Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi VirtualReality,

There is a thumb hole also so that's 5 holes for the Minor pentatonic scale. The thumb hole plays the octave.

Playing shakuhachi music requires specific embouchure blowing techniques to flatten and sharpen the notes. Meri means to flatten, Kari means to sharpen.  Combining these with fingering techniques such as shading, quarter-holing and half-holing allows the player to play any pitch within 2 to 3 octaves depending upon the flute's construction.  What the player can play melodically is limited only by the player's technical musicianship. The modern shakuhachi can play 2 and 1/2 octaves in pitch well and more if it's a very well made flute. This may sound complex, involved and difficult and it should because playing the shakuhachi well is very difficult.  Although the instrument can play any pitch, most would not consider it a chromatically competent instrument as the notes between the holes are subtle and fragile. This is what makes the shakuhachi a dynamic instrument.

Hope to hear more from you as you discover.

Namaste, Perry

Last edited by Yungflutes (2007-10-07 18:05:22)

VirtualReality wrote:

Thanks a lot! That was what I hoped for :-) I'm going to buy one asap... My only problem is, that I live in Denmark, and that I don't think I can find a competent teacher anywhere...

There are several good teachers in Denmark including our moderator Kiku Day.