Shakuhachi vs. quena

mrosenlof · Post by **mrosenlof** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:14 am

Nope, all of the instruments in Mr. Tweeto's post have qunna looking design. Take a look at the instruments for sale at www.japanshakuhachi.com to see several shakuhachi examples.

The basic idea is similar between these two beasts. Quenas tend to be smaller than shakuhachi. The quena typically has 7 holes. The shakuhachi typically has 5 holes. The shakuhachi mouthpiece is designed such that the pitch changes a lot with blowing angle (meri and kari refer to the lowered and normal angles) and that's the technique along with half hole and forked fingering to get intermediate notes. 7 hole shakuhachi do exist, some players feel that the sound is not shakuhachi-like because the characteristic sound of meri notes.

Shakuhachi are not cheap, but decent ones seem to be priced more like a very good keyless irish flute and then go up and up.

For those interested, there is www.shakuhachiforum.com that has a very active community.

There is a connection between shakuhachi and Buddhist meditation. For about 200 years in Japan, only a particular sect of monks was legally allowed to play shakuhachi. The music from those monks are solo pieces called Honkyoku, but other styles include Minyo (folk songs) and Sankyoku (ensemble music - usually shakuhachi and some combination of Koto and Shamisen - stringed instrument, often with a singer). Those are the traditional, classical settings, Shakuhachi occasionally pops up in jazz or other popular music too.

I have been taking shakuhachi lessons for about 10 months (after 6+ years of flute study). For me, it's great fun!

Tweeto · Post by **Tweeto** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 12:25 pm

What do you mean “nope”, Mrosenlof? If you go back to my post, you’ll see that the poster I quoted (OneWheelDave) said that shakuhachis have “inlay made out of horn or some other material”. He made that statement as a comparison, after making special effort to point out that quenas are simply “a notch cut into the bamboo”. The quenas that I cited in the photo certainly do have special inlays for the embouchure, and that's all that I said.

Furthermore, quenas too come in quality levels that increase with price. I own a bamboo one, as well as one made from lathed wood and horn added for the embouchure and foot ends. I know they go up in quality from these as well.

Quena players apparently don’t have their own online community. Maybe the proficient players of it simply don’t have internet access available to them. Since they’re often considered as “peasants”, I wouldna be surprised. That doesn’t mean that they don’t respect their instruments as much as shakuhachi players do theirs.

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 3:55 pm

There is a group of what I believe are quena players who fairly regularly play at the same spot in the Grand Central subway station here in NYC; they are terrific (I think the underground really enhances the sound) and sell cds.

Philo

mrosenlof · Post by **mrosenlof** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:10 pm

[quote="Tweeto"]What do you mean “nope”, Mrosenlof? If you go back to my post, you’ll see that the poster I quoted (OneWheelDave) said that shakuhachis have “inlay made out of horn or some other material”. He made that statement as a comparison, after making special effort to point out that quenas are simply “a notch cut into the bamboo”. The quenas that I cited in the photo certainly do have special inlays for the embouchure, and that's all that I said.
[/quote]

I guess I misunderstood your question. You quoted onewheeldave describing an inlaid shakuhachi blowing edge, and asked "you mean like this". My "nope" meant that no, these instruments are nothing like shakuhachi construction. That's all.

-mike

manu.bande · Post by **manu.bande** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 3:09 am

If anyone is interested in shakuhachi and need a cheap/good quality shakuhachi , I would suggest you to buy the YUU Shakuhachi ( in standard key of D ) , is made in ABS and his design was made after one high quality bamboo flute , it cost around 100 USD .
I've bought mine few years ago so I don't know the actual price , the only thing I can tell you for sure is that the YUU it's a very very good instrument for beginers and advanced players !

To the people interested in making a shakuhachi themself , I would suggest to buy some of the books made from Carl Abott , and Monty Levenson , these two should be enough for make some decent shakuhachi out of bamboo or PVC .
For more informations you can take a look at www.shakuhachi.com

Manuel

onewheeldave · Post by **onewheeldave** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:14 pm

This is something I've come across recently

http://www.shakuhachiforum.com/index.php

A online discussion forum for shakuhachi which is the best resource I've seen for the instrument, with loads of info/tips on making, buying, history etc.