Written for my 1976 B.A. Portfolio for Antioch
Linked from Baido Wakita Sensei and Contacts with Source
1. Describe the learning setting. Include where it took place, the role of other persons who were involved with you, and any materials and methods employed which assisted your learning.
Baido Wakita lives in a house about five blocks from mine. He is a Shakuhachi Master and has played the instrument all his life. His wife and daughter both teach koto in the same house, where they all live. Mr. Wakita teaches in the strictly classical method. We play a piece of written music in unison until I attain a certain proficiency and then we start on a new piece.
2. Describe your participation and responsibilities in this setting.
Once a week or so, depending on whether I have learned the previous week’s lesson, I call Mr. Wakita and ask for a lesson. We sit in chairs facing each other with a music stand between us. Mr. Wakita places a piece of written music on the stand. We play in unison until I have some difficulty, at which time he gives me information on embouchure or fingering which is not included in the score. Sometimes we talk briefly about the historical aspects of the music. I frequently ask Mr. Wakita questions about his experience with Nyogen Senzaki, with whom he studied Zen for about five years. Senzaki was one of the very first Zen men to come to the West and I consider it a great privilege to be able to talk with one of his direct students.
It is my responsibility to practice at home what we have gone over in the lesson so that I can be prepared for the next lesson.
3. Describe new skills and/or knowledge derived from this learning activity which contribute to your Degree Plan.
Skills: I have learned to play four of the thirty-six traditional monk’s pieces, called Honkyoku. I have also learned to play ten contemporary pieces, and have just received my first duet. All this involves the ability to read a notation entirely unrelated to the western. This is quite an accomplishment considering it was very difficult for me to even get a tone from the shakuhachi for a long time. I spent three hours trying to get the first note, and almost a week before I could play a scale in the lower register. It took some months of lessons before I was able to play the notes of the upper register. At one point Mr. Wakita said, “The upper register is not so difficult, it is like enlightenment. When you are trying for it, it is difficult, but once it comes it is totally effortless.” When I was starting he would say, “Play only five minutes a day or however long the sound comes out without any effort. If it requires any effort, stop.” Now I can play for hours at a time just floating on the sound, effortlessly. This is a primary skill in playing the instrument, and is a state of mind that can be applied to everyday life.
Knowledge: First of course is knowledge of the notation. This is entirely unrelated to western notation. The music reads from top to bottom, and then from right to left, like Chinese writing. Each symbol represents a particular fingering. The rhythm is indicated by slash marks to the left or right of the note, alternating from side to side reading down. There are special marks for divisions or extensions of a beat. Many of the nuances are passed down orally rather than in the notation.
In conversation with Mr. Wakita I have been able to piece together the history of the shakuhachi. Helpful in this regard have been the following articles:
“The Shakuhachi and the Kinko Ryu Notation” by Donald Paul Berger, Asian Music, Vol. 1, No. 2.
“Shinchi Kakushin and the Fuke Sect” in Zen Dust, by Miura and Sasaki.
Photo essay on shakuhachi construction in “Bamboo” by Austin and Ueda.
“The Japanese Shakuhachi Flute”: 1) A Guide to the Traditional Music and Notation, 2) Notes on the Craft and Construction by Monty Levenson.
4. Self-Assessment: Evaluate this learning activity. Mention such things as the quality of the experience itself and its personal significance to you.
Quality. Mr. Wakita has been playing the shakuhachi since he was a child. In Japan today the people who build these instruments are known as National Treasures. It is very rare to be able to study with a teacher who basically comes from an oral tradition that easily traces back over fifteen hundred years to China through Japan. Mr. Wakita plays in an ensemble which is led by his daughter, and includes his wife and some of their senior students. Mr. Wakita’s experience with Nyogen Senzaki adds to the exceptionally high quality of this experience.
Personal Significance. As an ex-rock and roll drummer and now a Zen student, the shakuhachi has helped me to bridge the gap between music and Zen, the “counter-culture” and a sense of discipline. The meditative state attained through playing this instrument has helped my Zen practice and centering in general. This instrument creates an immediately spiritual atmosphere, one in which the ultimate reality can be felt as a comforting presence. Also, Mr. Wakita is perhaps my favorite teacher. I especially respect the Zen directness that he cultivates while remaining aloof from any organized religion.
5. Describe the methods of evaluation and feedback used during the learning experience itself.
Mr. Wakita is the only source of authentic evaluation I have although many of my friends have observed my progress and tell me that it is much more enjoyable to listen to me play now than even a short time ago.
6. Describe the material products of this learning experience, if any.
None.
7. List the forms of testimony and evaluation that you will include in your portfolio as demonstrable evidence of learning. Please attach these.
Evaluation written by Baido Wakita.