Books and Immersion: works with shakuhachi too!

              
                                                   As mentioned in the last blog post, my ability to stick to a daily practice schedule is tough. Life is VERY BUSY!!! So,after some thinking and reading posts from other shakuhachi players (and musicians in general), I decided to take the approach that I've used with language learning. This entails practicing my flute one day and the next,if I cannot play,I will read and immerse myself in the history,techniques and written/notation form of the instrument. There are some times when a flute just cannot be played and my tablet as well as smartphone are loaded with hundreds of pages of shakuhachi documents and books. This makes it easier to keep my brain occupied with shakuhachi related information and on track each day with fewer black out periods.

        There are quite a few resources in my  library right now and it grows whenever I can find books or documents to add. Two of the most valuable volumes I own are the Annals of the International Shakuhachi Society. These hardbound books are essential to any library and have taught me so much,even though I've barely covered even the first volume!! If you don't have these books, snap them up while you can although I can bet most players and teachers have them in their libraries.

 Online,the website of the same organization, The International Shakuhachi Society, is incredibly rich in information and history.
Having been a member now for at least three years, I have used it extensively in research and for making contacts. Here is the link the page if you are interested:

www.komuso.com


There are other goodies available there too such as shirts and the like. Someday I will also have to order those as well :-P




                                               Among the other books in my collection that help as refreshers or in new knowledge are The Shakuhachi: A manual for learning by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel and also Shakuhachi by Masayuki Koga. Both really cover the instrument and any question a player would have. Add the books by Perry Yung and James Nyoraku Schlefer as well as Riley Lee's thesis entitled "Yearning for the Bell" and one has a well rounded collection of books from different sources and thoughts.

                 

                                               Then, there are the books authored primarily as biographies that provide en enriching and fascinating view of the shakuhachi journey. The two I own are "A Single Tone" by Christopher Blasdel and "Blowing Zen" by Ray Brooks. Both are a delight and take one away to a fellow players life and path of  this superb flute!




Highly recommend both!!





I have no dog in the fight on any book presented here but have been enriched a great deal by them all and hope that they would do the same for others. On those days that I cannot practice or am on a lunch hour break or waiting to pick someone up at school, these are perfect!!!





                                          There are plenty of other books and sources out there for learning about the shakuhachi and as money permits me to, I'll add every one possible that I can. For now, this will keep my tiny brain occupied for years!!!!