there's free rhythm in shakuhachi music. we don't have strict downbeats. we're not playing with anyone else so there's no reason to be precisely in time with someone else. you're playing just solo. in shakuhachi music, the silence is just as important as the notes we're playing. and if we can somehow see the parallel in japanese painting-- if you imagine where the canvas is completely blank on three-quarters of the silk. the breath, which comes from the zen meditative style, is what each phrase is built upon. we have the inhale, and then the note, and the end of the phrase. in between each phrase, we have silence, and then the taking in of the breath. this is actually the pace of all of the units, and how they connect. (averill) when you watch a west african percussion ensemble, you'll find a family of drums of different sizes. each of these sizes of drum have a different pitch associated with it. striking the drum sounds a different pitch. when put together in an ensemble, these relate to each other at different pitch levels. it may be difficult to hear s