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#1 2007-05-01 21:08:04
- kyoreiflutes
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- From: Seattle, WA
- Registered: 2005-10-27
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I don't know the name of this technique or "sound", can you help?
Okay, I know I'm going to get a lot of snickers here, and I know, I'm supposed to take lessons; I will this summer, trust me.
Something's puzzling me today, though. I've been listening to shakuhachi music for years, and always assumed a certain sound most players make is made a certain way. But then today, I'm watching a video by Ronnie Seldin, and, though it was hard to see for sure, it didn't look as though he was doing what I thought he SHOULD be doing when that sound is made.
Now I'm going to try and describe a sound. Wish me luck.
It's the sound you make when you're breaking up a long note, such as on kyorei. I always assumed it was caused by just doing a little atari open/close on the hole above (or down, depending onthe piece) the note you're playing, but it didn't appear as though Ronnie was doing that. His hands looked totally still when that sound was made; same with his face and mouth, still as stone. But that sound didn't appear to have been made any other way than the technique I mentioned.
So, am I right about the finger movement, or am I missing something important here, some tounge technique? I know I sound foolish, but I just have to know. Thanks!
-Eddie
"The Universe does not play favorites, and is not fair by its very Nature; Humans, however, are uniquely capable of making the world they live in fair to all." - D.E. Lloyd
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee." -John Donne
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#2 2007-05-01 21:21:08
- radi0gnome
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- From: Kingston NY
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Re: I don't know the name of this technique or "sound", can you help?
Maybe it was the thumb hole that you couldn't see on the video?
"Now birds record new harmonie, And trees do whistle melodies;
Now everything that nature breeds, Doth clad itself in pleasant weeds."
~ Thomas Watson - England's Helicon ca 1580
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#3 2007-05-01 21:37:09
- kyoreiflutes
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- From: Seattle, WA
- Registered: 2005-10-27
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Re: I don't know the name of this technique or "sound", can you help?
Possibly, but it didn't look like he moved one bit. I'll look again, since that would make sense. Thanks!
-E
"The Universe does not play favorites, and is not fair by its very Nature; Humans, however, are uniquely capable of making the world they live in fair to all." - D.E. Lloyd
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee." -John Donne
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#4 2007-05-02 02:28:14
- Moran from Planet X
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Re: I don't know the name of this technique or "sound", can you help?
radi0gnome wrote:
Maybe it was the thumb hole that you couldn't see on the video?
Okay, well, blind leading the blind here. Radiognome is correct if its Kyorei and the same video of Ronnie that I saw. It's the 5th hole used to grace note and flutter between I and Ri. Good shakuhachi players do this very subtley, lightly. When I listen to recordings of Yamaguchi Goro, I find myself waiting for those flutters so I can absorb their lightness and grace of execution. I tend to want to make grace notes very sharp and dramatic when I play shakuhachi --too much blues and boogie in my youth-- but those notes sound best when they are handled very softly, almost like the finger is being lightly lifted off the hole by the pressure of the air in the flute column.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I am all out of bubblegum." —Rowdy Piper, They Live!
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#5 2007-05-02 10:48:45
- shinkage ryu
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- Registered: 2007-04-11
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Re: I don't know the name of this technique or "sound", can you help?
When I do the mentioned technique, I only BARELY lift my finger off of the hole. It is a very subtle movement.
“What sort of person are you, really, inside and what lies concealed there?”—the shakuhachi will undoubtedly supply the answer"
(taken from: "Take No Kokoro" by by Kurahashi Yodo Sensei)
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#6 2007-05-02 11:40:43
Re: I don't know the name of this technique or "sound", can you help?
Chris Moran wrote:
I tend to want to make grace notes very sharp and dramatic when I play shakuhachi --too much blues and boogie in my youth--
I hear that. I was chastised for playing with this "quality" in my last lesson... only I'm not even cool enough to deliver it with blues or boogie flavor!
Chris Moran wrote:
but those notes sound best when they are handled very softly, almost like the finger is being lightly lifted off the hole by the pressure of the air in the flute column.
Hey, that's a beautiful way to describe it.
-Darren.
When it is rainy, I am in the rain. When it is windy, I am in the wind. - Mitsuo Aida
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