner and I were practicing yoga at Synergy Yoga.

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Tom Deaver, a very influential shakuhachi maker passed away yesterday.
When I was studying shakuhachi making in Japan,  visiting with Tom was one of my inspirational highlights.

Tamuke ( 2.0 Hocchiku ) for Tom:

 

 

 

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6/30/10 UPDATE.OK, the three day sale is over as I’m officially out of town, but the discount remains until I return. All purchased will ship on Aug 5th. I’ll continue to take commissions and give estimates on repairs via email but soon my response may be slow as I’ll be in the mountains.

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Just finishing setting up shop in Barrington and I had a shakuhachi making student come by. We made, repaired and played shakuhachi in 94 degrees! Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwhiches were served.

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FLASH! We will be traveling for family fun from July 14 - August 3. There will be no shipping during this time. Anyone interested in a shakuhachi purchase before July 14th will have a 25%% discount on any instrument and free shipping. Contact me for details.

I was going through my stock of Japanese Madake Bamboo yesterday looking for suitable pieces for two new commissions - a Chikusing 2.4 and a pro-level YUNG Model 1.8. I use Japanese Madake bamboo for my highest grade instruments as these are used in traditional shakuhachi flutes made in Japan. These pieces were either harvested by me personally in Kyushu and Tokyo around 2003 - 2005 or purchased from Kinya Sogawa, my shakuhachi making and playing sensei in Saitama, Japan. Notice the desirable dark, mottling texture on authentic Japanese Madake. Man, I was bummed to find a piece with a long crack through the bore.

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Here is Sasa’s foray into full back art last week. We’ve been seeing a lot of contemporary art lately so it’s easy to see why she wants to explore more than the usual blank piece of paper to paint on. A while back, some one asked her how old she was. Her reply was, “I’m six years-old, and I’m an artist.”  As I mentioned in a previous post, I hope she can hang on to this kind of openness as she grows up and becomes a professional artist (not that she has to follow in her parents footsteps ). Most practicing artists discover sooner or later that their work becomes a business. The question is how to maintain focus on what’s important and have fun doing so.

My Good friend Scott wrote a great blog entry about what it takes to be a professional artist, Check it out here: Zen-No-Mind

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I’m soooo exited about this Chikusing commission. I’ve had a streak of luck lately where the flutes are almost making themselves. More often than not, when making Jinashi style flutes, a lot of time is spent adjusting the bore for optimal playability while retaining an organic feel in respect to balance, response and tuning. A few flutes recently exhibited perfect aspect ratios and seemingly made themselves. This 2.7 was commissioned by a student of Micheal Gould. He wanted the best Choukan bass shakuhachi I could make in the Jinashi style, which is my Chikusing Model. So I asked Kinya if he could spare a 2.7 piece of bamboo. He sent me two pieces a 2.7 and 3.0. Both were harvested by Kinya around 2000 near Osaka.

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These natural shakuhachi came in from one of Atsuya Okuda’s student. They were made in Japan and one was made by Okuda himself. I was asked to refine them. It’s always an honor to be able to examine and work on a flute made by a master.

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Lots of catching up in the shop this week after Love Cripple closed. It was a great run. Short but sweet. An audience member approached me after one of the shows and said that she was catapulted to Japan the second she heard the sound of my flute. The strange thing was that she said she had never heard of the shakuhachi or been to Japan. Never under estimate the subliminal power of Hollywood or television commercial. A while back, I heard the sound of the shakuhachi in an NFL commercial. An intense blowing technique called Komi Buki or Muraiki was used several times to underscore the players tackling one another. It didn’t remind me of Japan, but it worked musically.

Back to the shop. These two pieces of bamboo were found in a thrift shop in Maryland. They were sent them to me to see if they would make good shakuhachi.

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