Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

ssakamoto wrote:

Hi everyone!

I can play go no hi as a C#, but when I try to play it  in the kan register, up higher, it becomes a squeaky D. Other notes I can go up with no problem, but I simply can't take my go no hi to the higher register.

Does anyone have any suggestion? The closest I've come is when I move my chin down as if I'm playing meri, but my teacher says 'dame' to that.

I could really use some tips. I'm spending a half hour a day pursing my lips, smiling, doing everything I can think of and I can't hit that C#.

Thanks for any tips!

The funny thing about high notes is that practicing them too much is detrimental to your embouchure, so they can actually get worse with practice. Practice overblowing to get all the harmonics on each note. For example, blow an otsu Ro, then overblow to get to kan ro trying to get a smooth and clean transition to the higher note. Then overblow again to get something that should be close in pitch to a kan re, again trying to get the transition smooth (you can cheat on this one by quickly lifting the hole 3 finger to help get the sound, but doing that defeats the goal of a smooth transition). The smooth transition part is real important to practice because a lot of problems with high notes is that there is a tendency to over-tighten the embouchure on the attack, try to get up there with as little tension as possible. Take it easy practicing harmonics too, they are very strenuous on the lip muscles just like high note practice.

Another trick is to try the exercises Robert Dick put on youtube that edosan posted to this thread: http://www.shakuhachiforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=3929  They work well for shakuhachi too. Practice them in the easy range of the shakuhachi, the general tone improvement as a result of the exercises might help you pop out some high notes. My experience with the throat tuning exercises is that 5 minutes of practicing them makes my  tone simply awesome for a few minutes afterward, and that's when you might want to see what you can do with some high notes.

Hi Glenn,
I am talking about the bottom hole only, the back hole open, in kan. I have a chart that calls it a C#, and my teacher seems to make a C#, but I play a D which is consistent with what you say. It's very confusing to me!

I'll keep trying and see what I can do. Thanks for the reply.

http://shakuhachiforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=698

fingering chart courtesy of edosan.

you'll see go no hi on the "RIGHT" section, as D. also note go no hi meri, which is C#. This is consistent with every chart I've seen, and also with how I've been taught- same pitch as RO, whatever size flute.    Perhaps the place your teacher is playing C# is actually go no hi meri?

In the interest of being more accurate, has anyone ever heard of a sect playing Go no Hi anything other than D? SSkamoto-san, if the pitch is flat with the #1 & #2 closed, try opening the #2 hole. This is usually the highest D you get for this note. Some flutes work closing #1 only but since the #2 further up the flute the pitch will be higher.

Hi everyone,
I believe I misread my chart. The go no hi listed as a C# has a note that says it's a meri note. My Japanese sucks, so I missed that part. Thanks for your input, everyone. I have a really extensive chart, I'll try to take a photo of it sometime and upload it so that anyone interested can compare notes.

Now my new problem is go no ha!

sean