Hey Aaron, Just giving you some info on the great man Noda. He is the first japanese composer performer to study in the west. Being japanese he was raised with traditional music and his improvisations are based on traditional shakuhachi music. he loosely uses the japanese scales in his music but his structure and techniques are very close to traditional shakuhachi music. Trad shakuhachi music is written in phrases, with breath marks and small pauses in between phrases. as the shakuhachi is played open holed it was customary to colour sustained notes with a slightly flat and slightly sharp variation of the natural note. remember his b # slides on the held a's in impro 1. he lives in bordeux in france and when you perform his music you need to respect the sillences and take time to play the phrases but at the same time make sure the energy flows and the piece isn't fractured. free body language and gestural shapes also help convey the spirit of the piece. his music is great you should try all 3 impro and mai. also his duet murasaki no fuchi for 2 saxs and his concerto Gen. any thing ele just give me a buzz on email. [email protected] cheers Dave from Oz