Goals!

Notation
#1

I feel so great!!!

I finally reached one of my biggest goals i’ve had since i got my first shamisen.
I today learned how to play Yoshida Brothers - Namonaki Oka and notated it ^^

It’s one of those songs that originally got me interested in shamisen and is in my oppinion one of the most beautiful songs on shamisen
(next goal: Time Traveller by Agatsuma)

Anywho! Let’s get this ball rolling!
Everyone! what kind of goals you’ve set on yourselves?
and tell us if you’ve achieved some of your goals since you started to play shamisen!

#2

I wanted to perform shamisen with my taiko group. And I have. :slight_smile: Except that now they won’t let me play anymore, hahaha! (kidding … I hope … :confused: )

#3

Current long-term goal ( since last October ) is to get comfortable with 津軽よされ節 (Tsugaru Yosare Bushi). I’ve recently gotten through 85% of the first half without too much stumble. But it all about commitment and now that I’m job-hunting (read* unemployed) I have little excuse not to get it down with confidence in the coming month or two…

Hopefully near future goal is to get a new (decent paying) job and buy a proper new shamisen.

Short term goal…set new short term goal haha

#4

My long-term goal is to make a shamisen album, since we are too few who compose. It’s very hard though and I notice you need to read a lot of music theory to make it efficient.

Short-term goal is to heal my wrist so I can actually play and to finish and record the first song I’ve made using a sequencer.

And Josh, you should use “job-hunting” :slight_smile: We’ve got the election here in Sweden on Sunday and looking at local candidates where they list their names, profession and age, some said “unemployed” and some said “job-hunting”. That just gives you the impression that the unemployed ones are satisfied with it and ain’t going to do shit :slight_smile:

#5

Ooh this thread was a great idea :smiley: Open up people! ^^

#6

Right now I’ve got 2 major goals in my shamisen playing:

  1. Win one of the solo divisions at the Hirosaki Tournament. Right now I’m shooting for B class, but A class is definitely a long-term dream. Either way, if I could be the first non-Japanese person to take one of them then sir/madam, I would be quite pleased, I would.

  2. Learn the godai min’yo, both utadzuke and kyokubiki versions. I feel like if I want to call myself a Tsugaru shamisen player then I need to know the standards. Right now I’ve got Jonkara Shin-bushi down and I’ve started on Aiya-bushi, but still need Yosare, Ohara, and San-sagari. Then I gotta go back and learn the different versions of each, and man, this one may take awhile.

Reaching either of these goals is gonna be tough, though, seeing as I just moved back to the US and left my teacher…

#7

Someday getting an instructor, or shihan, license in Nagauta and then teaching in Japan. Along the way I’d love to play accompaniment for an actual kabuki performance at one of the smaller stages.

#8

My current goal is to make more instruction style videos that introduce and summarize many ideas based on introducing various World music concepts and music theory to Shamisen.

Also I want to cover the following songs…

Sakauranbo by Ai Otsuka
As above so Below by Yngwie Malmsteen
And also I want to cover any and all remaining Kyary Pamyu Pamyu songs that I have not yet covered on Shamisen so I can actually literally say that I’ve covered her “Entire” song list !

And also I want to cover
Tsubasa wo kudasai, White Love and Endless Rain by BabyMetal!

#9

When will you compose more epic songs Kevin?

#10

Ooh! I love this thread! Thanks for starting it, Ortjo! If you don’t mind, I’m gonna sticky it. :slight_smile:

Well, I guess it’s no secret that my goal for several years has been to start a shamisen-metal band (AKA, the Shmetal Band). It’s been a very difficult endeavor. I don’t know many in the Santa Cruz area metal world, and those I do know already have enough members in their bands. Last year, Adrian and I did try to get a Shmetal group together. We had a few practices, quite a lot of potential. In the end, it kinda faded ironically due to individual personal/emotional issues. (Ironic, as that quality would make it even more metal, right?) I’d still like to do something, but will wait for the opportunity to arise.

Secondly, (and more importantly) the ASP! (Affordable Shamisen Project) For the future of shamisen in the world, I think it’s critical for a correctly-sized beginner shamisen to be available for at most $200~$300. Truly, I believe cost is holding the shamisen back from worldwide growth. I mean, you can get a beginner banjo for $100, why are we required to spend five times more for basically the same thing?

My colleagues in the shamisen world support this project, and say that even furniture makers have enough skill to make beginner-level shamisen. We have all the blueprints for shamisen, we just need to find a place willing to make them. That is the current wall in the progression of this project.

If anyone has any connections or resources to make these shamisen, I’d very much like to hear from you. :slight_smile:

My current goal is to make more instruction style videos that introduce and summarize many ideas based on introducing various World music concepts and music theory to Shamisen.

Kevin! Keep me posted on that! I am planning to make week shamisen webinars, and would love to have you be a part of it! :slight_smile:

#11

Learn new things forever because that is what keeps me going forward.

I’ve stopped playing guitar for 10 years but I don’t want to be stopped in my shamisen learning. Unless I decide it by myself.

Playing with other people that I can trust is also an important step that I will have to take.

I’m trying to push further all the musical knowledge I earned until now and for the first time of my life I can improvise for myself. Nothing really astounding yet but at least I got a step further than before.

And Kyle, I need to say that I like metal music as much as traditional, popular, classical or jazz music. The thing is that I have a classical guitar background so I’m better at learning something already written than at creating something new. But I am willing anytime to try playing metal on my shamisen.

#12

Ortjo, did you say you notated the Yoshida Bros? Would it violate copyright if you put it in the notation section? (I wouldn’t want to infringe on them if it is …) if you read my profile, I always wanted to play like the Yoshida Brothers, it was originally their music that got me interested in shamisen. If you feel uncomfortable about it, I would totally understand, but I sure would like notation on that.

I can notate some stuff (I did Kokiriko Bushi - a very simple version of it), but I couldn’t notate the Yoshida Bros. I’d love to see something of theirs in black and white.

#13

Have no idea if it’s “legal” or not… But if it is i would gladly share :slight_smile:

#14

If my understanding of Jack is correct, I would say posting Yoshida Brothers notation is copyright infringement.

Maybe you could hum the notes on a video instead. :stuck_out_tongue:

#15

Well, gonna unsticky this, but highly encourage everyone to keep sharing their goals! :slight_smile:

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