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And on Saturday he will take part in a two-day conference at the Australian Catholic University called Embracing the Power of Silence. “The very need for a conference on silence is particularly acute now because there is much less of this time than there used to be,” he says. “If you analysed nearly all the music you hear on the radio – particularly pop music – not only is there never silence but in fact there is never even softness. You barely even have variation of dynamics.”
Dynamic range, subtlety – and, yes, silences – are intrinsic to the ethereal music of the shakuhachi.
Lee, who was born in Texas but now lives in Sydney, began his study of the instrument in 1971 when he travelled to Japan for what was to be a brief visit.
“I was going to be there for three months and then go home but one thing led to another and that stay evolved into seven years at the end of which shakuhachi was at the centre of my life,” he says. “I was already attracted to Eastern religions and Japan at that point was a great place to be as an English-speaking caucasian male. Everyone wanted to learn English.”
Since then he has released more than 60 albums, created and delivered a course on music and meditation at Princeton University and travels widely, performing and lecturing. In Zen Buddhism, he explains, there is considered to be a place between sound and no sound that is neither music nor silence.
“At what point does the sound disappear?” he asks. “When does the silence begin? Theoretically, you could say there is a moment where it is neither. Is it possible then to expand that moment of neither – or certainly to pay attention to it so that there is no difference between the sounds and the silence.
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“When I play on my shakuhachi am I really breaking the silence or am I just joining or contributing to it? The silence becomes the same as the sound.”
It’s an intriguing prospect and, regardless of whether one responds to the intricacies of Zen philosophy, there is something undeniably soothing and captivating in the music that Lee draws from his simple instrument.
And few would disagree that we could all benefit from a little more stillness and silence in our lives.
“We do need more moments of silence,” Lee says. “We need moments where the noise level is so low we can hear our own heartbeat.”
Embracing The Power of Silence, October 4-5, Australian Catholic University, Strathfield.
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https://www.theage.com.au/culture/music/sounds-of-silence-zen-and-the-art-of-shakuhachi-maintenance-20190925-p52uxz.html