Message-ID: <alpine.NEB.2.11.1507310148360.19592@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.wvu.edu>, Wryting-L <WRYTING-L@listserv.wvu.edu>
Subject: no-hole shakuhachi!
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2015 01:52:09 -0400 (EDT)
no-hole shakuhachi! http://www.alansondheim.org/nohole.jpg http://www.alansondheim.org/nohole.mp3 http://www.alansondheim.org/nohole1.mp3 today, Perry Yung visited us, and brought us two e-flat no-hole shakuhachi. this is, as it says, a shakuhachi flute with proper mouthpiece and internal coating, but without fingerholes. it's a wonderful and amazing gift! I had spoken to him about one earlier; I wanted to see what I could do with a tube, how my breathing would be affected, whether I could play it at all. I also wanted to use it for breathing and thinking breathing. the instruments were made from bamboo bought locally at Job Lot; the interiors aren't smoothed, but similar to jinashi shakuhachis. very simple instruments with four bindings. the two use different bamboos; one has a wider bore and warmer tone, and the other is heavier, with a narrower bore. they make beautiful music, I think; reverberation has been added, that's all. these pieces are probably as close to enlightenment as I'll ever get! the nohole.mp3 is on the wider bore instrument, which surprised me; the other is on the narrow bore. for listening, the first is probably more successful, but for playing, they both raised me off the floor. (Perry made one for me and one for Azure; perhaps we can play duets!) with immense gratitude to Perry!