How about "Waking the Spirit" to share the healing power of music?

This book was recommended to me by my friend, Tim Healey, because we both believe in the healing power of music. The author, Andrew Schulman, a professional guitarist, tells about how music helped him and other post operative patients of a New York hospital. The guitar, which he says sounds almost like every stringed instrument of the world (he mentions the koto), is appealing to everyone. I highly recommend this book for he not only talks about music, but of the medical and psychological research supporting the healing power of music. Plus, the purpose of Japanese music is to be in harmony with nature and to be soothing. Often, after I play the koto for a lecture or recital, a person would come up to tell me how they were calmed by the sound of the koto.

Kurahashi Yodo Wins Award

My friend held the "Kurahashi Yodo Classic Shakuhachi Solo Recital"at the Bunraku Theater in Osaka, Japan on October 28th, 2022. On December 26, 2022 he received from Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, the 77th Arts Festival Excellence Award. Congratulations!

Who is the Masked Lady?

During the Pandemic, I ventured on October, 2021 to the Leidecker Center for East Asian Studies at Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg, Va. Using the noh-utai lyrics to play the koto’s rendition of “Takasago,” I illustrated how three genres of Japanese music --noh-utai, nagauta, and koto music— each brought out basic features of Japanese music mentioned in my book, Japan’s Musical Tradition: Hogaku from Prehistory to the Present. The students sat masked, at a safe distance, and attentively listened to the lecture/recital. In addition, the University Book Store kindly provided copies of my book.