I’ll be doing a Shakuhachi making tent next week at La MaMa’s 50th Anniversay Celebration! See here :http://yungflutes.com/blog/entry/shakuhachi_making_tent/” title=” http://yungflutes.com/blog/entry/shakuhachi_making_tent/”> http://yungflutes.com/blog/entry/shakuhachi_making_tent/

I came back from the Angels in Swedenborg performances at Williams College with a collection of very interesting repairs waiting for me. This 2.0 was a little complex as it required a retuning. The flute was made by Shinsui probably around the 1960’s. It is quite a nice, masterly crafted instrument. When retuning this type of flute, I always explore different approaches before I settle on the best option for the particular instrument and new owner, who happens to play with the strong Dokyoku approach. For those players, the flute came in a bit sharp. I first had to determine if it was a bore issue. After measuring and playing for about two hours, I came to the conclusion that the best approach would be to lengthen the flute as the entire instrument (all holes and tonic) came in sharp. Again, this was based on the blowing techniques of the more aggressive Dokyoku style. A Myoan or Kinko player will play this flute at a lower, overall pitch. We discussed the issues surrounding retuning on good instruments and decided to go ahead with it. It’s difficult to find a good flute that fits and once the owner has one, it will be his flute. The decision was informed by experience and awareness and respect to traditional craft as it applies to a modern day professional player.

The first thing I had to do was determine how much to add by attaching sections of bamboo cut-offs at the bottom. It needed 1cm.

This flute has inlay bindings so there was already a predetermined place at the top to add the graft.

It’s always a learning experience and a little nerve racking no matter how many times I’ve done this. It’s like surgery, you never know what can happen along the way.

After finding the proper piece of bamboo with the right internal and external diameters for the graft, had to use a furniture clamp to apply equal pressure in gluing due to the angle of the top end.

After 24 hours, I did the second gluing which required a different technique of clamping due to the length. The joinery will be secured with embedded “U” nails and then cosmetically wrapped with 2 rin rattan.

Of course, much of the process can’t be explain here on a blog. This type of work is thought out and executed with formal training and years of experience in working with experienced shakuhachi players. There are many fine flutes that should not be worked on, especially old ones. That is always a delicate issue. If you have a Japanese made shakuhachi flute you would like to work on, feel free to contact me with questions.  Those of you interested in traditional crafting are welcomed to come by my shop for a visit.

Stay tuned (Ouch!) for updates.

On the other side of my work, I’ve been performing more these days as the kids are older.  I was rehearsing at two different places yesterday for two different productions. Both in old churches.

This one was in Green point Brooklyn, St Johns. The paint on the walls were peeling. It was eerie yet heavenly at the same time.

Latter in the day I found myself in St Marks Church in the East Village. This church was erected in 1795. It’s obviously been renovated, but a timeless feel remains. I couldn’t help but blow a few notes of the shakuhachi in this space. You guessed it, the sound was quite sweet.

Lastly, here’s a shot from Williamstown last week where we were able to bring the kids up while we performed. There was a local orchard where we went apple picking. Man, few things in life are as good as taking a bite off an apple freshly picked from a tree.
My life rules!
Namaste, Perry.