Hello! I know that this might be a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone knew of a good shamisen teacher in either the Bay Area/San Francisco or even Sacramento areas?
I found one teacher, but did not particularly like them for many reasons.
I would greatly prefer a teacher who knows the い、ろ、は、に、ほ、へ etc. notation style, but I understand that because this is a very old, very traditional style, that that may not be possible.
I will greatly appreciate it!
Hi Sara,
You’re looking for nagauta shamisen teacher? If so, I’ll put the word out. I’m sure there are several in San Francisco.
Cheers,
Kyle
There are also several jiuta shamisen teachers in that vicinity, too. So let us know what style you want to learn.
By the way, just a thought about the breaking of your third string. The third string breaks alot, generally (but not always) moreso than the other strings, and especially if you’re using a silk one rather than nylon/tetron. (In the ensemble class I teach at a local university, we put a silk string on last class, and it broke within fifteen minutes (!! but, in fairness, although it was a "new’ string, i.e. just put on, it was old stock, and had probably lost all its elasticity). Of course, I realize that I don’t know the circumstances of the string breaking situation, but it is possible that the string may have already been weakening when the teacher put hand to your instrument…
Anyhow, hope we can help you find a teacher you’ll feel comfortable working with.
Thank you Linda and Kyle! Nagauta would be the best (now that I have done a little more research into styles) because what got me to finally learn the shamisen was my theatre. We’re performing a couple of plays in the Bunraku and Kabuki styles and they were hoping that I’d be able to learn how to play to be able to add to the performance. Or at least that’s the hope. It’s an interesting fusion with an American playwright.