Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hmm well, if your teacher say it it must be right you can practice that by moving your lips closer together while playing and then make a wider embroucher and make a biger "smile" and again you will notice after some weeks how that affect the sound and it will also train your muscles and develop tension. The first days you can practice with a mirror to see what your lips and face a doing but after some time you will develope a feeling for the muscles used.

!Warning! I am also a beginner and try to ask your teacher also how you can work on that !Warning!

Best,

Christopher

Glactic Dog: Many months of practice are usually what is needed to come to the stage that focused air stream is a conquerable issue.  Never underestimate the need for a controllable and focused embouchure.  And that is what should be discussed; not facial tension.  How one achieves the end result may not be dissimilar to the way that others do it, but everybody needs to experiment in order to achieve any given end.  If you have a teacher then you might consciously try to mimic your teacher's facial expression.  I've certainly seen all kinds of facial applications, all the way from the Popeye-side shot to the placid and apparently undisturbed Buddha-face, with similarly good results (though some  admittedly add an element of comedy to the process.)  Understand the mechanics of a focused air stream and set out to do that through experimentation, but always understand that those mechanics must be achievable in relation to the demands of other techniques as they are called for within the context of playing.  You are dealing with a river and not a lot of stagnant puddles.

Last edited by Jeff Cairns (2011-02-03 19:49:00)