Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Though there are many aspects that contribute to neiro (tone colour), and this topic could be discussed ad infinitum, aside from the all-purpose advice of 'practice under the guidance of a good teacher for years', neiro has to do with the way that air enters/fills/exits cavities.  Though the shakuhachi is a fixed cavity, it is not the entire instrument.  The biologic part of the instrument (your body) is plastic and can create a huge variety of resonating chambers.  The cheeks in particular have great capacity to alter neiro.  Try to develop the controlled ability to fill different parts of the cheek cavities and pay attention to the way that your tone colour changes.........just one suggestion.

Galactic Dog wrote:

Any thoughts as to how to better develop tone color?  I'm struggling with the concept.

I have studied with a number of different shakuhachi schools, and have noticed the difference in tone colour between the schools as a whole. In particular I was struck by the excellant tone colour of Araki Kodo's school. I came to him originally of course to learn Kinko-ryu in what I regard as its highest form, but, also for tone colour. And indeed when I asked Yokoyama-sensei's permission to go to study with Araki Kodo, he immediately agreed, saying that Araki has excellant tone colour.

What struck me most was that all of the students, practicing in the room upstairs, had excellant tone colour. Even ones who were technically not so proficient. Yes the instruments had something to do with this, as they were using finely crafted traditional Araki-ha instruments. But also it was clear that just from playing in their lessons with Araki-sensei their tone had come close to his.

So I would second what Jeff said about practicing under a good teacher, but would also point out that I think this is by far the main way this will be accomplished. As far as my experience has shown me, tone colour is not something one acquires through calculation (though certain points may help), but something one is "drawn into".

Last edited by Justin (2010-07-23 22:29:03)

Justin wrote:

tone colour is not something one acquires through calculation (though certain points may help), but something one is "drawn into".

Well put Justin.  I completely agree with this point.

Jeff Cairns wrote:

Justin wrote:

tone colour is not something one acquires through calculation (though certain points may help), but something one is "drawn into".

Well put Justin.  I completely agree with this point.

I recently had the good fortune of spending two very intensive weeks with Yamato Shudo in Kitakyushu. Not one word was spoken about tone production technics yet  my sound and physical attitude to the instrument improved greatly. To amplify Justin's and Jeff's  well stated point, it all happened unconsciously. I sort of absorbed his sound without even knowing it was happening. That is merely one reason why there is nothing like sitting in a room and playing face to face with a master player.

Last edited by Jim Thompson (2010-07-25 11:49:58)

purehappiness wrote:

Yes, I think you start to mimic the teacher and adjust your body,lips etc... accordingly.

I think the reason for the results is probably mostly from mimicking the teacher's tone, not so much because of mimicking body alignment and such. The reason I believe this true is because despite all the instruction you can get as far as which muscles to activate or relax or what position to place your tongue, not very many people have the experience to be able to control those muscles. If you haven't done it much, you can see what I'm saying by just going to the mirror and watch as you scrunch your tongue around, it'll probably move in fairly unexpected directions. Think about how precise the positioning has to be in order to play shakuhachi and it's easy to understand that listening to how you sound is the best feedback mechanism to learn how to move those muscles. With the teacher's tone as a reference, with a bit of entrainment (that's the basis of the strategy exploited by choirs to put the worst singers right around the best singer in each section, the good singing rubs off, http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abs … %2900915-4 ) you can work toward matching the tone and train those muscles you previously had no control over. For a non-shakuhachi example, most trained singers can raise and lower their soft palate at will. Untrained singers can be told to raise or lower their soft palate, but it works a whole lot better if the teacher gets the student to match the tone and feel what it's like to raise and lower the palate that way.