Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Barry,

My 2.5 cents:

Bearing in mind that I can't speak to your specific situation, it's been my experience, in my own playing and in observing others', that a 2.4 is usually the 'limit' in length where holes are offset--e.g. most 2.4 flutes have offset holes, most shorter flutes have inline holes.

This is not carved in stone, of course; I have a 2.1 by Perry that has offset holes, since he often offsets holes if it 'feels right' to him, and the flute was already finished before I purchased it from him. 

I've seen very few 2.4's with inline holes. Regarding your comment about playing low Irish whistles (using the piper's grip): This is another individual thing, but 2.4 shakuhachi are rarely, if ever, played using this grip, but with the fingertips--at least for those with 'average' sized hands. If you are trying to play your 2.4 using the piper's grip, perhaps this is part of your difficulty. Try it using your fingertips instead, and see if that helps.

Generally, only very long flutes (2.7 and longer, say) are played using the piper's grip.

Hope this helps,
eB

Last edited by edosan (2005-11-13 10:12:17)

Thanks, edosan, for your reply.  I'm trying that now.  I think my upper hand is more comfortable like this, using my fingertips, which is close to standard grip on a transverse flute, but my lower hand's index finger still likes to cover the hole with the second fleshy area of my finger.  I can play with my right index fingertip, but it's not as comfortable, at least yet.

I will keep working with it, and see how it comes along.  Thanks eB!

It is intereting this question about when to offset the holes. I feel personally (and only personally) that the holes are too quickly offset. I am a woman with surely not the smallest hands in the world. Well, I am 160 cm tall (I think it is slightly less than 5.3 feet) and my pretty fat 2.9 ji-nashi shakuhachi has holes in line. And I am perfectly fine with this configuration. I have never had (knock on wood) problems with my hands so far. I certainly for some reason like inline holes until it really becomes physically impossible. The first length I have with offset holes is a 3.05.
But good luck! Whether the hols are inline or offset, it always takes a while to get used to a new length!

Kiku

I never though about that the offset holes makes a difference in the flute approach. but I always preferred inline... Never really thought about why. So, you may be touching on something there, Brian. I have only 1 flute that is offset, my 3.05. So, I don't really know yet if my approach to these are different than others, say my 2.9 inline flute. I shoudl be getting my 3.2 soon, so I will be really interested in trying to play that with all this discussion in mind.

When Perry Yung was in Japan a year or so ago, studying with Kinya Sogawa (and anyone else he could get his hands on...), he made me a wonderful jinashi 2.9 out of a beautiful culm of madake hand-picked from Mejiro (a shakuhachi supply, in Tokyo, I believe). I had a great opportunity there, even though he was thousands of miles away, to get the hole placement just as I needed: I bought an alder dowel that was the same circumference as the culm, cut a fake utaguchi in one end, and Perry sent me the measurements for the hole placements, which I marked on the dowel (just using straight lines around the dowel where each hole would be located).

I also drew a centerline down the 'front' side of the dowel for a reference line. Then I 'played' the thing, marking the possible hole locations that worked best for me using 10mm circular stickies. After a week or so of experimenting with this setup, I was able to send Perry a set of accurate measurements for offsetting the hole centers (as well as some pics of the dowel) for him to use as starting points. By angling one or two of the holes, he was able to get the desired placement right on the money.

The 2.9 is still a 'handful', but it's a great one.

Best regards,
eB

Hi John,

My question is, 'how do you position your thumb on a long flute with inline holes.' A picture of this would be very helpful. Kiku and Brian in particular, since you prefer playing like this, maybe you could comment.

I used to put the thumb hole directly on the center line in back on all my choukan until I played Akikazu Nakamura's choukan. It could've been a 3.0 or 3.2, or something like that. I was taking a lesson with him one day and I wanted his opinion on a long flute I was making for someone in Canada. He played for a while and then he pulled out his flute. He said the finger holes should be like this one (he meant for him). I noticed that both Chi and Ri were not only off-set but moved for tuning or ease of fingering. Then when I proceeded to play it, I noticed that the thumb hole was off to the left side (left handed). This was completely new to me. But, this position allowed me to play with the ring finger on Chi, which I rarely do on choukan because of the added stress at the wrist ( when the arms are extended for choukan, the wrists are forced into greater angles and stress unless alternate hand positions are used). I asked if he can play for very long like this, he said just long enough for practice and performance of one piece.  As a result, I sometimes off-set the thumb hole on very long choukan.

I make the decision based on the piece of bamboo and as much information I can get from who the player will be. Best of luck with your flutes. Can't wait to play one!
Namaste, Perry

I too have just recently bought one of Perry's flutes, a 2.6 Jinashi.  It has offset holes, and I found the photos on Perry's site really useful to get the fingering natural.

One thing I found is that it is important to keep the backs of both hands curving naturally.  If you finger too close to the tips, then you will create a backwards kink at the wrists, that can be quite painful (and possibly dangerous).  So, make sure your elbows are not sticking out sideways, place your hands naturally onthe flute so the backs curve smoothly, and see where your fingers land.  I found the best positions with the "bottom" fingers of each hand covering their holes near the tip of the finger, and the other fingers covering the holes with the fleshy part of the second joints.  The natural position for one of my fingers was actually right on the joint, so I rotated the hand a little further to get past the joint.

I have fairly long fingers.  When I started playing Irish flute, I couldn't use the tips of my right fingers because then I couldn't reach the flute with my little finger to provide stability and support.  So I ended up using a "piper's grip" for the right hand.  This helped me when it came to working out a shakuhachi grip.

Also, I have found it pretty important to keep the shakuhachi up at around a 45 degree angle.  After a long practice session, you can tire, and you may not realise it until you start having embouchure problems.  Just tilting the flute back up to 45 degrees seems to help me get the embouchure right.

These long flutes certainly help develop breath control and capacity.  After just a few weeks with the 2.6, I am really enjoying the feel of maintaining that diaphragm pressure for as long as I can.  After a good practice session, I can feel the tone developing in my diaphragm muscles, and it is paying off in tone quality with my other flutes.