Ma

One of the most important features of shakuhachi music, as well as other Japanese arts, is ma, or silence. It is the space between notes that creates the rhythm and the overall feeling of a piece, and it is essential to treat this space with as much reverence as the notes themselves. Most beginning shakuhachi students, especially before memorizing a piece, rush from one phrase to the next with little regard for ma. Not only does this give the music a hurried mechanical feel, it also makes it much more difficult to play. Instead, use the silence between phrases to experience the effect of the just-finished sound, to quietly prepare for the next sound, and to take a deep abdominal breath through your nose. This way you won't feel that you're always trying to keep up with the written notation but will start to get a sense of the music's inherent natural rhythm.

During the space between phrases, try not to think about what you do next , just be with the moment of non-blowing.

Eventually, you begin to realize that ma is not just a silence of arbitrary length. Ma becomes flexible: the exact right amount of time for your expression of the music in that moment.