Véronique Piron

shakuhachi - flutes

TEACHING of the SHAKUHACHI
LESSONS and WORKSHOPS - THE BASICS - REPERTOIRE

LESSONS and WORKSHOPS

Individual lessons
- lessons face to face in France: in Brittany and occasionally in Paris
- lessons online : Skype, Zoom
- in French and in English
Lessons are individual, but collective sessions can be planned when it’s possible, to work on the basics and/or the repertoire.
 You are welcome to contact to get more informations

Workshops
Yearly workshops can be proposed by the Eu-KSK group
within 2 or 3 days in Germany, Spain or France according to the possibilities.
Teaching is collective with different levels.
Apart from the repertoire, improvisation can also be approached.

European Shakuhachi Summerschool
This is a summer event happening during 4 days, organised by the European Shakuhachi Society, ESS, in a European country. It gathers the European Shakuhachi community and all its different schools with shakuhachi, koto and shamisen teachers invited from Japan and Europe. It gathers from 50 to 60 participants every year.
For all levels, including an introductory course.
Since 2020 this event has been developed also online during week-ends in winter and in summer.

Learning shakuhachi is partly made in a oral way and by using the traditional notation
normally used for the repertoire and which uses a part of the Japanese syllabary "katakana"
but no preliminary knowledge of music and its notation are necessary to approach this instrument.

THE BASICS

- Breathing and its development
The shakuhachi with a specially wide embouchure needs an important volume of air, the development of air column support.
It thus gives the opportunity to approach and develop different breathing techniques, especially as the pieces of the original repertoire are based on the rhythm of the breathing.

- Production and development of the sound
Looking natural and simple in appearance, the bamboo offers incredible sounds, and a perceptible and usable sound pallet at any level. More than a simple flute, its complex tone color is getting closer to that of a reed instrument.

- Specific technics
Of simple making, a flute with only 5 holes, the shakuhachi develops simple but also sophisticated technics :
finger hittings, glissandi, sounds of breath, movements of the head, etc.

This basic work can be a purpose in itself and be developed
over a very long period for those who wish it.
It is also a good base to approach improvisation in a simple way.
(rakun statue in temple Kita-In, Kawagoe, Japan)

REPERTOIRE

本曲 Honkyoku
It is the original repertoire, emblematic of the shakuhachi, dated from the 13th century and that developed in the context of Zen Buddhism, here in the style transmitted by famous Katsuya Yokoyama ( 1934-2010 ) and his school (KSK: Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshukan, " International Institute of Shakuhachi "), also called sometimes dokyoku, and which includes a part of the kinko style repertoire.

Almost all of the pieces of this repertoire work with the rhythm of the breath without any
rhythmic pulsation, in a rather meditative style, and is approachable this way by all, and represents
the most appreciated repertoire of the shakuhachi. Right from the start, an introduction to this style
is proposed to beginners, by using short pieces specially adapted for this level.

三曲 Sankyoku
literally "trio", shamisen-koto-shakuhachi, of written tradition
It is a borrowed repertoire ( gai - kyoku ) from the classical ensemble music Jiuta or called citizen music, singing (often poems of old anthologies) accompanied by the shamisen and the koto, symbolic of the Edo period ( circa 1600-1868 ). The relationship to time and to tempo is here important, and the shakuhachi which imitates the way of playing of the stringed instruments uses specific melodic and rhythmic patterns.

Learning this repertoire, if it is approached, is first occuring in solo and can be practiced that way,
but it is during workshops that the practice with koto and shamisen players can happen.
(Audio Souncloud: Yachiyo-Jishi, sample, CD Nipponflutes)

民謡 Minyô
mostly oral tradition
The music of popular tradition, specific to each region, where, in a melodic and expressive syle, the shakuhachi imitates singing and its special vocal techniques. which he(it) accompanies traditionally with other instruments (most of the time the shamisen with or without percussions).
Songs of fishermen, sailors, farmers, songs according to the lunar calendar, lullabies, etc.

This repertoire approached from the beginning, allows an immediate melodic approach of the instrument.
(Audio Souncloud: Otachizake, CD Nipponflutes)

These 3 styles represent the roots of the language of the shakuhachi, and have fed the styles which succeed them historically: the modern shin-kyoku (or the revival of the 1930s); and the contemporary gendai-kyoku, composers' new pieces which develop an expressive aspect more in a western style and explore timbres and playing techniques of the instrument.