Steven Casano is a licensed teacher and active performer of the shakuhachi. His teachers include Robert Herr & Riley Lee in Hawai’i and Ishikawa Toshimitsu in Japan. Steven has also taken lessons directly from Yokoyama Katsuya, Furuya Teruo, John Kaizan Neptune, and Zenyoji Keisuke. A recipient of the Japanese Ministry of Education Scholarship, Steven conducted extensive research on the history of the shakuhachi under the renowned scholar Tsukitani Tsuneko (Osaka Shakuhachi Kenkyūkai ), while a graduate research student at Osaka University. Steven received his Jun Shihan license from Yokoyama Katsuya & Ishikawa Toshimitsu, his Shihan license and the name Taizen 泰然 from Grandmaster Riley Lee and in 2024 was granted a Dai-Shihan and the name Kōchiku 光竹. Steven has released two studio recordings, "The Voice of Bamboo” and “San Kyorei-Sacred Music for Shakuhachi.’”
Thank you! But I can't seem to understand how you manage to get the higher note while doing the alternating "hammer on" (for lack of a better word) with your right index finger on the second hole on the last of the three "verses" (or however it is called). You seem to be able to get a higher tone than I can when I release all holes and simply blow into the shakuhachi, how is that possible?
He was my Shakuhachi teacher. I stayed with him for 7 years, until I decided to play Honshirabe in my own way. When he heard it, he exclaimed: "I have lost a part of my income, and laughed."
It might be a bit difficult at first to make a proper sound due to the greater control you have over it, but once you get it, the posibilities are wast. If you are willing to give it the time it needs, I really do recomend it.
