SCHEDULE & CONTENT
EVENT #1 15 OCTOBER 2023
STARTING-UP/BEGINNERS
SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER 2023
| Session 1.1 | 10h00 – 11h15 | Riley Lee – posture, embouchure & sound |
| Session 1.2 | 11h30 – 12h30 | Riley Lee – Three times Three; your first honkyoku + breathing exercises |
| Session 1.3 | 12h30 – 12h45 | Riley Lee – questions |
| BREAK | ||
| Session 1.4 | 14h00 – 14h30 | Daniel Ryudo – short talk shakuhachi history/schools/notation |
| Session 1.5 | 14h45 – 16h00 | Daniel Ryudo – Haru no Ogawa, Ame Furi Otsukisan, Myoan honkyoku |
| Session 1.6 | 16h00 – 16h15 | Daniel Ryudo – questions |
About
The workshop (ESS Online Event #1) with Riley Lee and Daniel Ryudo focuses on shakuhachi beginners, people who recently started-up, just want to start up as wel as people who have been playing for a while but want to get back into it or to simply improve their understanding of some fundamental shakuhachi principles — from holding the flute, embouchure, correct breathing to some insight into shakuhachi’s historical background, notation systems and exploring a piece or melodic patterns.
As part of the sessions Riley Lee will be focusing on ideas of the traditional method of oral transmission with Three times Three; your first honkyoku, which is a simple piece with all the characteristics of honkyoku and is very easy to learn, memorise and play.
Later on Daniel Ryudo will introduce us to notation reading and we will look at Ame Furi Otsukisan and Haru no Ogawa, a folk song that all school children in Japan know. The song title can be translated as ‘Springtime Stream’, conjuring up an image of a brook with flowers and fish.
Daniel will also introduce us to Chikudo no Take Shirabe and depending on the group’s progress on the day the Myoan honkyoku Hifumi cho.
Haru no Ogawa lyrics:
Haru no ogawa wa/ sara-sara nagaru
Kishi no sumire ya/ renge no hana ni
Nioi medetaku/ iro utsukushiku
Sake yo sake yo to/ sasayaku gotoku
Smoothly, smoothly flows the brook/ now that spring has come again.
To the violets on the bank/ and the lotus blossoms too,
“Let your fragrance joyful be/ and your colors beautiful:
“Bloom ye, bloom!” — Thus the brook/ seems to whisper to them all.
We will have another of the beginner-focused workshops on 11 February 2024, ESS Online Event #4, this time it will be led by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel and Kiku Day. See details here.