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#1 2008-12-18 14:20:34

david
Member
Registered: 2006-07-25
Posts: 71

Alternate Tunings?

Here's a thought I had. Since there is a lot of improvisation associated with the shakuhachi, I wonder why you don't see more radical tuning systems with flutes. Keeping the same number of holes, therefore still being able to play any kind of music for the shakuhachi (in Japanese notation), move the holes around and see what comes out. For example, you could put all the holes close together down at the bottom of the flute, or you could put 1 & 2 close together-leave a big gap and then put 3 & 4 together. Hopefully you know what I'm trying to say.
Has anyone ever tried making shakuhachi this way? I think it would create a whole new dimension in playing. I know it would be radical, but there is a lot of radical stuff going on! What would Kyorie sound like if all the holes were directly in the middle of the flute and only one hole length apart?


david
'Listen to the words of no man; listen only to the sounds of the wind and the waves of the sea.,~Claude Debussy

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#2 2008-12-18 15:21:54

Tairaku 太楽
Administrator/Performer
From: Tasmania
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 3226
Website

Re: Alternate Tunings?

Peter Ross used to make nice "Arabic" tuning flutes. I've also seen flutes by John Niemi which were tuned in unconventional tunings. It would be easy for aspiring makers to experiment with these tunings on PVC.


'Progress means simplifying, not complicating' : Bruno Munari

http://www.myspace.com/tairakubrianritchie

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#3 2008-12-19 04:23:15

Bruce Hunter
Member
From: Apple Valley CA
Registered: 2005-10-10
Posts: 258

Re: Alternate Tunings?

Every time I pick up a piece of bamboo and, in my normal ambi-klutztrous manner put holes in it, the result tends to be a shakuhachi-shaped-object with alternate tuning. I've also tried to do alternate tuning on purpose, but things tend to turn out to be more alternate than I intended. 8^)

However, I do have a pair of "Raga tuned" flutes by Perry Yung, a 3.0 (E), and a 3.5 (C#), that are great fun to explore. They look and sound like our instrument (excepting the tuning) except there is no hole 5 (ura go ko). The tuning is: Ro, Tsu-chu-meri, Tsu, Ri-meri, Ri-chu-meri. Maybe he'd make some for all y'all if there was sufficient interest.

later...


Develop infallible technique and then lay yourself at the mercy of inspiration. - Anon.

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#4 2008-12-19 08:45:46

radi0gnome
Member
From: Kingston NY
Registered: 2006-12-29
Posts: 1030
Website

Re: Alternate Tunings?

Bruce Hunter wrote:

However, I do have a pair of "Raga tuned" flutes by Perry Yung, a 3.0 (E), and a 3.5 (C#), that are great fun to explore. They look and sound like our instrument (excepting the tuning) except there is no hole 5 (ura go ko). The tuning is: Ro, Tsu-chu-meri, Tsu, Ri-meri, Ri-chu-meri. Maybe he'd make some for all y'all if there was sufficient interest.

Wow! Thanks for posting that, I have one of those I got second-hand off Ebay. A 3.something and a different tuning. I didn't like the offset for the right hand so I moved the hole and when I did I moved the other hole to make it play "in tune". I don't think it was the same tuning you mentioned, but if I had known that it was a different scale I might have thought twice about moving the hole. I was hesitant as it was because I thought there must have been a reason. Anyway, I think I like the way it plays now better.


"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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#5 2008-12-19 10:17:54

Yungflutes
Flutemaker/Performer
From: New York City
Registered: 2005-10-08
Posts: 1061
Website

Re: Alternate Tunings?

Hi Guys, I make these Raga flutes when I have the time to be creative. They came about because I had some huge pieces of bamboo but could not make choukan shakuhachi with the standard fingerings. These were made from 3.0 and up. They are long and with very wide diameters for the aspect ratio.

David wrote:

or you could put 1 & 2 close together-leave a big gap and then put 3 & 4 together. Hopefully you know what I'm trying to say.

Yes, this is what worked best for me since it produced a wider range across the octaves.

Hear a Yung Raga bass shakuhachi

This recording was made around 2003 or 2004.

They are really fun to make. Part of the fun was researching how many different Raga scales there are!

Namaste, Perry


"A hot dog is not an animal." - Jet Yung

My Blog/Website on the art of shakuhachi...and parenting.
How to make an Urban Shakuhachi (PVC)

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