devon and the shakuhachi

i first heard shakuhachi as a child - my mother owned a re-release of a CD by Ensemble Nipponia. i must have heard Miyata Kohachirō’s recording of Kumoi Jishi hundreds of times before i actually ever set eyes on a real shakuhachi some 15 years later as an undergrad at montclair state university. I first picked up the instrument as a means of getting in touch with my Japanese roots.

i study and perform kinko-ryū shakuhachi music, as well as ikuta-ryū and yamada ryū sōkyoku-jiuta repertoire. below the photo is a list of contemporary music i perform (some are works I have commissioned).

I maintain a small private shakuhachi studio out of their home in the highland park neighborhood of pittsburgh and offer private lessons and workshops

devon also teaches private composition lessons and tutors music theory privately.

if you are interested in taking lessons (shakuhachi/composition/music theory) please contact me :)

devon live at the 2023 International Shakuhachi Festival in Prague, photo by Dietmar Herriger

contemporary shakuhachi repertoire

* indicates piece was written for Devon Osamu Tipp