Kyle Abbott of Bachido

During my teaching trip to northern California I had the opportunity to visit author and founder of the comprehensive shamisen website Bachido, Kyle Abbott.  Kyle kindly agreed to sit down and talk about music with me, and we decided to record the conversation to post on our blogs.  We touched on a bunch of topics including our backgrounds, teaching, performance, inspiration, coffee (we are both home coffee roasters), and the Bachido shamisen school.  Since I had my shinobue case with me, we stumbled through impromptu versions of a few standard songs and I've included those in the audio file here.  The titles are Yasaburo Bushi (beginning), Tsugaru Jinku (middle), and Ringo Bushi (end).  I really appreciate Kyle making time to share his thoughts and experiences with us.

You can find out more about Kyle and shamisen through these links below:

Kyle's website
Bachido website
Bachido facebook
Kyle's shamisen book
 

Miso making

Homemade miso

Miso making on Valentine's Day - why not?  I can think of several reasons as to why it's a good idea to make your own miso at home:

1. Quality control - I used fresh homemade koji, organic soybeans, really good sea salt, and will be deciding the time and conditions of the fermentation.  Mass-produced miso doesn't even come close in flavor.  Making your own allows full control of the salt level and other variables to suit your palate.

2. It's far cheaper than buying miso, especially if you make the koji yourself.  But even if you're buying koji and the best organic beans and salt, you will still be saving.

3. Making miso is fun and rewarding because of the long fermentation time as well as how incredibly useful it is in the kitchen.  And it's pretty easy to do.

4. You can make your friends very happy by giving them some, or by cooking for them using your miso.  It's a great idea to make a big batch and plan on giving some away and aging what you don't use within one year.

5. Great for learning - making something yourself deepens your knowledge and sharpens your appreciation of it.  Using your own miso makes you a more mindful cook overall.

For anyone who might be interested, I'm providing the recipe and photos from my 2016 batch here.

One-Year Miso
2.4 kg dry organic soybeans (soak 24 hrs)
1.4 kg koji (fresh homemade)
646g sea salt (17% of the weight of dry beans & koji)
1/4 c seed miso (from my 2013 batch)
4 c bean cooking liquid
 

soybeans after 24 hr soak

a talkative sous chef

koji, salt, seed miso

mashing beans with a 1 liter glass bottle (beans pressure steamed 45 min)

mix everything when beans are below 100F

press down to get out air pockets, sprinkle salt on top

plastic wrap on miso, then 1cm kosher salt

I will check the progress in about 5 - 6 months.  Usually it takes over a year to reach the flavor I'm looking for.  Some mold growth on top is not a problem (just scrape away) but it's good to be careful of bugs and other critters wanting a taste.  One memorable incident was when the miso was stored in a shed and a rat chewed through the plastic and ate through the salt layer and then a good amount of miso.  It was heart-rending to dump that year's batch, but lesson learned.

plastic wrap on top, taped, labeled

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I had leftover koji and decided to try a sweet-style miso with azuki.  This has much less salt and much more koji.  It should be ready in about 2 months.

Azuki Sweet Miso
170g azuki (no soak, boiled 75 minutes)
340g koji (fresh homemade)
30.5g sea salt (6% of the weight of dry beans & koji)
1/2 c bean cooking liquid

azuki pre-rinse

mashing with a glass

I will probably check this in 4 - 6 weeks.  Next up is experimenting with black turtle bean miso and garbanzo miso.

salt and koji

luckily just fits a 1 liter mason jar

Juxtaposing genres

説明

説明

In my recent research of traditional flute music in Japanese theater (such as Noh and Kabuki), I came across some interesting material by Yukihiro Isso, an extraordinary nohkan, shinobue, and recorder player.  These days it's becoming more and more common to see phrases like 'cross-cultural collaboration' to describe the juxtaposing of seemingly unrelated genres.  

Over the years I've been involved with many projects described this way.  Sometimes the collaboration is on a shallow level because there's no time to develop something.  Other times, and more rewarding, a deeper connection is made and something truly unique and inspiring emerges.  A lot depends on getting along with each other and having an open-minded approach to trying new things.

I wonder how audiences see a performance like these in the videos.  If they like it, why?  If they don't, why not?  To me, this works.  I like these pieces because the vision is clear and the adjustments made by the individual parts support the overall concept.  For example, careful thought went into how the nohkan would play in the 'correct key' sometimes, and other times would play independently from the other musical parts (as done in a traditional noh play).  It can be useful to break down and analyze the bits and pieces, but I found that these pieces provided an impact that glued me to the screen and then prompted me to find more of it.

If you have any thoughts to share, please comment below.

Eien

My tips for practicing

Have you ever had a great teacher?  I've been fortunate to have learned from so many great teachers over the years.  That list of names is long, but my most important ones are below.

Saburo Mochizuki
Kodo members
Tim Lautzenheiser
Robert Hohner
Kenny Endo
Masakazu Yoshizawa
Lois Russell
Kyosuke Suzuki

Their instruction has provided the foundation for my musicianship as well has my approach to teaching.  I enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience in a wide variety of settings including workshops, private lessons, masterclasses, and online lessons.  As a way to offer ideas for practicing, I've uploaded PDF files of tip sheets that are available for free download.  I'll be adding more topics in the near future and welcome any suggestions for things to write about.  My hope is that I can provide a perspective that complements all of the educational material that's already out there, and that someone will find something useful to apply in their own practicing. 

I would be interested in hearing about your great teachers if you'd like to share with us.  Thanks!

Eien