Hello Hello

July has brought some intense summer /solar energy and I've been using it in my musical practice. I got to play a solo shakuhachi gig at a friend's bar this month which was really nice. On the gig I prepared three pieces

• Kumoi Jishi - a dedication piece that recalls the Lion Dance
• Sokkaku Reibo - a classical shakuhachi piece that depicts the life of cranes. The piece moves from when they are born, grow up, learn their songs, pass on their knowledge, and die.
• Loons - A contemporary piece by Elizabeth Brown

In preparation for this concert I was waking up early to go practice on the lake at Prospect Park. I found a great spot right on the water and went there to play these pieces every day for 5 days leading up to the gig. It was a rainy week so I had some really quiet moments in the park to sit with the shakuhachi sound. On one day while I was practicing Sokkaku Reibo a flock of herons swooped down on me making all kinds of sounds and noises as they flew lazily in humid air. It was an inspiring moment that I took to the performance of the piece. Regularity is an important part of how I work on music in both solo and band situations. I feel the best work gets done and produce satisfying results when the music I'm working on becomes a space to live and breathe in. Daily practice builds the doorway to the world in which the performance can live. It takes some amount of discipline to build a music practice routine like this but the results are well worth the slightly hermetic quality it gives a part of my life.

Tea features of The Month From Sasaki Sanmi

August, in the old days, was the beginning of autumn but really there's still that lingering heat especially in todays ever speeding up insane weather disaster. For Japanese tea ceremony practitioners August is the month off - schools are usually shut and tea people take a break this month. Morning tea ceremony cans till be enjoyed but this is a great month for tea people to hang with each other sans guests and enjoy the droning sounds of cicadas and the coolness of the evening. Another nice thing that tea people do this month is preparing the ashes in their hearths for autumn. It takes a lot of work to remove the harshness from the ash bowl but the results make the ashes look glossy and heavy like well aged ivory.

"There are other ways of forgetting the summer heat: spending the mid-day in baking a teabowl, or seeking and carving a rustically curved piece of bamboo to make a teascoop. Or copying a sutra or a book. Whatever it is, to go into an impersonal state is the key to forget the heat."

As usual I've been spending a lot of time practicing music and playing music with my friends. Since thats what ive been doing I’ll put a link here to some deep humid summer practice I did early in the morning last weekend in the woods. It’s not much but a deer came to see me while I was playing it!

Some flute

i wish everyone reading this a restful August - i hope to see a lot of you soon at a show or a hang maybe we could even enjoy a cup if tea together in the park. stay well and have courage. There is beauty among the chaos and its worth fighting for.