Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Surely it's all down to how fast your fingers move, if there's a steady stream of air going through?

FluteSwordsman wrote:

Hello, I am very new to this forum and the Shakuhachi in general. I would like to know: Is there any way to speed up the delay time on the shakuhachi? I find that the on certain flutes it is much harder to play faster music, as there is a delay between the time when you blow to the moment the flute makes a sound.

Note: I play all kinds of different flutes from around the world including the Native American, the Xiao, the Anasazi, and others. The Shakuhachi is a very new instrument for me.

Welcome to the forum FluteSwordsman. What is your name?

From a flutemaking standpoint, one thing that can give a shakuhachi a quick attack is a cylindrical bore or a wider choke point  (found at the thinnest point on a tapered bore shakuhachi a little below the bottom hole).

It's a matter of compromise. Too much attack can reduce the depth of tone.

FluteSwordsman wrote:

Thank you, I am elated to join a forum like this. My name is Johann.

Interesting... From my experience, the Native American flute has an extremely fast attack. Although it is a fipple-flute and the shakuhachi is rim-blown, there is little difference in the actual mouthpiece as both instruments require air blowing across an edge that is vertical to the flute. I wonder if the mouth, or perhaps just my mouth, is incapable of delivering air as fast as the air slit in a fipple does? Perhaps its a matter of practice. Also, I used to play the silver flute and it has a faster attack. In any case, I was just wondering how to produce a "faster" utagachi because I'm going to try and make a flute soon to replace my very crude PVC model. (You can hardly call it a shakuhachi.) I recently acquired some timber bamboo from a friend. In any case, I still have a long flute journey to tread. Thank you for your support!

It's little or nothing to do with how fast the air is delivered; it's about stuff that happens down in the bore and at the tone holes. In addition to the variables Mujitsu mentioned the way the holes are undercut can have much influence on flute behavior, as well as the chimney height (wall thickness).

It's also likely that your relative inexperience has something to do with it. In spite of what you contend about the difference between a fipple flute and the shakuhachi, what's happening right at the blowing edge makes a great deal of difference in the sound and behavior of the shakuhachi. Also, the speed and precision of your head movements have a lot to do with overall performance and 'speed'. It takes quite a long time and effort to get even a 'fast' shakuhachi to be as quick to respond as a silver flute, and it will never do some of the things a silver flute will do--both a blessing and a curse, IMO.

With a fipple, the only thing you have control of is the amount and speed of the air going into the mouthpiece--you've no influence over what's happening RIGHT AT the sound-creating edge. With shakuhachi, that's the whole ball of wax: what you are doing right at the blowing edge.

Big difference.

Last edited by edosan (2010-01-19 22:36:59)

FluteSwordsman wrote:

Thank you. I have been playing other rim-blown flutes for a little bit longer than the shakuhachi, maybe a year and a half at most, so my lack of experience is probably a large factor. By the way, what does "undercut" mean?

Johann,

Here is an illustration of undercutting a hole.

If you want to play fast, melodic music consider a 1.6 shakuhachi.  The shorter length speeds things up.

You will find that some shakuhachi schools also use techniques to speed up the attack.  The classic one is hitting #4 hole at the onset of tsu-re.