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A Yuu, I believe its called. I'm very excited! Even though its not made out of bamboo I still think its very lovely! I tried to make some sound with it but I had no luck. I'm really anxious to get started but my teacher is going to be away until May. Which is sad for me. I decided to but my Yuu away until then. I think its better to wait three months then to start bad habits...right? In the meantime I'll still follow the forums and try to soak up as much information as I can!
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congratulations on your first shakuhachi....!!!
when i had my first lesson that i took with Masayuki Koga, we just took the top half of the yuu and worked on getting a sound. you'd be surprised
at how long you can spend just doing that.
i don't think that you can get yourself into too much trouble just working on getting a sound. one of the things that everyone here says is to practice looooooooooong tones. if you just do that, your first "lesson" should be much more productive...
happy blowing...
jacques
btw...i'm not too far from you in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada about 4 hrs drive away...
Last edited by jaybeemusic (2009-01-28 21:01:07)
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The start of a wonder filled journey...
The Yuu is great, in my opinion... I've only been at it for a year and haven't taken any lessons, so I'm speaking as very much a novice.. but I love my Yuu, it's easier to play and can reach more notes easily than several other bamboo shakuhachi I have from various sources.. (all under $200 so take that with a grain of salt)..
I think you should take out that flute and blow... you'll most likely find yourself making some noise within a short time, and your experimenting with how you did it and how to alter your lips and mouth to change it will be an exciting adventure... I can't imagine waiting three months to begin...
Enjoy!!
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I'd tend to agree with Jacques and Lance... just practicing by trying to blow long tones will allow you get the muscle memory for the proper embouchure. This will give you an excellent head start when you begin taking lessons or trying to learn a piece on your own.
Zak
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I will take everyones advice and just start blowing!
Moncton is pretty close, unfortunetly I think my days of traveling to cananda are numbered if they are going to make me get a passport to cross the border!
jaybeemusic wrote:
congratulations on your first shakuhachi....!!!
when i had my first lesson that i took with Masayuki Koga, we just took the top half of the yuu and worked on getting a sound. you'd be surprised
at how long you can spend just doing that.
i don't think that you can get yourself into too much trouble just working on getting a sound. one of the things that everyone here says is to practice looooooooooong tones. if you just do that, your first "lesson" should be much more productive...
happy blowing...
jacques
btw...i'm not too far from you in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada about 4 hrs drive away...
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Yes, Just start blowing. You will eventually find the way your lips should be to get a sound. I am no pro either (2 weeks) but I can get some notes.I made my first out of bamboo I had at home so it was not the best but I can get some sounds out of it. It broke on me though while I was trying to widen the bore on it. Experience is the best teacher.
Last edited by purehappiness (2009-01-29 06:34:37)
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Do not wait.
You could be dead before May arrives.
Get on with it. It's very unlikely you'll even know enough to develop bad habits.
Start blowing with ALL holes open.
Sit up straight. Try to keep your head level, rather than tipped downward.
Relax.
As you get some sound with all holes open, stay with it for a while, then close the top hole and work with that.
Continue this process until you've got all holes closed. Take your time. You've got til May.
By then you'll have something to offer your teacher.
Two useful links:
http://www.japanshakuhachi.com/gettingstarted.html
http://www.yungflutes.com/html_pages/playing_page.html
And this one is a MUST:
http://www.yungflutes.com/log/archives/ … y_the.html
Last edited by edosan (2009-01-29 11:20:44)
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I was wondering how everyone else would answer this question. My first inclination was to say what everyone else is, to just go ahead and try because learning to blow by yourself is the least likely area to to develop bad habits that might be hard to break. So I refrained until now. I still say go for it, but be aware that as a beginner with no other experience playing any other flute you may be in for a surprise about how to breath when you get together with a teacher, it's not all that intuitive.
The first mistake total beginners usually make when trying to play a flute is that they try blowing too hard. That can be overcome quickly with both instruction or experimentation so it's not likely to cause bad habits, but it's good to know while your first trying to get a sound. If you're getting too dizzy blowing too hard just try blowing more lightly. Tightening the embouchure too much is also a typical mistake. Despite the pictures you see of tensed faces playing the instrument, that's something that's developed over time naturally or maybe with guidance from a teacher who can make sure your not over-tightening or tightening the wrong muscles. You probably will find that you can get a sound without squishing or pulling your face and lips in any manner, just letting the air keep your lips separated. It would be the best idea to keep it that way until you get with a teacher. Even after you can a sound another area that almost all beginners have problems with is abdominal breathing. Here you may have already developed bad habits that are deeply ingrained simply from breathing to stay alive for as many years as you already have. I'd suggest forgetting about that for now, you can work on that when you get with a teacher and it will probably take a year or more to really get it even then.
Even though it's a bit extreme, I find it very commendable that you gave consideration to holding off until you got to lessons before trying to play your shakuhachi. With that kind of thoughtfulness I'm pretty certain you'll be playing well in as short of time as possible.
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radi0gnome wrote:
I was wondering how everyone else would answer this question. My first inclination was to say what everyone else is, to just go ahead and try because learning to blow by yourself is the least likely area to to develop bad habits that might be hard to break. So I refrained until now. I still say go for it, but be aware that as a beginner with no other experience playing any other flute you may be in for a surprise about how to breath when you get together with a teacher, it's not all that intuitive.
The first mistake total beginners usually make when trying to play a flute is that they try blowing too hard. That can be overcome quickly with both instruction or experimentation so it's not likely to cause bad habits, but it's good to know while your first trying to get a sound. If you're getting too dizzy blowing too hard just try blowing more lightly. Tightening the embouchure too much is also a typical mistake. Despite the pictures you see of tensed faces playing the instrument, that's something that's developed over time naturally or maybe with guidance from a teacher who can make sure your not over-tightening or tightening the wrong muscles. You probably will find that you can get a sound without squishing or pulling your face and lips in any manner, just letting the air keep your lips separated. It would be the best idea to keep it that way until you get with a teacher. Even after you can a sound another area that almost all beginners have problems with is abdominal breathing. Here you may have already developed bad habits that are deeply ingrained simply from breathing to stay alive for as many years as you already have. I'd suggest forgetting about that for now, you can work on that when you get with a teacher and it will probably take a year or more to really get it even then.
Even though it's a bit extreme, I find it very commendable that you gave consideration to holding off until you got to lessons before trying to play your shakuhachi. With that kind of thoughtfulness I'm pretty certain you'll be playing well in as short of time as possible.
I actually played the flute, for 5 years in the school band until I convinced myself that being in the school band wasn't cool enough and I just quite. hahaha. So I'm hoping that having done that will help me out at least a little bit
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geminishadow79 wrote:
I actually played the flute, for 5 years in the school band until I convinced myself that being in the school band wasn't cool enough and I just quite. hahaha. So I'm hoping that having done that will help me out at least a little bit
In that case go for it. The embouchure is different but the learning process is the same, ie. trial and error with the teacher only correcting major mistakes. If you want to avoid bad habits it might be a good idea to avoid learning music on your own from books, but other than that I don't think you should have much to worry about.
Vevolis wrote:
If you can’t eat a sandwich before you are taught to make one, you’ll die.
I'm not sure if that was abstract, irrelevant, or just stupid.
Hmmm... thought provoking if nothing else. And it's making me hungry thinking about it
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awesome i'm going to go for it
radi0gnome wrote:
geminishadow79 wrote:
I actually played the flute, for 5 years in the school band until I convinced myself that being in the school band wasn't cool enough and I just quite. hahaha. So I'm hoping that having done that will help me out at least a little bit
In that case go for it. The embouchure is different but the learning process is the same, ie. trial and error with the teacher only correcting major mistakes. If you want to avoid bad habits it might be a good idea to avoid learning music on your own from books, but other than that I don't think you should have much to worry about.
Vevolis wrote:
If you can’t eat a sandwich before you are taught to make one, you’ll die.
I'm not sure if that was abstract, irrelevant, or just stupid.Hmmm... thought provoking if nothing else. And it's making me hungry thinking about it
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