This a book foe beginners level. However some simple advices in the text pages are even applicable for advanced players. That means if you follow and use this book, it is one of the fastest way to study of playing shakuhachi. For example paying mouth cavity and try to hold the air-pipe being rounded and expanded is actually very advanced skill but also you can do it. When inhaling deep breath is important and do not force the exhaling breath (later, we will do so as advanced skill but not at first time as starter). These important know0how is listed in the book.30 years of long seller book in USA and Europe: Japanese bamboo flute (shakuhachi) instruction book for the beginners; by Mr. Masayuki Koga. This book contains only the First Section of I).Fundamental Techniques from the complete "Textbook". And CD is not included. If you need CD, ask to the author; you will find his contact at the last page of this book.

The extremely important core of music or even of our life is; expansion for freedom. Freedom to play music without chain or any restriction. In order to be free we need to open our mind and body. However it is easy to say but, it is difficult to do. Then how to open up our whole body depends on how steadly and concretely start and keep going forward to reach our goal step by step. That is about this book from my 50 years experience.We start from basic breathing, simple posture and gradually we check each part of the body some are visible (we say outer-muscles), some are difficult to see or touch (inner muscles) including organs like throat, inside mouth, diaphragm, and back-muscles. In order to check our whole body since we have around six hundred muscles (it is plenty), so we need to do gradually herefore, you could open and read this book wherever you feel comfortable (you don't have to start reading from first page; just open the book and enjoy that page.And when you feel start reading from the first page, then that is the time to organize your idea of managing the whole body. But don't force yourself because it is good to maintain the free-attitude for anything. Music Institute of America The Japanese Music Institute of America (JMI) was founded by Masayuki Koga in 1981 to introduce the highest quality of Japanese Classical music for Shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) to the U.S. Since then, JMI has fostered the appreciation and study of traditional Japanese music. Each year JMI receives far more requests than it can possibly accommodate for low or non-fee supported performances from a variety of Japanese social, religious and cultural organizations. Generally, these requests fall into the category of: 1) Japanese seasonal celebrations, e.g. summer "obon," spring "cherry blossom"; 2) Buddhist/Shinto shrine anniversaries; 3) lecture/demonstrations, e.g. Stanford University and New York University in Eastcoast; and, 4) public festivals. Yearly audiences for the performances we are able to provide ranges from 2,500 to 6,000. The venues range from Mountain View's Japanese Community Center to the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival to Placerville's Buddhist Church east of Sacramento. Occasionally, as resources allow, other noted master musicians from Japan are invited and presented to the public at important locations ranging from Stanford University to the San Francisco Asian Art Museum.Locations of shakuhachi lessons:We have regular classes and rehearsals at Pine United Methodist Church in San Francisco ( 33rd Ave, S.F.) by Msayuki Koga. Also, at East Bay Center for Performing Arts in Richmond (339 11th St.) by Assistant instructor/ Jordan Simmons, in San Francisco by Assist. Instructors/ Alan Johnson and by/ Peter Frentzel as well. In Cupertino by / Masaru Koga. In Piedmont by / Tim Hamano, and at the Tayu Meditation Center in Sebastopol by Assist. Instructor/ Stuart Goodnick.For further information, contact: [email protected]

Divided into two parts, this book shows how human memory influences the organization of music. The first part presents ideas about memory and perception from cognitive psychology and the second part of the book shows how these concepts are exemplified in music.

A comprehensive presentation of the techniques and aesthetics of composition with sound particles.

As the lead singer of the Grammy Award–winning rock band Quetzal and a scholar of Chicana/o and Latina/o studies, Martha Gonzalez is uniquely positioned to articulate the ways in which creative expression can serve the dual roles of political commentary and community building. Drawing on postcolonial, Chicana, black feminist, and performance theories, Chican@ Artivistas explores the visual, musical, and performance art produced in East Los Angeles since the inception of NAFTA and the subsequent anti-immigration rhetoric of the 1990s. Showcasing the social impact made by key artist-activists on their communities and on the mainstream art world and music industry, Gonzalez charts the evolution of a now-canonical body of work that took its inspiration from the Zapatista movement, particularly its masked indigenous participants, and that responded to efforts to impose systems of labor exploitation and social subjugation. Incorporating Gonzalez’s memories of the Mexican nationalist music of her childhood and her band’s journey to Chiapas, the book captures the mobilizing music, poetry, dance, and art that emerged in pre-gentrification corners of downtown Los Angeles and that went on to inspire flourishing networks of bold, innovative artivistas.

The study moves from tradition to modernity, explores a range of topics such as: song life in the traditional village; rural–urban tensions; local min’yo ‘preservation societies’; the effects of national and local min’yo contests; the ‘new folk song’ phenomenon; min’yo and tourism; folk song bars; recruitment of professionals; min’yo’s interaction with enka popular songs and with Western-derived foku songu; the impact of mass mediation; and min’yo’s role in maintaining or creating local identity. The book contains a plate section, musical examples, and a compact disc.