August | 2011 |

The Australian Shakuhachi Society (ASS) invites you to a two-day workshop to experience the sound and art of Shakuhachi. The workshop will be held 1-2 October 2011 at the Robert Webster building, UNSW Kensington Campus . Please click on the following poster to find out more. For inquiries regarding the Workshop, please phone David on 0416 370 703 or email shakachichibu@hotmail.com

ASS poster 2011

Venue and Directions:

For general directions to UNSW, please consult the google map.

Getting to and from UNSW Kensington Campus via public transport, you may find this link useful.

The Robert Webster building is located at G14 on the UNSW Campus Map. We suggest that for your convenience, please proceed to the Uni Mall side door of the Webster building. Should you need any assistance, please call David on 0416 370 703.

On-campus parking is free of charge on the weekend.

ASS Workshop 2011 Lunchboxes:

Participants at the ASS Workshop 2011 may wish to order Lunch in advance – University facilities are mainly closed for the long weekend – so that you can perform/ listen, enjoy the lunch-time concerts. These sushi lunches will be delivered. The price is 20 dollars for two meals. If you are a vegetarian or have special dietary requirements, please let us know by sending an email to shakachichibu@hotmail.com

Please go to the main page of Australian Shakuhachi Society to select the payment options.

Program:

Here is the Timetable for the ASS Workshop Weekend and AGM.

If you would like to attend only the AGM, there is of course no charge.

These sessions follow the familiar format in which the pieces are worked through in a group, led by Riley or Bronwyn. Attention is also paid to the elements of ensemble performance – developing the awareness necessary to play together in non-rhythmic music. Riley will teach Oboro TsukiYo and Koku. Bronwyn will teach Tamuke and DaHa.

Masterclasses by Riley and Bronwyn are in the usual format that is a public lesson with a student observed whilst being taught. If you would like to be a student in either of these sessions please let me know (shakachichibu@hotmail.com). There can be a number of students in each session.

Lachlan’s Piece: The Australia Council granted us funds to commission this piece from Lachlan Skipworth. Lachlan is a shakuhachi player and experienced in various genres. The commission requires that the piece has parts for a range of levels of expertise – diffident to virtuosic. Groups A and B will work separately and together as we discover the piece. Rehearsing and recording will be an interesting and rewarding experience.

AGM Sat 1st Oct 4.30pm: All committee positions are open for nomination and election. Usual formalities will be dealt with. The agenda then is open; please consider what you would like the society to be and do. Any agenda items should be put to secretary Bronwyn Kirkpatrick. Formal notice of the meeting will be sent separately.

Lunches: Workshop weekend lunches cost $10 and are sushi boxes provided by a local vendor. A variety of beverages will be available. There is little open on-campus on the long-weekend and you would not want to miss the lunch-time concerts: so book a sushi box when you register for the weekend.

Concerts: On both days there will be informal lunch-time concerts. Feel free to present your party-piece, group, anything. Taking an opportunity to perform is a guarantee of an intense learning experience. Please let me know what and which day you intend to perform : shakachichibu@hotmail.com.

(The first item on the concert program will be a performance of ShunSui by Katsuya Yokoyama, played by David Dixon and Lachlan Skipworth.)

Beginners have their own dedicated schedule which will be flexible according to numbers and progress.

I look forward to seeing you at what will be a great weekend.

David Dixon

I am writing to ASS members were interested in the Mudjimba Festival 2011 to explain the regrettable necessity for cancellation. I know that many Queensland members especially will be very disappointed. But I do hope you will seriously consider attending the Workshop Weekend in Sydney which we are organising for that same date – 1st and 2nd October.

The explanation is a simple financial one: previous festivals have been supported to some extent by grants from the Australia Council. This year the grant application was not successful. ASS is a small society with very minimal financial reserves. Large fees have never been the priority for teachers at ASS festivals, Australian or from overseas – indeed they frequently give generously of their time and expertise for nominal sums. Nevertheless there are costs such as airfares and accommodation to be met.

Without grant funding or other financial support the committee felt that the camp registration costs would have been prohibitively high for many members.

On behalf of the committee I apologise for the late changes.

And I do urge you to consider making the trip to Sydney. It has been too long since there was an ASS assembly and the viability of the society depends on such gatherings. The workshop weekend will offer much valuable experience to players of all levels of expertise, including absolute beginners. Riley Lee and Bronwyn Kirkpatrick will be the main teachers.

The new ensemble piece composed by Lachlan Skipworth will be a highlight – this will be the first time a piece specially composed for ASS is premiered. The Australia Council supported this commission. Be a part of this historic occasion as we ‘unveil’ this new work, discover its new sounds and make a recording. Everyone is invited to participate in learning the piece. We intend to submit the recording to the World Shakuhachi Festival 2012 in Kyoto for possible performance by ASS members who decide to attend there.

Also, there will be the ASS Annual General Meeting sandwiched in between a full day of shakuhachi and a social evening with drinks and dinner. AGMs are notoriously under-attended : take this opportunity to be involved in making the society work.

I look forward to seeing you all in Sydney in October.

David Dixon – ASS President

Monthly Archives: August 2011

ASS Workshop 2011

ASS Festival 2011 Relocation and Downsizing