Hi all, Have you ever wanted to play Happy Birthday on the shakuhachi? It’s a friend’s birthday today so I decided to dedicate my morning practice to him. I wrote this notation based on the Dokyoku style of Watazumi as I understand it through my teacher Kinya Sogawa. 

Hear it now!

I had the most amazing Sunday this week.  It all started with waking up and playing with the kids. Then I was off to do the final matinee performance of Angels of Swedenborg. It was a long but rewarding run with so many exhilarating performances. Every performances is different to some degree. It’s similar to blowing a single note on the shakuhachi. It can never be the same even if you try. That is the wonderful thing about life -every moment is unique, fresh and exciting.

The final bow. The guy in the white shirt is Henning, who did an amazing job as Swedenborg. I’m to his right.

After the show, I caught the Foo Fighters at Madison Square Garden with my brother.  It was an amazing experiencing, from performing deep movement in an Avant Garde theater/dance production to screaming my lungs off a a Rock concert. It was truly a Yin and Yang day.

Social Distortion opened. Can you name the cover song they performed?

Last week in itself was one of the most dynamic and dispirit performing weeks I’ve ever had in New york City (in my life). It started with a two-day recording session of Fred Ho’s jazz fantasy radio play - Dragon VS Eagle.

Then I had several performances of Angels before I went to a Sankyoku lesson with the fabulous Yoko Hirao.

From jazz to cutting edge theater to classical sankyoku to rock-n-roll. 

Oh, I sometimes forget that this blog is about shakuhachi

Aside from a couple of commissioned flutes I was able to move further along,  I was able to finish some repairs. These flutes went around the world - France, Australia, the UK, Canada Sweden and California.

I did this extension to lower the pitch on the entire flute. The owner was very happy and can now use it on recordings. I was also very happy to that the flute’s voice was not compromised but actually gained resonance and response. See here for the original blog entry on this repair: http://yungflutes.com/blog/entry/tuning_a_shakuhachi/

I started a Hocchiku for someone yesterday. Its always exciting being a part of the birth of a shakuhachi made after Watazumi’s “Darma Bamboo” way. I am always reminded of the process of fatherhood at this early stage, how I should work with the bamboo’s natural disposition rather than to impose my ideology.

On that note, the most elucidating moment of the week was attending Jet’s first book publishing party for his First Grade class. Witnessing the development of a human being is truly a mind blowing process. I left the class room thinking, ” Does making shakuhachi make me a better parent, or, does being a parent make me a better shakuhachi maker?

Did I mention lately, my life rules!
Namaste, Perry