Category Archives: Shakuhachi Music

Shakuhachi for beginners, Shakuhachi Music

Kame-no-Shirabe: A Beginner’s Shakuhachi Composition

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Kame-no-Shirabe 亀 の 調

I’m thrilled to announce that my new composition for beginners, Kame-no-Shirabe (Tortoise’s Melody), commissioned by the European Shakuhachi Society, has been published in their Bamboo Newsletter of June 2025.

I am the fourth composer of their “Ignition Commission” program, and the first European one!

Celebration of slowness

Slowness is the motto of the piece!

“With calm and tranquility you’ll reach your goals”.

“If you sometimes feel like you are progressing slowly on your shakuhachi journey, this piece is a celebration of the slow pace of the tortoise. Slowness gives time to look at the details, to feel what is happening when you play, inside and out. It gives space to deepen your practice.
In some cultures, the tortoise is a symbol of wisdom, longevity and protection.“

Listen

You can listen to my composition here:

My Works for Shakuhachi Beginners

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Shakuhachi Festival, Shakuhachi Music

World Shakuhachi Festival Texas 2025

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Here are some information about the World Shakuhachi Festival Texas 2025, on April 17~20, 2025. Here is the link to the website: https://wsf2025.com

“WSF 2025 is the eighth major international shakuhachi festival to be held since the original 1994 WSF convened in Bisei, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. It will feature a diverse range of music in concerts, workshops, lectures, exhibitions, masterclasses, and informal gatherings, in a diverse range of genres such as jazz, contemporary music, cross-cultural fusion, improvisation, video games, rock, and pop, among others.”

The Early-Bird registration  is now open, until December 31, 2024.

The festival offers the possibility to apply for a scholarship to potential WSF 2025 participants from any country. Scholarship application deadline is December 15, 2024.

There will be a performer’s competition during the festival. This competition is open to all registered general participants of the World Shakuhachi Festival 2025. Deadline for submissions will be December 31st.

Have a look at the general schedule to get an idea of the program, and find all the details on the concerts and workshops pages. It is going to be amazing!

I feel honoured to be part of this unique event as an invited guest and to represent the Hijirikai school there!

Hope to see some of you there!

Shakuhachi Music

Shakuhachi Notation

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As summer approaches – at least in my part of the world – I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be teaching and performing at the European Shakuhachi Society Summer School in Finland from July 29th to August 1st! It promises to be an exciting opportunity for all involved.

When asked for my program, I selected two compositions by Fukuda Teruhisa sensei and two of my own compositions.

In a diverse summer school setting with various teachers and schools, I think our compositions would serve as an excellent introduction to the Hijirikai style, a modern school rooted in ancient tradition.

I’m excited to meet people in person again! If you’d like to join, click here to get all the information.

Shakuhachi Notation

Thinking about composition leads me to consider notation and various approaches to it.

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Shakuhachi inspiration, Shakuhachi Music

10 years of Shakuhachi School!

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Just a quick post in this busy period to celebrate with you the end of 2023 and the seven years of existence of this blog!

I look back on a rich year, the highlight of which was my trip to Japan, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of my shakuhachi school in the Netherlands, the Dutch branch of Hijiri-Kai (Sainte-École), founded by Fukuda Teruhisa in Tokyo, Japan.

What does a shakuhachi school mean nowadays in a Western country?

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Shakuhachi inspiration, Shakuhachi Music

The Sound of Nature and Shakuhachi

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A Shakuhachi Podcast

In July, my student Christof Zürn, creator of Music Thinking, interviewed me for a podcast about shakuhachi. You can listen to it here .

Earlier this year, we prepared the interview with having an improvisation session in nature, that we recorded.  Christof mixed some moments of it in the podcast and I published a short video on my YouTube Channel.
We had fun with the geese flowing by, pieces of trees falling on us… We also played Kyorei together. Watch it here:

Shakuhachi belongs to nature

A few days after the podcast was released, I found a very interesting paper about Japanese music, written by Akikazu Nakamura. I already had the deep conviction that honkyoku music takes another dimension when played outside. This paper confirms my experience and gives some very interesting insights about Japanese music, that are important to know in order to improve one’s understanding of playing Japanese music. Here is a short summary and analysis of Nakamura’s paper.

I Support Shakuhachi Music
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Shakuhachi Music, Shakuhachi Performance, Shakuhachi video

New Music for Flute & Shakuhachi

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What an honour to play music composed especially for you!

Duo Satsuzen
© Pierre-Alain Balmer

We (Duo Satsuzen) have been waiting for more than a year (because of cancelled concerts due to to the Covid-19 pandemic) to perform the two new compositions we received in 2021!!

Ellipse, by Elizabeth BROWN (commissioned by the Hijiri Shakuhachi Foundation for Duo Satsuzen) and Ginyo, by Atsuki SUMI (dedicated to Duo Satsuzen).

Two compositions using different lengths of flute (C-flute, G-flute, shakuhachi 1.8 en shakuhachi 2.4), opening the possibilities of subtle variations in tone colours and volume.

It was such a special experience to share this beautiful music “live” with the audience of the “Temple de la Servette” in Geneva (Switzerland) in April.

Watch them back here:

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Shakuhachi Music, Spirituality

REFLECTION

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Reflection CD Cover

My new CD “Reflection” is live !! This project started in the last trimester of 2019 with the composition of the first meditation pieces and it followed me into the Covid-19 period. Just when the pandemic started, I was about to perform some of my new pieces during a meditation concert that got cancelled. The first one of a long row… But these compositions and this recording project supported me day-in day-out, until I felt that it was time to release them into the digital world.

So here it is and you can listen to it through this link on your favourite digital platform.
Or listen and buy your favorite tracks on Bandcamp.

The beautiful cover photo was taken by my husband Wim Scheenen. Please have a look at his inspiring website.

A short review by Elizabeth Brown (December 2021)

These days, I often find myself turning to Hélène Seiyu’s new CD, Reflection. It’s beautiful to listen to in order, as a whole–or, you can choose a single piece and let it repeat endlessly, as meditation. 

Seven of Hélène’s compositions are anchored by two traditional pieces, Neri Sashi and Higo Sashi, all played in a resonant setting on large instruments. Her own compositions sound both freely improvisatory and firmly rooted in the tradition; only a shakuhachi player could write these pieces. I love Hélène’s playing; every sound and every pause come from deep in the heart. We all need this kind of music now.

Elizabeth Brown, composer/performer.

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Shakuhachi inspiration, Shakuhachi Music, Shakuhachi Performance, Shakuhachi video

SEIYU and the YUU

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It has been already one year. One year of pandemic, lockdown, restrictions,… To continue working, I set up online lessons, online meditations, online workshops, a virtual dojo… I even composed a ZOOM-Duet!

It has been already one year and it is also Spring time again, like last year, when everything closed down. From last year I remember the urge of going outside after months of rain and suddenly the emptiness of the streets. I remember contacting people to find concerts and suddenly all events cancelled. I remember wanting to make more (Dutch) friends and suddenly having to avoid people on the streets. I remember going in nature and feeling suspected when I sneezed because of allergies…

When this second year of pandemic started, it was Spring again and Spring shows you how strongly life goes on. Birds are singing, trees begin to bud, timid flowers come out of the ground, you cannot miss it. As I am lucky enough to live close to nature, I have started a new project: playing shakuhachi outdoors and filming it. Watch it here.

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Meditation, Shakuhachi inspiration, Shakuhachi Music, Shakuhachi practice

Invitation to my virtual Shakuhachi Dojo!

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In the Netherlands we entered 2021 in full lockdown. No fireworks, no party. With the hope that the world situation will improve dramatically in 2021 with vaccination, I started to dream more and more of a virtual space to develop my activities and connect with more people. This dream has become a virtual shakuhachi dojo on Patreon! Discover it here.

What it is exactly ?

It is a space where I will share every month the different aspects of my work with shakuhachi: recordings, meditations, tutorial videos and creations. Choose your abonnement and you will receive monthly benefits and exclusive contents. If I get enough Patrons, it will help me to realise some of my dreams!!

When you realise that the ultimate happiness is being yourself and that nobody can be better than you at it, then the competitive ego disappears. Remains the deep motivation to do your best at being yourself, for you and for the world. This is what this project is about.

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Shakuhachi Music, Shakuhachi practice

SHAKUHACHI REPERTOIRE SPOTLIGHT #2 – CHOSHI 調子

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When you start practicing honkyoku (traditional zen pieces), you will discover soon enough that none of them are easy. But some of them are short. These are called “Chōshi” or “Chō”. These short pieces are meant to warm up and tune in with yourself, the room and the audience if there is any. I like to call them “Meditation preludes“.

In the tradition of the Meian school of shakuhachi, the performer first warms up the bamboo and settles the mind for spiritual practice through the playing of a short introductory prelude piece. Expressing the essential spirit of Koten honkyoku, Chōshi (literally, small melody) serves to establish the pitch and to center the musician. This piece is characterised by a pure focus on breath.

(The International Shakuhachi Society www.komuso.com)

Here is a short selection of my favorite ones.

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