Hello friends of the email.

If you have dug this email out of your spam folder and decided to open it to read about shakuhachi practice and general music updates from me then I'm very grateful.

April was an intense month of spring shakuhachi gigs and May is shaping up to be very much the same.

There's so much to update I'll do this all as a photo series: Here we go for April MAY 2022!!

Gems of Japanese Music: 4 Seasons in New York

This is an ongoing concert series starring Yoko Reikano Kimura that happens in the Union Square area every season. For her spring concert this year Reikano sensei invited my shakuhachi teacher, Ralph, to play a Yamada style piece called Yuya. Yuya is a masterpiece of Japanese music. It's based on a Noh play and has a beautiful flowing vocal part. It was a delight to get to hear my mentor go through this piece with one of the best Japanese classical music performers we have in the city.

I performed at Greenwood Cemetery for their annual cherry blossom viewing walking festival. It was chilly at the end of April and it was a bit of a challenge to play the instrument in the cold. It turned out to be great training since the cold stress acted as a kind of endurance test for my hands. I played a concert the next day at Columbia University and my hands felt great being back inside.

Here I am giving a brief talk about my piece, Shimmering Wave that was performed by the shakuhachi students at Columbia led by Elizabeth Brown. Shimmering Wave is an open-form piece I've written for any number of shakuhachi players. The performers set up all around the chapel and the resonant sound of the space made the size of the piece quite nice.

This is one from the Japan Village performance - this was a good day. I played a bunch of Honkyoku (solo pieces) in kind of a mall setting. It was a bit noisy but Japan Village has a nice space and the sound of the flute carried well.

This is from another cherry blossom festival. Hastings on Hudson hosts an annual event at a pocket park under some really glorious cherries. It was nice to be able to mix the flute sound with such beautiful scenery here.

Last weekend I finally got to see my primary Jiuta instructor, Yoko Hiraoka at a study event organized by Ralph. After 2 years of Zoom lessons it was emotional and informative to be able to study music in the same room. I played Nanakomachi with her and learned a lot. I found that when playing the very long piece that the core message of Nanakomachi is about getting older, feeling like you might be down for the count, rallying, and coming back with new creative vision. It's something I'm bringing to our exhausting times.

and now for a concert announcement!

Please join 月露 Getsuro in Innisfree Gardens on Sunday, June 19th at 3 pm for music celebrating nature and the seasons. Coming directly from Japan, in her only U.S. performance this season, Issui Minegishi and her rare and beautiful Japanese ichigenkin (one-stringed zither) will join shakuhachi (bamboo flute) players Ralph Samuelson and Elizabeth Brown in a program of traditional and recent music. The quiet sounds of these instruments, blending with the natural sounds of the gardens, will bring us all into harmony with the living landscape.

There is no formal seating--bring a blanket or mat if you like.

I'm deeply looking forward to seeing Issui sensei play her one-stringed instrument. Concerts like this are rare and if anyone reading this can make the effort I suggest you do.

That's all for now - the moon and the earth are spinning faster than I can understand these days.