I had kind of a nice morning today. My wife and I get up before work to make coffee and she does her Tai Chi warm ups while I play my Shakuhachi. I sometimes even take ideas from what she does. So I played a little and turned to my current flutes I'm working on while she went on with her Tai Chi. I'm working on two Xiaos, a Hopi Flute and a 2.4 Jinashi Shakuhachi. They are done for the most part, but I have to kind of live with them for a week or two, in order to play them and tweek the mouth pieces for a while. I'm getting better at understanding what makes for good sound production with each of the kinds of things I make. I only took off a bare millimetre or two from each of the flutes and they sound much better with a quicker response and more expansive tone. If only every day went so well. Now for bindings and other woodburning decorations at some point. I also won a local first place in the state wide Veteran's art show that they had at our local VA Hospital for a 1.9 Shakuhachi I mad with wood burning for that catagory. It will go to a national show in Boston for VA facilities around the country. I'm just glad for the reinforcement I got locally, and anything else is frosting.

I always keep bones, spoons and Triangle in my gear somewherefor me, butthey never seemed to appeal to my wife. She took to the Tambourine, Zilsand the Djembe for percussion, and I have tried not to bug her too much about something I suggest, but give support to the things she likes doing. I have some wooden bones, but I've always thought the real bone material sounds the best.

David, maybe you can get your wife interested in playing the bones as well- it's a natural for anyone who already plays tambourine. I have some bones and can play them in a simple way- they are incredible fun once you get the first simple 'triplet thing' going...not that hard really.

Hi Strumelia

That is the direction of what I was thinking in trying to expand our sound a bit. My wife plays Whistle, Tambourine and Bowed Psaltry, and leaves the Harp home when we're playing Old Time and Not the Irish material. I thought with a Tambourine head for my Banjo I could play a beat behind some of her melody playing. I would still bring the Dulcimer of course. Thanks again for hosting this great site.

Tambourines were very common in the minstrel era, along with banjos and rhythm bones. I kinda play my banjo a little like a tambourine sometimes anyway, rappin' on the head... so fun .

Hi Strumelia

I loved the jpg of your banjo with the carving of the Pigs head in the head stock. What a wonderful idea. I've been dreaming about making a tambourine banjo and carving some kind of minstrel era neck for it.

David that is truly beautiful!

Hi Erin

It's great to have a real master Shakuhachi player to take some lessons from. For the Shakuhachi I've had to go it alone. I bought one of Perry Yungs introduction books and it has the right to left notation the Japanese use in it. From that I'm trying to read and write with that system since it has a notation system for some of the head shakes, occilations and breath attacks. I've got the rest of my time alive to study it. I live in an area where there are few Shakuhachi players or even Mountain Dulcimer players.One of myDulcimer studentsstarted a Dulcimer club here a while back and I got one newsletter from them and then they disapeared when she moved. You might check the Dulcimer player news mag for groups in your vicinity as well. There's a lot of great music in the northwest there, but like here you probably have to really search for it to find it.

Erin said:

Penny whistles are great as well. It only took just a little nudge to get me started collecting and making world flutes since they tend to be less expensive than a lot of instruments. Though some Shaks can get prices like rare violins. I have a chest of drawers at home that is nearly given over to flutes of all kinds.

Beth Hansen-Buth said:

That is a really beautiful shakuhachi David. I love hearing people's musical stories. I haven't ever tried the bamboo flute, I currently have some penny whistles that I pick up and toot on once in a while.

Hi Erin

The Mountain Dulcimer came first along with the Guitar. I played Guitar for groups in our area for many years and always had the dulcimer along as a side instrument. At some point twenty years ago I met my wife and we put together our band to play our own music and I mostly played the Dulcimer and Irish Flute. We hired a guitar player friend. I started with a Black Mountain Dulcimer that my youngest boy owns and later got a McSpadden and for the last six or seven years have teardrop made by Gila Mountain. It fit well with the festivals and venues we play from Renfairs and Celtic to Old Time stuff. Along the way I picked up a Dutch Schietholtz and a French Epinette. The Irish Flute playing got me into world flutes of all kinds and having met some of the flute makers at the Zion Flute Festival got me started making flutes. The Bamboo flute making works for me since I have a small carving studio and not a lot of large table saws and the like. I use mostly hand tools. I'm mostly interested in the Honkyoku style of Shakuhachi playing since it is the most free form. I absolutly fell in love with the instruments ability to make unusual articulations from the large bladed surface on the instrument. Recordings I like are by Watazumi doso roshi and many of the current players I admire are followers of his.

I've been making Shakuhachi for several years now and have reached a point where I think they are sounding good and have a nice appearance. Lately I've added more wood burning decoration with wood dyes and bleaches. My past production has been to use a tung oil finish for the inside of the barrel and walnut oil mixed with a little linseed for the exterior. Walnut oil is used to occasionaly oil the barrel and clean and oil the outside. With this lates project I've wanted to try something different, maybe a beeswax and walnut oil finish buffed out. The Japanese would coat everything, including the binding with Urushi laquer. Many of my local instrument making friends would just spray it with a commercial laquer of somekind. I've wanted to try to be a little more on the green side and use less harmful substances for my sake, keeping in mind that the flute goes in or near my mouth as well as using a filter mask that doesn't entirely keep out vapourized laquers etc.

I should add the sound of playing Shakuhachi for me is extremely relaxing and theraputic. Buddist priests have used them for many centuries to meditate to by listening to the sound they play.

Dave Sharp

http://fotmd.com/david-s-sharp/gallery/2639/shakuhachi-close-up