Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

pallo wrote:

I'v tried to make my personal shakuahchi.
The diameter of the bore is 1,5 cm and 54,2 cm long. I think the measuure is ok. The Border of the edge it's 3mm.
And the hole diameter is 10mm. The hole are in the right place.
The problem is this: I can make only the note with all hole open or with the first back hole closed...
WHY?
WHERE IS THE PROBLEM?

Well, I think a good place to start is by asking if you can play shakuhachi made by others? Without knowing your background in playing shakuhachi it's impossible to tell if there is something wrong with the flute or if you are simply unable to play well enough yet to get all the sounds out.

edit:

Forgot to mention this. It seems that many people can get a sound with all holes open and sometimes with the thumb hole closed with minimal practice. Some people who have tried my flutes have managed to make a sound by just blowing like mad into the flute. It wasn't a pretty sound by any means but a sound regardless. When you start to close holes it gets progressively harder for many to get anything out of the flute. This isn't necessarily any sort of universal truth because the first note that I learned to blow was with all holes *closed* and it took me a long time to get a decent sound with all holes open. Sometimes these things are funny like that.

Anyhow, please post your background in playing. That would help a lot in figuring out the problem.

Last edited by amokrun (2007-05-16 15:41:53)

pallo wrote:

Thanks a lot!!!!
I don't have background. This is my first experience but I think that the sound and the position of mouth is the same for all position of fingers...
But I think that i'm wrong...
Sorry i'm a beginner!!!

With all holes open you can often enough "fake it" well enough by just blowing like crazy. I've seen people succeed in getting something out of the flute like this despite not having the slightest idea of what they were doing. Once you move from "getting a sound" to "getting a specific sound" things get a bit more tricky.

Although I'm sure someone will disagree, I would recommend getting a flute made by someone who is known to make ones that are tuned well enough. If possible at all, study with a teacher to learn the basics. Once you have a good idea of how things work you can get much more out of flutes you make yourself. If you don't know how to play properly you can't really tell if the flute you made has a problem or if you are the source of the problem instead. With a flute that is known to work right you can more easily eliminate the flute from the list of possible causes.

Repeating this on the forums is getting old but here goes. You need to play well to make a good flute. Otherwise the best you can do is try to make a flute that reinforces your bad playing style because you'll end up looking for problems in the flute when the problems are in your playing instead. By "fixing" your flutes at this point you are only making the problem worse.

As for position of fingers and mouth, the way to blow all the lower octave notes is more or less similar for all notes. Say, I can blow them all without any changes in how I do things. However, the amount of pressure and such required does differ. What most likely happens is that you simply can't blow correctly and because of this you are unable to blow if the distance that the air has to cover increases. What is enough for the scenario where all holes are open isn't nearly enough for the one where all holes are closed. After practicing for a while you'll understand what I just tried to say even if it makes no sense now. The gut feeling that you'll develop will guide you much better than any tricks I or anyone else could explain to you in here right now.

I can tell you from direct experience that you do need to find a flute that you know is "correct", or at least close (like a student flute) before you go making them yourself. I started out making flutes before the forum was started, and I wish I had gotten that advice then. I made 1-2 really crappy flutes at first because I was in a hurry, and almost got too frustrated to go on. I then studied plans, talked to Perry and Ken, and made a somewhat serviceable flute. Remember, this is at a time when there was no forum, and little community on this subject. Thank goodness for Perry and Ken, or I probably wouldn't be here today.

So, with that flute done, I spent some time down at my local Lark in the Morning music shop, playing a few different shakuhachi. The woman there liked my flute, and encouraged me to keep making them. I got a Yuu, got good at playing it, then experimented some more on tonkin (timber) bamboo from a local shop. I went through probably 5-6, maybe more, interations before I got decent at it, where I wasn't embarrassed to show them. I also seem to be decent at doing this, which is lucky for me. I wouldn't say I'm a great maker, but I think I make a good flute for my purposes.

Anyway... my point is, I wish I had bought a well-made flute in the beginning, learned to play it better, then start making them myself. In the end, I spent more time and money on little chunks of bamboo and tools than I would've if I had just bought a flute in the first place. I'm fine with where I'm at as a maker, and now I'm concentrating on playing better. I quite possibly won't make a flute again for some time, but I'm not sure. I love getting to know the bamboo and all that, but I get impatient and find myself just wanting to play it, which isn't always good when you're trying to make a good flute.

So my advice to you is to get a decent flute first, learn it a little bit at least, then get to making if you feel confident. Good luck to you!

-Eddie