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#1 2015-01-21 15:27:37

JR Haube
Member
Registered: 2014-12-15
Posts: 14

Watazumi's fuzz box (Jokan)

Does anyone know how Watazumi achieved the distorted, fuzzed-out tone on his recording of Jokan (on the album Ryobo to Zen'ei)? Is it possibly embouchure, or something about the flute itself? You can hear it at the 33:19 mark here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMeBFCG_EVc. I've never heard anything else quite like it, even from Watazumi.


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#2 2015-01-25 10:29:26

Yungflutes
Flutemaker/Performer
From: New York City
Registered: 2005-10-08
Posts: 1061
Website

Re: Watazumi's fuzz box (Jokan)

JR Haube wrote:

Does anyone know how Watazumi achieved the distorted, fuzzed-out tone on his recording of Jokan (on the album Ryobo to Zen'ei)? Is it possibly embouchure, or something about the flute itself? You can hear it at the 33:19 mark here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMeBFCG_EVc. I've never heard anything else quite like it, even from Watazumi.

Hi JR,
My guess is it's a meri note played with a very close lower lip to the utaguchi. I say this because the tone is dark yet bright, small yet edgy. This flute sounds like it has a Middle Eastern (or experimental) scale.

Getting that exact sound first requires a natural bore flute and maybe one with a higher utaguchi dip and slightly larger than normal bore. Then, you need to spend time developing the right combination of embouchure shape and breath velocity that will allow you to find it.  I can guarantee you that Watazumi never played it exactly the same twice.

What I want to know is how he gets that scream at 38:10 wink

Last edited by Yungflutes (2015-02-13 09:51:52)


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#3 2015-02-13 04:17:45

MARCIN
Member
From: Poland
Registered: 2015-02-05
Posts: 18

Re: Watazumi's fuzz box (Jokan)

Perry, it's a kind of Japanese growling on 38:10 smile  I found information about learnig methods of extreme singing and it was called The Zen of Screaming smile check this out smile
JR, thanks for sharing the recording, very inspiring! shakuhachi going to the extremes smile


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#4 2015-02-13 09:52:53

Yungflutes
Flutemaker/Performer
From: New York City
Registered: 2005-10-08
Posts: 1061
Website

Re: Watazumi's fuzz box (Jokan)

MARCIN wrote:

Perry, it's a kind of Japanese growling on 38:10 smile  I found information about learning methods of extreme singing and it was called The Zen of Screaming smile check this out smile
JR, thanks for sharing the recording, very inspiring! shakuhachi going to the extremes smile

Thanks! Sounds like one of my teachers in Japan when my Dai Ro meri is not flat enough wink
- Perry


"A hot dog is not an animal." - Jet Yung

My Blog/Website on the art of shakuhachi...and parenting.
How to make an Urban Shakuhachi (PVC)

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#5 2015-02-14 17:47:33

JR Haube
Member
Registered: 2014-12-15
Posts: 14

Re: Watazumi's fuzz box (Jokan)

Thanks, Perry. That howl gave me a jolt the first time I heard it. Dan Mayers tells an interesting story of a visit with Watazumi (in v.2 of the Annals of the ISS): "Later, [Watazumi] had his mistress ... pull all the curtains and then demonstrate what he had taught her. She took a deep breath and howled--the only term to describe it--for an unbelievable length of time, demonstrating a volume--no wonder she pulled the curtains so as not to disturb the neighborhood--and a degree of breath control that any operatic soprano would envy; a truly astounding feat."


"A thing is just a slow event." --Stanley Eveling

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