Editor's Note: I conducted the following interview with Shakuhachi player Daniel Soergel, by email. In it, Daniel shares with us some background about his instrument, it's aesthetics and performance. As a cross-over feature, you can listen to Daniel's music on our pop-out player for this month's issue, or by playing this mp3:
We've also include a video of one of Daniel's performances below. You can learn more about Daniel in our guest artist catalogue, or at his website www.konkle.com/shakuhachi/
- Meagan Dye>span
I was walking down West 4th Street in the Village, and happened to notice a handbill on a lamp post advertising a nearby Shakuhachi concert, which was about to begin. At $10, I let my curiosity get the best of me, and that is how it all started. Alone on a dark stage, a small kneeling player created the most unearthly beautiful tones I had ever heard. A Shakuhachi is a traditional Japanese bamboo flute tuned to a "D." It is held vertically and only has five holes. But the emotional power of the rushing windy gusts and serene and barely audible wisps of sound it can create makes a deep impact. After hearing this for the first time, I knew this was my instrument; I had to play.
I started with Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin, and stayed with him for the whole journey. Students can be fiercely loyal to their teachers, and for good reasons. My teacher's relaxed manner and gregarious nature was perfect for a non musician beginner like me. I slowly came to understand his valuable knack for matching a student's ambition with the right amount of challenge. You often feel like you are climbing a mountain that can have some rough steps. But once in awhile you look around and see the view, and feel amazed by the new perspectives.
You kneel each week in front of the Japanese notation, set on a low table and play one to one. Unlike in the West, you learn to mimic your teacher in style and spirit. There are no scales or exercises. Songs are learned from day one; lovely folk songs and children's tunes that I still play for my youngest audiences. As the years go by, you end up attempting scores that amaze professional musicians by their complexity.
I can't say I really got anywhere with instruments I tried in my grammar school days. But in the shakuahchi tradition there are no classrooms with chairs in rows. Private instruction is the norm. Of course in all music study the bottom line is practice. I was able to play for an hour a day for the first seven or eight years. It adds up. I was in Chinatown recently watching the wonderful dance-like moves of martial artists. As a slow turn was executed in top form, I noticed the message on the back of the student's t-shirt. "Hard work beats talent."
One day, it all seems to come together. You become one with your instrument, so to speak. In any culture, on any instrument, it is the same. After playing a song hundreds of times, it seems to play itself. If the player is merely out to impress, it falls emotionally flat. But to re-live the song each time you play is to "realize" it for the listener. The truth of life's shared experiences shines through.
VIDEO PERFORMANCE BY DANIEL SOERGEL
That would be in the garden, at best, a Japanese Garden. My favorite is the Humes Japanese Stroll Garden in Mill Neck on Long Island. I perform there monthly, spring through fall. However, only a few people can fit in the tiny tea house there. Auditoriums, museums and festivals are nice to play, but to sit on a tatami floor mat in a small room with an incredible view, and play for guests who did not expect a concert at all, is creating a zen-like experience. The repertoire comes from the Zen Buddhist temples after all, places of stillness and reflection. It is a perfect fit.
If words can be left behind, and music and feeling shared in a comforting place of natural beauty, then a deep healing in both player and listener is possible. Meditation sounds like self- involvement, but some of the keywords of Buddhism- compassion, gratitude, empathy are values strengthened by emptying out one's own needs and letting go.
I noticed that often when someone needs a helping hand, it comes at really inconvenient times. How can you possibly help another when you yourself are weak, assailed, or struggling? Yet somehow, the energy materializes. Where it comes from is one of life's mysteries. If you really care, you can let everything fall into place. This has been called the "Tao.”
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