Yoshinobu Taniguchi
with
Michael Chikuzen Gould, Kono Gyokusui, & William P. Malm

SHAKUHACHI


This wonderful and exquisitely produced DVD is a perfect introduction to the world of shakuhachi for both novice and season players. It features Yoshinobu Taniguchi performing solo shakuhachi honkyoku as well as excerpts from the duet Shika no Tone with Michael Chikuzen Gould. Filmed in Japan at the Myoanji, Kokkukuji, Enryakuji, Tenryu and Horyuji Temples, as well as at the Shosoin Imperial Warehouse housing a rare collection of ancient historical instruments, this video is introduced and narrated by esteemed Japanese ethnomusicologist Professor Emeritus William P. Malm of the University of Michigan. Prof. Malm reviews the history and evolution of shakuhachi from its origins to the modern Fuke shakuhachi used by the Komuso priests of the Myoanji Temple. A visit to the workshop of the late Kono Gyokusui shows in detail how bamboo is selected and the shakuhachi meticulously crafted. Taniguchi-sensei next demonstrates the scales used in traditional shakuhachi music, variations in the nuanced tone production and techniques employed in playing honkyoku pieces. A segment of the Kinko-ryu honkyoku Hi Fu Mi Hachigaeshi no Shirabe is performed following its musical notation note-by-note.

30 min. 16 sec. V-31

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YOSHINOBU TANIGUCHI is one of the foremost living masters of shakuhachi in Japan today. In addition to having studied under three great pillars of shakuhachi - Aoki Reibo, Yamaguchi Goro, and Yokoyama Katsuya—he has also mastered the playing styles and repertoire of many other shakuhachi sects. Mr. Taniguchi is a recipient of the transmission of Koden Honkyoku through Watazumido Shuso and Yokoyama Katsuya. He has received several honors for his work in Japan including acknowledgement as top performer at the Osaka Geijutsu Sai. He was also given the honorary title of Sen Shin Kutsu Dai Shihan at the young age of 32, a title usually reserved for senior "ambassadors" of shakuhachi. Mr. Taniguchi was Visiting Professor of Shakuhachi at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio where he taught in 1982. He presently resides in Mineyama-cho, a small city near the Sea of Japan outside of Kyoto.

MICHAEL CHIKUZEN GOULD studied shakuhachi in Japan from 1983-1996 under Yoshinobu Taniguchi and Katsuya Yokoyama, where he eventually earned his Shihan and Dai Shihan certificates. Since moving back to the US in 1996, he has been a faculty member in the Dept. of Asian Studies at Wittenberg Univ., Springfield, Ohio, and Shakuhachi instructor at The Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ml and Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.

WILLIAM P. MALM, born in Illinois in 1928, received his BM (1949) and MM (1950) in composition from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of California at Los Angeles (1959). He developed an ethnomusicology program at the University of Michigan (1960-94) which included an ensemble of nagauta and edobayashi. As director of the Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments (1980-94) he expanded its use in education and research. He is author of Traditional Japanese Music and Musical Instruments.


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