Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

amokrun · 2008-01-06 01:56:39

I'm sure we all know the feeling when we first pick up a flute in the morning. Your lips are still asleep and just won't respond, blowing produces a weak air stream at best, that nice ri atari yesterday is but a sweet memory and you think you are kind of leaning forward. This happens to me more or less every day. It takes about ten minutes of playing to get rid of all these things. I'm curious as to how everyone deals with the rough start. Do you have some particular set of excercises that you do first? Do you blow something in particular? Physical excercises like push-ups, sit-ups or such?

Personally my routine goes something like this. As soon as I get up from bed I start to stretch my face muscles. This involves making funny faces for a couple of minutes as I walk into bathroom. I also pull my lips sideways like when playing but I put more force into it and keep it that way for a moment. This is usually enough to get the muscle control back. After I get to my flute I first play some long low notes. Nothing special, just one breath of all of the basic otsu notes and then one breath of all basic kan notes. The high end is usually a bit rough at this point and the lowest notes aren't all that powerful yet. The next thing I do is something I picked up from reading a tip page someone posted here. I really find this one useful. Start by blowing a low ro. Blow it for a bit and then stop. Now, make it a kan note instead. Next time, push even further so that it jumps up to the pitch of kan no chi. I have no idea how far this goes if you just keep doing it. I think I've gotten the next note or two from the chi. I never worry too much about getting the pitch right or anything. Just push like crazy, after all, this is all about getting yourself awake more than about getting an accurate kan no chi. I'm not sure if these notes are used in actual pieces but going repeatedly between the real kan no chi and the chi-pitch you get from overblowing ro creates a nice effect and is fun to boot.

I'd love to hear what you do to start a day. I'm aware that there are lots of resources online that give tips on this. I'm just curious how everyone approaches this issue and what have you found useful (or not).

Priapus Le Zen M☮nk · 2008-01-06 02:38:24

For me warm up goes this way after waking up.

#1 Taking a nice hot shower indeed helps to wake you up but I suspect it will help warm up the lungs and while in the shower I practice some strong shomyo seed syllables so the shower thing lasts about 10 minutes.

#2 Get my morning cup of green tea

#3 Do my morning chanting 20 minutes to whatever it takes sometimes 1 hour or more if it s a festival etc.. but again I gues the chanting serves as warming up the lungs and the breathing part.

#4 Then play some Shakuhachi

For me in the morning this is what gave optimal results and if I cannot do this I will at least drink a cup of hot tea or chant some basic shomyo for 5 minutes before any flute playing I do. I also make sure while I am singing to hold the flute and rub my hands a lot around it to warm it up as well.

amokrun · 2008-01-06 04:26:05

Gishin wrote:
#2 Get my morning cup of green tea

As this is somewhat on topic, do you find that any particular tea works better for this? I tend to drink a fair bit of team myself and have found that certain kinds of tea seem to help with playing whereas others actually make it somewhat more difficult. I'm guessing that it has to do with some kinds of tea leaving your lips rather sticky so that it's hard to get the optimal opening.

Lately I've grown used to drinking a cup of macha early on in the morning. It seems to work wonders and makes lips moist for a long time without making them stick to each other easily.

Priapus Le Zen M☮nk · 2008-01-06 05:14:26

What you are saying is also what I did observe as far as matcha.

Now when it comes to types of tea the only thing I can say is that different individuals will react differently depending on the tea. I would suggest if you are sensible to tea or caffeine not to take any oolong tea that has Ginseng in it since it might excite you too much or make you light headed. Same thing goes with Sencha or Gyokuro.

I used to be able to drink Sencha and Gyokuro all day long and still be able to go to sleep like a log. Now for some odd reason maybe age I dont know now I need to switch to Iri Bancha, ojicha,Kukicha or Dokudamicha which are very low on Teine after supper so I can still get to sleep or if I play in public will not be too excited or light headed.

caffeind · 2008-01-06 06:52:23

Sometimes I go for a cycle or a swim, then have a hot shower, a strong coffee, and play a hard piece to begin with. Makes you work hard to find a decent sound.

Getting up at three am, running around the block, then playing to experience the worst of playing conditions was something recommended to me by classical students and a teacher, not shakuhachi players. Let me know how it goes when you try it.

Tairaku 太楽 · 2008-01-06 08:11:25

Swim in incredibly cold water.

Sauna.

Then blow.

Zakarius · 2008-01-06 09:07:22

My advice seemingly runs contrary to the norm... but on days when I want to play after just having woken up, if I have trouble getting solid notes. I do the following:

1) move the shakuhachi away from my eager lips
2) take a deep breath
3) tell myself I can get a solid sound
4) try again -- and it works every time.

Zak -- jinashi size queen

edosan · 2008-01-06 09:18:37

I do a dozen labial push-ups.

Works every time....

eB

philthefluter · 2008-01-06 13:11:53

The exercise you refer to amokrun sounds like the stamina one on my warm-ups page http://www.shakuhachizen.com/warm-ups.html.

Each day a different part of our anatomy may be sluggish (fingers, breathing, lips). I try to identify which is being lazy and do an appropriate exercise.

I like doing tai chi before shakuhachi which gets rid of most of the cobwebs!

amokrun · 2008-01-06 13:18:35

philthefluter wrote:
The exercise you refer to amokrun sounds like the stamina one on my warm-ups page http://www.shakuhachizen.com/warm-ups.html.

That would be it, thanks. It has become part of my every day practice. I find that trying to simply force it rather than doing it the "right" way causes all of my facial muscles to work a lot better after a moment. Haven't found anything that works that quickly.

geni · 2008-01-06 13:52:12

in the morning I drink a doppio Expresso:-) That wakes me up! I am not a morning person.
I just play some scales..some arpegios with a very relax embouchure. Just to warm up the engine.

& I play along with recordings. Now I playing in top of Mike Stern last CD "Who Let The Cats Out".
Its a great practise for everything.

Last edited by geni (2008-01-06 14:08:01)

philthefluter · 2008-01-06 17:56:07

As Geni said, sometimes when one is struggling it is best to just have fun! I often play along with enka or jazz. Afterwards, I am more relaxed and ready to tackle honkyoku.

Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

#1 2008-01-06 01:56:39

What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

#2 2008-01-06 02:38:24

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

#3 2008-01-06 04:26:05

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

Gishin wrote:

#4 2008-01-06 05:14:26

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

#5 2008-01-06 06:52:23

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

#6 2008-01-06 08:11:25

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

#7 2008-01-06 09:07:22

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

#8 2008-01-06 09:18:37

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

#9 2008-01-06 13:11:53

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

#10 2008-01-06 13:18:35

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

philthefluter wrote:

#11 2008-01-06 13:52:12

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

#12 2008-01-06 17:56:07

Re: What do you do in the morning to get the sound going?

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