Any Shakuhachi players?

[brewerpaul]

I just made a PVC Shakuhachi and am starting to play around with it. Anyone else play these interesting Japanese flutes?
Any playing suggestions? I can get both octaves out of my PVC Shak, but the notes are not really strong: I may need to tweak it a bit.

[mukade]

I studied Kinko-school shakuhachi for three years.

I moved away from my teacher and pretty much lost interest in playing.
The shakuhachi is the single most amazing instrument I have played.
The range of expression a skilled player can get makes the Irish flute sound like a table leg.

I still have five shaks here. I must get around to putting them on the auction.

Reading the traditional notation was always a pleasure.


Mukade

[Bothrops]

Oh my gosh!!

[TC]

I've made a few PVC shaks of varying lengths with decent results. 1.8 is the traditional length and is also tuned to "D" which is nice for us whistlers. There's a freeware shakuhachi tuner download which was pretty helpful in getting them in tune, sorry I can't provide a link. The first big hurdle is getting your sound. A focused embouchure will be the key, much more so than overblowing. If you've already gotten notes from 2 registers than you're well on your way!
The shakuhachi is a fun and indeed expressive instrument to play. To me, it has something to do with the close connection between the instrument's windway (utagachi) and the player's embouchure. There is no fipple or air chamber to direct the wind so the player must accomplish this on their own. One of the "signature" sounds of the shakuhachi is the meri. This is simply flattening the note by lowering your chin which changes the angle of the airstream.
If you're intersted in the names of the notes, a finger chart may be useful and fairly easy to find. Don't let the traditional score above scare you.
It's no more scary than western notation !
I'd be happy to answer specific questions or point to someone more knowledgeable if needed
Tom

[Impempe]

I just made a PVC Shakuhachi and am starting to play around with it. Anyone else play these interesting Japanese flutes?
Any playing suggestions? I can get both octaves out of my PVC Shak, but the notes are not really strong: I may need to tweak it a bit.

I have made a couple Shakuhachi's from Bamboo as well as PVC. I found most of my information from http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~tuner/indexe.html which has a really good section of downloads - particularly the tuner. I used acetone on the pvc (like Guido's low tech whistle tuning slide) to get a thicker top to be able to cut a nice windway. I have a pentatonic scale on my bamboo one which I really love. Practicing on a good shakuhachi a lot will help when you come to shaping the windway as you will "feel" what works and what does'nt as aposed to measuring and guessing. It certainly seems as if you are managing if you are getting two octaves though.

[brewerpaul]

I discovered a great tweak for my Shak.
Actually, I tweaked myself... I had a moustache and "soul patch" (little patch of hair below my lower lip). The other day I shaved off the patch and voila! my shakuhachi instantly played better. I think the hair was preventing me from getting a good air seal. Now this cheap PVC instrument plays really well.

Does anyone know of a good Shakuhachi book written in Western notation. Yes, the traditional notation looks cool, but I have no time or inclination to learn it right now.

[dDave]

Howdy,

There is an insane amount of info about the acoustics and construction of PVC shakuhachi here:

http://www.navaching.com/shaku/shakuindex.html

Makes for interesting reading.

Best,

Dave

[Denny]

Hey Paul,

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=48181

[Whistling Archer]

I have made a few transverse flutes with shak. tuning,, also a end blown shak. out of rivercane the endblown was fun to play,, but if I didnt play it for a while ,, it was almost like startig over

[Feadoggie]

There is an insane amount of info about the acoustics and construction of PVC shakuhachi here:

http://www.navaching.com/shaku/shakuindex.html

Makes for interesting reading.

Yep, that's a good site and it's been listed in my "favorites" for a few years. There are little nuggets hidden all over that site.

Feadoggie

[brewerpaul]

Howdy,

There is an insane amount of info about the acoustics and construction of PVC shakuhachi here:

http://www.navaching.com/shaku/shakuindex.html

Makes for interesting reading.

Best,

Dave

That's where I got my PVC plans

[kmag]

Hello Paul,
One of the best shakuhachi books available is by Masayuki Koga. It is entitled "Shakuhachi Japanese Bamboo Flute". It does not have western notation but it does have the notes for the flute in western notation and I believe you will be able to figure it out. It does include a CD. The beauty of the shakuhachi is that the notation is not for the note but the fingering so as long as the flute is in tune with itself and you are playing correctly (and solo) it will be right. The hard part is between the flexible embouchure and utilizing quarter, three quarter and half holing it is possible to play every note on a five hole flute.
Enjoy!
Kurt

[TC]

Greetings-
I'm just curious if there area any other whistlers here who are also working on learning the traditional shakuhachi notation. I've been studying for a little over a year. Once your eyes adapt to the style it's not too hard to get the ideas. One problem I've come across is keeping shakuhachi technique separate from my whistle technique. For instance the slur or slide is not a part of the classic sound. Coming from the whistle, it's the automatic way to get from one note to the next. In japanese traditional music (JTM ?) it's apparantly a big no-no. I'm attempting to respect and learn from different traditions. Maybe I need to work on keeping the ITM distinct from the JTM.
Anyone else ?
Yes, I am bit schizophrenic with the multiple instruments and all, but I am really enjoying learning from both traditions. Of course, thats when I'm not playing guitar with my church contemporary music group. Oops.

[TC]

Just wanted to drag this topic up one more time since I found an interesting link for brewerpaul's original question of western notation for the shakuhachi. Here : http://emptybits.com/shakuhachi/notation
The tunes are familiar so this may be of some help. cheers
TC