Hi everyone! I’ve been going through the crash course, and I’ve been getting comfortable playing Kuroishi Yosare Bushi. I’m wondering where to go next in terms of the Bachido courses. I want to challenge myself, but I don’t want to pick something that’ll be too difficult for me to reasonably start learning.
Which course would be good to go for next? Thanks y’all!
I haven’t checked the full crash course, but if there’s rokudan i think it should be your next goal, that song use most of the techniques and is one of the most do, also Rokudan is the base of the jongara. Good luck
I don’t see rokudan, but there is jongara bushi kyu and shin. Should I maybe do one of those next?
I highly recommend looking into getting your hands on some of the notation books Bachido has on their website. In my honest and humble opinion, there are way more fun songs to play.
Also, they are accompanied by a CD so that you have everything you need for practice.
Good luck!
Sasha
That’s a good idea. Though I do like the video lessons – of those, which do you think is the most fun to play?
Ah, that is a very tough question to answer! haha. Have a look at each book as you will be able to see the songs provided. Right off the bat I got the Oyama Ryu - Scorebook Set which (I believe) comes with a CD. Sorry, it’s been a while. After that, I started buying up the Oyama Ryu - Minyo Collection, also accompanied by a CD with all the songs. Now that you know the basics, you can start practicing by just listening to the music and playing along. Trust me, it gets easier if you work hard at it.
Let me know if you have any more questions and good luck!!
Sasha
Great! From here, you need to think about what you’d like to work on.
For technique:
The arrangement of Kuroishi Yosare here on Bachido is a good introduction to the basic patterns and techniques often found in Tsugaru music, but it doesn’t do much for bachidzuke.
For that, you aught to look into Tsugaru Jinku (or Dodarebachi as it is sometimes called). Tsugaru Jinku is a relatively simple song to play at first glance. Simpler, perhaps, than Kuroishi Yosare!
However, in this simplicity is the all important ushiro-ushiro-mae-mae striking pattern we so often see applied to Tsugaru music.
Here is Oyama Kouzan playing the Oyama version of it. Watch his bachi.
Notice how his bachi begins to move back (ushiro) and forward (mae) as the singer joins in. This is an important technique for introducing dynamics when using tatakibachi.
If you’d rather look into learning to sing while playing, good options may be found in Kokiriko or Kuroda Bushi. Both of which have a slower tempo and a melody that tends to match the voice.
Rokudan Jongara / Jongara Kyubushi / Jongara Shinbushi / Jongara Nakabushi are also options… but they’re a definite step up in terms of difficulty. You may want to wait a little before beginning them.
Of these four, Rokudan (Ichidan) is probably the simplest - but the whole piece is a set of six different movements that build on each other. It’s extremely useful to learn and be able to play, but it might still be overwhelming.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.