Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi Mike
You have a lovely tone. Nicely done! The only constructive criticism I might have is about pitch. It is difficult for all of us of course, but if possible I would recommend  trying to lower the pitch of your meri notes. At the moment, your tsu meri notes are usually at the pitch of tsu chu meri. Also chi meri and u (in kan) are quite sharp. I would recommend you try to practice playing kan no u, then re, the kan no u, then re, etc, and trying to get the 2 notes to have the same pitch. It's a great practice technique as it gives you instant feedback as to whether you are sharp or not. Tsu meri is more difficult, but you could try playing to a tuner sometimes, playing ro, then playing tsu meri, and trying to get it the note one semitone above ro. Ideally it would be a bit flatter than that Western note, but if you can get it at least to the Western note, that will give you a great start.

Another great practice technique is to try to get the pitch of tsu meri down to ro. For example, play tsu meri (down to ro pitch), then ro, then tsu meri (down to ro pitch) then ro etc. That is usually very difficult in the beginning, but when you can do that, you will find that regular tsu meri becomes very easy. Also, remember to practice in both otsu and kan. Kan will be more difficult.

Then when you habituate yourself to a good relationship between the pitch of tsu meri and ro during practice, when you come to play the piece, it will be easier. You could even play the piece slowly while still looking at the tuner sometimes.

Keep up the good work!

Justin
http://senryushakuhachi.com/

Hi Mike
An example would be at 1:22 into the piece, you play "ha tsu-chu-meri ro". I suspect that note may be meant to be tsu meri. I know what you meant about some higher pitches for meri notes. Kurahashi Yoshio taught me high pitch for meri notes for the "ancient" (but not modern, for example Ajikan) honkyoku as passed down from Jin Nyodo. However in Kinko-ryu the meri notes have traditionally been deep. A nice reference is the recordings of Araki Kodo III who was probably the first head of Kinko-ryu to be recorded.
http://shakuhachi.komusou.jp/kinkoryuu/kinkoryuu.html

Best wishes
Justin
http://senryushakuhachi.com/

Justin wrote:

I would recommend you try to practice playing kan no u, then re, the kan no u, then re, etc, and trying to get the 2 notes to have the same pitch. It's a great practice technique as it gives you instant feedback as to whether you are sharp or not. Tsu meri is more difficult, but you could try playing to a tuner sometimes, playing ro, then playing tsu meri, and trying to get it the note one semitone above ro. Ideally it would be a bit flatter than that Western note, but if you can get it at least to the Western note, that will give you a great start.

Another great practice technique is to try to get the pitch of tsu meri down to ro. For example, play tsu meri (down to ro pitch), then ro, then tsu meri (down to ro pitch) then ro etc. That is usually very difficult in the beginning, but when you can do that, you will find that regular tsu meri becomes very easy. Also, remember to practice in both otsu and kan. Kan will be more difficult.

Yes, these are good practice ideas. You might also want to check out the "Pitch Twins" and "Tuning" tips at http://nyokai.com/tips .
I think if you are a Meian student, one of the advantages of working on Kinko pieces is to learn to get the meri pitches good and low, Kinko style, so that when going back to Meian you are playing the higher meri pitches as a conscious choice rather than because of technical limitations.

Last edited by nyokai (2008-11-27 12:13:51)

Thanks Justin  - and Phil  - for your excellent practicing advice!
Justin, your example (1:22) is very good and you are absolutely right.

Mike

I have several of those  hardstock notations by Takashi Tokuyama, and Yugure no Kyoku is one of them.  Does anyone know if this notation is consistent with Mike's and for that Matter Nyogetsu's playing of the piece.

My teacher is primarily Tozan but this was a nice piece which we may take a shot at.

Ken