Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

World Shakuhachi Discussion / Go to Live Shakuhachi Chat

You are not logged in.


Tube of delight!

#1 2010-02-02 12:18:38

mayberryjl
Member
From: Portland Oregon
Registered: 2010-01-29
Posts: 29

No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

Hello everyone,

  So I just finished making my first pvc shakuhachi.  I have the feeling that was the easiest part of the process.  I've never played a wind instrument before as I'm a visual artist, but I decided the shakuhachi might be a good tool to use for meditation.  I've tried to read as much about the instrument as I can before going cross-eyed and viola now I have a lovely piece of plastic that makes a sound once in a bit before I need to draw another breath.

  Any tips or hints would be greatly appreciated (especially in the area of producing and sustaining simple notes and embouchure).

Until.

Joshua


Growing feathers is easy.  It's the flying that takes practice.
~JLM

Offline

 

#2 2010-02-02 13:20:23

edosan
Edomologist
From: Salt Lake City
Registered: 2005-10-09
Posts: 2185

Re: No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

mayberryjl wrote:

Hello everyone,

  So I just finished making my first pvc shakuhachi.  I have the feeling that was the easiest part of the process.  I've never played a wind instrument before as I'm a visual artist, but I decided the shakuhachi might be a good tool to use for meditation.  I've tried to read as much about the instrument as I can before going cross-eyed and viola now I have a lovely piece of plastic that makes a sound once in a bit before I need to draw another breath.

  Any tips or hints would be greatly appreciated (especially in the area of producing and sustaining simple notes and embouchure).

Until.

Joshua

Have a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRS49JqD … re=related

In getting a consistent initial sound, it's a good practice to play with ALL holes open. Quite a bit easier to get a sound that way. After you've worked that a bit, close hole 5 (the one on the back), do that for a while, then close hole 4, and so on, until all holes are closed. Take your time. Blow long tones, using full outbreaths. Breath from the lower abdomen/diaphragm, not the upper chest.

Oh, and welcome to the Forum...


Zen is not easy.
It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Bupkes.

Offline

 

#3 2010-02-02 13:34:02

mayberryjl
Member
From: Portland Oregon
Registered: 2010-01-29
Posts: 29

Re: No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

Thank you very much for that link.  Now let's see how quickly the animals will run when I hit that off sounding note.


Growing feathers is easy.  It's the flying that takes practice.
~JLM

Offline

 

#4 2010-02-02 14:43:45

Matt Lyon
Member
From: North Eastern Oregon
Registered: 2009-06-30
Posts: 92

Re: No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

Welcome to the board.

I like the title of your post. When I first started playing I called it the song of strangled frogs. The most correct would probably be "Sounds of the strangled crane".

Matt

Offline

 

#5 2010-02-02 18:58:06

Jam
Member
From: Oxford, England
Registered: 2009-10-02
Posts: 257

Re: No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

Matt Lyon wrote:

Welcome to the board.

I like the title of your post. When I first started playing I called it the song of strangled frogs. The most correct would probably be "Sounds of the strangled crane".

Matt

縊鶴の音 -Sounds of the strangled crane

縊蛙の曲 Song of the strangled frogs

They do sound like honkyoku!

Offline

 

#6 2010-02-03 00:15:17

mayberryjl
Member
From: Portland Oregon
Registered: 2010-01-29
Posts: 29

Re: No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

Oh, the poor strangled creatures. I would be practicing right now if there weren't people trying to sleep.  Or, maybe I should say "If there weren't people I like trying to sleep"  ...


Growing feathers is easy.  It's the flying that takes practice.
~JLM

Offline

 

#7 2010-02-03 09:34:44

mayberryjl
Member
From: Portland Oregon
Registered: 2010-01-29
Posts: 29

Re: No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

Second day and thanks to your advice I have been able to produce sound with all the holes open.  After a few minutes it gets more consistent although I'm disappointed with my general lack of breath.  I used to sing with a choir and know how to use my diaphragm to support my voice. I guess I'm out of practice and will have to just keep working and the breath will come.


Growing feathers is easy.  It's the flying that takes practice.
~JLM

Offline

 

#8 2010-02-03 11:21:41

Matt Lyon
Member
From: North Eastern Oregon
Registered: 2009-06-30
Posts: 92

Re: No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

mayberryjl wrote:

Second day and thanks to your advice I have been able to produce sound with all the holes open.  After a few minutes it gets more consistent although I'm disappointed with my general lack of breath.  I used to sing with a choir and know how to use my diaphragm to support my voice. I guess I'm out of practice and will have to just keep working and the breath will come.

I believe that the breathing you use for singing in a choir is different than what you want to use for playing the shakuhachi. When playing the shakuhachi you want to use belly breathing. The chest should not move much when playing.

Offline

 

#9 2010-02-03 11:41:17

edosan
Edomologist
From: Salt Lake City
Registered: 2005-10-09
Posts: 2185

Re: No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

Matt Lyon wrote:

mayberryjl wrote:

Second day and thanks to your advice I have been able to produce sound with all the holes open.  After a few minutes it gets more consistent although I'm disappointed with my general lack of breath.  I used to sing with a choir and know how to use my diaphragm to support my voice. I guess I'm out of practice and will have to just keep working and the breath will come.

I believe that the breathing you use for singing in a choir is different than what you want to use for playing the shakuhachi. When playing the shakuhachi you want to use belly breathing. The chest should not move much when playing.

The two are really not that much different, actually. Just let the diaphragm do the heavy lifting. One shouldn't be 'chest breathing' when singing, in any case.


Zen is not easy.
It takes effort to attain nothingness.
And then what do you have?
Bupkes.

Offline

 

#10 2010-02-03 13:59:27

purehappiness
Member
From: Connecticut USA
Registered: 2009-01-13
Posts: 528

Re: No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

I try to count to five while inhaling to get a deep breath.It doesn't always work but I try.


I was not conscious whether I was riding on the wind or the wind was riding on me.

Lieh-tzu

Offline

 

#11 2010-02-03 15:22:38

mayberryjl
Member
From: Portland Oregon
Registered: 2010-01-29
Posts: 29

Re: No I'm not strangling the cats. Promise

Hmm....I will give the counting to 5 inhale a try tomorrow when I practice and see how that works for me.


Growing feathers is easy.  It's the flying that takes practice.
~JLM

Offline

 

Board footer

Powered by PunBB
© Copyright 2002–2005 Rickard Andersson

Google