Your Shakuhachi Journey: How to play the shakuhachi Japanese bamboo flute Paperback – February 26, 2015

This book was a surprise- it has me practicing every day with noticeable improvement, and I've only had it for two weeks. I feel that it has the potential to lead me to one of my dreams- play shakuhachi beautifully, fluidly, with power.My first impression was of the apparent sparseness- there blank pages between exercises. Usually this is filler, but for this book, it has the effect of emphasizing space, and of creating a greater appreciation of the content that is there. Each exercise has something inspiring that makes me want to practice, and to patiently work out problems I am having to produce a good sound. I feel no desire to jump around in the book, since the exercises build on one another in a way that really makes sense for developing embouchure. I really feel that I am grasping the concepts as a result, slowly but surely. Generally I feel scattered when working through instruction methods of musical instruments (guitar, sax, piano, etc. have all been tried). Perhaps I will try applying some of the genius I find here to other instruments down the line.I have never experienced a book on music instruction to be so effective. Concepts are explained quite briefly, but with the essential points presented simply and clearly. This makes it easy to dive into practice in a very focused way, knowing exactly what to work on. It becomes a beautiful journey of discovery, and challenges are interesting instead of discouraging.The instructions are so to the point, that one can read and digest without pain. Indeed, they are great for focusing on one thing (size of mouth opening, for example). Then my eyes will fall on the text telling to squeeze more or less with the hara for switching from otsu to kan, for example. And my kan notes will come out much cleaner for having worked on the one, then combining it well with the other. Just those two things have quickly taken me from not consistently being able to make some of the kan sounds (very normal in the beginning), to being able to play them pretty dang consistently, which just feels awesome:)One of the elements of the book that has me practicing every day is the author's note that technique, like the size of the mouth opening, is something that just takes lots of practice and time. I really think I might have given up consistent practice already if he did not have these reminders in the exercises. I felt like it was taking so much effort to make notes sometimes, and it would seem like things weren't going so good one day when the day before, it was fine. These reminders that it just takes practice, dialled back the frustration.I could patiently work on, knowing that this is just the normal process.I've extrapolated the energy I get from the book to just focus on one note at times, and sometimes also to focus on going between two notes (ha and ro, for example) for a while instead of going through the whole exercise. It actually has me stopping to break things down and savor working on the atomic level.The book has been a godsend in another, unexpected way. The author writes about RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) and how he was able to fully heal, after suffering for a long time and having tried a multitude of unsuccessful methods to heal. I was in correspondence with Jon and am now also doing simple exercises that he found helpful, daily, as I have also suffered from RSI.I highly recommend watching Jon's videos on youtube for total beginners learning embouchure, how to hold the instrument, etc. They are some of the most excellent videos created for a subject, in this case shakuhachi.Also I play Ro for ten minutes every day. Highly recommended.This is already one of the best books ever, and I am not even into the songs yet. I feel that the first four exercises are already giving me so much. Once I can play them to my satisfaction, the meri should come more easily and then I will be ready to tackle the songs. This is truly a well-laid out progression and I can see that it will lead to confident, competent playing. If you are starting on your shakuhachi journey, or returning to it like I am, I don't see how you could hope for better than this book. Cheers and best wishes for your shakuhachi path.

Like many people, I just picked up a shakuhachi and did my best to learn from youtube videos. I managed to consistently get sound, and learned a few songs, but really hit a plateau as I couldn't follow any more advanced videos in order to learn drills and music. This book is incredible for a beginner at this middle stage, it has an easy to read tone chart, instructions on how to read music, and 28 short songs at the end. For the price it is an incredible resource and allows me to keep playing and learning instead of playing the same song repeatedly and getting frustrated rewatching videos. Highly recommend for anybody wanting practice material.

Good histoire of flute

Jon does a great job explaining everything and builds new player confidence as you proceed through the book with new skills and information built upon previously learned skills. With songs in the back of the book and audio of those songs on his website, I'm looking forward to learning them.

I have one of Jon's flutes. Excellent. I have spent the last month restoring a shakuhachi as a Christmas gift. I'll include Jon's book with the flute. It has everything that one would need to start playing the shakuhachi and is laid out in such a way that you can make encouraging progress. This is so important! It's not an easy instrument to play. I've been playing the shakuhachi for some time. I still use the folk songs and other pieces in the back of the book regularly.

Actually a great starter book asmost mentioned. What most didn't mention is this is an updated book of Koga's fundamentals of shakuhachi. Except this has actual pictures of kypros lip formations rather then drawings and does a great job of explaining shakuhachi notes and notation. So what i am trying to get at is both books will get you started, this one is a little nicer. But you wont need both as they cover the same things and have the same songs in the back.

Your Shakuhachi Journey is a useful guide for the beginning shakuhachi player. Jon gives lots of tips about posture and forming the shakuhachi embouchure which are often a stumbling blocks for someone new to the instrument. The system of notation he uses for the practice pieces and folk songs is clear and easy to follow. A CD or links to mp3s of the exercises and folk songs would be helpful to most students. I have taken several Skype lessons with Jon. He is a great teacher!

Without a teacher it is difficult to learn the Shakuhachi. This book points you in the correct direction and the rest is up to you. As with any instrument, the time you put into it equals the level of success. This book has pictures and brief explanations of correct posture, how to hold the instrument, notes, scale, etc. I think it's a good place to start.

Non male, ma magari sarebbe meglio un po' più piccolo e a colori. Del resto il libro spiega bene, consiglio 👍

This is a great book that is helping me in my journey. Highly recommended!

A straightforward book that i found easy to understand and very interesting. I appreciate Mr Kypros explaining the origins of the wonderful shakuhachi, and also his journey towards learning this magical instrument. And i pray his journey continues.

I was searching some support for my first steps in learning Shakuhachi. And, untill now, this book has been very helpfull (straight to the point, very easy to understand, and very didact) !!!

Nicht viel bla bla, aber genug blablaMeine persöhnliche Erfahrung war, dass man einfach jeden Tag etwas rumprobieren muss, um die Lippen so, die Töne so und so hinzukriegen.Was mir gut gefallen hat, war das Angebot der Lieder im hinteren Teil. Online kann man sie anhören.Zu den hohen Tönen hätte ich mir gerne kostenlose soundsamples gewünscht, da ich zwar alle Arten von hohen Tönen aus der Flöte rausbekomme, aber irgendwie nicht weiß, welcher Ton eigentlich wie richtig klingen sollte. ;)Fast alle (oder alle?) Lieder benutzen leider zu einem großteil die höheren Töne, so dass man diese beherrschen muss, um die Lieder nachzuspielen.Das sei so an die interessierten gesagt. :)In der Hoffnung jedoch auch, dass man einen Link zu den hohen Tönen online stellt ;pKaufen ja oder nein?Wenn Sie eventuell eh schon paar hundert Euro in Ihre Flöte investiert haben, dann legen sie die paar Euro für das Buch noch oben drauf.Es gibt ohnehin nicht viele Lehrbücher zu dem Thema.Aus diesem Buch, es ist nicht sonderlich dick, ziehen Sie für sich das raus, was sie brauchen, ignorieren das, was Sie gerade nicht brauchen, und alle sind glücklich. :)klingt jetzt etwas gesponsort, aber tatsache war das so meine herangehensweise, beim kauf des buches. "ach komm, egal, kauf, klick" xD