Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

edosan wrote:

Here is another well done deconstruction of kari/meri technique that might be useful. From the website of Andrew MacGregor: http://www.japanworldmusic.com/karimeri.htm

Not two but three kari/meri techniques well explained.  Thanks edosan.

I am a beginner player and builder so take what I am saying with a grain of salt, but I have also found from my own experimentation with making flutes with different utaguchi profiles that a shallower dip in the utaguchi curve (depth of cut into the bore) and a tiny bit of relief on the underside of the utaguchi really helps. Downside is, it seems to makes the flute a tiny bit quieter. Slightly larger holes make up for any losses in volume.

I made a two incorporating what what Dan Shinku does with his utaguchi. Pure genius! For me at the beginner level of my technique, they are very mellow but expressive. I imagine that in the hands of someone who really knows how to play, that utaguchi profile can support some real magic!

axolotl wrote:

Udo & Ed - that is a fantastic link.  I am currently polishing ri meri and hi meri.  Ri meri is suffering from breathiness, but when I try to focus in with a tighter embouchure, the 'breath stream laser' can get off target.  Hi meri, in the meantime, requires a greater chin dip for me and greater finger shading, no matter how much I try to get away from finger shading.  It's quite humbling to just practice G minor arpeggios (very, very slowly, with long pauses while eyeing a tuner).

Ri meri and Hi meri are a bugger (stating the obvious), and there are no tricks for them beyond a lot of playing; long tones (and those arpeggios, of course, because you've got to get them on the fly) and embouchure development.

Last edited by edosan (2009-05-13 15:24:30)

For both Dai Meri and Kari on some notes, sometimes I have to turn my head to the side a little and pull the flute away from my lips to one side to get the proper tone.  I also hold some of the breath back on meri notes to decrease the volume as well as lower the tone.  Finally, along with tilting the head, if you are adept enough to build an air pocket behind your bottom lip, you can push the flute into that air cushion a little to acheive the correct tone for Meri notes.

I just started learning Sanya (version 2 in the Yokoyama Koten Honkyoku collection).  It seems like an excellent piece for refining meri techniques.  It is meant to be a soft piece, at least in the Yokoyama school of thought, so Tsu's are often "replaced" with Re Dai Meri's and Re's are "replaced" with Chi Dai Meri or U Dai Meri (I think I have that right).  There are also several Ro Dai Meri to Ro combinations.