Michael Chikuzen Gould began learning the shakuhachi, the Zen flutes of Japan in 1982 in Kyoto, Japan under the guidance of world renowned masters Mr. Yoshinobu Taniguchi and Mr. Yokoyama Katsuya. In 1991 he earned the title of Dai Shihan (Grand Master), one of only a half dozen nonnative Japanese to do so. He appeared on television and radio programs in Japan, lectured in schools and taught shakuhachi. Since returning to the U.S. in 1996, he has made over 400 appearances. In 1996-1998 Michael taught shakuhachi and Zen Buddhism at Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio and was shakuhachi instructor at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio from 1997-1999.

Michael resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he sometimes joins in the ethnomusicology department to offer classes and lectures on the shakuhachi. He has published four solo CDs (three now in press) and one CD with another Michael Gould, percussionist and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Michigan entitled, Tradition and Beyond. Michael has also worked with Jessica Fogal, Director of the Dance Company of Ann Arbor and Associate Professor of dance at the University of Michigan to produce the music for a presentation based on the works of Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). Most recently Michael returned from Japan where he was part of a film production crew making an educational video of the shakuhachi with Eugene Enrico of the University of Oklahoma and Professor Emeritus William Malm of the University of Michigan.

Website: http://home.earthlink.net/~chikuzen
email: chikuzen@earthlink.net