Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

congratulations on your first shakuhachi....!!!

when i had my first lesson that i took with Masayuki Koga, we just took the top half of the yuu and worked on getting a sound.  you'd be surprised
at how long you can spend just doing that.

i don't think that you can get yourself into too much trouble just working on getting a sound.    one of the things that everyone here says is to practice looooooooooong tones.  if you just do that, your first "lesson" should be much more productive...

happy blowing...

jacques

btw...i'm not too far from you in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada  about 4 hrs drive away...

Last edited by jaybeemusic (2009-01-28 21:01:07)

I'd tend to agree with Jacques and Lance... just practicing by trying to blow long tones will allow you get the muscle memory for the proper embouchure. This will give you an excellent head start when you begin taking lessons or trying to learn a piece on your own.

Zak

Yes, Just start blowing. You will eventually find the way your lips should be to get a sound. I am no pro either (2 weeks) but I can get some notes.I made my first out of bamboo I had at home so it was not the best but I can get some sounds out of it. It broke on me though while I was trying to widen the bore on it. Experience is the best teacher.

Last edited by purehappiness (2009-01-29 06:34:37)

I was wondering how everyone else would answer this question. My first inclination was to say what everyone else is, to just go ahead and try because learning to blow by yourself is the least likely area to to develop bad habits that might be hard to break. So I refrained until now. I still say go for it, but be aware that as a beginner with no other experience playing any other flute you may be in for a surprise about how to breath when you get together with a teacher, it's not all that intuitive.

The first mistake total beginners usually make when trying to play a flute is that they try blowing too hard. That can be overcome quickly with both instruction or experimentation so it's not likely to cause bad habits, but it's good to know while your  first trying to get a sound. If you're getting too dizzy blowing too hard just try blowing more lightly. Tightening the embouchure too much is also a typical mistake. Despite the pictures you see of tensed faces playing the instrument, that's something that's developed over time naturally or maybe with guidance from a teacher who can make sure your not over-tightening or tightening the wrong muscles. You probably will find that you can get a sound without squishing or pulling your face and lips in any manner, just letting the air keep your lips separated. It would be the best idea to keep it that way until you get with a teacher. Even after you can a sound another area that almost all beginners have problems with is abdominal breathing. Here you may have already developed bad habits that are deeply ingrained simply from breathing to stay alive for as many years as you already have. I'd suggest forgetting about that for now, you can work on that when you get with a teacher and it will probably take a year or more to really get it even then. 

Even though it's a bit extreme, I find it very commendable that you gave consideration to holding off until you got to lessons before trying to play your shakuhachi. With that kind of thoughtfulness I'm pretty certain you'll be playing well in as short of time as possible.

radi0gnome wrote:

I was wondering how everyone else would answer this question. My first inclination was to say what everyone else is, to just go ahead and try because learning to blow by yourself is the least likely area to to develop bad habits that might be hard to break. So I refrained until now. I still say go for it, but be aware that as a beginner with no other experience playing any other flute you may be in for a surprise about how to breath when you get together with a teacher, it's not all that intuitive.

The first mistake total beginners usually make when trying to play a flute is that they try blowing too hard. That can be overcome quickly with both instruction or experimentation so it's not likely to cause bad habits, but it's good to know while your  first trying to get a sound. If you're getting too dizzy blowing too hard just try blowing more lightly. Tightening the embouchure too much is also a typical mistake. Despite the pictures you see of tensed faces playing the instrument, that's something that's developed over time naturally or maybe with guidance from a teacher who can make sure your not over-tightening or tightening the wrong muscles. You probably will find that you can get a sound without squishing or pulling your face and lips in any manner, just letting the air keep your lips separated. It would be the best idea to keep it that way until you get with a teacher. Even after you can a sound another area that almost all beginners have problems with is abdominal breathing. Here you may have already developed bad habits that are deeply ingrained simply from breathing to stay alive for as many years as you already have. I'd suggest forgetting about that for now, you can work on that when you get with a teacher and it will probably take a year or more to really get it even then. 

Even though it's a bit extreme, I find it very commendable that you gave consideration to holding off until you got to lessons before trying to play your shakuhachi. With that kind of thoughtfulness I'm pretty certain you'll be playing well in as short of time as possible.

I actually played the flute, for 5 years in the school band until I convinced myself that being in the school band wasn't cool enough and I just quite. hahaha.  So I'm hoping that having  done that will help me out at least a little bit

awesome i'm going to go for it

radi0gnome wrote:

geminishadow79 wrote:

I actually played the flute, for 5 years in the school band until I convinced myself that being in the school band wasn't cool enough and I just quite. hahaha.  So I'm hoping that having  done that will help me out at least a little bit

In that case go for it. The embouchure is different but the learning process is the same, ie. trial and error with the teacher only correcting major mistakes. If you want to avoid bad habits it might be a good idea to avoid learning music on your own from books, but other than that I don't think you should have much to worry about.   

Vevolis wrote:

If you can’t eat a sandwich before you are taught to make one, you’ll die.

I'm not sure if that was abstract, irrelevant, or just stupid.

Hmmm... thought provoking if nothing else. And it's making me hungry thinking about it