I’ve done a lot of Lec/dems over the years in the NYC Public Schools system. They usually involve sharing a part of Asian culture through music and art. Yesterday I had the wonderful experience of sharing the rituals of a Chinese New Year celebration with a First Grade class at PS 165 in the Upper upper West Side of Manhattan (some call the neighborhood SOHA - South of Harlem). I demonstrated a proper bow to the ancestral alter, some lion dance, drumming and the giving of Red Envelopes that contain Lucky Money. I also took this opportunity to share the shakuhachi in part of the music discussion.

The shakuhachi has nothing to do with the present day celebration of the Lunar New Year, but one can possible make a tenuous historical connection when this instrument was used in Taoist rituals in it’s previous incarnation as the Xiao bamboo flute.

(I once traveled up the Mekong River on a Rockefeller Research Grant to study the indigenous music of the ethnic minorities of the Yunnan Province in China. This particular trip was to meet the oldest Taoist music practitioners in the world - The Naxi Music Ensemble. They played music that dated back to the Tang Dynasty. Their notation was written on old Chinese scrolls. More on this soon) 

I asked the kids what they heard after I played the shakuhachi. Some of the responses were “nice, relaxing, smooth, energetic, sweet, emotional” and my favorite - “bamboo”.

We’re in another huge snow storm. Schools are closed today. I guess it’s Take the Kids to Work Day

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