There are three or four main shakuhachi notation systems and many derivatives, but all are basically tablature. Share this post: Some speculation on why this is so common is that the finger hole position on older shakuhachi were placed more with aesthetics in mind than whether the shakuhachi would play in tune. With its precision bore design, the Shakuhachi Yuu plays easily, with a clear, bright and confident tone. Can I end the note with grace? For example, compare the baroque flute with the modern flute; the early keyboard instruments to the modern grand piano. Play the shakuhachi Flute - Part 5 of 14. The Shakuhachi Yuu is a quality, well tuned instrument, available at a very affordable price for anyone who wants to play shakuhachi. While this doesn’t seem common, I have seen photos of some shakuhachi players with their right hands on the top of the flute. This affordable and excellent teaching guide provides clear and concise information covering all aspects of the shakuhachi. Losing one finger hole, when there were only six holes to begin with, is a very dramatic change in construction. Flutes made exclusively to play honkyoku solo may, even today, be any length, producing any pitch. Phrases, in turn are informed by the breath. The breath of the shakuhachi performer influences the internal rhythm and the overall length of many honkyoku phrases, as well as the dynamics. This is the first flute I bought, a 1.8 jiari by. In pre-modern Japan, that is, before the theoretical foundations of European art music entered Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this disregard for absolute pitch existed even in ensemble playing. We are intellectually busy with reading, listening, criticising ourselves, trying to follow the notation and play the right notes on the right pitch at the right moment. A different length shakuhachi has different tones; not exactly like western keys, but since shakuhachi music is scored using a sort of tablature, and you play the same fingerings for a piece on a flute of any length, this means that the same piece of music on a different length flute is effectively in a different key. It changes the flute’s most obvious scales or modes, the ‘open hole’ tunings, as well as other acoustic properties. The pain is coming from the angle at which I’m holding the shakuhachi, and from the excess pressure I’m using to grip it. There are, however, many different length flutes which all go by the name of shakuhachi. Click through to watch this video on expertvillage.com. Dec 15, 2015 - Learn to Play Shakuhachi Japanese Flute. So, shakuhachi literally means “1.8 feet”. The shakuhachi is an end-blown bamboo flute. I prefer the sound of the jinashi shakuhachi, so I’m delighted that I’m making this progress. Using a thumb rest means that the hand doesn’t grip as hard to hold the flute, which is a slippery piece of bamboo, reducing a bit of stress when playing. The blowing edge is created by cutting the edge at an angle outwards. With the same fingering position, one can produce any pitch from D sharp (or even higher) to B natural (or lower). Easier said than done! So I had to un-learn and re-learn how to blow. In addition to playing more stable notes, I’m also starting to play in kan (the second octave) which was very difficult on my jiari. The inhalation is neither rushed nor ‘hidden’ within the music. He is a recipient of two of the most revered lineages of shakuhachi playing, descending from the original Zen Buddhist “priests of nothingness” of the Edo period (1600-1868 CE). In order to produce the pitches between those made by finger holes, e.g., the E flat and E natural between D (all holes closed) and F (bottom hole open), the shakuhachi player uses a combination of two techniques: 1) partially closing finger holes and, 2) a technique called meri-­kari. The modern 1.8 shaku flute are made to produce, with all holes closed, the pitch D above middle C. Typically, shakuhachi players acquire additional flutes whose fundamentals are also pitches found, for example, on the piano. Think about that for a minute. This was much cleaner than what some people had suggested, which was pouring oil directly into the flute, then applying it with a cloth. HOW TO PLAY THE SHAKUHACHI: A Guide to the Japanese Bamboo Flute . It first arrived in Japan in the 8th century as one of many instruments in the court ensemble imported from Tang China. One can change the pitch of any fingering position by changing the distance between one’s lips and the blowing edge. This technique exploits the ‘open’ mouthpiece of the shakuhachi. The name shakuhachi refers to the length of the standard size instrument, the 1.8 shakuhachi. I remember Gyokusui admitting to me, while walking in his garden near Osaka, that he still didn’t know how to make good flutes. As the biography I link to above says: Living in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture, he is able to harvest his own bamboo and makes jinashi shakuhachi and teaches shakuhachi honkyoku. Or I could take another type of cloth and push it through with a stick. The shakuhachi is made of bamboo, a logical choice of material for flute making, as it is already hollow and it was plentiful in Japan. I think many people with normal sized hands would be able to play with their fingertips on a flute of this length, but it doesn’t work for me. It’s a very good instrument to start on as an adult, whatever one’s age. I’ve done this twice, and will do it again after a few days; my shakuhachi seems to be absorbing the oil fairly quickly. A different length shakuhachi has different tones; not exactly like western keys, but since shakuhachi music is scored using a sort of tablature, and you play the same fingerings for a piece on a flute of any length, this means that the same piece of music on a different length flute is effectively in a different key. It makes sense to have your dominant hand on the bottom, in part because there seem to be more need for quicker movements there (such as when playing koro koro), and it makes more sense to have the dominant arm holding the shakuhachi against gravity. I’m very happy to have a 2.0 shakuhachi, because since I have large hands, a 1.8 is a bit small, and the 2.2 I have (made by José Vargas, who learned from Kodama) is a bit long for me right now. What I think is that the sharp edge of the jiara requires a much more precise air flow than the rough edge of a jinashi. Because each piece of bamboo is unique in dimensions, density and bore, getting a shakuhachi to play well is mostly an intuitive process. This however, is not always the case. Precision bore design, good tonal balance throughout the entire scale. I’ve had a great deal of pain at the joint where the thumb meets the hand. Raising the pitch is called kari and lowering the pitch is meri. To play the “D, E flat, G, A flat, C” mode, one can use the fingering for F and A, and bend (meri) them down to E flat and A flat respectively. Taniguchi's attention to detail and nuance is enhanced by numerous illustrations, charts and notation all … Play the shakuhachi Flute - Part 7 of 14. Gyokusui made flutes all of his life, so my flutes benefited from at least six decades of experience. See more ideas about shakuhachi flute, flute, japanese. Every day I play this instrument I enjoy the moments, and every day I can play a bit more, a bit better. So as I have progressed, I’ve managed to play tsu no meri much better, but it is important that it is the right pitch. One shaku is 30.3 cm, about one foot. It is highly recommended for beginning students of the instrument. Of the two, the meri-­kari technique is by far the most important. Kodama was a student of Okuda Atsuya, and they are my two favorite shakuhachi players. Here are two videos of Kodama, the first showing him playing a piece of honkyoku, and the second showing him working on making a shakuhachi, then playing a bit more. So I have to learn to use “piper’s grip,” which looks like this: He makes a lot of flutes, but doesn’t seem to go out of his way to sell them. It’s easy to move and place anywhere, it sticks to the flute without damaging it, and is easy to remove. For a while, it was going quite well, until I realized, late last year, that I was pushing my lower jaw forward, creating a lot of tension. For example, the two most common modes in honkyoku, if played on a 1.8 length flute, are D, E flat, G, A flat C, and D, E flat, G, A, B flat. In traditional shakuhachi music, the tone colour of a pitch can be as important as the pitch itself. Shakuhachi, a Japanese end-blown bamboo flute that was originally derived from the Chinese xiao in the 8th century. The open construction of the mouthpiece also allows the performer to control timbre or tone colour. See: http://rileylee.net, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7nX23-DyWs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3VAqPfZjgI, New Concert from Meera Maharaj and Dominic Degavino, World Music Concert Series in The Netherlands, Vedic Science and the Revival of Musica Mundana, Introducing the Cavatina Duo: Eugenia Moliner and Denis Azabagic. So if you do have pain, which can be exacerbated by overuse of the dominant hand – if, for example, you have “smartphone thumb” – it is possible to make the switch, but it takes time. And it took me a while, but I can now play my 2.2 comfortably. I could take a piece of cloth, such as a tsuyutoshi – that’s the cloth with a weighted string on the end that is recommended to use after playing – but the one I have isn’t very thick, so it wouldn’t apply the oil evenly. In other words, there are as many ways to notate a particular pitch, as there are ways to play that pitch, all of which have different tone colours. Nevertheless, they are still music! The contrast could not be greater! One thing I’ve done to help hold the flute more comfortable is I’ve added a thumb rest. The shakuhachi experienced another major change sometime around this period, which while not as dramatic, was equally enigmatic. The standard instrument is 1.8 shaku. As the new year begins, I thought it would be a good time to post an inventory of my shakuhachis. Apparently, this happens occasionally with new jinashi shakuhachis. It is highly recommended for beginning students of the instrument. So my teacher recommended, in my last lesson, to play tsu no meri buki, and especially to start by playing another note: either ro, or re then tsu, to ensure that I get the correct interval and the proper pitch. Professional players can produce virtually any pitch they wish from the instrument, and play a wide repertoire of original Zen music, ensemble music with koto, biwa, and shamisen, folk music, jazz, and other modern pieces. Pour enough oil on the cotton to wet it completely. The shakuhachi player would chose a flute length that played in a range comfortable for the singer, after which the traditional stringed instruments, usually the zither-like thirteen-stringed koto and the banjo‐like three‐stringed shamisen were tuned accordingly. Even though there are theoretically an infinite number of lengths (I own well over a dozen flutes ranging from 1.1 shaku to 3.1 shaku in length), they are all called shakuhachi. It’s been a long time since I posted anything here. For example, all finger holes open on a 1.8 shaku flute produces the fourth line D on treble staff. One reason for this may be that one doesn’t have to start learning it at an early age – agility of fingers is not as important as with many other musical instruments. I’m convinced that the time necessary has little to do with how much you actually play, but that the brain needs to settle into the idea that the hands are held in the opposite position. V-6: Bruce Huebner with Gunnar Jinmei Linder: HOW TO PLAY KINKO SHAKUHACHI HONKYOKU: The system of notation he uses for the practice pieces and folk songs is … Honkyoku is a type of music for shakuhachi originally played by komosu, itinerant Zen monks. Stick a wad of cotton wool in the mouthpiece end of the flute. One could say that there are no ‘alternative’ fingerings; all are equally important. Almost all of them were anonymously composed, as is the case with most oral music. When it comes out the end, do it again, maybe a couple of times, if you want to be sure to get oil everywhere. OPEN: When we play shakuhachi, we often focus on our lips, fingers, head, and abdominal breathing. At first I thought it was tendonitis, but it seems more likely that it’s arthritis. The same symbol can represent any number of pitches, depending on what length flute was being used. This 2.0 flute was made by my shakuhachi hero Kodama Hiroyuki. What other musical instrument has become less complex over time? His first teachers were Hoshida Ichizan II and Chikuho Sakai II. This instructional guide provides clear and concise information covering all aspects of the shakuhachi. You can then use the oiled cotton wool on the outside of the flute, if you wish to oil that as well. If one is playing honkyoku correctly, the performer is by definition, breathing correctly. Next put the apex (pointed by the red arrow) where your lower lip ends. The shakuhachi seems to be an instrument that inspires acquisitiveness. In some cases, this is more or less necessary; there are pieces that are supposed to be played on instruments of different lengths. Click through to watch this video on expertvillage.com. Whatever the reason, there are a lot of vintage shakuhachi that do not play … Also, it is a simplification in construction. The range of most shakuhachi is about two and a half octaves. In 1980 he became the first non-Japanese person to attain the rank of Dai Shihan (grand master) in the shakuhachi tradition. Many players have multiple instruments (my teacher has about three dozen). Its sound is rich and full, and it is my favorite flute. The entire grove is a single living creature. I currently have six shakuhachis (click the photo to see a larger version): I really only play the top three flutes, all jinashis. From being one of many instruments in a court orchestra, which provided ceremonial and entertainment music for the rarefied society of the emperor and his aristocratic courtiers, it became a solo instrument (to this day, it is the only traditional Japanese musical instrument played primarily solo); it began to be played by lowly wandering beggar priests; and it functioned primarily as an instrument of spiritual practice. To play the “D, E flat, G, A flat, C” mode, one can use the fingering for F and A, and bend (meri) them down to E flat and A flat respectively. For the past few months, I’ve been working with a teacher of the Alexander Technique (who is also a recorder player, so is familiar with an instrument of this type) to try to figure out how to hold the flute in what Alexander called the “position of mechanical advantage.” This has made me rethink a lot of what I do with my body: not just my thumb and hand, but also my shoulder and how I breathe. Play the shakuhachi Flute - Part 4 of 14. Take a small piece of Blu-Tak and position it where it will provide support. Their primary compositional unit is the phrase. I tried out a 2.4 by Kodama, but it was uncomfortable. This was especially noticeable with the 2.0, which sounded a bit dry for the first month or so. The range of most shakuhachi … My teacher, Kiku Day, was also a student of Okuda, and there is a specific style in this school, called Zensabo, that focuses on natural, earthy sounds played on (often very long) jinashi flutes. The honkyoku performer pays as much attention to the inhalation part of the breath as to the exhalation. Here’s a photo of Yokoyama Katsuya, playing with the right hand on top (photo from the KSK website): When I started trying to play with my hands in the opposite position, it was very strange; similar to what I felt when I started driving in the UK, on the wrong side of the road. In the 17th century, the shakuhachi was played by wandering priests called komuso (priests of empty nothing) who wore large baskets over their heads to symbolize their otherworldliness. Some people oil their flutes regularly, both inside and outside, in order to protect them, so this seemed like a good idea. But my Alexander teacher made a suggestion that has proved to be the easiest: Blu-Tak. Every culm contributes nourishment to the entire grove. Want to learn how to play simple songs such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on the shakuhachi Japanese flute? However, there are times when something just isn’t right and I can’t get a stable sound. For example, I have a very long flute whose fundamental is sort of a sharp F (or a very flat F#) below middle C. With honkyoku, it doesn’t matter what the absolute pitches are, so long as the relative pitches determined by the finger holes are correct. Within a few centuries after its arrival in Japan, it disappeared from official lists of Japanese court musical instruments, to resurface in an entirely new social context and with a totally different function. Riley Kelly Lee is an American-born Australian-based shakuhachi player and teacher. on Twitter on Facebook on Google+. Read more about jinashi flutes in this Wikipedia article.). I got to that stage were I no longer had to think about what my hands and fingers were doing. In my battle of the embouchure, I’ve found it quite a struggle to be able to get a good, stable sound on my shakuhachis. The fundamental of a standard 1.8 shaku flute is D, but middle C is a very common note in honkyoku. This is a surprisingly difficult change, as all the muscle memory that has built up in two years of learning the instrument has to change. All of his ‘good shakuhachi’, he asserted, were flukes…. I would also love to get a flute by my other shakuhachi hero, and my teacher’s teacher: Okuda Atsuya. Because with that method, you need to put masking tape over the holes; with the cotton, you don’t need to, because it won’t come out the holes. One person recommended tying a leather thong around the instrument. So my progress has been slow, probably a lot slower than other, younger learners, but that’s fine. By doing so, the top hole of the flute is partially opened (pitch goes up) or partially closed (pitch goes down). Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. How To Play the Shakuhachi: A Guide to the Japanese Bamboo Flute by Yoshinobu Taniguchi / Book and CD – 53 pages – $35.00. It’s been several months since I’ve posted here, because I’ve been facing some difficulty in my playing. Honkyoku do not have a beat, much less meter. It’s not as difficult to learn to play, at least to the point of being satisfying to the player, as this article might suggest. The oldest repertoire for the shakuhachi is called honkyoku. While I had to blow a bit from the side on my jiari shakuhachi, I can blow more in the center of my mouth with the jinashi. I prefer the sound of the jinashi, and all three of these have really grown on me as I have played them. I haven’t played it much, but I do like the esthetics of this darker flute. Longer flute: perhaps a 2.5 open construction of the jinashi, and acquired. Survived the ensuing thirteen hundred years the bell ( flared end ) consists of the shakuhachi experienced major. 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