Why is a shakuhachi so expensive?!?

[Doug_Tipple]

Before I get any more inquiries about the shakuhachi that I had for sale, I am happy to say that it has been sold to a Zen student in Metairie, LA. He promised to give a good home.

[rama]

www.cloudhandsmusic.com has some really cool flute music available by peter ross for those who might not find the more traditional shakuhachi playing style enjoyable. peter plays tranverse bamboo and shakuhachi, and also a shakuhachi he made in an arabian scale - very funky. i have 3 of his cd's and they are all great; 'easy listening' in a very non-traditional setting.

[Doug_Tipple]

Just some more shakuhachi trivia here. I mentioned before that my shakuhachi was tuned to yellow bell tuning, according to Dan Parker, who made it. Yellow bell (or Huang Chung) is the Chinese name for the fundamental Tone of Nature, a specific pitch said to be the tone of running water, wind in the trees, the Earth and the Universe. In India it is called Ma and is related to the Spiritual Sound Current, Nada or Word. This tone is a little sharper than our western Fa (349.2 hertz, equal temperment) or F+= 360 hertz.

Here is where it gets strange. Dan told me that he tuned the flute to his “refrigerator”. He demonstrated in my kitchen. In the USA electric current is alternating at 60 cycles per second (hertz). Yellow bell or F+ is a harmonic (6 x 60) of the 60 cycle hum. I don’t expect that they did it this way in ancient China or Japan.

[talasiga]

What's the story behind the baskets? ........

For a moment I thought your signature "Oh Brother, where Art thou?" was a caption for that basket head.

[talasiga]

.......In India it is called Ma and is related to the Spiritual Sound Current, Nada or Word. This tone is a little sharper than our western Fa (349.2 hertz, equal temperment) or F+= 360 hertz.

.....

Ma is not a pitch but the fourth interval in ANY TONIC sol-fa progression. ie It is the Fa in not only with a C tonic but any tonic. East West transgressions confuse the Ma with F but it isn't. It is the 4th relative to whatever the first is and the first can be any note.

[glauber]

Here is where it gets strange. Dan told me that he tuned the flute to his “refrigerator”. He demonstrated in my kitchen. In the USA electric current is alternating at 60 cycles per second (hertz). Yellow bell or F+ is a harmonic (6 x 60) of the 60 cycle hum. I don’t expect that they did it this way in ancient China or Japan.

This is great!

On a totally unrelated note, i heard a guy on the radio once, who said that one of the reasons we have so much tension in our life is because we have all these appliances humming in discordant notes. He demonstrated by gettting the "note" from each appliance in a typical house, and showed that it made up a dissonant chord. He thought we could have much happier lives if we could tune up our appliances in nice consonant intervals...


and i think i agree!

[anticDevices]

FWIW, two perfomances at the Kennedy Center by Daniel Nyohaku Soergel may be found at http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/ ... SOERGELDAN.

The pieces he plays are traditional, and for my money absolutely lovely. He also discusses history the history of the tunes, the instrument and the playing style between pieces.

I should disclose though that these are streaming video links and perhaps(?) not best enjoyed by those still shackled to connection speeds from late in the last century (say c. 1999).

- Patrick

[Hiro Ringo]

I start to witness the word 'trivia' much more frequently used by C&Fers.
I wonder why...Does it have something to do with TV program in USA?

[anticDevices]

I start to witness the word 'trivia' much more frequently used by C&Fers.
I wonder why...Does it have something to do with TV program in USA?

I'm going out on a limb here, but I think the popular meaning of the word 'trivia' has shifted from "Insignificant or inessential information" to "information" or "details". I believe when most people say, "I know some trivia on this subject" they mean, "I know something about that" and not "I know something really pointless about that." This could be as a result of the popularity of Trivial Pursuit (a board game), but I don't know.

On the other hand, the adjective "trivial" still seems to mean "insignificant" or "valueless".

- Patrick

[JessieK]

I just got a shakuhachi headjoint for Boehm or Irish flute, and I am really enjoying it. Surprisingly, my embouchure is already working well. It's not that hard to shift from flute to shak, although I am sure I will continue to learn nuances of this instrument.

Now I am lusting after a whole shakuhachi. My parents are giving me an antique one and Monty Levenson is going to restore it.

[Hiro Ringo]

Thank you anticDevices! for very interesting insight.

[mukade]

What's the story behind the baskets? I seem to recall faintly that these wore disgraced persons for some reason? Or maybe they just thought the baskets were a great fashion statement?

I found a Yahoo shak group:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/komuso/

Nice picture there:

Hey Glauber,

That's my group. It has been dead for a while.

Living in Japan means I have all the information I need

Mukade

[mukade]

If you want a book without too much of the Zen hoodoo voodoo that surrounds western Shakuhachi music, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel's book has an excellent sections on the history of the instrument and playing.



His homepage.
http://www2.gol.com/users/yohmei/

Mukade

[glauber]

Nice. I bookmarked it.

[Jack Bradshaw]

Here is where it gets strange. Dan told me that he tuned the flute to his “refrigerator”. He demonstrated in my kitchen. In the USA electric current is alternating at 60 cycles per second (hertz). Yellow bell or F+ is a harmonic (6 x 60) of the 60 cycle hum. I don’t expect that they did it this way in ancient China or Japan.

This is great!

On a totally unrelated note, i heard a guy on the radio once, who said that one of the reasons we have so much tension in our life is because we have all these appliances humming in discordant notes. He demonstrated by gettting the "note" from each appliance in a typical house, and showed that it made up a dissonant chord. He thought we could have much happier lives if we could tune up our appliances in nice consonant intervals......and i think i agree!

There may be somthing to this...just tried playing with the washing machine this morning...

(OK Eddie...ball's in your court)